Positioning Revisited
Way back in 1969, an unknown adman named Jack Trout first coined the term positioning while writing an article for Industrial Marketing magazine. By Trouts own admission: The earth didnt tremble and the event went unnoticed.
Trout subsequently teamed up with another little-known advertising executive, Al Ries, to write a book on the still obscure concept. And a decade after it was first postulated, Trouts basic premise that brand battles are won and lost not in the market but in the mind of the consumer was eagerly lapped up by marketers, turning the book into an unexpected blockbuster.
Ries and Trout proceeded to churn out a series of hits, including Bottom-Up Marketing, Horse Sense, Marketing Warfare and The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. An impressive body of work, which ensured the duos elevation to the pantheon of great marketing thinkers, right up there with Rossiter USP Reeves and Theodore Marketing Myopia Levitt.
Critics carped that the pair tended to oversimplify issues, but nobody ever accused them of being dull or conventional. Which partially explains their success in acquiring the kind of devout fan-following that one normally associates with rock bands.
Alas, rock bands have a tendency to split, leaving former members struggling to replicate their earlier success. And the same fate appears to have befallen Jack Trout, if The New Positioning, his maiden venture without Al Ries is any indication.
Trout assisted by Steve Rivkin, a former employee who is now an independent consultant tries hard. The characteristic easy language and empirically supported, logical arguments are all there. As is the chatty, slightly flamboyant style. Sample: One observation Ive heard a lot is, I dont want to be niched. I want to keep my future options open. Believe me, if you dont get niched in the customers mind, your future options will be quite limited.
But the mysterious alchemy between Ries and Trout that converted these staple ingredients into pure marketing magic is missing. To a large extent, thats because of the choice of subject. A desire to return to ones roots is all too human, but in the process, Trout fails to resist the classic marketing temptation of hyping a product as new and improved even though it has been only marginally tinkered with.
For the truth is, theres hardly anything new about The New Positioning in terms of fresh insights. Sure, theres plenty of additional information in the three-part book. Trout quotes an array of psychologists while dwelling on the working of the mind in the first part. And presents six case studies, including accounts of how accounting major KPMG Peat Mar- wick and television show Entertainment Tonight successfully repositioned themselves, in the second part.
All this may make well make for riveting reading for anybody who has never come across any of Ries and Trouts combined efforts. But old loyalists find themselves increasingly gripped by a sense of deja vu as they plod through the first two parts. Ironically, Trout subsequently castigates marketers for using research in the same manner as the proverbial drunk uses a lamp-post as a means of support rather than illumination even as he himself walks into the same trap.
Its only in the third part that the book begins to grip, albeit in patches, as Trout narrates the tricks of the trade that he has picked up over the years. There are glimpses of Trouts old iconoclastic genius as he compellingly argues that contrary to popular perception a word could well be worth a thousand pictures, not the other way around.
The listing of the six most common positioning pitfalls serves as a useful recap, while Trouts suggestions on how to overcome petty office politics that threaten the success of positioning programmes is easily the most relevant part of the book. Even so, it is hard to avoid feeling that writing a whole book to communicate just a couple of new ideas is a singular act of overkill; a magazine article of the kind that Trout penned 28 years back would have been more effective.
Incidentally, Al Ries own solo literary career has not exactly set the Mississippi on fire. Here then, is the ultimate real-life lesson that the duo have to offer: Dont split up a successful partnership. The much-maligned concept of synergy has real validity when it comes to creative endeavours.
Conversely, even a brief reunion can have rich possibilities. Just ask three gentlemen named George, Paul and Ringo.The New Positioning; The Latest on the Worlds #1 Business Strategy
Jack Trout with Steve Rivkin McGraw-Hill Inc. $9.95/167 pages