Positioning is context.
My children are huge chip fans. They get it from their dad.
They can hear a chip bag from down the street. They can spot one 100 yards away. It's impressive.
So when Kids Eat in Color sent us an email with this image, it really hit home.
A quote from their email 👇
“If we want our kids to eat balanced meals and veggies, we need things like chips to be less exciting. Chips will always be exciting to our brains (food companies make sure of that), but crinkly bags make it even more exciting. If you can, take the food out of the exciting crinkly bag. Add it to the lunch. Now it’s a lot less exciting, even if the chips are still fun to eat.”
It's an example of how to use poor positioning in your favour. Genius.
This reminded me of April Dunford's book on positioning — Obviously Awesome (which I love)
According to April, when people encounter a new product, they’ll look for clues to help them figure out:
- what it is
- who it's for
- why they should care about it
In her book, April shares this story of Jushua Bell, a world-class violinist who sells out theatres, but struggled to earn a few bucks playing in a subway station.
From her book 👇
“Position Bell in a musical hall, wearing fancy clothes, surrounded by an orchestra, and everyones knowing what awards he's won, vs putting him in a subway, wearing dirty clothes, playing for tips. It's the same product, but without the right context, very few people recognize its value.”
Positioning makes the different between becoming an exciting bag of chips, or just lunch.
