Marketing Management, 16th Edition

Communicating Conflicting Benefits

As we saw earlier, one common challenge in positioning is that many of the benefits that make up points of parity and points of difference are negatively correlated. ConAgra must convince consumers that Healthy Choice frozen foods both taste good and are good for you. Consider these examples of negatively correlated attributes and benefits: low price versus high quality, powerful versus safe, taste versus low calories, strong versus refined, nutritious versus good tasting, ubiquitous versus exclusive, efficacious versus mild, and varied versus simple.

Moreover, individual attributes and benefits often have positive and negative aspects. For example, consider a long-lived brand such as La-Z-Boy recliners, Burberry ...