Back in 1980, Al Ries and Jack Trout warned marketers that if they didn’t position their brands in consumers’ minds, their competitors would do it for them. That’s still true, but there’s another notable reason for brand positioning: “Whether or not a brand actively tries to spark a feeling, people are going to feel something about them,” says Kai Wright, global consulting partner at Ogilvy, author of Follow the Feeling: Brand Building in a Noisy World, and a stand-room-only speaker at ANA Masters of Marketing. “So, it’s dangerous when brands don’t actively have a strategy that unifies all of their marketing and communications and policies and practices towards one positive thing that everyone is striving towards.”