2 similar products. 2 very different jobs to be done.
Snickers is the best selling candy bar in the world 📈
And a great example for understanding the JTBD framework.
So what does “jobs to be done” actually mean?
It’s a framework for understanding why customers buy a new product or service.
Harvard Professor, Theodore Levitt famously said “People don’t want to buy a quarter inch drill. They want a quarter inch hole.”
In other words, People purchase a product or service to get a specific “Job” done.
In this case a “Job” is short for what a customer seeks to accomplish in a given situation.
A typical JTBD statement is written in three parts:
- A Situation (often written as “When I…”)
- Motivation (often written as “I want to...”)
- Expected Outcome (often written as “So I can…”)
Let’s use the Snickers and KitKat examples to put this into practice.
Look at the Snickers ad below or watch any of their tv ads from the last 10 years (they’re hilarious)
You’ll see that Snickers is being hired for one specific job.
Fighting hunger.
They present people in situations where their hunger is causing a problem.
A lack of focus or emotional outbursts — Hanger!
The tagline “You’re not you when you’re hungry” says it all.
Snickers is hired to cure their hunger and get them back to being themselves.
So, what about KitKat?
Both are chocolate bars, but KitKat is being hired to perform a very different job.
To provide a much needed break.
A lot of their advertising focuses on taking a break from boring everyday activities.
A delicious treat for your much-needed break from work.
So what can we learn from this?
When creating your positioning, consider your market from your customer’s perspective.
On the surface, people would consider these products to be essentially the same.
But through effective positioning, Snickers became more than just a delicious treat. Since it was seen to provide energy, it could also appeal to a broader market of people who would otherwise choose other snacks to replace meals or satisfy their hunger.
They expanded their market by better understanding the job customers were hiring their product to do.
What do you think?
#positioning #productmarketing