Student worrying over food marketing question

[seanwilliam]

Hi everybody, seems like you have got a good thing going here.

My name is Sean. I'm a final year student in food science and have a marketing module and am more inclined to the science side of things and this q scares me!!!!
Can anyone who knows anything on this have some input or tell me where I should be going, it would be much appreciated

"Positioning refers to consumers’ perceptions of the particular product or brand in
relation to its competitors.” (Bearden, Ingram and LaForge, 1998). Discuss this
statement in relation to the Absolut vodka brand.

[CDarklock]

Here's a basic restatement of the question, with a little more elaboration and a slightly different spin.

Positioning is the process of trying to make consumers think about specific aspects of your product or brand, and compare those specific aspects to the same aspects of other products or brands that compete with it in the marketplace.

Really Weird Scientific Example: You are trying to get people to buy hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) instead of water (H2O). Instead of talking about silly things like whether you can drink it, you might say that it has all the hydrogen and twice the oxygen of water. It doesn't matter whether this really makes your product better, only whether the consumer thinks it makes your product better.

Now, go and look at ads for Absolut vodka. What do you think Absolut wants the consumer to think about their product? On what aspects do they concentrate consumer attention? From which aspects of their competitors are they trying to distract the consumer? Why do you think Absolut wants to emphasise the first, and distract from the second? Is it an accurate depiction of the quality of their product? If not, what would be an accurate depiction? How would a competitor most effectively combat Absolut's advertising campaign?