Kimberly A. Whitler - Positioning Strategy - How to position brands and products for strategic advantage - S2 Ep12

If you think positioning strategy is a bunch of fluffy brand-purpose-laden statements mixed with a few dual-axis, positioning maps, you’re in for a  rude awakening. Because as you'll soon discover, that's not what professional positioning strategists do.

Kimberly A. Whitler is perhaps most famous for her book on this topic, and positioning strategy is what we initially aim to talk about, but what comes out in the wash during this discussion are lashings of strategic wisdom any senior leader, serious about growth would be interested in. She has a wealth of experience spent working with brands like Coca Cola, P&G, Gartner, Forbes and even the US Department of Defense before more recently, becoming an academic. It's this combination of empirical research discipline and practical experience that forms such a killer combination. This episode is jam-packed with plenty of detailed explanations and stories from her career.

Kimberly is currently an Associate Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and her approach is exactly in the hitting zone of this podcast. She’s staunchly focused on work that helps boards, CEOs, and CMOs leverage marketing for strategic advantage. Unlike career academics however, she’s not someone who drafts research papers for papers sake. Her work is meant to be implemented, measured and critiqued in the real world. It’s for this reason her research wins award after award.

Her book about Positioning is a must-read and I'd argue, probably more robust than the seminal book by Al Reis’. There’s also nuggets of gold to be mined in her various online Forbes articles too which have collectively garnered over 4 million views.

What mistake did Nike make with their brand position on a very divisive topic in North America? 

Is brand purpose valuable or is it just a bunch of a virtue-signaling PC corporate hogwash?

Why is it critical to understand the difference between supply-side orientation, demand-side orientation, output orientation and through-put orientation?

Why should you view positioning like a battlefield or the game Battleship?

How you can use positioning strategy to attract employees in the hyper-competitive labor market?

How do brands get brand purpose wrong?

Which critical skill do CMOs need before they can progress into senior roles?

Why shouldn’t you source your positioning strategy from an ad agency?

What’s her take on the fad of ‘category creation’ within the tech sector?

What questions should you ask when hiring a CMO to avoid hiring a dud?

Lots of questions. 

Lots of answers. 

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