The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

I’ve completed reading "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding" and "Positioning". Both books are among the most thought-provoking works I’ve encountered on brand strategy. While reading "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding", I found the chapter on the Law of Divergence to be somewhat disconnected from modern branding realities. According to the book, categories tend to diverge as markets evolve, and convergence often results in brand dilution or failure. Yet, Amazon and the iPhone are two of the most successful brands today — both of which appear to contradict that claim. After some reflection, I believe the real issue isn’t about convergence versus divergence. Instead, it’s about branding strategy. My Conclusion: If a brand already holds a dominant position in one market, it can successfully expand into an adjacent or broader market — even one that appears to be a convergence or line extension — by creating and owning a new category in the prospect’s mind, especially when no dominant player yet exists in that space. Case in Point: iPhone The iPhone merged multiple functions — music player, video player, phone, social media, browser etc. — which on the surface seems to violate the Law of Divergence. But Apple didn’t market it as a mash-up of old categories. Instead, it positioned the iPhone as a breakthrough product in a new category: smartphones. At the time, there was no dominant smartphone brand in the minds of consumers. Apple claimed that space and won. Case in Point: Amazon Amazon began with a focused, divergent position as the world’s largest online bookstore. Over time, it expanded to sell electronics, clothing, groceries, and more. According to a strict interpretation of divergence theory, this kind of expansion under a single brand should have weakened its identity. But it didn’t — because no other brand had claimed leadership in e-commerce. Amazon filled that gap and successfully repositioned itself as “the everything store,” leading a new category: online commerce. Final Thought: So, the key isn’t convergence or divergence alone. It’s about category creation, brand leadership, and timing. When a brand can reposition itself into a new category and occupy a leadership position in the customer’s mind — even if it combines previously separate functions — it can still win. Great books! These books transformed me into a new addict of positioning and branding.

Man, what a true gem of a book there is when it comes to branding and core principles needed to build a great business. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding and 11 Laws of Internet Branding is definitely a foundational book that any entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur must read along their journey. Al and Laura Ries do a great job of analyzing and simply explaining what it is that makes great brands stand out from generic ones. They highlight concepts and ideas that I hadn’t even thought of when it comes to certain brands and why I support some and not others. Not only does The 22 Immutable Laws provide great insight, but it is such an EASY read as well. I’m so surprised at how quickly I’ve been able to read and finish this book. That just goes to show the writing skill that Al and Laura possess along with their branding expertise. Very great book that will definitely be read again and again throughout my business and entrepreneurial journey. Highly recommend to any and all!

This book is a must read for anyone with responsibilities in branding because it gives some great advice and guidlines to get your mind muscles working. My biggest problem with the book is that they take an anti-extension position, which is dead on, but they don't recognize that brand managers don't live in a perfect world and sometimes find themselves in situations where they HAVE to extend the brand or find a new job. Don't look back, but that's Al and Laura sawing off the branch that you're standing on. There's absolutely no guidance in this book that would give you some reasonable rules to follow in the event that you have little choice but to brand extend. The most recent example that shatters their immutable law about brand extending weakening a brand is the Apple iPod. Everybody is aware that the iPod is an Apple product. Apple didn't have the first MP3 player in the industry. Instead, Apple had a frame of reference built into their brand, as well as a point of difference (the strongest branding tool there is). While there are a lot of examples of failed brand extensions, there are also a lot of examples of successful ones. There is a fundamental science behind what makes a brand extension work so that it re-inforces the parent brand, rather than acts parasitically. The weakness of this book is that it tries to present the last word on the subject without acknowledging the successes on other side of the coin. I would give this book 3 1/2 stars if I could, but since I can't, I'll round up to 4 based on the easy style of this book, as it presents some powerful concepts in an conversational and easy to grasp way that includes a lot of brain fodder to stew on.

One of the best straight forward, to the point, apply immediately and get a better result books you can buy on a marketing subject. I had worked in the business world for fifteen years before I started my own one man operation twenty eight years ago. I have read many marketing books, I read economic, marketing, and small business articles all the time, and I focus on those same subjects on news and talk shows ('Your Business" w/ J. J. Ramberg Sunday mornings on MSNBC, etc.). This book is one of the best collections of immediately applicable high quality marketing information you are ever going to find. There may be many books just as good as this one, but none better. P.S. You should also buy 'The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing' and 'Positioning' by the same authors. They will be the best set of marketing books you will own.

Me parece un libro muy interesante, fácil y rápido de leer, con muchos ejemplos útiles, aunque se repite un poco habiendo leído antes "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" del mismo autor.

Well worth reading, and although written a number of years ago, I still find it useful in getting the all-important topic of branding right. This book is useful whether you are a big company or a one-man show. The most useful theme for me is the need to focus in terms of products or services. They give great examples of mega famous companies who got it right - and who got it wrong and lost their focus. Their initial predictions on convergence held true for many years, although these days where media and channels are in fact merging may mean that that is open to debate, however their immutable laws still seem to hold. Highly accessible and readable with plenty of practical suggestions.

How can a book which has almost no pictures be the ultimate introduction to branding? I was highly sceptical, and only added it onto to my list of branding books to buy because it was cheap. How wrong I was. In 172 readable, small-paperback pages, Al Ries and his daughter Laura unveil the fundamentals of branding, stripping away the most powerful myths and demonstrating with a mixture of brand successes, failures, falls and rises, that they know what they are talking about. What's more, what they say made sense of many things I have been dimly feeling towards in my 20 years as a communications professional. I suspect that this book oversells itself slightly. The title made me suspicious, and the definitiveness of statements which go against what you find in other books makes you wonder, at points, if what it's saying is really this cut and dried. I probably would have disregarded this book if I'd read it ten years ago: but practical industry experience convinces me that what it is saying is right, and the other books, which focus on choosing your name and redesigning the logo, are the ones which only understand a part of the picture. It took me about an hour and a half to read this book, and I will never see branding the same way again. That's good value for you. On the other hand, I probably won't be reading and re-reading it avidly. It makes its points, which can be quickly revised from the chapter headings. Now it's time to move on. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone who wants (or needs) to learn about branding. I can't imagine a better introduction to the subject for someone who already has enough industry experience to recognise what it is talking about. I wouldn't recommend anyone to _only_ read this book: it is an extremely sound beginning, not an encyclopaedia. In terms of what this book is trying to be, I don't think there could be any higher recommendation than that. Superb.

Have completed a few chapters so far and I find it really informative. Lot of tips n tricks we can understand from each chapter.

Great/must addition to your knowledge bag