Marina Tran-Vu

Differentiation 
A company’s unique product offering to a market is essential in it succeeding in the marketplace.  In order for a brand or a company to be distinguished, it must be known for something, and this point of differentiation must be compelling to the consumers that the company targets.  It is this point of differentiation that yields a brand’s marginal opportunity within a marketplace in terms of financial success.  In addition, while a brand must be differentiated, this point must be relevant to the target consumer on all levels of the product and brands.  Differentiation can ultimately be categorized in to the brand’s associations (benefits, reliability, design, price, value); brand imagery (brand identity, social frames) and consumer insight associations (consumer needs and wants).   In the case of Origin Organics, the company’s largest differentiating factors were the products’ unique nutritional value and its production methods.  However, while the company had these properties in place, it struggled to portray to its target audience these factors.  In addition, the company focused highly on its irrigation methods as a point of differentiation, while not being aware of the fact that general consumers find the technological aspects of production irrelevant to their associations with organic produce.   In addition, the company’s strong focus on nutritional and technological product values seemed to largely ignore the most important parities of produce; taste and price.  By focusing on trying to make its points of differentiation relevant to its consumers, Origin Organics will be able to build a distinguished position in the market.

Defining a Target Market 
Targeting a certain consumer is also essential to a company’s success in the marketplace, as it allows the company to focus its product offerings and marketing communications.  Doing so can determine the effectiveness of a company’s business efforts and allow it to measure areas of success and needed improvements. Origin Organics previously had no defined consumer segment, opting to target the entire market of produce consumers.  This generalized target dampened the company’s ability to focus its marketing communications, resulting in very non-unique and non-personalized marketing messages to the consumers.  The company failed to determine which consumers would be highly affected by its differentiated factors and thus, only received minor success in the marketplace it its initial launch of its brand.  Through defining a certain target segment, the company will be able to better understand the needs of the consumers that it needs to meet and how to best communicate its solutions to the consumer’s desires.

Positioning
Positioning a product in the market considers how it is able to uncover, meet and deliver to the needs and wants of consumers.  A company’s products must be relevant to the consumer’s desires and be in touch with their tastes and preferences.  This can be done in its differentiating factors, perceptions of price versus quality and brand reputation.  This unique positioning in the market is necessary to establish points of parity with competitors.   While Origin Organics certainly had a unique positioning in the market, it has not been successful in establishing its position in the market, nor communicating it to its customers and consumers.  The company still suffers from low recognition and low perceived differentiation which has affected its ability to position itself.   

Branding
Branding is considered to be a distinguished name, mark, or symbol that is used to indicate a company’s source of origin, quality and differentiation.  It is used to influence consumer preferences by signalling quality, commanding a price premium, leveraging awareness and meaning in new categories, and influencing channel acceptance.  This influence drives associations that affect the perceptions and shapes the attitudes and behaviours with a brand.  Branding can be evaluated on three levels: brand awareness (consideration set of retrieval), brand association (differentiation, reasons for purchase) and brand loyalty (consumer retention).  Origin Organics’ brand, while unique in its position, received very low awareness in the marketplace with little recognition by consumers.  The company’s brand logo also was considered to be undistinguished in the marketplace, confused often with the Safeway private-label brand “O”.  This confusion and low brand awareness has affected consumer purchase decisions when deciding between commodity products, ultimately damaging the company’s ability to perform in the market.  

Integrated Marketing Communications 
Integrated marketing communications considers all marketing messages that are communicated to the market over time.  A company must not only be able to send a consistent message to its consumers, but must make sure to keep this message current.  Effective marketing tactics affect brand equity, brand and product awareness, and brand sustainability.   With Origin Organics, its marketing was confusing with its use of seemingly unrelated images in its communications, an unclear brand tagline (“best of both worlds”), and low general brand awareness.  By clearly defining what message it wants to communicate to its audience, the company will be able to provide consistent communication to consumers that will allow it to definitively establish a position in the consumer’s minds and allow for easy recognition of the brand’s marketing.