BOOK REVIEW- Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change and Crisis by Jack Trout

With the advent of capitalism the rise of corporates ensured that for every product/service there are going to be multiple players who leave no stone unturned to sell their products. Therefore for any company to assume that it is cake walk they will be greatly mistaken. The authors are pioneers are not only understanding this competition but also to document them in al corroborative fashion so that the marketers understand it properly and clearly. The book is follow up of their initial writings “Positioning – The Battle for your mind “ which at the time of publishing had clearly anticipated the fact that given the hyper competition in this market many companies are now adapting a strategy of differentiating themselves from competitors in the mind of customers so that they are not lost in the crowd. Since with time capitalism has evolved and the companies have grown up and customers have matured. The customer are much more informed and not just lured away by anything the companies would say. Thus. The time has come for companies to start Re-positioning themselves because change is the law of the nature. If you don’t change with time you perish.
The authors have systematically addressed the issue of Repositioning stage wise where they start from the dynamics of market to touching upon various aspects which are a clear evidence that change is inevitable. The book is divided into three stages in which the first part deals with competition, then second part deals with how to change and the last stage deals with crisis companies face and how to address it.
Positioning is how you differentiate yourself in the mind of the consumer. Repositioning is how you re-adjust the way you differentiate yourself in the mind of the consumer – in the face of competition, change or crisis. Positioning is about creating that ownership, repositioning is about adjusting it. Essentially, repositioning is the art of the obvious – searching for that simple, credible, differentiating idea you want associated with your brand, and making that real in all your marketing.
The first part of the book deals with competition which is basically hyper-competition in today era. There are many companies which were successful in the past are now struggling for survival because they failed to change with time. They became complacent with time as they assumed themselves to be “too big to fail”. But there are many rivals and even smaller players who worked in bringing changes in their products in very subtle fashion and big companies failed to note these trends. When the rivals & small companies then launch their new products which hit hard these companies. They continue with their famous product line but are not in a position to compete with the changing technology.
The first part of books deals with present day reality of how an average customer is now completely informed because of internet or rather bombarded with information which makes them over-exposed to brands and all sorts of products. This has a cascading effect on the established companies which were not active in evolving. So this has led many companies to become extinct and they were not able to bounce back. By emphasizing on these examples the authors have clearly stated that if companies don’t re-adjust themselves and deliver something different then they will perish. Here the authors not only refer to new products but also change in trends and likings of people which many companies fail to read.
The authors have given the examples of not only companies but also markets as a whole also like in emerging countries where the people have become conscious and are increasing adopting brands which many companies are not able to penetrate easily or able to understand. The companies believed that they can market their time tested products in these markets but they are often taken by surprise when these products are not accepted.
Then simultaneously authors have tried to emphasize on what is necessary for companies so that they reposition themselves successfully with tie even after they have once failed. They need to understand the competition and then develop their marketing strategies accordingly.
In the second stage the authors try to make the marketers understand the basic law of nature i.e. change. There are certain factors as well as events which lead to changes and completely alter the market place. The major factor here is technology. Here the author gives comparisons of traditional mail vs E-mail. By such kind of comparisons here it is shown that these changes and especially technological changes are highly disruptive in nature and sometimes they become destructive. These changes change the very dynamics of market and create an underlying damage to the established companies who fail to recognize it. The change here refers not only to the technology but to people’s mind set which continuously evolve & mature with time. So there are many companies which were forced to reposition themselves not in terms of work or product but even in terms of name & brand visibility.
In order to explain change the authors have given example from the perspective of every stake holder involved in the process of marketing till the end customer. Each stakeholder have their own thought process and each have their own pace of change. It becomes necessary for the company to clearly understand it and then keeping a suitable time period in mind they should try to reposition themselves.
The authors have also touched upon the perspective of management of the successful companies who start to believe in a delusion that they are correct and they understand the market. Many managers develop a thought process that they clearly understand the time period when there is requirement for change which cost the companies dearly.
The authors then try to also make a point that given the dynamic marketplace it is not necessary to always change. Many companies having suffered losses due to complacency tend to develop a policy in which they set a target of change at continuous time period. The fact that change only when you have conviction in your new offering otherwise it will be a futile exercise and will backfire
There is phenomena in the corporate world which is highly noticeable that bigger a company is the more difficult it is to change. The growth of companies means increase in layers of decision making followed by emergence of beaurcracy and competition among management and employees delays the decision making and kills the innovations and adoptability in these organizations which makes it almost impossible to change within the required time period.
After understanding these issues the authors touched upon the final stage of Crisis. The fact of perishing is well known but there are many examples who have emerged from failure and time is testimony of it. The authors have stressed on the fact that many companies have emerged stronger from the crisis and have learnt to convert challenge into an opportunity.
The essence of Crisis is very deep and cannot be simply termed as end of an era. The Crisis situation can alter the dynamics and completely change the game. When companies are in crisis i.e. when they face failure then they understand the various aspects of marketing as well as fundamentals upon which the complete trust of buyer and seller is developed. Many companies reincarnate themselves in new avatar and offer better values to customer because then they realise that it is the requirement of customer that matter and not what they like or want.
The one major factor in Crisis is accountability in which the onus to take responsibility and then bring changes lies with leadership. In the time of crisis if they escape their responsibility than the whole system will collapse but if they lead from the front then they can help the companies in repositioning. The whole process of repositioning takes time because apart from changes made in the process and all issues relate to the company it becomes equally necessary to appeal to the customer and then work accordingly
Overall this book is not just a regular problem solving marketing book written by experts but an eye opener in which they touched upon every possible aspects of marketing and related it with the reality on ground which clearly states that Change is inevitable.
The process in which how companies position themselves in minds of customers but once they do it then they become relax. But then they forget that with time things change and then comes the need for repositioning which is readjustment in the times of change , crisis & competition.