Published twelve years after «Positioning», this book is its direct sequel, reformulated as twenty-two brief and deliberately blunt principles.
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A direct sequel to «Positioning», framed as twenty-two brief and deliberately blunt principles: the law of leadership, of the category, of the mind, of focus. The title itself is a provocation — little in marketing is immutable — and the authors know it. Their usefulness lies not in taking them as axioms but in using them as a checklist when assessing a company's competitive position.
Published twelve years after «Positioning», this book is its direct sequel, reformulated as twenty-two brief and deliberately blunt principles. The law of leadership holds that it is better to be first than to be better. The law of the category adds that if you cannot be first in a category, create a new one in which you can. The law of focus states that a powerful brand is one that has managed to own a single word in the customer's mind. The title itself is a provocation — very little in marketing is immutable, and the authors know it — and that deliberate exaggeration is simultaneously the book's virtue and its problem. The virtue: each law is stated with a clarity that forces you to take a position. The problem: several contradict each other in practice, and the authors resolve the tension with examples chosen after the fact. Their real utility lies not in taking them as axioms but in using them as a checklist when assessing a brand's competitive position. A short book, readable in an afternoon, better argued with than accepted.
For readers wanting a quick checklist on brand position; less suited if you want empirical evidence rather than aphorisms.
FactPublished in 1993; the Spanish McGraw-Hill edition was adapted for Spanish-speaking markets by Raúl Peralba.
