avoid this positioning mistake
Jul 28, 2025
Brought to you by The Art Of Positioning Podcast
Jim Beam’s repositioning is probably the lamest thing I’ve heard of since the 1980s New Coke rebrand.
Nearly as disappointing as the Jaguar rebrand.
Recently, they announced that they're positioning themselves as budget-friendly, which basically is a codeword for “premium at an affordable price,” and that’s hella weak if you ask me.
Not only have they become commoditized, but there’s now zero emotional resonance because instead of seeing it as relevant, customers will be forced to remember it as just one of the cheapest drinks at the bar (that’s if they remember it at all).
In this issue, you’ll unpack:
Why I think the Jim Beam repositioning is lame AF.
The 1 thing they failed to leverage and what role it plays in brand strategy.
How I would have repositioned them and what that would have looked like in terms of implementation.
Stay tuned.
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Competing on price is an endless race to the bottom.
You go low, and your competitor can either go lower or, worse, steal your spotlight and fill in that emotional gap you left.
Either way, it’s a one-way trip to downtown.
📸: GIPHY
Jim Beam is currently on this table playing the dangerous game when they could leverage their heritage.
They’ve fought and lasted through prohibition times and built a legacy of their own, which could have been their biggest leverage if they had tied it to modern challenges like COVID and economic downturns.
We all have hardships. Why not unite through them?
Did someone say route to connection and cult following??
This tie would give the audience something to celebrate and feel victorious about (having gone through a series of tough times together), which automatically would connect them emotionally to the brand.
Imagine telling a story of how your business hit rock bottom during COVID. Chances are, there are a ton of others in your audience who either have something to learn from it, something to respect and love you more for, or simply that they can relate to your “resilience story.”
Another reason why this would have been an advantage?
There are not many brands in this category focusing on the resilience element, which is just so incredibly relevant because people prefer brands that have a backbone—brands that they’ve had survival stories with.
But how would this idea look in your brand operations?
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AI and automation have been front and center in my mind recently. And one thought in particular has been prevalent: How can we bring in automation and AI into the business while maintaining that emotional and human connection? Without turning the brand into another boring, soulless AI-created replica. Is it even possible?
With these questions in mind, I approached this episode on integrating brand with automation and AI. And damn if it didn't get me thinking and questioning some of my beliefs. Listen to the full discussion on this episode of The Art of Positioning podcast.
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Badass Tip
🦘 Marketing
Instead of chasing trends or price wars, highlight your brand’s “resilience moments”; the times you should’ve folded but didn’t.
What it looks like in practice:
Create a short-form content series where each episode shares a specific moment your business hit a wall and how you got through it.
Repurpose client testimonials into resilience narratives; don’t just show off wins, show how those wins were earned.
Market your journey. Highlight what makes your path different from the industry template.
Badassery tip: Don’t make it cringe or go into topics like cancer if it isn’t real. Flipping extreme topics is a tactic I see used to garner attention - but is it from the type of customers you want? Keep the content raw and relatable.
🦘 Sales
Clients aren’t just buying results; they want proof you can weather storms with them. Sell from shared survival, not icky promises.
What it looks like in practice:
During sales calls, share a “this is how we stayed standing” story that mirrors your prospect’s current challenge.
Create case studies that spotlight how you adapted under pressure, not just the outcome, but also the pivots.
Develop a sales narrative that positions your services as built to last for evolving clients, not just a static fit for today.
🦘 Customer service
Brand loyalty erodes when your service doesn’t evolve with the client’s needs. Be proactive in checking if their reality has changed.
What it looks like in practice:
Run quarterly “Still a Fit?” sessions. This could be a 15-minute check-in focused not on satisfaction, but on shifting needs. Find out if there’s any change in their business you should know about.
Track client comments and pull common “change” signals into a trend dashboard for the operations/strategy team.
🦘 HR
Your external brand is only as strong as your internal culture. If your people don’t feel resilient and heard, your brand promise won’t land.
What it looks like in practice:
Share (where they’re comfortable doing so) your teams’ own “forged in fire” personal or work stories, where they’ve overcome hardships. Turn the best ones into internal (or even external - again, feel out your team and ensure they’re on board here) spotlights.
Send staff (not just execs) to brand immersion sessions to make sure everyone, from ops to accounts, knows your brand’s origin and why it matters now, and get their buy-in - how would they bring that into their day-to-day interactions?
Build an internal recognition system that celebrates adaptability, not just output.
If there’s anything bourbon can teach us about brand strategy, it’s that your survival story can be your biggest brand asset. You simply have to make your audience care about that story by tying it to something they consider relevant.
-B
