The problem with positioning, as explained by Sharp and his crew at Ehrenberg-Bass, is that it limits a brand’s potential reach by cutting down the possible universe instead of thinking about how it can appeal as broadly as possible.

Byron Sharp, whose How Brands Grow book has taken the marketing world by storm over the last decade, has some relevant things to say about purpose and positioning. Specifically, he argues that brands should shift away from positioning—thinking about how they line up against competitors—and towards salience: the “propensity to be noticed or come to... See more

Getting back to those terrible purpose-led, strategy-showing ads. It’s possible they’re working and that they’re successfully tugging on the heartstrings of consumers and causing the kind of emotional resonance that drives successful advertising. I doubt it, but maybe. But if they’re not also delivering “salience,” which I can’t imagine they are... See more