Competitors, Marketing, Regulations
By brand landscape we mean the environment which the brand operates in. Maintaining a clear position in the environment helps orientating through it and most successful brands will regularly re-evaluate their position. In today's global economy the reality is that things are changing at an ever more rapid pace, keeping up with these changing conditions can sometimes be difficult but is a constant task that needs attending.
The first thing to consider is the competition. Benchmarking the brand against the leading brands and products in the category helps to give a point of reference in this respect. In doing so one can learn a lot about, which strategies and tactics have worked and which haven't worked. While this is somewhat backward focused it provides a stale foundation from which future decisions can be made, provided that the interpretation of the past is accurate!
However it must be said that simply copying the successes of the leading brand is not always a recipe for success. The simple fact is that through their success the market leader has already changed the market in itself. The playing field has changed and so new tactics need to be employed.
What is our positioning? How do we compare with the competitive set? A positioning matrix can help resolve these issues and identify potential areas for development.
A special feature to consider is regulation in the markets. Regulations which can differ extensively from market to market. A good example of this is the Medical Devices Act, which precisely defines what legal restrictions medical products or vendors need to adhere to if they want to register new products. To make things even more difficult each region has its own governing body; CE standard in Europe, the FDA in the United States and for the Chinese market, in turn, the SFDA.
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-> More information on the methodology behind the 24 design factors
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