Dave Gerhardt recently shared insights from CMOs about what keeps them up at night. One response caught my attention:

“Positioning. We have a new brand and identity. How do we position the company’s new identity to both our existing customers and the market? While not disrupting everything else in the ‘always on’ side of the business?”

This question reveals a fundamental misunderstanding about positioning that’s costing companies millions.

Why Most Get This Wrong

When companies worry about “positioning a new identity,” they’re already thinking about it backward. Here’s why:

Your brand isn’t what you say it is. It’s what you fundamentally are.

Think about the automotive industry:

• Volvo doesn’t “position safety” – they ARE safety
• BMW doesn’t “market performance” – they ARE performance
• Mercedes doesn’t “communicate status” – they ARE status

The Power of Perception

Unlike doctors bound by anatomy or athletes bound by physics, positioning operates in the limitless realm of perception. Red Bull proves this perfectly:

• They don’t sell taste
• They don’t sell energy
• They sell human potential

When Red Bull sends a man to space to jump back to Earth, that’s not marketing. That’s their positioning manifested.

The Real Questions You Should Be Asking

What concept could you own in your customers’ minds?
Not features. Not benefits. Not identity. What fundamental concept could be yours?

Why does this concept matter now?

• What’s broken in your industry?
• Why do traditional solutions fail?
• How will you fix it?

How will every business decision reinforce this concept?

• Product development
• Customer experience
• Employee culture
• Market communication

Beyond Identity

Look at category kings:

Salesforce

• Didn’t just rebrand software
• Declared “Software is Dead”
• Created cloud computing category

Airbnb

• Didn’t just position a new lodging brand
• Owned “Belong Anywhere”
• Redefined travel itself

Tesla

• Didn’t just launch an electric car brand
• Owned the future of transportation
• Challenged the entire hydrocarbon economy

The Path Forward

Find Your Atomic Core

• What concept could you own?
• Why can only you own it?
• How will you defend it?

Align Everything

• Every decision should reinforce your concept
• Every touchpoint should strengthen your position
• Every employee should understand their role

Let Identity Follow Naturally
Your visual identity, voice, and brand elements should emerge from your positioning – not define it.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Your “always on” business isn’t separate from positioning. It should reinforce your ownership of mental territory every single day. If you’re worried about disrupting your “always on” business with a new identity, you’re solving the wrong problem. The real challenge is owning a concept so completely that your identity becomes its natural expression.

Remember

You’re not in the business of positioning identities. You’re in the business of owning mental territory.

That’s not a marketing challenge. That’s your fundamental business strategy.

The question isn’t, “How do we position our new identity?”
The question is, “What concept will we own in our customers’ minds?”

Answer that, and everything else, including your identity, will follow.