The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

Rating:
Summary: Excellent thought-piece coffee table stuff, but some caveats
Review: After 10 years, this still remains a classic work in the marketing field, and perhaps a must-read for anyone in business. And no, unlike many reviewers I do not believe that Ries and Trout have ever managed to redo the glory of this book in their Laws of Branding, Laws of Internet Branding etc.

Don't expect an excruciating marketing treatise with elaborate case studies and What-If scenarios. Expect instead 22 capsules of business wisdom, or "laws" of common sense marketing with some brilliant examples from the real world to prove them. In this, the book excels and is to date the briefest and best argued work I have come across.

However, given the passion with which some reviewers comment about this book I am inclined to offer a caveat -- please don't base your career around it. Although I love thin, in-your-face books such as this (great reading, great examples to bounce off) they also have a fundamental flaw: the fact that they attempt to shove "laws" on to the ever-morphing scaffold of the business of marketing that does not lend itself easily to codification, much less of an "immutable" nature.

It would be a cinch to come up with examples that go against each law in the book if you really wanted.

For instance,

(1) Law of Leadership (better to be first than to be best) can be argued against with the theory of disruptions and how first-mover advantages do not always materialize. Why is WebCrawler not more popular than Google? Because Google is (way) better.

(2) The Law of Sacrifice (that talks about focus, as do a couple of other similar if not redundant laws, including, well, the Law of Focus) would not hold much fizz in the case of many very successful conglomerates, especially in Asian countries. Imagine a company selling everything from oil to fruit juice to IT services, and still being a top brand in a country. Examples abound in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan.

(3) The Law of the Opposite that advocates the definition of your strategy by considering the leader's (also redundant with the Law of the Ladder, which essentially says the same thing) can be argued by giving umpteen examples of companies that shot from being No.2 to being No.1, some times because No.1 filed for Chapter 11. In such cases, emulating the leader could have in fact been detrimental.

Etc.

Anyway, despite redundancies across the laws, and the possiblity of counter-argument against most of them, this is a ripper of a read for the business intent that it was written for, and 10 years after its publication still as charming as it first was.

Highly recommended reading, but keep your discerning senses about you. Noteworthy: Law of Perception (also Law of the Mind), and Law of the Category.

Rating:
Summary: Very interesting book
Review: I have had the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing for over a year now, and I am always refering to it.

For thoes who are interested in advertising or are already in the business should really read this book. It is practical advice from experts in the field. I have read other books by both authors and have found very vaulable information in all of them.

I disagree with the negetive previous review. Of course times change and so do values, beliefs, and situations, but the basic advertising, branding ideas stay true. Chrysler would have probably failed if they had not developed brands that created a unique perception in the mind of the consumer. The PT Cruiser, 300M and so on... before all of their cars looked the same...like Chryslers. boring, replications, year after year. That type of line extension would burn a brand out faster than it got started.

The one law which I found most interesting is line extension. I would have given this a 5 star review, however I feel that some brands can line extend without damage to the core brand. However this is very limited and must be delt with caution.

However, you can see the effect of correct line extention today. In the car market Toyota, Nissan, and Honda all wanted to compete in the high priced car market. They would never get in the mind of the consumer with a $40,000 honda. But they would with a new name, new brand image and new advertising strategy....hence, Acura.

Advertising is 90% perception of a brand. Consumers feel what they want to feel, believe what they want to believe, and buy what they think is the better brand. The job of advertising is to change thoes perceptions in the mind of the consumer.

I can go on and on, but it's better if you get the book and read it for yourself. As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this book.

Rating:
Summary: The most easy and interesting book about marketing
Review: In general, the book is easy to read, each law is precise and illustrate with many examples that we are familiar with. Therefore anyone who didn¡¦t studying marketing can also understand.
I learned so much from these 22 laws. For instance, it is better to be the first then it is to be better. It is because the first one always becomes generic name of that category and becomes the leading brand. As a result the prospects can easily recall you since yours product or service almost always the first brand into their mind. And that is the author say ¡§Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products¡¨.
If anyone who wants to explore more about marketing, I highly recommend reading this book and I am sure you can gain a lot of insight from it.

Rating:
Summary: Read it or Perish! Easy reading and very insightful
Review: I recently read this book and I found it straightforward and insightful. I have a B.S. in Acct. and an MBA in finance. I have taken graduate level marketing courses and I have worked in evaluating corporate strategies. This book is a must read for those that own their own business or are interested in advertising/marketing. I believe many executives that want to move their business career forward should read the book as business processes are tied together intricately. If you want to be CEO you better learn this stuff or perish!

Some of the examples/predictions are definitely dated (early 90's / late 80's) and turn out to be wrong but the branding ideas stay true due to values and beliefs. Like others I found the most interesting law to be of brand extension as I hadn't been exposed to such a thought process before (I am not in marketing) but there is a lot of merit to the thought.

I love it how the authors continually pound away that marketing and advertising are more of perception in the mind than actual real world truths. The examples provided in each chapter really help the reader get the key points.

Rating:
Summary: The most easy and interesting book about marketing
Review: In general, the book is easy to read, each law is precise and illustrate with many examples that we are familiar with. Therefore anyone who didn¡¦t studying marketing can also understand.
I learned so much from these 22 laws. For instance, it is better to be the first then it is to be better. It is because the first one always becomes generic name of that category and becomes the leading brand. As a result the prospects can easily recall you since yours product or service almost always the first brand into their mind. And that is the author say ¡§Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products¡¨.
If anyone who wants to explore more about marketing, I highly recommend reading this book and I am sure you can gain a lot of insight from it.

Rating:
Summary: A QUICK READ AND A GOOD REFERENCE
Review: The perfect companion volume to The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. However, I found the laws of marketing to overlap somewhat with the laws of branding. But, hey, who ever said the marketing and branding are mutually exclusive sciences? Or sciences at all, for that matter?

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing is an excellent refresher course to overall marketing principles in the form of bite-size sections. A quick read and a good reference.

Rating:
Summary: Law 23: There Are No Immutable Laws Of Marketing
Review: If calling any business rule-of-thumb a "law" is a recipe for disaster, claiming it is "immutable" is the proverbial fuse. In "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing", authors Al Ries and Jack Trout liken successful marketing to a set of "How To's" or "Tips & Tricks". Adding to the somewhat sketchy structure, the authors (wrongly) predict the demise of many organizations - now successful - that have disregarded their advice. And too often, laws are created as exceptions to those already established, exculpating the authors from any contrary opinion. This is a law, except when... or, unless you... is unacceptable.

Consider the claim that there exists "ominous signs of softness in Microsoft's strategy" for pursuing market share in major software applications categories external to the operating system. At the time of their writing, Ries and Trout point to Microsoft's failure to wrestle the spreadsheet and word processing markets from leaders Lotus and WordPerfect (an example of the Law of Line Extension). Or, consider that "USA Today is the first national newspaper, but it is unlikely to succeed". Time has indeed been cruel to the prophecies of Ries and Trout.

Criticism aside, many good ideas are presented throughout the text, however, at an average of only 6 pages per chapter, few get the recognition they deserve. The Law of Focus (read: positioning) is good advice whereby a firm should own a particular word or phrase in the mind of a customer. But, it would follow that extending a product line to include different items not captured under the firm's "buzz word" could be detrimental to either the new product or the whole firm. Yet, we see Microsoft as a modern-day example to the contrary (and, of course, Microsoft has no catchy buzz word anyway). Perhaps the authors would consider Microsoft a candidate for the Law of the Category - an example of a firm competing in a market they have solely created. At this point, however, applying immutable laws to the problem seems as difficult as correctly guessing the perfect conclusion to a "Choose Your Own Adventure" novel.

For a laugh, the keen reader will notice the four pages of praise that preface the actual content. On five occasions, different individuals make the exact same generic statement, "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing is the best book on marketing I've ever read". If there was a Law of Repetition, this book would nail it down (but, there isn't). Whether an amazing coincidence or publisher error, this sets the tone for the rest of the book. If you can't nail the details or correctly predict the application of your laws in practice, don't expect your readers to buy into the theory.

Although two of the greatest modern marketing minds, Ries and Trout have written a tale destined only for the lowest-common denominator. Many of their other works, most notably, "Positioning", are far more comprehensive in their attention to detail and ability to effectively persuade. Too many unfulfilled (or simply wrong) prophecies make this book an "immutable" candidate for the half-off shelf at your local bookstore.

Joshua A. Gerlick

Rating:
Summary: 'Violate these rules at your own risk!'
Review: A reader of this book said that 'the first law of successful marketing is to read and understand this book'. I agree with that and say that it is a must-read for everyone working in marketing.

I have been working in this field for almost 5 years and I have realised that marketing people tend to have a wide variety of their own ideas about marketing and how to do it. I know that in this field a lot of the success comes from 'the unsual' and 'the uncommon' strategies, but it also comes from certain rules that have to be respected, because a history of more than 25 years proved that they work.

This book is meant to eliminate myths and misconceptions someone might have about the marketing process. Companies spend millions of dollars on marketing thinking that they are chosing the best way to promote their products. But no matter how extraordinary those programs are, sometimes they fail and bring no benefit to the product or the service they promote. The result destroys the identity of the brands, market share decreases, and so do sales. Companies lose a lot of money.

The two authors have a lot of experience in this field and their theories are based clear examples. If marketing people would adjust their promotional programs according to these rules, companies would be much more successful.

There are 22 rules in total, applicable to every field, rules that will make you understand why things are the way they are. It will also help you analyse past experience and decide what was wrong and right and avoid doing the same mistakes in the future.

It is not an academic book . The language and style are accessible to everybody. The authors give a lot of examples from companies' life that will give you a very clear picture of what is going on the market.

Did you know that it is better for a brand to be first on the market than it is to be better? Did you know that the most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect's mind?

I recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn more about marketing and become a professional in this field. Together with Kotler's "Marketing Management', the '22 Immutable laws ...' should be the marketing people's Bible to be read every day.
I am sure it will improve your activities and help you achieve more success.

Rating:
Summary: true grit : marketing conceptuals w/ tooth
Review: This is my very first marketing book. I am a graphic designer & from an artistic &/or plain old 'reading' perspective I would have never picked up such a book - but it was recommended to me by the management. Upon reading 'The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing' I did find my mind spinning about - thinking of the concepts - opening up inside. I found the book to be a bit smutty & 'right there'. Many of the chapters seemed to loop around & repeat each other conceptually [ a bit distracting ]. Sometimes the whole 'grammar' thing seemed to take second tier to the overall content of the book [ not entirely bad if they are targeting those people reading for surface info - for the lowbrow & obvious | but i am looking for something a bit deeper if anyone can recommend something a bit richer for the next marketing read ].

Rating:
Summary: OUTDATED!!
Review: The basic principles in this book may or may not be valid. It's hard to tell, because most of the examples given are no longer valid. So much time is spent on IBM and computers in general, and we all know how much has changed in those areas in the last 8 years. The authors couldn't predict how things would go. They grossly underestimated the popularity of the PC and gave virtually no credit to Microsoft as a company that would be viable in the future. They touted Lotus 1-2-3 and were skeptical that "office suites" would ever catch on. (Microsoft Office, anyone?). I think the book is interesting from a historical perspective, but could be dangerous to apply to business today.