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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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Al Ries
Age: 98
Born: 1926
Born: November 14
Author
Economist
Atlanta
Georgia
Law
Generic
Giving
Fastest
Routes
Brand
Brands
Failure
Name
Names

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Marketing is not selling. Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect.
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The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity.
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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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Successful brands get into the mind slowly. A blurb in a magazine. A mention in a newspaper. A comment from a friend. A display in a retail store. After a slow buildup, people become convinced that they have known about the brand forever.
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Your brand's power lies in dominance. It is better to have 50% of one market, instead of 10% of five markets.
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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.
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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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Marketing is what a company is in business to do. Marketing is a company's ultimate objective.
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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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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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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 next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation.
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Good things happen when you narrow your focus.
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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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It's better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.
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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.
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The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospects mind.
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Strategy should evolve out of the mud of the marketplace, not in the antiseptic environment of an ivory tower.
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