Marketing Warfare

Rating:
Summary: Ups.. Al Ries did positioning
Review:
I think "Positioning" is the best ever book written on marketing by Al Ries. But this book is just a positioning they build on that book. I recommend reading "Art of War" by Sun Tzu instead of this book, and apply in marketing and everyday life. So simple.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: Al Ries and Jack Trout's book marches to a military drumbeat, as you might guess from the dedication to Karl von Clausewitz, "one of the greatest marketing strategists the world has ever known." Advice abounds for the testosterone-impaired, including football references and quotations from Gen. Patton. It offers an incisive, if militaristic, strategic marketing perspective. At one point the authors feel the need to clarify: "We don't mean [to advise] undermining leaders by dynamiting their plants or interdicting their rail centers. That's a physical way of looking at marketing warfare." This book proves that the "us-against-them" mindset thrives, even in this era of joint ventures. If you believe Bill Gates succeeded because he was a nice young man, this book probably isn't for you. Otherwise, snap to attention, soldier, for a few lessons in the art of marketing warfare. We [...] recommend this book to those who need to influence consumers' minds. Read it quick - before your enemy does.


Rating:
Summary: Needs to be updated
Review: Although, the basic information in this book is valuable, the specific examples and case studies need to be updated to include current market positions, strategies and success/failures. However, we can all learn from what other companies have done in the past.

Rating:
Summary: Better than the book of Lanchester
Review: Before reading this book, I have read a similar business book based on another war strategist: Lanchester. The essence of 2 books is almost same but Ries and Trout give a simpler, easier, and inspiring explanation to it. This book became a quick reminder for my own business battle.

Rating:
Summary: Witty, factual, cutting.
Review: Even if you only read this to better plan your career, it is worth its weight in gold. From reading the anecdotes, it appears to have been written in the mid-80s, even though the Amazon.com date says "(214 pages - 1997)". Still, it appears more appropriate today than it did then. Throughout the book, corporate marketing plans and executions are compared to equivalent battles in history, and the analogy holds up very well. Witty, factual, cutting. Don't leave Rome without it!

Rating:
Summary: Marketing is Definitely War
Review: Great Book and very true and useful analogies to the battlefield

Rating:
Summary: good information, simplistic style, and a bit wordy
Review: I am an engineering student and I read this for a business class on entrepreneurship.

The information is sound and straight-forward. The authors labor each point repeating it many times which got to be a bit annoying. The war analogy is a bit overdone--a marketing VP thinking himself to be a general is a bit pretentious--though it makes the book memorable. The many case studies flesh out the principles he lays out and it's easy to apply the ideas with contemporary examples.

The book could have been 30-40 pages instead of 220 using more concise language and normal size font. I'd recommend borrowing this book from a library or even reading it in a book store since it's a quick read and you'll absorb most of the information with one reading.

Rating:
Summary: REVOLUTIONARY HERESY
Review: I found the book profoundly enlightening, a revolutionary text, heretically defying the currently dominant views of diversification, synergy and the like. I am still in disbelief that these two authors could get it so right while the rest of the business world has gotten it so wrong.

Rating:
Summary: The best book for marketing guys
Review: I have read all the books of Al Ries & Jack Trout and this must qualifyamong his best.It's a must see for all the marketing guys irrespective of the industry he operates on.

Rating:
Summary: Marketing is Warfare
Review: I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone seeking employment in a competitive environment. As a marketing major, this book was informative but did not teach me anything new about marketing. Instead, "Marketing Warfare" did look at marketing at an angle I had never thought about before. Marketing is war. Anytime one company makes more money another company loses money. That is the way a free-market economy works. Now that I have read this book I feel more educated in the field of strategy and tactics. This will help me in the long-run as I am looking to one day become a manager who will have to make decisions about strategies and implement the tactics that will need to be used to win the marketing battles of tomorrow.