Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (1st Edition Revised) [Hardcover]

Al Ries (Author), Jack Trout (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1985

Positioning, a concept developed by the authors, has changed the way people advertise. The reason? It's the first concept to deal with the problems of communicating in an overcommunicated society. With this approach, a company creates a 'position' in the prospect's mind, one that reflects the company's own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors. Witty and fast-paced, this book spells out how to position a leader so that it gets into the mind and stays there, position a follower in a way that finds a 'hole' not occupied by the leader, and avoid the pitfalls of letting a second product ride on the coattails of an established one. Revised to reflect significant developments in the five years since its original publication, Positioning reveals the fascinating case histories and anecdotes behind the campaigns of many stunning successes and failures in the world of advertising.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"One of the most important communication books I've ever read. I highly recommend it!"
­­Spencer Johnson, author of Who Moved My Cheese? and co-author of The One Minute Manager

"...Ries and Trout taught me everything I know about branding, marketing, and product management. When I had the idea of creating a very large thematic community on the Web, I first thought of Positioning...."
­­David Bohnett, Chairman and Founder of GeoCities

The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, media-blitzed public, Positioning describes a revolutionary approach to creating a "position" in a prospective customer's mind-one that reflects a company's own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors. Writing in their trademark witty, fast-paced style, advertising gurus Ries and Trout explain how to:

• Make and position an industry leader so that its name and message wheedles its way into the collective subconscious of your market-and stays there
• Position a follower so that it can occupy a niche not claimed by the leader
• Avoid letting a second product ride on the coattails of an established one.

Positioning also shows you how to:

• Use leading ad agency techniques to capture the biggest market share and become a household name
• Build your strategy around your competition's weaknesses
• Reposition a strong competitor and create a weak spot
• Use your present position to its best advantage
• Choose the best name for your product
• Determine when-and why-less is more
• Analyze recent trends that affect your positioning.

Ries and Trout provide many valuable case histories and penetrating analyses of some of the most phenomenal successes and failures in advertising history. Revised to reflect significant developments in the five years since its original publication, Positioning is required reading for anyone in business today.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Al Ries is Chairman of Ries & Ries, Focusing Consultants. Jack Trout is Chairman of Trout & Partners. Al Ries and Jack Trout are undoubtedly the world's best-known marketing strategists.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill; Rev Sub edition (November 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070652643
• ISBN-13: 978-0070652644
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,435,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read, but little practical examples, August 20, 2002

By 

"dgrounds" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (Paperback)

A classic in marketing how-tos, the authors explain the importance of offering something for sale that appeals to the buyer, not to the seller, creator, or manufacturer. The product is positioned relative to the consumer, and her needs and viewpoints of value. The basic theory is that you get into the mind of your consumer, and position your product accordingly. And on that point, almost anyone would have to agree.

You will not find the gory details in this book that you'll need to execute a marketing plan, though, but the general theme is examined, as well as various positioning examples (everything from Kleenex to Heinz Ketchup - or was that pickles?).

I was particularly disappointed about a lack of methodology to reach a positioning statement, other than some fairly broad "rules", lightly applied throughout the book. There were six questions at the end that were helpful, but did not constitute a rigorous method - well, any method really - to create a "position". If anything, I would have wished for the method that could be used to create positioning for a product, or to test a company's current positioning, rather than have as many examples of positioning failures.

Some of the author's examples seemed contradictory, and especially when the authors claimed that brand extension amounts to a virtual see-saw - one product steals the brand identity from another (Heinz Ketchup vs. Heinz Pickles - who is Heinz!?). From hindsight, it can be seen that some brand extensions have been extremely successful, while others aren't. It should shock no one that people don't want to use baking soda as anti-perspirant, for instance, and therefore completely explaining why we use Arm & Hammer to cook and deodorize the refrigerator, but do not think of it as a personal hygiene brand. I can't think of anything that I would remove from the refrigerator and rub under my arms.

In any case, this remains a quick, good read with short chapters. The examples illustrate the concepts, but you'll need to follow this up with other positioning and marketing examples in order to position your product within your industry.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Marketing Classic - A must read., January 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (Mass Market Paperback)

Positioning is a concept that has been coined by Ries and Trout in the late 1970s. Today (2000), Positioning has become one of the most commonly used marketing terms.

Like all other books by Trout and Ries, "Positioning" is straight-forward, common-sensical and easy to read. The book is full of real market example of positioning attempts that succeeded and failed.

This book belongs on the bookshelves of marketers just as much as the laws of trigonometry belong on the shelves of mathematicians

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much More Than Marketing, March 4, 2004

By 

David Quinn (Orange County, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (Paperback)

Positioning is the idea that shook Madison Avenue to its core in the 1970s. Ries and Trout published what the high priests of Madison Avenue deemed as heresy. These two upstarts dared to take the voodoo out of marketing - and marketing has not been the same since.

Over the years I have given away countless dozens of Positioning. I have found two types of recipients: (1) Those who view it as a book on marketing, and (2) those who truly "get it."

Positioning is not actually about marketing, though that is its platform. It is about how the human mind works. The principals taught in this book apply across all of our lives - from how we are viewed by our friends to why we affiliate with a particular political party or other social cause. Learning how Positioning works is learning about life.