Ries and Trout

I am sure most marketing folks would have read books by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Of course, their pathbreaking concept was positioning, a concept that changed the way people looked at communication. They have written a number of books together (and separately), the most important one being their first – Positioning: The Battle For […]

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Brand Wars – Who Benefits From Them?

The war between Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Reckitt Benckiser is getting bitter. The two companies have had their skirmishes in the past but the last provocation started barely three weeks ago when Reckitt Benckiser ran a TVC that showed that Dettol kitchen cleaning gel was superior (in killing germs) to HUL’s Vim liquid dishwash. HUL […]

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The 10 Principles of Good Design

Dieter Rams is one of the most respected industrial designers, closely associated with Braun and the Functionalist school of industrial design. Many well-known designers today – including Jonathan Ive of Apple – have been inspired by Rams. Many companies like Apple, BMW, Samsung, Nike and Ikea have used design effectively to differentiate their products from […]

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Risk and Responsibility!

This video is a MUST SEE for every marketing and advertising professional. And I am not exaggerating. I remember seeing this video in the early – 1980s and it had a profound impact on me. The film argues that in trying to mitigate risk (and act responsibly), many clients end up creating advertising that is […]

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Marketing Myopia

Marketing Myopia is an important paper written by Theodore Levitt in 1960. It had a major impact on marketing as we know it today. This is what Wikipedia has on Marketing Myopia: “Marketing Myopia suggests that businesses will do better in the end if they concentrate on meeting customers’ needs rather than on selling products. […]

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