Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition (Paperback)

~ (Author) "In the beginning, choice was not a problem..." (more)
Key Phrases: differentiating idea, differentiating strategy, unique selling proposition, United States, Wall Street, Burger King (more...)

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 14, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471028924
• ISBN-13: 978-0471028925
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #196,649 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Differentiate your books - or stop writing them, May 31, 2000

By	Steve Finnie (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition (Hardcover)

Jack Trout is an excellent writer and has important insights about the importance of differentiation. That being said, I especially liked this book the first two times I read it when it was titled "Positioning" and "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing." Personally I'd be a bit embarassed to use 50% of the exact same cases and examples from previous books and still charge ( ). Apparently a harvest strategy and not a good way to differentiate oneself.

That being said, if you haven't read anything by Jack Trout or Al Ries then this book, or one of the aforementioned books, is essential reading for marketing and brand managers.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing earthshaking, but an enjoyable book on marketing, December 12, 2002

By	Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This relatively short book focuses on the idea that companies who don't capitalize on the unique features of their product or service, and who don't evolve into a unique identity will end up in the fossil layers of business failure. A list of brands that have bit the evolutionary dust: American Motors, Burger Chef, Eastern Airlines, Gainesburgers, Hathaway Shirts and Woolworth's tells the tale. In contrast, Nokia, Popeye's Chicken, Bose and Walmart are successfully evolving and creating the differentitation that keeps their customers and grows their business.

There is a Hall of Shame of CEO's who failed to understand this principle, and the important fact that the CEO must be involved in understanding and spearheading differentiation. But most of the examples in this book are plenty familiar to readers of "In Search of Excellence." This is an enjoyably written book, but at most it makes one point: create your unique quality and stay ahead of the wave.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Line Extension and questionable concepts., April 3, 2005

By	Jose Ernesto Passos (São Paulo, SP Brazil) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition (Hardcover)

I liked very much Trout and Ries, Positioning and Marketing Warfare. Reading this book, I had an impression that most of the professional knowledge the author has, was distilled in his previous books.

Mr Trout is doing something he said was not a good practice in Advertising (see Positioning): Line Extension. The good parts of this book you will find in his previous books, maybe with different phrases and examples.

The other thing that is hurting is that he is trying to give advice in areas where he has limited knowledge and experience.

Looking at some titles of the chapters in this book you will find:

Chapter 4 - Quality and Customer Orientation are rarely differentiating Ideas.

Toyota and Honda achieved a position in the mind of customers worldwide that they make high quality products for a good price. Well, it will be difficult for the other automakers, who are actually working to catch up in quality, to differentiate themselves on quality, for they are also runs. I would say that is a hell of a strategy, maybe is not for everyone, but them differentiation is by definition for a few, and not for everybody.

How many companies have positioned themselves as high quality products? Does it pay? Go ask Nikon, Zeiss, Leica, Volvo, Patek Philippe...

Chapter 5 has as title: "Creativity is not a differentiating Idea"

I guess I cannot believe that Mr. Trout has read his own phrase. Does he mean that lack of creativity is a differentiating Idea? Does not make sense. I think quite the opposite, when you are not able to create something unique, is when you go out trying to do something else to differentiate yourself.

I have seen creativity applied to Advertising, the results were fantastic. In Brazil, sometime ago, Brastemp, (a Home Appliances company with financial links with Whirlpool) run an ad campaign that stressed the Quality of Brastemp products using the phrase: " it is not a Brastemp !". Each ad told a story about something (not related to appliances) and the concluding remarks would be " it is not a Brastemp !". The phrase got so popular, that became incorporated as an expression of our language. The end result was that Brastemp established itself in the market so strongly that still today people in Brazil position Brastemp as the top quality producer of home appliances. In the mind of the Brazilian consumer Brastemp is top quality, better than GE, Electrolux, ex-Westinghouse, etc...

I have seen creativity applied to Product Design with similar results.

This book should be read with a critical eye, for it has some impressive phrases but when you think a second time and compare with some practical experience you find problems.

I am not an advertising professional, I just enjoy reading books that come with good new ideas.