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It's the first company to build the mental position that has the upper hand, not the first company to make the product. IBM didn't invent the computer Sperry Rand did. But IBM was the first to build the computer position in the prospect's mind.

Al Ries

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Al Ries
Age: 98
Born: 1926
Born: November 14
Author
Economist
Atlanta
Georgia
Mind
Products
Rand
Make
Position
Prospect
Hand
Upper
Company
Invent
Didn
Product
Hands
Mental
Firsts
Build
First
Computer

More quotes by Al Ries

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A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer.
Al Ries
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Only brand names register in the mind... What you should generally do is take a regular word and use it out of context to connote the primary attribute of your brand.
Al Ries
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A successful branding program is based on the concept of singularity. It creates in the mind of the prospect the perception that there is no product on the market quite like your product.
Al Ries
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Marketing is what a company is in business to do. Marketing is a company's ultimate objective.
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What should a brand leader advertise?Brand leadership, of course. Leadership is the single most important motivating factor in consumer behavior.
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A branding program should be designed to differentiate your cow from all the other cattle on the range. Even if all the cattle on the range look pretty much alike.
Al Ries
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To get into the consumer's mind, you have to sacrifice. You have to reduce the essence of your brand to a single thought or attribute. An attribute that nobody else already owns in your category.
Al Ries
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A laser is a weak source of energy. A laser takes [only] a few watts of energy and focuses them in a coherent stream of light. But with a laser, you can drill a hole in a diamond or wipe out cancer.
Al Ries
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If you want to build a brand, you must focus your branding efforts on owning a word in the prospect's mind. A word that nobody else owns.
Al Ries
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Marketing is not selling. Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect.
Al Ries
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What's your brand? If you can't answer that question about your own brand in two or three words, your brand's in trouble.
Al Ries
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The Internet is the ultimate in brand-centered buying.
Al Ries
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It normally takes decades to build a brand... It's the forgetting of the old truth that allows a person to accept a new truth. You need to allow enough time for this forgetting to take place
Al Ries
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The best way to make news is to announce a new category, not a new product.
Al Ries
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Today, communication itself is the problem. We have become the world's first overcommunicated society. Each year we send more and receive less.
Al Ries
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The next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation.
Al Ries
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It's better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.
Al Ries
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The Law of the Generic: One of the fastest routes to failure is giving a brand a generic name.
Al Ries
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The essence of positioning is sacrifice. You must be willing to give up something in order to establish that unique position.
Al Ries
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The real barrier (to building a brand) is the human mind. It normally takes decades to build a brand because it takes decades to penetrate the gray matter in between your ears.
Al Ries