BLOG
A collection of article and ideas that help Smart Marketers to become Smarter
Marketing Canvas - Values
Most brands have values on a wall. Very few have values that change decisions. Dimension 230 of the Marketing Canvas scores the difference — and the acid test is a single question: can you name a decision made in the last year because of a stated value, even when a different decision would have been more profitable?
About the Marketing Canvas Method
This article covers dimension 230 — Values, part of the
Brand meta-category. The Marketing Canvas Method structures
marketing strategy across 24 dimensions and 9 strategic archetypes.
Full framework reference at
marketingcanvas.net →
·
Get the book →
In a nutshell
Values (dimension 230) are the core beliefs a brand would defend even when doing so is commercially costly. Not the list of adjectives on the careers page. The principles that visibly shape decisions — what the brand builds, who it hires, which partnerships it declines, which customers it turns away.
In the Marketing Canvas, Values sits within the Brand meta-category alongside Purpose (210), Positioning (220), and Visual Identity (240). If Purpose answers why we exist, Values answers how we behave. Purpose is the architecture. Values are the load-bearing walls that make it structurally sound — or expose it as a facade.
What values actually are
Most companies have values. Almost none of them are used.
The tell is simple. Ask three people on the leadership team to name the company's values without looking at a slide. Then ask them to name one decision made in the last twelve months that was made because of a stated value — a decision where the value-driven choice was harder or less profitable than the alternative.
If they can answer the second question, values are functional. If they cannot, values are decoration.
This is the acid test the Marketing Canvas applies to dimension 230: can you point to a specific decision in the past year that was made because of a stated value, even when a different decision would have been more profitable? A score of +2 or above requires a yes. Everything below that is still in progress.
Values are not aspirational. They are descriptive of current behaviour. "We aspire to be more transparent" is a goal. "We publish our ingredient list in full, even when competitors don't" is a value.
Values in the Marketing Canvas
The canonical question
Are your brand's values reflected in your behaviour and what you actually do?
Values is a Fatal Brake for two archetypes — the two where the absence of genuine values collapses the entire strategic logic:
A2 — Efficiency Machine: In a commodity market, customers need a reason not to feel embarrassed about their choice. Aldi's core value — smart shopping as intelligence, not compromise — reframes discount as a badge of sophistication. Without that value anchoring the positioning, Aldi is just cheap. The value is what makes cost leadership sustainable rather than a race to the bottom. For A2, values anchor the operational discipline that makes efficiency structural, not tactical.
A3 — Brand Evangelist: The tribe forms around shared values, not around products. Patagonia's 2011 "Don't Buy This Jacket" campaign — a full-page New York Times ad urging customers not to purchase unless they genuinely needed the product — only worked because the values were real. Any other company running that ad would have been called hypocritical. Patagonia's revenue increased. When values are authentic, they compound. For A3, values are the belief system. Without them, evangelism has nothing to evangelize.
The Harley-Davidson case illustrates what happens when values fail to evolve. Freedom and rebellion as expressed through loud heavyweight motorcycles resonated deeply with baby boomers. But values that are generationally locked are Fatal Brakes in slow motion. When the tribe's next generation defines freedom differently, the brand's values become a museum exhibit, not a compass. The failure wasn't operational. It was a Values (230) failure that the company tried to solve with a Features (310) answer — the LiveWire electric motorcycle. Wrong dimension, wrong diagnosis.
Values as differentiation
In markets where features converge, values become the last meaningful point of difference.
When two cleaning products perform identically, when two accounting software platforms offer similar functionality, when two airlines fly the same routes at comparable prices — the brand whose values align with the customer's identity wins. Not because the customer is irrational, but because identity is a real decision factor. People don't just buy what works. They buy what they want to be seen buying.
Kantar research confirms that in an increasingly volatile world, people want brands that can deliver on their promises and live up to their stated values. The implication is direct: values that are visibly lived are a competitive asset. Values that are stated but not demonstrated are a liability, inviting the cynicism that collapses trust faster than any product failure.
Research from Kantar's BrandZ study shows a clear link between brand strength and pricing power, with strong brands consistently commanding significantly higher prices than weaker ones. Values are a core input to that brand strength — they give customers a reason to choose that survives price comparisons.
Values vs. purpose vs. positioning
These three Brand dimensions are related but distinct. Conflating them produces vague strategy.
| Dimension | Question | Example — Green Clean |
|---|---|---|
| 210 — Purpose | Why do we exist? | Eliminate indoor toxins; make healthy homes the standard |
| 220 — Positioning | Why should customers choose us? | The indoor health protection company |
| 230 — Values | How do we behave to make that real? | Transparency, health accountability, environmental integrity |
Values operationalize purpose. Purpose without values is a mission statement. Values without purpose are a list of adjectives. Together, they create a brand that behaves consistently — not just communicates consistently.
Statements for self-assessment
Rate your agreement on a scale from −3 (completely disagree) to +3 (completely agree). There is no zero: the Marketing Canvas forces a directional position on every dimension.
Note on Detailed Track scoring: if averaging sub-question scores produces a mathematical zero, the method rounds to −1. A split score means the dimension is not clearly helping your goal — and "not clearly helping" requires the same investigation as "hurting."
Interpreting your scores
Negative scores (−1 to −3): Your values lack clarity, real-world demonstration, or both. The likely result: customers cannot feel what the brand stands for; differentiation is thin; trust erodes at scale. Values exist on paper. They do not drive behaviour.
Positive scores (+1 to +3): Your values are defined, demonstrated, and recognisable to both internal and external audiences. Employees can name them without reading a card. Customers can feel them without reading the About page. Values are functioning as a strategic operating system, not a communications asset.
Case study: Green Clean
Green Clean is a fictional eco-friendly residential cleaning service used as the recurring worked example throughout the Marketing Canvas Method.
Score: −2 to −1 (Weak) Green Clean lists sustainability, health, and transparency as values on its website. But internally, no decision references them. A supplier offering a cheaper ingredient with an ambiguous safety profile was approved without review. The marketing team uses "eco-friendly" language but has never commissioned an independent assessment. Employees can quote the values from the careers page; they cannot point to a decision shaped by any of them. The values pass the wall-art test and fail the behaviour test. Customers who investigate feel the gap immediately.
Score: +1 to +2 (Developing) Green Clean's values have started shaping behaviour in some areas. The proprietary non-toxic formula reflects the health value in a tangible way. B-Corp certification demonstrates environmental integrity beyond self-declaration. But consistency is uneven: the Family Health Report is in development but not yet live; a recent pricing decision was made on margin grounds alone, without evaluating alignment with the transparency value. Values are functional in product decisions. They are not yet operational in commercial decisions.
Score: +2 to +3 (Strong) Green Clean's values — transparency, health accountability, environmental integrity — are operationalised across all decision categories. The Family Health Report shows customers the exact toxin load avoided during each visit. A distribution partnership was declined because the partner's own products contained ingredients Green Clean's values prohibit. Pricing is tiered so cost-sensitive customers can access the service without the brand diluting its health standards to compete on price. When asked to name a decision made because of a value, the whole team gives the same three examples without prompting. The values are functional. They are felt before they are read.
Connected dimensions
Values does not operate in isolation. Four dimensions connect most directly:
210 — Purpose: Values operationalize purpose day-to-day. Purpose is the why. Values are the how. Without values, purpose remains abstract and impossible to audit.
240 — Visual Identity: Visual identity expresses values visually. A brand that claims transparency but uses opaque, complex design sends a contradictory signal. Identity must match the stated values or the disconnect becomes visible.
320 — Emotions: Values create emotional trust. The emotional connection customers form with a brand is rooted in their sense that the brand shares and lives their values — not in features or price.
340 — Proof: Behaviour proves values are real. Certifications, third-party audits, published reports, and verifiable commitments are how values cross the line from stated to demonstrated. Without proof, values are a claim. With proof, they are a competitive advantage.
Conclusion
The difference between a brand with values and a brand that posts values is a single question: what decision did you make because of them?
If the answer comes quickly and specifically — a supplier declined, a campaign revised, a partnership turned down — values are load-bearing. If the answer requires a search through recent memory and produces only vague examples, values are decorative.
The Marketing Canvas scores this dimension because values are not a culture matter or an HR matter. They are a strategic matter. In commodity markets, they are the last remaining differentiator. In experience markets, they are the foundation of tribal loyalty. In any archetype where brand identity drives purchasing, a weak score on 230 is a Fatal Brake — it blocks every other investment until it is fixed.
Sources
Patrick Lencioni, "Make Your Values Mean Something", Harvard Business Review, July 2002 — hbr.org
Kantar, BrandZ Most Valuable UK Brands 2024, Kantar, 2024 — kantar.com
Kantar, "Three questions to identify your brand's strategic priorities for 2025", Kantar, 2025 — kantar.com
Marketing Canvas Method, Appendix E — Dimension 230: Values, Laurent Bouty, 2026
About this dimension
Dimension 230 — Values is part of the Brand meta-category (200) in the Marketing Canvas Method. The Brand meta-category contains four dimensions: Purpose (210), Positioning (220), Values (230), and Visual Identity (240).
The Marketing Canvas Method is a complete marketing strategy framework built around 6 meta-categories, 24 dimensions, and 9 strategic archetypes. Learn more at marketingcanvas.net or in the book Marketing Strategy, Programmed by Laurent Bouty.
Marketing Canvas - Positioning
Demystify brand positioning with the Marketing Canvas methodology. Understand its significance, different types, and evaluation process. Enhance your brand's market presence with effective positioning strategies.
About the Marketing Canvas Method
This article covers dimension 220 — Positioning, part of the
Brand meta-category. The Marketing Canvas Method structures
marketing strategy across 24 dimensions and 9 strategic archetypes.
Full framework reference at
marketingcanvas.net →
·
Get the book →
In a nutshell
Positioning is the mental real estate your brand owns in the customer's head. Not what you say about yourself — what customers say about you when you're not in the room. Dimension 220 in the Marketing Canvas Method measures whether your positioning is specific enough to exclude alternatives, validated by customer reality, and visible across every touchpoint. A positioning statement that could apply to three or more of your competitors unchanged is not a position. It's wallpaper.
What is Positioning?
Positioning answers one question: why should customers choose you over every alternative?
It must do three things at once: tell customers what category you're in, how you're different, and why they should care. And it must satisfy four criteria — it must be defined (written down and agreed), relevant (to the customer, not to your internal team), attainable (given your actual resources), and aligned with your culture (your people must be able to live it).
The most common failure isn't being wrong. It's being vague. "We provide innovative solutions for modern businesses" occupies no mental real estate because it describes everyone. "We're the indoor health protection company" occupies a specific space because it excludes everything else.
That's the discipline: positioning is as much about what you refuse to be as what you claim to be.
The Positioning Test
Two scoring rules tell you everything:
Score negative if your positioning statement could be copied, word for word, onto a competitor's website without anyone noticing. Vague positioning — "high quality," "customer-centric," "innovative" — signals the absence of strategic choice.
Score positive when your positioning is specific enough to exclude alternatives, confirmed by actual customer research (not internal assumption), and consistently visible from your website headline to your sales pitch to the way your team answers the phone.
The test is simple. Ask three people outside your company to read your positioning statement. Then ask: does this describe only us, or does it also describe our competitors? If the honest answer is "it also describes them" — you have work to do.
Positioning Types: Leader, Challenger, Disruptor
The Marketing Canvas recognises three strategic roles a brand can occupy in its competitive space. Your choice here is not just a marketing decision — it determines your entire competitive approach.
1. Leader Brand
The leader is the category default. When a customer thinks about your category, they think of you first. Leader brands enjoy substantial mindshare and market share, but they pay a price: as they grow toward mass-market adoption, they often lose the early enthusiasts who made them distinctive. Maintaining a leadership position requires constant investment in brand relevance, not just product breadth.
2. Challenger Brand
Challengers compete by turning the leader's strength into a weakness. The leader is everywhere? The challenger is exclusive. The leader is corporate? The challenger is human. The leader is expensive? The challenger is honest about value. Challenger positioning requires precision: you must know exactly which customer segment the leader is underserving, and you must own that segment completely before attempting to expand.
3. Game Changer / Disruptor Brand
Disruptors don't compete within the existing category — they redefine it. They find the job that incumbents have been ignoring, build a product or service architecture around it, and then name the new category. Green Clean did not compete as "another eco-friendly cleaning service." They redefined the job as indoor health protection — and in doing so, created a category where they were, by definition, the leader from day one.
The disruptor play is the highest-risk and highest-reward choice. It only works when the new category genuinely solves an unmet job — and when the brand has the resources to educate the market before competitors copy the framing.
Why Positioning is a Fatal Brake
In the Marketing Canvas Method, Positioning is classified as a Fatal Brake for three archetypes: A1 (Disruptive Newcomer), A5 (Pivot Pioneer), and A8 (Niche Expert).
A Fatal Brake is a dimension where a score below +2 actively blocks progress toward your Step 2 goal. You can fix everything else — and still fail — if this one dimension is broken.
Here is why it's fatal in each case:
A1 — Disruptive Newcomer: A disruptor with vague positioning is just another startup. Without a clear answer to "why choose you over the established player," you will exhaust your budget educating a market that then buys from the incumbent.
A5 — Pivot Pioneer: A pivot without repositioning is a rebrand without a direction. You can change your product entirely and still lose if the market's mental model of your brand hasn't shifted.
A8 — Niche Expert: A niche expert without precise positioning is a generalist pretending to specialize. Owning a niche requires staking a claim so specific that customers in that segment feel you were built exclusively for them.
If your current archetype is A1, A5, or A8 and your Positioning score is below +2 — address this before anything else.
Translating Positioning into Action
Positioning only exists if it's consistently expressed. A positioning statement that lives in a brand document but doesn't show up in the website headline, the sales deck, the onboarding email, and the customer support script isn't positioning. It's aspiration.
Four questions to pressure-test your execution:
Can every person in your team articulate your positioning in one sentence — without reading a card?
Does your website's above-the-fold message reflect your positioning directly?
Would a new customer arriving from any channel — social, search, referral — get the same positioning signal?
Does your pricing reinforce your positioning? (A premium positioning with discounting creates cognitive dissonance that erodes both.)
Consistent expression across every touchpoint is what turns a positioning statement into a customer perception. The perception is the only thing that matters.
Statements for Self-Assessment
Rate your agreement on a scale from −3 (completely disagree) to +3 (completely agree). There is no zero — the Marketing Canvas forces a directional position on every dimension.
Note on Detailed Track scoring: if averaging sub-question scores produces a mathematical zero, the method rounds to −1. A split score means the dimension is not clearly helping your goal — and "not clearly helping" requires the same investigation as "hurting."
Interpreting Your Scores
Negative scores (−3 to −1): Your positioning is unclear, generic, or misaligned. The brand occupies no distinct mental real estate. Customers have no reliable reason to choose you over alternatives — and no reliable way to describe you to others. This is the most expensive problem in marketing, because every other investment (media, content, acquisition) amplifies a message that doesn't stick.
Positive scores (+1 to +3): Your positioning is defined, specific, and consistently expressed. Customers can articulate your brand in terms that match how you'd describe it yourself. Your positioning excludes alternatives rather than trying to appeal to everyone — which means the customers who choose you are choosing you deliberately.
Case Study: Green Clean's Positioning Journey
Green Clean is an eco-friendly residential cleaning service. Here is what the same company looks like at three different positioning maturity levels.
Weak positioning (scores −3 to −1): Green Clean describes itself as "an eco-friendly cleaning solution prioritizing sustainability." The problem: so does every competitor in the eco-cleaning segment. There is no functional category, no excluded alternative, no reason to choose Green Clean over EcoPure or NatureFresh. Customers see the brand as generic. The positioning is real estate no one can find.
Transitional positioning (scores +1 to +2): Green Clean has sharpened to "safe and sustainable cleaning solutions." Better — but still vague. "Safe" and "sustainable" are table stakes in the eco-cleaning category. The positioning describes the category, not the brand's unique place within it. Customers understand what Green Clean does but still can't explain why they'd choose it over a premium competitor.
Strong positioning (score +3): Green Clean shifts to "the indoor health protection company." This is a different category altogether — not eco-cleaning, not green products, but health protection in the home. It references a specific job (protect my family's indoor environment from toxins), excludes conventional cleaning companies that cannot credibly make this claim, and supports a premium price point ($200/visit vs. $100 for conventional alternatives). Every touchpoint — the Family Health Report dashboard, the B-Corp certification, the non-toxic proprietary formula — now serves as proof of the positioning rather than decoration around it.
The shift from "eco-friendly cleaning" to "indoor health protection" is the model. The words changed by a sentence. The strategic outcome changed by a category.
Connected Dimensions
Positioning does not operate in isolation. Four other dimensions must align with it:
110 — JTBD: Positioning must reference the customer's actual job. If your positioning doesn't connect to what customers are hiring you to do, it will feel hollow — however well-crafted.
210 — Purpose: Positioning operationalises purpose for the market. Purpose is the internal compass; positioning is the external expression. They must be consistent.
240 — Visual Identity: Visual identity makes positioning visible. A premium positioning with budget-looking design creates dissonance. A disruptor positioning with corporate aesthetics kills the claim before the first word is read.
310 — Features: Features must deliver what positioning promises. If your positioning claims "indoor health protection," every feature in the product must serve that job. Features that don't are complexity without strategic value.
Conclusion
Positioning is the dimension that makes all other marketing work. Without it, media spend amplifies noise. Without it, content has nothing to anchor to. Without it, the sales conversation starts from zero every time.
You should be able to state your positioning in one sentence, test it against your competitors, and find it expressed consistently across every customer touchpoint. If you can't — that is where to start.
The scoring logic is unambiguous: if your positioning statement could describe three of your competitors as easily as it describes you, it is not a position. It is a description of the category. The category doesn't need a marketing strategy. Your brand does.
Sources
Al Ries & Jack Trout, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, McGraw-Hill, 1981 (revised 2001) — the foundational text on owning a position in the customer's mind
April Dunford, Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning, Page Two Books, 2019 — aprildunford.com— the modern practitioner standard on positioning methodology
Fabrik Brands, "Brand Positioning Trends 2025", November 2025 — fabrikbrands.com
Crealytics, "Brand Marketing in 2025: 8 Power Moves Every Marketer Must Master", 2025 — crealytics.com
Marketing Canvas Method, Appendix E: The 24 Dimensions — Dimension 220 Positioning, Laurent Bouty, 2026