Book Number Two: The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding – Al Ries and Laura Ries

• Expansion
  • Coke – 127 Flavors from the Coke Freestyle Machine
  • Marriott – Courtyard, Fairfield, resort, or Ritz Carlton
  • Chevrolet
• Marketers constantly run branding programs that are in conflict with how people think. In an effort to capitalize on their brand name or image, they will also try to distinguish their product from other similar ones in the category with a ridiculously long brand name, because they often confuse the power of the brand with the sales generated by that brand. Sales are not just a function of a brand’s power. They are also a function of the strength or weakness of a brand's competition.
  • St. Joseph aspirin-free tablets for adults
  • Heinz all-natural cleaning vinegar
  • Kleenex super dry baby diapers
• Contraction
  • Good things happen when you narrow the focus of your brand and business.
  • It allows you to establish a clear image in the mind of the consumer, and dominate the ladder or category.
• Publicity
  • Get the media on your side – PR, publicity, social media.
  • 95% of consumers trust recommendations from peers or friends; 14% trust advertising.
  • WOM still more powerful that what you say about yourself.
  • Anita Roddick built The Body Shop into a world brand with no advertising.
  • Howard Shultz followed the same model. (Tongue in cheek: virtually didn’t spend a hill of beans in the first decade building Starbucks.)
  • So how do you build publicity and media attention?
    • Be first to do something, by building a new ladder or category.
    • Do something different.
  • News outlets (old - new) are looking for something different or new.