This document summarizes key points from the book "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind" by Al Ries and Jack Trout. It discusses how the mind can be manipulated through positioning and how the modern world results in an overcommunicated and oversimplified mind. It covers topics like differentiating yourself in the market, avoiding common traps like line extensions, and positioning yourself and your career. The summary provides takeaways on how to establish leadership, fight the competition, leverage names and branding effectively, and a six step process to success through optimal positioning.

1. A
BRIEF
SUMMARY
Anubhav Mishra
Fellow @ IIM Lucknow, (Marketing)
February, 2014

2. Background
 It’s the Bible on Advertising Strategy – the most influential
advertising book ever written.
 This presentation is an attempt to summarize the key points
and learnings, and moreover to generate curiosity and interest
in the minds of the reader to read the actual book.
 This work can be considered as my respect to the excellent
authors “Al Ries” and “Jack Trout”.

3. Chapter 1 –What Positioning Is All About
 Manipulate the mind, retie the existing connections.
 Over communicated society – oversimplified mind

4. Chapter 2 –The Assault on the Mind
 Media Explosion
 Product Explosion
 Advertising Explosion

5. Chapter 3 – Getting Into the Mind
 Get into Mind first!
 Differentiate or Die
 It’s better to be a big fish in a
small pond (and then increase the
size of the pond) than to be small
fish in a big pound

6. Chapter 4 – Those Little Ladders in Your Head
 You see what you expect to see!
 FWMTS trap – Forget what made
them successful.
 Against positioning at number 2.
 The Uncola campaign

7. Chapter 5 –You Can’t Get There from Here
 Fight fire with water
 Can do approach Vs know your
limitations

8. Chapter 6 – Positioning of a Leader
 Establish leadership
 It’s always 1 vs 2 (Coke – Pepsi,
McD – Burger king)
 Cover all bets
 React rapidly
 Cover with multi brands
 Broader name – trap of
extensions!

9. Chapter 7 – Positioning of a Follower
 Avoid me too approach
 Price based, size based, cost
based positioning
 Niche – Creneaus
 Search for the loose brick in
consumer mind not in factory

10. Chapter 8 – Repositioning the Competition
 Create your own Niche
 Aspirin vs Tylenol
 Once a loser, always a loser –
pringles chips
 Listerine vs scope
 Legal, ethical comparison? Coke
and Pepsi blind tastes

11. Chapter 9 – The Power of the Name
 Lite vs light
 Time vs Newsweek
 {my disagreement} due to
globalization the names can’t give
advantage – ever heard of Nirma
or Ghari? Ask Unilever what they
are in India!

12. Chapter 10 – The No-Name Trap
 Simple to pronounce (phonetic)
 Eyes vs. the ear syndrome
 Short / synonym / making sense?
 SAP or sappi ? By the way SAP is
market leader in ERP since last 40
odd years!
 {my disagreement with this logic,
refer my earlier slide} Tata,
Reliance,Birla et al.

13. Chapter 11 – The Free-Ride Trap
 Extensions
 New improved – ABC Plus!
 Divide and conquer
 Colgate – toothbrush, toothpaste,
mouth wash Vs P&G

14. Chapter 12 – The Line-Extension Trap
 Inside out OR outside in thinking
 Coca cola – is it a soft drink OR is
it a sweet, dark carbonated drink
OR is it just Coke?
 Miller Lite, Coors cannibalization
of the core products
 Diet cola war
 Reverse line extensions

15. Chapter 13 – When Line Extension Can Work
 Short term vs long term
advantage
 Brand history – GE , Kraft, IBM,
Coke
 Chevrolet, Cadillac, Volkswagen,
Volvo

16. Chapter 14 – Case Studies
 Positioning A
 Company – Monsanto
 Country – Belgium
 Product – Milk Duds
 Service – Mailgram
 Long island bank
 Catholic church

17. Chapter 20 – Positioning Yourself and Your
Career
 You are you?
 What is the differentiation?
 Avoid no name trap
 Avoid line extension trap
 Ride a horse – company, boss,
friend, idea, faith, yourself

18. Chapter 21 – Six Steps to Success
 What position do you own?
 What position do you want to
own?
 Whom must you outgun?
 Do you have enough money?
 Can you stick it out?
 Do you match your position?

19. Chapter 22 – Playing the Positioning Game
 Understand words
 Understand people
 Change management
You need Vision, Courage,
Objectivity, Subtlety, Patience

21.  Sincere thanks to the all who have created a lot of designer fonts and made them available
for free to use. I have used few of them in this presentation. Thanks!
 I have used the images which are available on the public domain. In case of any copyright
issue, just let me know, so that I can remove them. The usage is purely non commercial.
Acknowledgement