Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #650889 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 223 pages

Ambassador, February/March 2002
"In Big Brands, Big Trouble he gives straight-to-the-point advice on how to maintain leadership and exploit opportunities using in-depth case studies."

Review
Trout, popularizer of "positioning" and president of a prestigious marketing firm (Trout and Partners), uses real–world examples of marketing and management gone wrong. After examining companies like Levi Strauss, AT&T, Xerox, Burger King, and Miller Brewing, Trout identifies the ten most common mistakes made by these big brands and develops a set of expert guidelines for managers and marketers to use to build, protect, manage, and expand their companies as well as compete in today′s fierce global economy. One of the most interesting chapters is titled "Trouble in the Wind: Brands with Unresolved Problems," in which Trout briefly discusses the current problems of four well–known companies. These companies, like others, have made unnecessary mistakes and have shattered consumer perceptions. Business practitioners, researchers, and students will all use insights and learn techniques gleaned the case studies presented here. For CEO′s, Trout′s message is summed up in his final sentence: "Remember the Titanic." For all business collections. —Susan C. Awe, Univ. of New Mexico Lib., Albuquerque (Library Journal, August 2001)

Trout (Differentiate or Die) does the obvious in his latest book, rehashing the demise of well–known failures such as Xerox and Miller Brewing, and his redundant preaching of unoriginal strategies may irritate. But readers will find salvation in his straightforward, engaging prose and the constant hammering home of lessons (GM failed because it lost touch with the market, and AT&T tanked when it lost its focus). The book′s first part is an excellent reminder of what managers should and should not do with a brand, making this a primer for the uninitiated. (Oct.) (Publishers Weekly, October 1, 2001)

The basic message of this snappy, readable book is nothing new, particularly for readers of the author′s previous books. Success with consumers comes from clearly differentiating your product from competitors′ and then relentlessly focusing your marketing and product development efforts on the differences. But here the long case studies add richness to the argument. In earlier decades, Trout explains, strong brands commanded a far bigger share of the marketplace than they do now. As affluent consumer became increasingly choosy about their purchases, the market segmented into far smaller groups. To maintain their reach, managers quite naturally turned to product extension, but that inevitably weakened the appeal of the base brands and helped turn their industries into low–margin commodity business. For brand managers under corporate pressure to grow rather than retrench, Trout has no answer other than urging discipline. But the colorful stories of failure and the hardheaded, concrete advice make for an engaging sermon. (Harvard Business Review, October 2001)

Business Book of the Week (Money Week, 23 November 2001)

"...a fabulous collection of mistakes..Trout finishes this book with good–humoured attitude...even if you learn little from this book it is still worth reading for the delicious schadenfreude it will give you." (Brand Strategy, December 2001)

"...Trout may be a humble marketing advisor, but he knows what ails big–brand America – and he has the remedy...it may be one of the longest business pitches in history, but it′s a great read for all that." (Sunday Times – Book of the Week, 2 December 2001)

"...he provides in depth case studies and the book clearly demonstrates what can commonly go wrong..." (Business Monthly, November 2001)

"In Big Brands, Big Trouble he gives striaght–to–the–point advice on how to maintain leadership and exploit opportunities using in–depth case studies." (Ambassador, February/March 2002)

"...a valuable starting point for us all..." (Professional Manager, March 2002)

"...its a great refresher course for marketers and sound grounding for chief executives...brilliantly insightful..." (Marketing Mix, 18 September 2003)

Review
"[b]usiness practioners, researchers, and students will all use insights and learn techniques gleaned from the case studies presented...for all business collections" (Library Journal, August 2001)

"readers will find salvation in [Trout′s] straightforward, engaging prose and the constant hammering home of lessons." (Publishers Weekly, October 1, 2001)

"snappy, readable book...the colorful stories of failure and the hardheaded, concrete advice make for an engaging sermon." (Harvard Business Review, October 2001)

Business Book of the Week (Money Week, 23 November 2001)

"...a fabulous collection of mistakes..Trout finishes this book with good–humoured attitude...even if you learn little from this book it is still worth reading for the delicious schadenfreude it will give you." (Brand Strategy, December 2001)

"...Trout may be a humble marketing advisor, but he knows what ails big–brand America – and he has the remedy...it may be one of the longest business pitches in history, but it′s a great read for all that." (Sunday Times – Book of the Week, 2 December 2001)

"...he provides in depth case studies and the book clearly demonstrates what can commonly go wrong..." (Business Monthly, November 2001)

"In Big Brands, Big Trouble he gives striaght–to–the–point advice on how to maintain leadership and exploit opportunities using in–depth case studies." (Ambassador, February/March 2002)

"...a valuable starting point for us all..." (Professional Manager, March 2002)

"...its a great refresher course for marketers and sound grounding for chief executives...brilliantly insightful..." (Marketing Mix, 18 September 2003)

Customer Reviews

Missed Branded Opportunities and Mistakes from the Trenches!
Big Brands, Big Trouble is a no-holds-barred look at the greatest brand marketing errors of the last three decades in the United States and U.K. Unlike most books about how to be more successful by looking at the winners, this one looks primarily at the people who did it worst in order draw out the lessons for today. Further breaking with tradition, author Jack Trout names names and relates private conversations in which he unsuccessfully attempted to encourage alternatives. From there, he selects prominent consulting firms, boards of directors, and investors interested in profit growth for special scorn in contributing to the debacles. Along the way, management advisor icons like Tom Peters, McKinsey & Company, and Michael Porter are body slammed by Mr. Trout's criticisms.

The book opens with a few key points:

(1) "[P]eople perceive the first brand to enter their mind as superior." So benchmarking against other brands will be misleading. You have to compete with what's in minds, not what's in reality.

(2) Be clear what you are selling if you establish a new category. Calling something an Apple Newton as an example of a PDA doesn't tell much. Calling something similar a Palm Pilot does.

(3) It's hard to change an established brand. Look at new Coke.

(4) Don't try to stretch brands where they won't go. A.1. Poultry Sauce makes no sense.

(5) Focusing on profits leads to mistakes. You will only do unrealistic things, as Miller did in destroying its brand. Instead get profits from doing enough of the right things to strengthen and grow brands.

(6) Attack yourself with new brands from new positions. Don't wait for the competition to do it.

From there, you will follow along discussions of GM's forgetting the basic lessons of segmentation that Alfred Sloan put in place (each brand having a higher price and higher perceived quality), Xerox predicting an office revolution that never occurred and missing the opportunity to become the king of laser printers, DEC ignoring the PC, AT&T moving away from communication into computers and cable, missing the chance to be "the reliable choice," Levi Strauss failing to segment for style, age, and outlet, Crest losing the therapeutic segment to Colgate's Total, Burger King backing away from touting its advantages versus McDonald's in favor of searching for Herb, Firestone trying to fix its battered brand rather than establishing a new one, Mark's & Spenser losing the service and value positioning while becoming less stylish for young people, and Kellogg's heavily promoting generic cereals.

In the end, Mr. Trout argues that it's all about knowing competitors, avoiding your #1 competitor's strength in your marketing focus, exploiting your #1 competitor's weaknesses in your marketing, crushing small competitors as soon as possible, shifting the battlefield to your advantage (shades of Sun Tzu), and paying attention to what's going on in the marketplace as your top priority from the CEO on down. Ultimately, he restates these points as: "it's all about understanding that the mind of the consumer is where you win or lose;" stay in touch; think long term; and "Remember the Titanic." .

Basically, Mr. Trout is arguing that bad decisions come from imagining success from places where you cannot hope to predict what will happen next, pursuing actions that look good in the first year and are a disaster after that (such as endless line extensions), and forecasting volumes that aren't going to happen. You might think of these perspectives as quantified dope-smoking. If you want company, he warns you that neither your consultants nor your board will have the knowledge or guts to warn you from your follow but will gladly accept as much money as you want to spend with them. You, however, will end up holding the bad. It is interesting to note that many of the biggest flops have come from companies that made the biggest use of the most prestigious consulting firms. Somehow the disasters didn't stick to the advisors though.

After you finish this book, I suggest that you take a similar look at your cost reduction efforts. These actions are usually flawed with the same weaknesses and abetted by the same parties.

By the way, do you really want to ask the opinion of someone who may write bad things about you in a future book? I assume Mr. Trout has decided that he doesn't want to attract new clients from companies having problems. I don't quite understand why this approach is good for Mr. Trout's brand. I certainly wouldn't want to hire him, even if I thought he might give me good advice. What do you think?

Build a new model for your business that improves customer benefits and perceptions while reducing competitive choices!

This is the opposite to conventional thinking.
Would you buy a small and cheap Cadillac? - Of course not. Would you buy a Xerox machine that doesn't make copies? - Of course not.

Still top management keep on making these foolish decisions over and over, driving their companies to the edge of destruction, as Jack Trout shows in his latest book. His text is crispier than ever, and his lessons learned the hard way are in sharp contrast to the conventional thinking represented by the world of consultants and business writers.

A must for anyone in business
A very refreshing view on management mistakes one can fall into - every manager should read it, sit back and think of their own actions.