Positioning is Central to Rebranding

A major league baseball field has an average of 2.5 acres of fair territory. That’s 108,900 square feet of ballfield that has to be protected by only nine players, including the pitcher and catcher, whose defensive responsibilities are limited compared to the other seven players.

All that distance to cover and yet, time after time, players make great catches. It is as if they have an uncanny sense of where that baseball is going to go. They factor the wind and the batter’s past performances and put themselves in a position to make the catch. They are precisely where they need to be in order to achieve success. The right place at the right time. That’s positioning.

Baseball players won’t succeed if they don’t keep positioning themselves. The same is true for a brand.

Consumers today have the world literally at their fingertips. Tap a screen and you can look up, locate and buy just about everything. Smartphones are made for smart brands, the savvy brands that react to today and anticipate tomorrow by positioning themselves for maximum exposure. Some are iconic and use their familiarity as a springboard. Others are brand new – but they came into this world knowing their audience and its needs. They have focus.

Baseball players have to keep moving – and so do brands. A brand that lives by the status quo soon will soon have no status at all. Rebranding can change that. A rebrand is adrenaline for a brand that has become lethargic. It hits the reset button and refines focus. It creates positioning.

Positioning is crucial for baseball players. And it is essential for brands. If your brand is standing still, customers have to drop right into your lap. That’s not positioning. That’s dreaming.