The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk: Amazon.ca: Al Ries, Jack Trout: Books

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From Library Journal

Ries and Trout, authors of some of the most popular titles in marketing published during the last decade ( Marketing Warfare , LJ 10/15/85; Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind , Warner, 1987; and Bottom-Up Marketing , McGraw, 1989), continue the same breezy style, with lots of anecdotes and insider views of contemporary marketing strategy. The premise behind this book is that in order for marketing strategies to work, they must be in tune with some quintessential force in the marketplace. Just as the laws of physics define the workings of the universe, so do successful marketing programs conform to the "22 Laws." Each law is presented with illustrations of how it works based on actual companies and their marketing strategies. For example, the "Law of Focus" states that the most powerful concept in marketing is "owning" a word in the prospect's mind, such as Crest's owning cavities and Nordstrom's owning service. The book is fun to read, contains solid information, and should be acquired by all public and business school libraries. It will be requested by readers of the authors' earlier titles.
- William W. Sannwald, San Diego P.L.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description

Marketing consultants reveal the twenty-two laws of marketing--including the Law of the Mind and the Law of Hype--offering hundreds of examples of what has worked and what has not in the international marketplace. 75,000 first printing. Tour.

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73 Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars (73 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The most easy and interesting book about marketing, Oct 22 2003

By

Tsang Wing Nga Kimmie (Hong Kong CityU) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk (Paperback)

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.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A QUICK READ AND A GOOD REFERENCE, Sep 5 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk (Paperback)

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.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Law 23: There Are No Immutable Laws Of Marketing, Aug 21 2003

By

Joshua A. Gerlick (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk (Paperback)

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

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars It's alright
A little bit short, but it's still a good book about marketing. It is definitively not the only book you will ever need to be good at marketing.

Published 6 months ago by Marc-andre Pageau

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Violate these rules at your own risk!'
A reader of this book said that 'the first law of successful marketing is to read and understand this book'. Read more