Rating: 
Summary: Differentiate your books - or stop writing them
Review: 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.
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Summary: Good Summary of How to Overcome the Me-Too Brand Stall
Review: Jack Trout returns to make his now-familiar argument that brand positionings have to be very differentiated in the customer's mind to create a successful business. The reason for this: Customers have little time or patience for those who offer nothing different than everyone else. The task of getting and building that differentiation is actually pretty simple. Few alternatives exist. You can be the first and hang in there as the most real choice (Coca-Cola). You can have a heritage that is more authentic than the alternative (Stolychnaya, the Russian vodka, in its initial positioning). You can have a differentiated product (toothpaste with baking soda and whiteners, when no one else has both). You can be the newest and most up-to-date (the latest Intel microprocessor). And a few others are offered up. If it's that simple (something any fifth grader could grasp and apply at some level), why do most people miss this point? The authors do a good job of looking at the organizational thinking that goes on in many companies that creates a stall in this area. I thought that was a unique and very valuable contribution to the subject of proper branding and marketing. A trap for many companies has been to focus on the latest management fad rather than create and increase perceptual differentiation (which can be partly based on physical differentiation). Some of the fads that the authors warn against include too much focus on quality, price promotions, and line extensions of existing brands. Although they do approve of everyday lower prices if you have the business model to sustain it (like Wal-Mart and Southwest Airlines do). I liked the point (that was repeated often) about increased competition making it more difficult to obtain and sustain a differentiated position in the marketplace. Overall, I think this book is the best summary of how to think about branding and marketing in the right way and overcome the stalled thinking that normally harms organizations of all types and sizes. Well done!
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Summary: A Must Read for Marketers
Review: Jack Trout's latest book, Differentiate or Die, is another exceptional piece on marketing and communication strategy. The book is full of countless and valuable insights for the marketing professional. This book, along with The New Positioning, should be required reading for anyone selling anything. Both books should also be required reading in every business school in America.
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Summary: Still true in 21st century
Review: Rosser Reeves' 1961 book REALITY IN ADVERTISING is the true classic. But here at the dawn of the 21st century it seems OK to have an update by a "disciple" of that bible. The title 'or die' is ultra Darwinian, yet a good wake-up call. This short intro for the newcomer also makes a good review for the battle-scarred veteran. The basics are, well, basic.
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Summary: it's a short life, and we need innovation
Review: Sería adecuado, luego de tantos años, poder presentar ideas innovadoras. Si es admirable la coherencia con lo que predican. No se permiten ni una mínima extensión de línea!!!! Just pioneers on positioning. Amen.
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Summary: Miss this and you'll miss out
Review: Straightforward, smart book. I have read so many of these titles it makes my head spin. But the same sort of grounded, hardhitting advice that made Trout's previous books must reads for marketers makes this title an essential for anyone trying to evolve a department/business.
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Summary: Wonderful book.....Amazing clarity.....
Review: The book is one of the best books that is going to stand the test of time. I wish he writes another book on ways dot coms can differentiate themselves. The book is more for manufacturers ( Like Colas, blades, airline companies etc) and less for dot coms that sell these products It is true that the examples are copied from his earlier book ... but the idea is to get his point across and he has successfully made it. Great book in the internet era. Please write a book specifically for B2C dot coms
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Summary: Quick, Write Me a Book, Jack.
Review: This book is good for any manager under 40 who has not seen all the fads last time they came around, or has not taken the trouble to read the thicker and more rigorous text books on strategy. It is thin - value chain is not in the index, and customers (satisfaction) are only listed once - how can you seek ways to improve your market position without a detailed ( = quantitative) review of where you sit in the value chain or to know exactly what the customer wants (rather than what you can tart up from the current catalogue. It's a good checklist - otherwise it would have been just two stars. Other Trout books are very good - this one appears to be harvesting the reputation rather than adding to it.
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Summary: Yet most brands survive without being different
Review: This book is largely a restatement of Trout (and Ries) previous assertions that brands have to stand out, get noticed in a world cluttered with brands. That's fine. Where this book goes wrong is when it flogs the old idea of having to have a unique selling proposition or 'competitive advantage'. This is a tiny part of real world marketing and competition. Most brands are highly similar to competitor brands, or with differences too subtle for buyers to care about. And much of competition is about staying similar to competitors. Yet without being perceived to be much different brands still survive and even thrive. Consumers aren't looking for different, they are looking for a brand they know is good (enough). They have lives ! The marketing battle is to get into the consideration set. Like other brands this book sells because many people have heard of Jack Trout and because it doesn't say anything different. If it was really different from other marketing books/magazines and told marketers something different from the accepted gospel it wouldn't sell so well.
Rating:
Summary: Yet most brands survive without being different
Review: This book is largely a restatement of Trout (and Ries) previous assertions that brands have to stand out, get noticed in a world cluttered with brands. That's fine. Where this book goes wrong is when it flogs the old idea of having to have a unique selling proposition or 'competitive advantage'. This is a tiny part of real world marketing and competition. Most brands are highly similar to competitor brands, or with differences too subtle for buyers to care about. And much of competition is about staying similar to competitors. Yet without being perceived to be much different brands still survive and even thrive. Consumers aren't looking for different, they are looking for a brand they know is good (enough). They have lives ! The marketing battle is to get into the consideration set. Like other brands this book sells because many people have heard of Jack Trout and because it doesn't say anything different. If it was really different from other marketing books/magazines and told marketers something different from the accepted gospel it wouldn't sell so well.
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