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Summary: Al and Laura are just building the Ries brand
Review: not bad- but not great... they have more pictures than other books and the layout is attractive, but they oversimplify a few contentious areas. Everyone understands there are no laws in love or marketing... so what's with the 22 (oh marketing)!
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Summary: Branding is the future of business.
Review: Our book shatters the conventional wisdom of brand development. We lay down the laws that can make the difference between success and failure in the marketplace for your brand. We answer questions like: Which is more important Advertising or PR? Should we line extend? How important is quality? What color and shape should our logo be? Do we go global? When do we let a brand die? How often do we change our slogan? Should we block competitors from entering our market? Do we promote the category or our brand? What should we name our brand?
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Summary: Close...but NO cigar!
Review: Overall, this is a good read. But, don't fall into the robotic trap of believing EVERYTHING you read! Take what is good from this book (and there is some) and digest it with all your marketing AND common sense wisdom. The author claims that "symbols" are really NOT that important!... This sort of reckless disinformation only furthers the authors 'hidden agenda?' I have been a top international brand manager for numerous household names the past 35 years and I can tell you without a doubt that "SYMBOLS SELL." Now, don't get me wrong, I am not implying that the symbol is everything, but, A BAD, UNPROFESSIONAL AND CHEAPLY ACQUIRED LOGO DESIGN CAN SEVERELY AND SOMETIMES IRREVERSIBLY KILL YOUR BEST MARKETING EFFORTS OVER A PERIOD OF TIME. I have fallen victim to this problem more than once. Don't let it happen to you too!! We are a visual species; our unique and wonderful genetic disposition as humans endows us with the great gift of an advanced visual cortex within our brains. We see, we react, we think. But, by the time we get around to thinking, our subconscious mind has already assimilated a mountain of data about what we just took in. We innately gravitate towards that which is appealing to us visually; whether it be someone of the opposite sex or our favorite product (or LOGO) which captures our fancy in a magical way. Examples of logos like these are too numerous to mention here. Just look around your own little universe and "see" what it is that you yourself have become attached to over the years and think..."why?" The bottom line is this: Don't cut corners when it comes time to position your product or service in the global marketplace. A world class logo done right should be one of the FIRST things considered BEFORE launching your new product, business or service. You wouldn't set off to run a marathon with shoes from Wal-Mart. - Would you?? Shame on you, Al and Laura Ries for your gross error of judgement regarding the REAL WORLD facts.
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Summary: gets you thinking
Review: Simple, direct points stimulate your thinking and drive straight to the point. The value in this book isn't so much the "laws" themselves, its what you think about when you read it.
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Summary: Marketing for Idiots
Review: Simply put this book sucks. The examples are out of date and can only be applied to a mature company being run by brian dead drones.Don't waste your money.
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Summary: test test
Review: test testtest test test testtest testtest testtest testtest testtest testtest testtest testtest testtest testtest testtest test
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Summary: Another brilliant book from Ries, now working his daughter!
Review: The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is an insightful, thought-proviking, explicit instrument for helping anyone in business understand the principals and keys to success. I recommend and encourage everyone to read it from college grads to corporate CEO's!
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Summary: BRANDING BIBLE
Review: The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is, without a doubt, the very best book on branding out there. Short, sweet and to the point, 22 Immutable Laws of Branding will take you through each essential step as you work to create an absolutely dominating brand. But, you may ask, "If I read this book, will I be able to blow my competitors out of the water?" The basics of branding are really quite simple. They can be learned and implemented by anyone. 22 Immutable Laws lays the foundation and, then, as they say, it's up to you. After all Coke (like Rome) wasn't built in a day. This book, though, gives the foundation and will help you to avoid many of the pitfalls in the branding game. Go for it. 22 Immutable Laws of Branding will be a mainstay on your office shelf to be referred to day in and day out.
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Summary: An excellent read on a key issue in business today
Review: The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding was primarily written by Laura Ries - Al Ries was a co-author on the book - in case anyone didn't know. Such information is available at their website. I rank this book a solid 5 star book because the insights / examples provided far outweigh any concerns / problems I found with the book. This book caused me to look at advertising / marketing from a different perspective in my daily life which is what I use to evaluate if something is a 5 star book I loved The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding for the following reasons: 1. It flat out states the importance of marketing & branding, which is important to separate in the readers' mind before beginning. As they state "Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect. If you can build a powerful brand you will have a powerful marketing program. If you can't, then all the advertising, fancy packaging, sales promotion and public relations in the world won't help you achieve your objective." 2. The Ries' call it like they see it. Excellent examples of marketing / advertising stupidity / effectiveness are provided. 3. They talk about the plethora of products that are produced each year. 4. They discuss how businesses must get inside a consumer's mind (AKA positioning) to win the war. Volvo = safety, BMW = Ultimate Driving Machine, Mercedes = prestige, Toyota = Reliability, Ford = ?, Chevy = ?. The Ries' clearly spell out an excellent reason as to why the U.S. automanufacturers are getting killed. 5. The book illustrates, as did the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, how companies dilute their brands through line extensions (I personally believe this due to my personal experience / buying patterns and observations of others.) 6. They point out the increasing importance of PR (public relations) compared to advertising. This is the subject of a new book by the father / daughter. Basically PR launches a product and advertising gives it life support is their main assertion. I disliked The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding for the following reasons: 1. Overlap from prior books is definitely occurring. I have noticed this with Jack Trout's recent books too. I would estimate that 15% - 20%, at a minimum, of Trout's recent books and this book have been stated in one form or another in their prior works.
2. Some of the examples provide clearly refute other examples provided. On page 100 they state "the Mustang and former CEO of Chrysler Corporation (two powerful brand names.) In prior examples the authors clearly state that the brand is the maker of the company. Volvo = safety, BMW = driving machine, etc (you will find such features in all their vehicles -maybe not in Volvos convertible.) What does Chrysler stand for again? Minivans? I haven't exactly noticed it in their advertising......for a long time... Conclusion: Buy the book. It is well worth the time and money. Most of my reviews are in business / economics and I encourage people to read them, whether here on Amazon or at my personal website. If you are interested in another good marketing book I highly recommend Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout or Seth Godin's book on permission marketing / launching an ideavirus. If you are interested in other subjects I would encourage you to read The Worldly Philosophers by Robert Heilbroner if you are interested in economic history - the book is international in scope and deals with the lives and times of the most famous economists in history. If you are interested in economic development / evolution of U.S. property history I would encourage you to read Hernando DeSoto's Mystery of Capital but note his lack of focus on corruption in certain countries. A great general business book is by the management guru Peter Drucker entitled "The Essential Drucker."
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Summary: The emperor's new clothes
Review: The authors seem to think a company's success rises and falls on branding alone - no other factors (pricing, promotion, distribution, product quality, etc) are relevant. I suppose if you make your living taking consulting dollars from companies you need to build a mythology that branding is a mystic and powerful art that only highly paid professionals can master. They probably think the Titantic wouldn't have sunk if it had been branded better. Many of their examples are poorly defended. As one reviewer put it they allow the reader to think of plenty of counterexamples.
The book would be much better with more analysis of success creation instead of repetitive bad-mouthing of 'bad moves'. For instance, they mention how Black & Decker successfully created the DeWalt brand, but the authors didn't discuss the appropriate scope for it. Should it apply only to drills? Cordless tools? High-priced tools? What would be the consequenses of defining the brand along these lines? Such a case study would have been more helpful in illustrating their points. The arrogance of the author's make the read annoying, along with their neglect of the importance of marketing to the distributors as well as end users. For example, Coke needs to be in thousands of resturants, stadiums, and vending machines before it gets to consumers. This has ramifications on the breadth and scope of product line, not to mention distribution. Any marketing department has to consider factors like this, but the book oversimplifies all matters to branding decisions. There are a few good points, however, about line extensions and cannibalization. Take the rest with a grain of salt.
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