Some products need to make critical positioning decisions that involve product-class associations. For example, Maxim freeze-dried coffee, the first one in the market, needed to position itself with respect to regular and instant coffee. Some margarines position them with respect to butter. Dried milk makers came out with instant breakfast positioned as a breakfast substitute and a virtually identical product positioned as a dietary meal substitute. The toilet soap Dove positioned itself apart from the soap category as a cleansing cream product, for women with dry skin.

The soft drink 7-Up was for a long time positioned as a beverage that had a “fresh clean taste” that was “thirst quenching.” However, research uncovered the fact that most people did not regard 7-Up as a soft drink but rather as a mixer beverage; therefore, the brand tended to attract only light soft-drink users. The positioning strategy was then developed to position7-Up as a “mainline” soft drink, as a logical alternative to the “colas” but with a better taste. The successful “Uncola” campaign was the result.