Marketing Warfare [Paperback]

Al Ries (Author), Jack Trout (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1986

The authors of the bestselling Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, now compare marketing to war--where competition is the enemy and the customer is the ground to be won.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

You've got your hands on one of the greatest marketing manuals ever written­­the classic that defines the strategies, plans, and campaigns of today's marketing battlefield. Marketing is war. To triumph over the competition, it's not enough to target customers. Marketers must take aim at their competitors­­and be prepared to defend their own turf from would-be attackers at all times. This indispensable guide gives smart fighters the best tactics­­defensive, offensive, flanking, and guerrilla. It's the book that wrote the new rules!

Praise For Marketing Warfare:

"By far the most valuable and exiting business book to come along in years."­­Glamour

"Had Coca-Cola only listened to Trout and Ries, it would have known that to tamper with the Real Thing would be to court disaster."­­New York

"Chock-a-block with examples of successful and failed marketing campaigns. . .Makes for a very interesing and relevant read."­­USA Today

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Al Ries and Jack Trout are the authors of the seminal marketing classic Positioning. They are also the authors of the best-selling marketing books Bottom-Up Marketing and The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. Trout is the coauthor of The New Positioning.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Plume (November 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452258618
• ISBN-13: 978-0452258617
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,771,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incoming!!! (Sales, that is...), February 20, 2001

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marketing Warfare (Paperback)

This classic book on marketing is a must-read for anyone in business. Classic examples of marketing struggles such as the burger wars and cola wars are things we all can relate to, yet provide valuable examples of what to do and what NOT to do when marketing your products.

Reading these examples reminds you of what you already knew about marketing, yet probably forgot to use in your last marketing campaign. It never hurts to revisit these fundamentals--just as the great Larry Bird could be found practicing foul shots alone on the court many an evening.

Many people object to the military metaphor for business, but in this case, we're talking strategy and that's exactly what you need to employ to market products successfully. Basic principles such as knowing the leader's strength, finding the leader's weakness and hitting on a focused "front" are the offensive strategies. Defense (just as important to maintain market share) is discussed, as is "guerrilla warfare" or being the jeeps against the tanks.

"Marketing Warfare" is easy to read, enjoyable, understandable and applicable to anything you do in marketing. I consider it a MUST-HAVE for anyone doing business where a product is sold.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide to marketing strategy, but a bit simplistic, February 22, 2001

By 

M. Livshutz (Niles, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marketing Warfare (Paperback)

This book takes the approach that a successful company is always ahead of its competitors. Thus, its marketing strategy must always be about beating the competitors. If so, then marketing can certainly be described as warfare. The authors decided to keep the book light and easy to read. Because of that, it might appear too shallow, especially to an experienced marketing professional. Even though I am not one, I wished there were more details about the examples they give.

The authors give four strategies that apply to different types of markets and companies.

* Defensive strategy applies to a market leader.

* Offensive strategy applies to a strong challenger.

* Flanking strategy applies to a weaker challenger, and is the most effective in their view.

* Guerilla strategy applies to a small company that wants to avoid being crushed by the bigger competitors.

They explain each strategy in theory and by giving specific examples. They devote much effort to emphasize the folly of picking a strategy that does not match your company realistic market position. They note that most marketing professionals think their company is a leader or at least a strong challenger, so they choose the defensive or offensive strategies. In reality, there are very few companies that are leaders or strong challengers in any market. Therefore, too much marketing patriotism results in misdirected marketing campaigns that fail to achieve positive results.

I think this book is great. I wish there was a more expanded version with more detailed case studies. Overall, though, I recommend it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, lively and real., June 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Marketing Warfare (Paperback)

Nice to see that the cover has been reworked. Still prefere the old one. It captures the essence on the book

The book perhaps deals a little too much with companies and brands that have been arround for many years. I think an analysis of emerging industries would proeve to be more valuble in the fast changing consumer markets. It is easier to review the past and submitt an analysis, do not get me wrong the value of this is emense, but I would like to these good marketing minds put their intellectual capacity to markets that are on the cutting edge both interms of technology but aslo interms of comsumer dynamics.

All in all a must read for Senior Marekting Managers and Director types who continue to not pay attention to the basics as outlined in the book. I work for South Afrca's biggest brewing company and I can vividly relate to some of the follies outlined in the book.

Great Book