Friday 17 June 2016

Post-modern Positioning

I blogged last year about the Japan Post's Watch Over Service whereby friendly local postmen and women keep a watchful eye on the elderly.

Now here's another great example of the re-positioning of the postman, this time from Finland's Posti. They are offering a weekly lawn-mowing service, on Tuesdays, the least demanding day of normal post delivery. The postman/woman will turn up and mow your lawn for you if you book up. It's a win-win situation, filling a gap in a less busy day for the postman, and getting your lawn done on a regular basis by someone you trust for the customer.

Posti are also already in involved in meal delivery, and may partner up with care services and providers as an extension of this idea.

It's a great example of re-positioning away from product (physical post) and more towards qualities and values - local, friendly, daily, trust and so on. The lesson for brands is one of adaptation - are you too tied to your product? Imagine if Kodak had been less tied to physical film and cameras and positioned more towards sharing memories - they might have invented Instagram!

Maybe milkmen are due for a renaissance in another guise. And, incidentally, when I first came to Germany, I was interested to hear that 'eggmen' were more commonplace than milkmen!

No comments: