Date of Award

1998

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Communication

Department

Business

First Advisor

Michael Castro

Second Advisor

Thomas Dehner

Third Advisor

Patti York

Abstract

This thesis will focus on corporate repositioning within the industry of direct marketing - what is it, what it does, why it is necessary and how to develop and maintain it.

The term "corporate repositioning" is the latest on the world's number one business strategy that was first studied and developed by Al Ries and Jack Trout in their book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. Corporate repositioning entails more than changing a company's logo, creating images through advertising and generating hype for a company's products or services. Rather, repositioning means that a company must create a "position" in the prospect's mind. A position that takes into consideration not only a company's strengths and weaknesses, but those of its competitors as well. Positioning is not what you do with the product or service; it is what you do to the mind (Ries and Trout 2-3). But how do you get into the mind that is already bombarded with thousands of communicated message? What if another company already owns your position?

Corporate repositioning is one element that will enable companies to succeed and eventually surpass the competition. Companies that are willing to take the great leap of faith and reposition need to take inventory of their greatest asset that will make repositioning a success. And what is a company's greatest asset? Its employees. Employees need to understand the company's strategy, be a contributing member to the company's culture and enhance upper management's values of leadership.

This study will focus on corporate repositioning and its impact on companies, specifically direct marketing companies and their success or failure. To better understand the competitive industry of direct marketing, an overview of the industry will be discussed. In addition, an in depth review of what a company needs to do in order to successfully implement the number one business strategy - repositioning - and the assets that will have the greatest impact on that success.

The goal of this thesis is to highlight the importance of corporate repositioning in the context of surpassing the competition and ultimately being first in the prospect's mind. To successfully communicate this message, a St. Louis-based direct marketing company called DIMAC DIRECT, will serve as the case study in which this thesis will be developed. Ultimately, this thesis will answer the question: Should DI MAC DIRECT reposition itself in order to regain the number one position of direct response agencies?

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