Abstract:
The incidence of congruence among presumed, communicated and perceived
positioning strategies off our Indian car brands (WagonR, Santro, Spark and Figo) is
examined. The triangulation research methodology (pilot survey, secondary data and
content analysis) is applied to examine the three populations (expert views,
advertising strategies and consumer perceptions) considered in the study. The results
reveal the popularity of two positioning strategies i.e. “Visual Artistic” and “Basic
Features” in case of three car brands whereas Figo stands on the positioning of “Cost
and Finance.” Regarding the congruence among experts’ presumed strategies and the
communication tactics employed by selected car brands, it is observed that all the
communicated strategies are not presumed and thus ambiguities prevail in the
process. This paper also calls the corporate attention to the fact that even positioning
strategies perceived by the customers are not presumed by experts and hence there is
need to re-assess the brand positioning strategies to curtail these ambiguities.
However, the positioning activities highlighted in communications are successfully
recognized by the target customers to some extent. The paper concludes with the
discussion on managerial implications and limitations.
