Quote

THE LAW OF THE CONTRACTION: A brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus.

Al Ries

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Al Ries
Age: 98
Born: 1926
Born: November 14
Author
Economist
Atlanta
Georgia
Narrow
Brand
Brands
Stronger
Becomes
Focus
Law
Contraction
Contractions

More quotes by Al Ries

Image
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.
Al Ries
Image
Advertising is the way great brands get to be great brands.
Al Ries
Image
A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer.
Al Ries
Image
Positioning is how you differentiate yourself in the mind of the prospect. That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect.
Al Ries
Image
The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospects mind.
Al Ries
Image
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
Image
Marketing is what a company is in business to do. Marketing is a company's ultimate objective.
Al Ries
Image
Strategy and timing are the Himalayas of marketing. Everything else is the Catskills.
Al Ries
Image
Customers want brands that are narrow in scope and distinguishable by a single word, the shorter the better.
Al Ries
Image
The Internet is the ultimate in brand-centered buying.
Al Ries
Image
War and marketing have many similarities.
Al Ries
Image
It's better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.
Al Ries
Image
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
Image
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
Image
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
Image
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
Image
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
Image
The best way to make news is to announce a new category, not a new product.
Al Ries
Image
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
Image
Marketing is not selling. Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect.
Al Ries