Stop overcomplicating brand positioning. Start with the 3Cs model and you can’t go wrong, says Mark Ritson
Positioning has a habit of becoming more complicated than it needs to be. It is easy for untrained marketers to become overly reliant on brand positioning maps and value proposition canvases – positioning tools that are often mistaken for the job itself. The real job of positioning is much simpler:
Understand what consumers want;
identify what your company can genuinely deliver;
and ensure the offer is credible versus competitors.
The Three Cs model – Consumer, Competitor, Company – is a foundational marketing framework that keeps positioning anchored in strategy rather than promotion. By sitting at the intersection of these three forces, it helps marketers identify where meaningful, relative differentiation can be created.
Consumer. What matters to buyers in your category? What do they genuinely want? What problems are they trying to solve?
Good positioning starts with demand, not internal ambition. If the position does not connect to what customers care about, it will struggle to move behaviour. Strong positioning begins with the customer and the problem being solved.
Company. What can the business genuinely deliver? What assets, capabilities, products or operational strengths make the chosen position believable? This is a test of credibility, not wishful thinking. Without that internal substance, positioning will collapse under scrutiny.
Ambition matters; fantasy is expensive.
Competitor. Positioning is never created in a vacuum. A claim only matters if it separates you from the alternatives. This is where marketers need discipline. “Innovative”, “premium” and “putting you first” are not strategic positions in their own right, especially if the rest of the category says the same thing.
Competitive context matters, because points of difference (or ‘relative differentiation’) can account for 94% of a brand's pricing power according to data from Kantar.
Mark Ritson defines relative differentiation as positioning on “more or less of something than the competition”– e.g. IKEA is cheaper and more efficient. Ryanair is lower fare. Dyson is more engineering-led.
Competitive context matters ... relative differentiation can account for 94% of a brand's pricing power
A classic positioning example is Volvo and its long-running association with safety – “safety is in our DNA”, as they aptly put it. There is a real consumer need: people want to feel safe in a car. Volvo is safer than other cars. There is clear competitive value in owning that space.
Crucially, Volvo can support such claims through its history of safety innovation, from the three-point safety belt to current safety systems and data-led development. Volvo's positioning is continually reinforced by how it engineers its cars.
Aldi shows the same logic. Shoppers want dependable quality at lower prices. Although competition is intense, Aldi can support its positioning: a tight range, own-label bias, EDLP discipline and corporate messaging consistently centred on everyday value and award-winning own brands.
It is a position grounded in how the business operates, not just how it advertises, resulting in Aldi being the cheapest supermarket in 2025.
Aldi's position is grounded in how the business operates, not just how it advertises
Good brand positioning is simple. Positioning is what we want someone to think when they think about our brand. Mark Ritson makes this abundantly clear on the MiniMBA in Marketing. This is the enduring power of the Three Cs. It’s a very simple model, but it stops positioning from drifting into abstraction.
The best positions are desirable to consumers, defensible against competitors and deliverable by the company. Miss one, and positioning crumbles.
As Mark Ritson says: “The 3Cs is an inalienable test. The 3Cs will always get you through. If you get anything that ticks the Three Cs boxes, that we can deliver better than or different than the competition, which our customer really wants – that’s the answer.” (MiniMBA Q&A with Mark Ritson*)
The 3Cs is an inalienable test ... it will always get you through
Brand ladders and positioning statements and positioning maps are all useful tools that can inform and enrich a strong brand position (many of which you’ll learn on the MiniMBA in Marketing); but at its core, brand positioning must pass the Three Cs.
The process of positioning can become as complex as we make it. But starting with this simple, elegant model keeps the work anchored in the fundamentals of effective marketing strategy.
*MiniMBA Q&As with Mark Ritson
Biweekly Q&As are a core part of MiniMBA in Marketing, MiniMBA in Brand Management and MiniMBA in Management – giving learners a chance to ask questions, reflect on recent modules and gain additional insights from the course professor. Find out more or download a course calendar here.
Cover: Volvo Ex60/Volvo