These last couple weeks have been busy with research, strategizing, and planning! Last week, I Zoomed with Mr. Manickam to discuss turning research into strategy (in regards to my positioning), as well ways of qualitatively measuring my closest competitors. In addition, Mr. Manickam gave me some examples of way to test potential positioning strategies through brand asset mock-ups and surveys or focus groups. My full meeting notes are attached to this post. Using his advice, I set up a spreadsheet (pictured below) that measures the relative importance of my potential brand value propositions in relation to my competitors. For each brand, every value proposition is ranked on a 1-10 scale (1 is very important, 10 is not important). By then averaging out each competitor's rank across all value propositions, I will be able to identify my three closest competitors (competitors with average ranks closest to 0). Using this approach, I will eventually be able to find positioning gaps between three of my closest competitors, and then strategize a few potential ways to position my product in relation to them. My hope is to 1) create brand asset mock-ups for each of these strategies, 2) qualitatively test each set of mock-ups for adherence to brand values/positioning, and 3) refine the best mock-up to create an entire brand identity. Lastly, I began brainstorming possible brand names. I plan on spending the next two weeks using my competitive positioning analysis that I completed a few weeks ago to populate data in this spreadsheet in order to identify my top three competitors and begin looking for potential ways to position my product.
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Since I finished my college applications early, I had an extremely productive two weeks.
Firstly, I completed a comprehensive positioning analysis of some of the top competitors in the recovery supplement field. The document can be found here. I looked at attributes such as their name, mission, benefits positioning, marketing tone, and packaging, just to name a few. Overall, this information should help me greatly as I decide how I want to position my product within the market. In the next week, I will use my analysis to make some perceptual brand positioning maps of some of the key attributes within the market. By doing this, I will be able to visualize the information I collected and identify potential gaps in positioning. I plan on discussing all of this information with Mr. Manickam during our meeting in a couple weeks, and hope to strategize with him how I can best position my supplement. Aside from my research, I adjusted my supplement formula. After some thinking, I realized that a powder supplement would not be ideal because it is not recommended to drink the required water needed to dissolve that amount of ingredients directly before bedtime. By removing betaine, standardizing ashwagandha and valerian root to extracts, and replacing the collagen with a more concentrated form, I created a formula that should be able to fit into 3-4 capsules––making the product not only much more convenient to take, but also eliminating the need for a large quantity of water right before bedtime that would likely disrupt sleep quality. Lastly, I updated my website design and created a logo for the project. I am excited to continue working! *Pictured below is a photo I took of some of the products I had on hand to research |