Defensive

Marketing
Strategies
 • Position Defense
• Mobile Defense

Table of •
•
Pre-Emptive Defense
Flank Position Defense
Contents • Counter-Offensive
Defense
• Contraction Defense(Strategic Withdrawal )

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Position Defense
It is a firms resort to position defense to ensure
a new company’s market entry doesn’t impact
or weaken their brand.

• Position defense tactics also entail

acquiring patents, signing exclusive distribution
agreements, erecting entry barriers, etc..
• the market leader’s aim is to create a monopoly-
like scenario.
• For example, reputed brands like Coke, Samsung,
Toyota, etc. still promote their offerings despite
being household names, as they know the
average consumer has a short memory span and
who needs to be constantly reminded of the
brand’s presence.
• This strategy is normally followed by brands where
the defender is a market leader or enjoys a high
position in the minds of its customers and the
contender brand is a rising brand aiming to displace
the defender form its position.

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 Mobile Defense Strategy
Mobile defense (more than aggressively defend, stretches
domain over new territories)

» It is a kind of defense strategy chosen by a firm to

prevent competition from the competitors. It requires
constantly changing position and business such that it
becomes difficult for competitors to compete.
» Businesses are able to do so by introducing new
products, making modification in existing products,
entering new markets, changing market segment,
changing target market or changing promotional
focus.
» A petroleum industry getting involved in producing
coal, hydroelectric or nuclear industry, or companies
like Philips entering into food industry.
» After growing curbs on cigarettes smoking, the giant
ITC started focusing on consumers products and food
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Pre-Emptive Defense
(Detect potential attacks and attack the enemies first)

A company can target a particular company or multiple

companies simultaneously or could target one company at a time.
The National Bank of Pakistan, (NBP) set a new world record by
installing the world's highest ATM (automated teller machine) at
the Pak-China border, Khunjerab Pass. It is world's highest-
altitude ATM anywhere in the world
Seiko with 2,300 watch models is considered as a successful
example for this category while Heinz proved failure as they did
not respond to Hunt’s attack which leaded to Hunt established a
rival brand.

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Flank Position Defense
Flank Defense is one of the tactics of Marketing
where a market leader not only satisfies in Position
defense but also puts up an outpost to defend the
weak front or to act as a counter invasion base..

• For example, Nokia’s budget-oriented “Asha” mobile

phones have always been a major hit with Indian
consumers
• P&G Introducing Cheers.
• Gold Eagle is a flanking brand introduced by San
Miguel in the Philippines as a defense against APB’s
Beerhausen
• Intel introduced low cost Centrino processor brand to
protect its premium Pentium brand
• In order to appeal to consumers who desired a lower-
cost detergent, P&G (Proctor and Gamble) introduced
tide which became successful. Now both Ariel and Tide
drive sales of P&G in detergent market.

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 • Counter-Offensive Defense
Counter-offensive defense (Respond to competitors’
head-on attack by identifying the attacker’s weakness
and then launch a counter attack)

» The main strategies of counteroffensive defense

include
i) price cuts
ii) offensive promotion
iii) product improvements
iv) sales territory invasion.
» E.g. if you operate a bakery that only produces
gluten-free products and a competitor who
produces regular bread also begins producing
gluten-free products, you could hit back at it by
introducing regular bread products
» E.g. Toyota launched the Lexus to respond to
Mercedes attack.
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Lexus Aims to Dethrone Mercedes in the Prestige
Department
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 Contraction defense
(strategic withdrawal: give up weak
territories, concentrates strength and
resources at more dependable areas).
• The market leader must make its
own assessment to priorities the
importance of territories and should
be willing to relinquish those that are
not important to defend for those
that
• E.g. India’s TATA Group sold its soaps
and detergents business units to
Unilever in 1993 or Ford retired T-
birds and Probe to focus on Contour
and Taurus.
• E.g. Windows Phone

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