Market Positioing

Company makes money by meeting customer's demand. In marketing, positioning is one of the key aspects to establish a good marketing strategy. The lock represents the market and consumers, and the key is a product or service that a company must provide that fits the lock.

In the late 19th century, people didn't shower, instead, they bathed . They sat inside their bathtub to enjoy their time. However, there was a problem. People were having problems trying to find their soap when they were inside their bathtub. It is hard for us to imagine this to happen today because soap floats. Soap back then used to sink all the way to the bottom, and it was often difficult to find it because the water would become murky and probably dirty. It was inconvenient, and people continued to live with it.

Then, a small accident happened at a soap factory owned by P&G. The company tried to develop a high quality soap named "White Soap." One day, workers of the factory left the factory forgetting to turn off the machines. When the workers returned, the soap had been mixing for a long time, air bubbles got in, causing the soap to float. The company did not want to waste the soap made, so the workers kept it and later had the soap framed, packaged, and sold to the market.

Amazingly, the soap became popular because it fits the customer's lock. It was a product that satisfied the demand of the market. Later, the founder of the company named this "White Soap" Ivory when he was at church one day while listening to bible reading. ("Ivory was early used in decorations by the Egyptians, and a great trade in it was carried on by the Assyrians")

The company became prosperous because of this small accident. The company got lucky. But, do a lot of companies get lucky like P&G? Perhaps not. To me, i find the important lesson to get out of this example is that a company wants to be successful can not depend on its luck, rather a company needs to focus more on what the consumers want and really spend its time on researching and surveying the market to find out what key will fit the lock. It is not easy, but a good positioning strategy is definitely needed.