A glimpse into the minds of the Positioning Pioneers

Posts By Al Ries

  • Think bottom up, not top down.

    What’s wrong with the strategies developed by many giant corporations? They tend to be developed “top down.” What’s a BlackBerry? Check the website. Is...

  • The most difficult job in marketing.

    Change. And J.C. Penney is the latest example. In the year since Ron Johnson introduced his new strategy for the brand, sales are down...

  • The seven challenges of Coca-Cola.

    You don’t get to be 126 years old and the world’s most-valuable brand without making some major changes along the way. Over the years,...

  • Focus on pre-emption. Not differentiation.

    In marketing circles today, there’s an emphasis on “differentiation.” Marketing people often compare their brands to the competition in order to find a point...

  • Focus on categories. Not brands.

    After five unprofitable years, Tesco has announced that it will likely sell or shut down its 199 Fresh & Easy stores. Tesco, the giant...

  • Hard versus soft attributes.

    The dean of one of the country’s most-prestigious business schools has just announced a ground-breaking positioning program for her institution. As a leading marketing...

  • Obama’s secret weapon.

    All slogans are not created equal. Some slogans are one-sided and some slogans are two-sided. A two-sided slogan is like a two-sided knife. It...

  • Fage and the yogurt wars.

    What’s the leading producer of Greek yogurt in Greece? It’s not Chobani, the hot brand of Greek yogurt in America. It’s Fage with more...

  • Company versus product brands.

    We seem to be confusing the two. It’s obvious that Procter & Gamble is a company brand, but what’s an Apple? Like P&G, Apple...

  • What we can learn from JC Penney.

    After two tries, the triple-talented Miami Heat finally managed to win an NBA championship. Why didn’t super-stars Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James...

  • The three rules of marketing.

    Years ago, I was making a presentation to several hundred marketing people from a Fortune 500 consumer-products company. The subject of my presentation was...

  • Brands today need hammermarks.

    In 1986, CBS broadcast a 60 Minutes segment about Audi entitled “Out of Control.” The show portrayed the tendency of the Audi 5000 model...

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