Quote

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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Al Ries
Age: 98
Born: 1926
Born: November 14
Author
Economist
Atlanta
Georgia
Consumers
Attribute
Mind
Category
Essence
Consumer
Sacrifice
Reduce
Nobody
Attributes
Single
Categories
Already
Brand
Else
Brands
Owns
Thought

More quotes by 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.
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The next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation.
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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.
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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.
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Strategy and timing are the Himalayas of marketing. Everything else is the Catskills.
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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.
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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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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.
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Customers want brands that are narrow in scope and distinguishable by a single word, the shorter the better.
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War and marketing have many similarities.
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The Internet is the ultimate in brand-centered buying.
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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.
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Changing the direction of a large company is like trying to turn an aircraft carrier. It takes a mile before anything happens. And if it was a wrong turn, getting back on course takes even longer.
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The best way to make news is to announce a new category, not a new product.
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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.
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A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer.
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Marketing is not selling. Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect.
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THE LAW OF THE CONTRACTION: A brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus.
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The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospects mind.
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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.
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