A glimpse into the minds of the Positioning Pioneers

  • Price is a valuable position: So why do companies deliberately destroy theirs?

    Headline in a recent issue of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Retailers to roll out low-price stores. As the newspaper pointed out, the Gap retail chain...

  • Does the watch on Tim Cook’s watch measure up to Steve Jobs’ standards?

    The signs are not good. What reason does Apple have for not disclosing watch sales on its latest financial returns? I can think of...

  • What put Donald Trump in First Place?

    Donald Trump kicked off his Presidential campaign by attacking Mexican immigrants. And the whole country was in an uproar. NBC fired him. Macy’s fired...

  • They might want quarter-inch holes, but they buy better quarter-inch drills.

    Marketing is frustrating because virtually all common-sense ideas are wrong. Take Theodore Levitt’s famous maxim, People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They...

  • Why don’t you take your own advice?

    In the spring of 1972, Jack Trout and I wrote a series of articles for Advertising Age entitled “The Positioning Era Cometh.” And it...

  • How long should a slogan last?

    Back in 1999, Advertising Age selected the top 100 advertising campaigns of the 20th century. Out of the top 100, how many do you...

  • What we can learn from the RadioShack disaster.

    “Inside Radio Shack’s Collapse” is the headline of a six-page cover story in Bloomberg Businessweek last month. Why RadioShack bite the dust? Let’s take...

  • How would you position Cadillac, the auto-industry’s faded glory?

    “What else can we get into?” That’s the first question new management asks itself when it takes over a company. Johan de Hysschen, Cadillac’s...

  • Coca-Cola introduces Fairlife milk, but have they gotten the category right?

    I was impressed when Coca-Cola announced the introduction of Fairlife, the first brand of “expensive” milk. Or as Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North...

  • What’s the biggest change in marketing in the past 50 years?

    You could make the case for the Internet. Or Big Data. Or mobile marketing. Or PR. Or celebrities. Or a number of other revolutionary...

  • What do chief executives have in common with accordion players?

    Hewlett-Packard plans to split in half, separating its PC and printer businesses from its hardware and services businesses. According to CEO Meg Whitman, the...

  • In marketing, 1 plus 1 often equals 3/4th.

    Years ago, Burger King had 12 different burgers on its menus while McDonald’s had only five. That means Burger King should have been selling...

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Ries Report

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