Al Ries and Jack Trout, two of the world's most successful marketing strategists, call upon over 40 years of marketing experise to identify the definitive rules that govern the world of marketing.

Combining a wide-ranging historical overview with a keen eye for the future, the authors bring to light 22 superlative tools and innovative techniques for the international marketplace. The authors examine marketing campaigns that have succeeded and others that have failed, why good ideas didn't live up to expectations, and offer their own ideas on what would have worked better.

The real-life examples, commonsense suggestions and killer instincts contained are nothing less than rules by which companies will flourish or fail.

One of the most important communication books Ive ever read. I highly recommend it!
­­Spencer Johnson, author of Who Moved My Cheese? and co-author of The One Minute Manager

...Ries and Trout taught me everything I know about branding, marketing, and product management. When I had the idea of creating a very large thematic community on the Web, I first thought of Positioning....
­­David Bohnett, Chairman and Founder of GeoCities

The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, media-blitzed public, Positioning describes a revolutionary approach to creating a position in a prospective customers mind-one that reflects a companys own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors. Writing in their trademark witty, fast-paced style, advertising gurus Ries and Trout explain how to:

• Make and position an industry leader so that its name and message wheedles its way into the collective subconscious of your market-and stays there
  
• Position a follower so that it can occupy a niche not claimed by the leader
  
• Avoid letting a second product ride on the coattails of an established one.
  

Positioning also shows you how to:

• Use leading ad agency techniques to capture the biggest market share and become a household name
  
• Build your strategy around your competitions weaknesses
  
• Reposition a strong competitor and create a weak spot
  
• Use your present position to its best advantage
  
• Choose the best name for your product
  
• Determine when-and why-less is more
  
• Analyze recent trends that affect your positioning.
  

Ries and Trout provide many valuable case histories and penetrating analyses of some of the most phenomenal successes and failures in advertising history. Revised to reflect significant developments in the five years since its original publication, Positioning is required reading for anyone in business today.

A business book with a difference: clear-cut advice, sharp writing and a minimum of jargon.­­Newsweek

Revolutionary! Surprising!­­Business Week

Chock-a-block with examples of successful and failed marketing campaigns, makes for a very interesting and relevant read.­­USA Today

“Ries and Trout taught me everything I know about branding, marketing, and product management. When I had the idea of creating a very large thematic community on the Web, I first thought of Positioning....”—David Bohnett, Chairman and Founder of GeoCities

A handsome edition of the original 1981 text, this 20th Anniversary Edition makes available to business and marketing professionals—including tens of thousands of Ries and Trout groupies, worldwide—the work that forever changed the way marketing strategy is done. This new edition features commentary from the authors that offers fresh insight into why “positioning” a product in a prospective customer’s mind is still the most important strategy in business, and includes numerous examples of campaigns that followed, or didn’t follow, Ries and Trout’s thinking.

Two world-renowned marketing consultants and bestselling authors present the definitive rules of marketing.

From the bestselling coauthor of Positioning--essential tactics for success in every marketing arena With his 1981 classic, Positioning, Jack Trout (along with coauthor Al Reis) forever changed the way marketing strategy is done. In the more than two decades since then, he has remained at the forefront of marketing and strategic thinking. Written in response to the demands by Trout fans, acolytes, and students worldwide, this book brings together the key ideas from his substantial body of work in a quick-bite format. Trout on Strategy: Is an ideal introduction to the thinking of one of the century's most influential marketing innovators Explores Trout's major themes, including survival, perception, differentiation, and more Connects the dots in his major works and makes his ideas relevant to the biggest issues facing business today

Renowned marketing expert and best-selling author Jack Trout has a message for managers who are struggling to keep up with today’s ever-changing business climate: “Keep It Simple.” In this paperback edition of The Power of Simplicity, Trout advocates the importance of paying attention to the basics and simplifying processes in order to stay focused on the core business at hand. Through case studies and interviews with successful executives, he shows managers how to cut through jargon, articulate their vision, and regain control of the vital elements of their business in order to make it thrive.


According to Trout, the things that propose to streamline companies, like the ubiquitous “mission statements,” often end up bogging down operations by introducing unnecessary complexity where a straightforward approach may be more effective. Trout cites Southwest Airlines, Intel, and Kohl’s department stores among others as successful companies that have rejected showy trappings in favor of simplification.

The book that completes "Positioning" . . .

Thirty years ago, Jack Trout and Al Ries published their classic bestseller, "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind"--a book that revolutionized the world of marketing. But times have changed. Competition is fiercer. Consumers are savvier. Communications are faster. And once-successful companies are in crisis mode.

"Repositioning" shows you how to adapt, compete--and succeed--in today's overcrowded marketplace. Global marketing expert Jack Trout has retooled his most effective positioning strategies--providing a must-have arsenal of proven marketing techniques specifically redesigned for our current climate. With "Repositioning," you can conquer the "3 Cs" of business: Competition, Change, and Crisis . . . BEAT THE COMPETITION: Challenge your rivals, differentiate your product, increase your value, and stand out in the crowd. CHANGE WITH THE TIMES: Use the latest technologies, communications, and multimedia resources to connect with your consumers. MANAGE A CRISIS: Cope with everything from profi t losses and rising costs to bad press and PR nightmares.

Even if your company is doing well, these cutting-edge marketing observations can keep you on top of your game and ahead of the pack. You'll discover how expanding product lines may decrease your overall sales, why new brand names often outsell established brands, and why slashing prices is usually a bad idea. You'll learn the dangers of attacking your competitors head-on--and the value of emphasizing value. You'll see how consumers can have too many choices to pick from--and what you can do to make them pick your brand.

Drawing from the latest research studies, consumer statistics, and business-news headlines, Trout reveals the hidden psychological motives that drive today's market. Understanding the mindset of your consumers is half the battle. Winning in today's world is often a matter of repositioning. It's how you rethink the strategies you've always relied on. It's how you regain the success you've worked so hard for. It's how you win the new battle of the mind.

How do brand names differ from other names, and what goes into making a good name great and a bad name ghastly? Knowing this can spell the difference between bankruptcy and marketplace triumph. In this indispensable guide, the authors share the secrets of successful brand names-how they've indelibly stamped cultures around the world; who makes them; why they're made; and how they're compiled, bought, sold, and protected. The book outlines what kind of names exist-the initialized, descriptive, allusive, and coined. How namers surf on brainwaves. The do's, don'ts, and nevers of naming, how the structure of names is built from the ground up and how their sounds are engineered. Why names symbolize benefits. Where in the world brands may be found, and what will become of them. Fast-paced, illustration-packed, gazing at the past and probing into the future, this is the definitive book on naming. The Making of A Name is the one book anyone interested in "owned words" must have. "Right now, all over America, millions of freelancers are starting companies, inventing products and marketing their services. Whether they're laid-off dot-com kids or unfulfilled Boomers, they have one thing in common-they all need names. Sadly for them, there's no book on the market that lays out the process. Rivkin and Sutherland's book will fill that gap. It's packed with useful 'how to' as well as tales both inspiring and cautionary: back-stories on the brand names we know-and why we love or hate them." -Laurie Pollock, formerly Senior Partner, Planning Director at Ogilvy & Mather Advertising in New York