Rating: 
Summary: Why?
Review: This book is pretty meaningless. It tries to make it appear that Porter's generic strategy Differentiation is something Trout and Rivkin has discovered. It feels like a Tom Peters book, a lot of shouting, little substance, great show and disregard what has come before. Even though Trout and Rivkin has written good books before, this is not one of them.Best left on the shelf.
Rating: 
Summary: If I need ideas on differentiation, I will read this.
Review: This has become one of my all-time favorite marketing books. I gained substantial understanding in the areas of differentiation and the importance in doing so. The authors provided a lot of information/cases/examples in trying to make the point that, successful companies should find their niche, make and maintain the unique separation from the competition. I believe in this hyper competitive market, where products and services are alike and customers are confused, differentiation may shed some light in creating a long term, sustainable, competitive advantage. If you are looking for a cookbook/manual of creating differentiation, then this book will fall short of your expectation. The book, however, provides a lot of ideas/areas of differentiation that one may overlook easily. Personally, I like the non-manual approach taken in the book. Afterall, if you can initiate and create a 'differentiation' by just following some steps of a book, you are either very lucky to work in such company or you are in high level management. I agreed with the authors' view that high level management, if not the CEO, should be the one who decides on differentiation. If differentiation is a life or die situation, as the authors argue, CEO needs to be involved. The book does fall short in elaborating on some of the examples. Very little indepth analysis or case studies. To me, that's ok. I walked away with a new appreciation and understanding on differentiation, and to me that's more than what I had expected.
Rating:
Summary: Arrogance and simplicity at its best
Review: This is a bathroom book in that it is very superficial, and is laid out in easy to read sections, each good for a trip to the bathroom. It should end up though where all other bathroom paper goes....... Trout shows his arrogance by not saying or revealing anything new, just regurgitating a few fragments of what Michael Porter originally said in his 1980 book "Competitive Strategy." Trout has the audacity to say "Michael finally gets it" in one of his passages. I have a feeling Michael taught Trout all that he knows, and he is just riding on Michael's coat tails. Read the best book ever written that every strategic book has copied since - buy Competitive Strategy. Don't make Trout any richer when he really doesn't deserve it.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing earthshaking, but an enjoyable book on marketing
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: The differentiating Angle
Review: Trout and Rivkin take the "no-brainer" approach to branding and differentiating, but which 99% of marketers do not bothers to think about. This was very refreshing and will be quite helpful
as a reminder in my future efforts within my own company. Thank you!
Rating:
Summary: distractions
Review: Trout's book builds on Rosser Reeves' premise in his 1961 book REALITY IN ADVERTISING about the unique selling proposition. (Trout acknowledges this and dedicates the book to Reeves.) Trout's book essentially is Reeve's Trout's thesis is basically Reeves's but with new examples. That makes for not a lot of startling revelations here. In short chapters, Trout distinguishes differentiating factors (such as being first, leadership, market specialty) from stuff that falls outside of such factors, like creativity, price, and quality. Trout makes the argument that fast growth can be a wicked distraction and get in the way of successful differentiation. But while he trots out some examples of this (ESPN's rollout of other cable offerings, for example), there's nothing here that makes a compelling case about why fast growth and differentiation can't go hand in hand. Fast growth can be a distraction from any aspect in business; the trick is to figure out how to manage it. That's not something that you'll get here.
Rating:
Summary: A Really Fun Work Read
Review: What I realy enjoyed about Diffentiate or Die was that it is as much a page turner as any good beach read (I took it on vacation), but at the same time is jammed packed with important insights and anecdotes from the worlds of marketing and branding. The style is so lively and skips along so easily, that within a few pages one has visited the success and failure stories of many important global companies. Although I totally recommend the book for entertainment and recreational reading, it is a very helpful companion for anyone who works in the strategic corporate arena. The authors certainly seem to have their finger on the pulse, and I can only admire how they have managed to collect such a treasury of marketing war stories...my advise is, pick it up and browse a few pages next time you're in a bookstore. You won't want to put it down in a hurry.
Rating:
Summary: Thought it would be very basic
Review: When I purchased this book I thought it was another very basic marketing book. However, I was amazed at the speed at which my mind wanted more every page I turned. It is an excellent source for novices to C.E.O.'s. Being a C.E.O. myself I make it a point to read one business book a week. I am glad I picked this one. It's a must read book for everyone who thinks they are running a good business.
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