Customer Reviews

The Origin of Brands: How Product Evolution Creates Endless Possibilities for New Brands

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This latest book by Al Ries and his daughter Laura extends their previous work on positioning, brands, categories, being first in a category, and why publicity is more important now than advertising.

The authors draw an extended analogy to Charles Darwin's Origin of Species that runs through out the book.

In the business world Categories like computers evolve slowly through competition but also diverge rapidly through specialization. Over time those species that have won look quite different (lion vs. a tiger, for example). The same diverging is true with categories like computers where we now have desktops, laptops, palmtops.

The authors draw the parallel that this concept of divergence of the species also applies to categories in business. Understanding this similarity, they say, is your key to success in business. You just have to create new categories, and then dominate that category. But this book develops this positioning logic in ways that seemed much clearer to me than their previous works.

To succeed, you (the business owner/manager) must CREATE NEW CATEGORIES (palmtops), and doing this is MORE IMPORTANT than your creation of new brands (Sharp Zaurus). Creating a brand is more important because you must end up being 1st or 2nd in that category to be successful. (Sounds like Jack Welch's thinking of 'We're going to be 1, 2 or 3 in an industry, or else we sell that subsidiary.')

Through a slow elaboration of proof after proof, chapter after chapter, the Ries authors convince you to see the logic of what they have been advocating for the last 20 or so years on positioning, categories, brands and publicity. As a reader I found this slow elaboration of proofs to be slow reading, however, I'm sure it's required for the skeptics (advertising account reps, I'm sure).

In regards to publicity, they recommend a way to create a new category. This methodology requires the use of slow build up publicity rather than fast splurge advertising.

If you accept their thinking on categories and brands, and I do, then you will be against mergers that take companies into unrelated fields, and you will be against line extensions that weaken your brand. The chapter on "Pruning" was especially enlightening in this regard. Toyota's development of Lexus was a great example of how to create a new category. The company can sell off Lexus and not hurt the Toyota brand. The authors have other examples of good creation of categories. But their examples of poorly thought out brands was quite extensive, and sometimes overwhelming.

There are three big rewards from reading this book. First, you will get a deep grounding in why you must create Categories first, then create the first brand in that category. Second, in reading all the elaboration you will develop a working knowledge of seeing brands and categories, and where companies fit in that category.

In this manner when you see that McDonalds is adding DVD rentals (yesterday's WSJ) you will know that this is CONVERGENCE and it is bad. They should be DIVERGING instead. Such convergence will dilute their brand of hamburgers, fries, and shakes. Should we now call them "Blockaburger?"

In fact, I found it interesting that the authors described how In And Out hamburgers in California now has higher per store sales than McDonalds and that McDonalds per store sales are static, and perhaps dropping if their figures weren't deflated for inflation. Again, there's lots of examples and details.

And the third reward from reading this book is that the last three chapters of the book provide a methodology (albeit somewhat abstract) for you to follow. You will learn to DIVERGE NOT CONVERGE, create the Category first, then create a brand to be first in that category. You will learn that its OK to be second in an industry, if you only... well, you'll have to read the book to get all the other details.

This book is highly recommended.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

This is my first time writing a review because its not everyday I get so excited by a book. But this is Amazing! One of those books that completly changes the way you look at the world. So many lights came on. After years of struggling to come up with viable product/service ideas and after countless hours reading business books on how to run and market a business after you actually get one going, I finally know where to begin in coming up with business ideas.It fills in so many of the gaps left out of most other business books.

Put all your other books away start your business reading here! This is not some cute, ivory tower theory. The book is brimming with real world examples, much like Positioning. And it draws heavily from Charles Darwin and his theories of evolution and most importantly DIVERGENCE. Survival of a species and survival of a product are very similar.

I had no idea what Divergence meant 24 hours ago. Now I can think of nothing else. If you read only one book this year, make it this one. I even paid full hardcover price at the bookstore because I couldnt wait for the info.

If you want an edge, get this book!

What do WebTV, The Swiss Army Knife, and Miller Lite all have in common? If you said bad ideas, you're only half right. According to the new book "The Origin of Brands" from marketing experts Al & Laura Ries (The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR), they are also examples of convergence, which should be avoided whenever possible.

Convergence occurs when products produced separately are merged into one. The authors of this book offer an alternative, divergence or new products or services that stand alone. Relying heavily on examples from Darwin's "Origin of Species" the authors explain why creating separate categories are more beneficial to consumers, businesses, and the marketplace. The authors state "Did you ever see a tree in which two branches converged to form a single branch? Perhaps, but this is highly unlikely in nature. It's also highly unlikely in products and services." Instead, according to this book, divergence is the answer.

In the chapter titled "Survival of The Firstest," the authors give the best advice. They insist on the importance of launching a brand into a naught market, relying on the importance of being first. And if you can't be first in the market, the chapter "Survival of the Secondest," explains how to survive being second and how to overcome the competition. The authors explain how emulation is to be avoided and being the direct opposite of competitor's works best. They use The University of Phoenix, G.I. Joe, and Bud Light as successful examples.

Though this book tends to overlook some of the successes in convergence, like the car stereo and the caller ID/phone, "The Origin of Brands" is still an excellent book. It's packed with intelligent marketing and public relations advice that could be applied to practically every product, business, or service. Anyone in business will love this book and will not be able to put it down until the very last page. "The Origin of Brands" will make a wonderful desk reference for anyone who wants to practice sound marketing techniques. Buy it. Study it. And put in into action.

Emanuel Carpenter
[...]

Before reading, I expected this book to list historical examples of successful brand names and how they developed - Coca-Cola, Kleenex, GAP, etc. But after reading, I was delighted to find that this book had much more. "The Origin of Brands" is one of the most practical business strategy books I have ever read.

The book finds a niche by paralleling Darwin's book "The Origin of Species." The authors give a refresher in high school biology by showing the development of a product is analogous to evolution. Just as how the canine species evolved into many different breeds of dogs - Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Terriers; a product like the television can diverge into new categories - plasma, projection, LCD, DLP, etc. It is through this divergence in innovation that new products can be created and new brand names can come into existence.

Contrary to the belief that entrepreneurs must find unfulfilled markets and seize a business opportunity, Al & Laura Ries say that success can be found through creating new markets. Before the introduction of light beer, there was neither a market nor a demand for light beer. But a new market was created with Bud Lite as the dominating brand. The recently popular Red Bull drink found its success by creating a new market known as "energy drinks."

The book also gives good advice on battling with your brand. If you are competing with the #1 brand in a market, the book suggests you do the opposite of the leader. Target provides fierce competition with Wal-Mart by providing the opposite - clean, neat-looking displays and wide isles. Home Depot and Lowe's have a similar relationship. It is through uniqueness that business must compete - not by following a trend.

Near the end, the book somewhat reverts to basic marketing tactics - giving your brand an identity in the consumer's mind. Cadillac is able to keep a prestigious name by associating itself with the basic idea of "expensive American car." Products like Zima beer, introduced by the Coors company, are unsuccessful because do not identify with a simple basic image in the consumer's minds.

While I can't necessarily agree that the author's thinking applies to all business cases, this book definitely brings out some obvious truths in product development and marketing. It even points out psychological thinking on the customer's end. Unlike many other business books, this one supports itself with hundreds of real-world examples of successful and unsuccessful products. I enjoyed reading it because it was able to answer "why" to almost everything stated.

I recommend this for anyone in marketing, entrepreneurship, and even managers interested in making their business better. "The Origin of Brands" will provide you with ideas helpful in selling any product - no matter how large or how small. Best of all, it is enjoyable as much as it is informative.

While others who've read this book rave about it, I would come down more on the ambivilant side. No doubt there are a lot of good ideas and examples in this book. However, if you've read other work by Ries (including his work with Jack Trout) you've read almost all this stuff before. While the Darwinian metaphor seems apt, Ries (and his daughter, Laura) really just exploit it for a literary device to repackage a lot of Al's prior thinking with plenty of new examples from the marketplace. (By the way, Al, if you go off on the mismanagment of the Miller brand one more time, I'm going to scream.)

So my bottom line is this. If you've never read any of Al Ries' books, this one is a good contemporary overview of his thinking (which is, no doubt, of significant importance). However, if you've read more than two or three of his other books, you'll recognize most of this book is a rehash of earlier work, updated for today and you'll end up feeling like you bought a new album from a great classic rock band only to find out they've just remastered some golden oldies and invited in Kid Rock, 50 Cent and the cast of American Idol to give the songs a new spin.

Searching for ways to explain today's marketing battlefield with nature's survival laws, this book could easily be presented as "Simply Darwinist".

Ries' are offering a point of view that's almost the opposite of "what the biggest marketing gurus are making today", and just for this reason you should give this book a chance.

If you've read their previous books, you already know their point of view about focusing and making your marketing efforts narrower everyday. In this book, they're also adding "the need to trim the branches"...

Some examples of failures however, did not seem so realistic to me.

This reviewer is a scientist by training and has never done anything business oriented in his life due to a complete ignorance of how one person convinces another one to buy his product or service. Until now after reading this book. Written as a marketing's parallel to Darwin's Origin of Species, this book shows how brands and brand names can take on a life of their own, and change in ways that species in nature can change. Going thru the past 100 years, the authors use famous and infamous brands to illustrate their lessons. The concepts shown in this book are remarkably simple, yet all-encompassing. Likewise the book is very easy to read and understand, even to those with minimal knowledge of business like me. Overall, I highly recommend it.

The philosophy and reasoning behind The Origin of Brands is both interesting and valuable. The book describes (in depth) an analogy between Darwinian survival of species and the survival of brands. The logic is sound, and when correctly applied to a marketing plan or branding initiative, will no doubt prove to be worthy.

However, I felt at times that the analogy was too forced. Too much of the book was devoted to proving (with example after example after example) that the authors' theories of divergence was sound. They had me convinced early on, and I looked forward to more "now what?" discussions of how to go about applying this theory to the real world.

Unfortunately, much of that was left to the reader to deduce based upon the very many examples given. There is a lot of valuable information to be had though, so I only docked them one star.

Regardless of my stingy rating, the book is a must read for serious marketing professionals.

Applicability: 8 out of 10 -- could use more discussion of practical application

Creativity: 10 - darwinian analogy is easy to understand and provoking

Readability: 9 - easy writing style to absorb and fun to read, but gets bogged down at times in self ratification

Value: 9 - for the money spent on this book, you could avoid some very common and critical marketing blunders.

Best Point: Darwinian theories and quotes from the original Origin of Species - lets exercise those brains folks! Complete with illustrations, this analogy really does hold the book together and makes the title apt and appropriate.

Worst Point: In a lengthy diatribe against convergence, the Rieses seem to forget that some forms of divergence come when a species (or brand) strengthen a common trait (feature) that is shared with another species (brand). That is, not all "convergence" is bad -- such as telecom "service convergence" of voice video and data, which has led to diverging technologies (higher-speed broadband technologies that can support video, for example).

Overall: 9 out of 10 (5 stars).

I believe that this kind of book is for those who want to open their mind to another kind of Marketing thinking.
In this book we can see the other side of the coin, because all the big companies are thinking in convergence, like Apple, and Divergence is a concept that will arise in the following years.

Using Charles Darwin's theory of divergence as a foundation, Al and Laura Ries argue that the new trend of convergence (cellphones with cameras, and refrigerators with internet) is the complete wrong direction for brands to move. They present, quite successfully, the view that convergence is a loser. Categories of products diverge and the first to that new category is the winner.

I initially found the this book very interesting, but unpractical. Realistically I had to be able to come up with more examples, than they had, of successful convergence. But I couldn't. As I continued to read and, more importantly, reflect on the real world, I found myself in total agreement. Strong brands succeed because they are great at one thing, not pretty good at a couple.

Al and Laura also make a great point about being first to a category. People still believe it is more important to be the best and fight the good fight. Definetely there are some examples where the firsts to categories have faltered, but for the most part, first equals the winner. They gather all the buzz and establish themselves as the leader in the category.

There are many factors that contribute to a successful brand, but I believe these theories should be among them. Definetely recommended reading for any brand manager or business owner. I find myself viewing companies, big and small, through this lens on a daily basis. What causes their brand to succeed or fail? I've found many times it's how they apply these concepts that lead to the result.