Introduction to BrandStars™ and ProductPlanets™

A brand positioning, mapping and performance tracking tool

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1 BrandTao The way of brands

Best Viewed Full Screen

Updated: Version 4.0 (April 2015)

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First a quick thank you

• Thank you to the 250,000+ readers of the earlier versions of this brand and product portfolio evaluation tool.

BrandStars™ was originally published in 2007.

I recently removed the previous file in preparation for this revised and extended version. So the viewer stats have been reset from Version 4.

Encountering a brand is like exploring a different world.

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BrandStars™ and ProductPlanets™

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Consumers are attracted by the radiance and gravity of a brand. The level of awareness it illuminates, its difference, relevance and engaging appeal.

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Consumers experience the advertising, products or services that the brand holds within its portfolio.

In this brand mapping system we represent the brand as a sun, called a BrandStar™ and its products as ProductPlanets™. These are mapped to orbit around it.

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Like other brand mapping tools, this system helps you to clearly define a brand and position its products.

However, this mapping system also visually represents how well each product extension fits within a brand system.

Once a brand is mapped, the system goes on to track performance against competitor brands, reporting progress against key performance metrics that aid diagnosis of each reported brand’s strengths and weaknesses.

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Defining A BrandStar™BrandCore – the essence of what the brand represents.

BrandEnvironment – the values, distinctive features and heritage that define the brand.

BrandPhotosphere – the defining sensory elements that people describe when interacting with the brand.

BrandGravity – the strength of attraction the BrandStar exerts. This is measured through brand appeal and consideration measures, compared to competitor brands in the same category.

BrandMagnitude – how brightly the brand appears to shine through measures of prompted awareness

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Brand Positioning

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Defining A ProductPlanet

PlanetCore – the essence of what the product represents

PlanetEnvironment – the rational, distinctive characteristics ,performance features and heritage of the product

PlanetPopulation – profile the consumers that you target for acquisition and also those you retain.

PlanetBenefit - Why would you buy this product?

PlanetAtmosphere – The emotional facets of the product’s personality; how it looks, sounds, acts, tastes, feels, smells

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Some products spawn derivatives – new flavours or variants that aren’t important enough to be classified as a new ProductPlanet in their own right.

These are called ProductMoons – the smaller satellites that orbit their parent ProductPlanet. They may be detailed in the same way as planets – with core, environment, population, benefit and atmosphere specified for each one.

ProductMoon

ProductPlanet

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BrandStarA stronger ProductPlanet

A weaker ProductPlanet

The brand positioning template is the star at the centre of a brand map

- In this system, the better the product is at reflecting or encapsulating the spirit of the brand, the closer it orbits around the BrandStar..

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BrandStars™ and ProductPlanets ™

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.Volkswagen:

Assured at every turn*

Golf

Passat

Golf PlusJetta

Up!

Beetle

Sharan

Touran

Eos

Touareg

Caravelle

Golf Estate

Phaeton

System Example: VW

Polo

Scirocco

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*This is merely an example and not the current brand essence for VW.10

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Apple: Inspired By Design*

iPod

Mac Book

iPod Shuffle

Mac Book Pro

iLife

OS X

Mac Pro

iTunes

iMac

Mac mini

iPod Nano

Apple TV

QuickTime

iWork .Mac

*This is merely an example and not the current brand essence for Apple.

Airport

Xserve

Xserve RAID

iPhone

System Example: Apple

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Extending BrandStars™ into Star Lifestage and Brand Performance Tracking

Your brand exists in a state of constant competition.

The following slides introduce comparative measures of success, allowing you to gauge the performance of your brand against others, using brand tracking research.

Then catagories of BrandStar™ are introduced, indicating the lifestage of each brands.

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Surviving in hostile worlds

Brands may set many performance metrics. Other than measuring Sales and Share Price, there are 7 Key Brand Performance Indicators every business should measure in order to gauge the health of your brand in comparison to your competitors.

Performance Measured Through Consumer Belief & Behaviour

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SalienceAwarenessHearing more aboutComprehension (Role Understood)

Rational PersuasionRelevant to my needsFunctional Performance BenefitsValue

DistinctivenessDifferent to other brandsProgressiveRecognisable brand cues

Emotional EngagementEnjoyableInterestingAppealing

Aspirational PersuasionCredibleQualityWorth Paying A Premium For

ConnectionProvokes reappraisalRecommendationPurchase Intent

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Evaluation of a brand’s performance is conducted through quarterly rounds of brand & customer service tracking. This reports progress against 7 core Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s), comparing a a brand against its key competitors. The components that make up each of the 7 KPI’s are listed under each point.

Customer ServiceCustomer SatisfactionService Performance

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BrandStars™ - Classifying the lifestage of a brand

Red Giant

Stellar NebulaYellow StarA leading brand, well established, energetic and still growing its market share and profitability.

A vigorous small brand, rapidly forming into a star by growing market share and profitability. A market leader, long

established, fighting to maintain its existing market share and profitability against increasing competition.

White DwarfA brand that possesses limited (or significantly diminished) influence and market share, through heritage or niche appeal. This brand is fighting to maintain its relevance, existing market share and profitability.

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Automotive Sector: Western EuropeOutline example

GM

Premium

Value For Money

High Market ShareLow Market ShareFord

VWAlfa Romeo

Audi

Fiat

Dacia

BrandGalaxy™

Renault

Citroen

Mini

Mapping your competitive BrandGalaxy™ on a correspondence map brings to life the market, positioning competing brands within a business sector by their lifestage, market share and perceived quality.

Toyota

Honda

Nissan

Peugeot

Kia

Hyundai

Land Rover

Lexus

Jaguar

Skoda

Seat

Mercedes

BMW

Mazda

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Copyright © 2007 BrandTao. All rights reserved. Version 4.0 updated April 2015

Thank you to the first 250,000 readers and 25,000 downloads of the BrandStars™ system. V4.0 simplifies

brand tracking performance evaluation; reported through 6 fundamental Key Performance Indicators.

You may copy, distribute and reference this brand mapping system. When you reference or use the system, you must

highlight BrandTao as the system originator in any documentation.

We would appreciate the inclusion of a link to our blog: www.brandtao.co.uk

We support educators running marketing, brand strategy, planning, research and MBA courses.

If you require support for this system, we answer general enquiries via email for free, in our own time, But charge

standard consultancy fees to work on projects.

If you would like us to undertake a brand portfolio mapping audit and tracking study using the BrandStar and

ProductPlanet system for a brand, please enquire via email.

Or if you have any questions, also feel free to make contact:

kevin.sugrue@brandtao.co.uk

ThankYou.

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Blog: http://www.brandtao.co.uk

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BrandTaoThe way of brands