Positioning By Al Ries & Jack Trout: 1 Timeless Marketing Lesson

There’s a term that rumbles in the underbelly of the Internet (also known as Reddit) that represents people who can’t think for themselves.

“Smooth brained apes.”

“One of the first things people notice about the human brain is its intricate landscape of hills and valleys. These convolutions derive from the cerebral cortex, a two- to four-millimeter-thick mantle of gelatinous tissue packed with neurons sometimes called gray matter that mediates our perceptions, thoughts, emotions and actions. Other large-brained mammals such as whales, dogs and our great ape cousins have a corrugated cortex, too each with its own characteristic pattern of convolutions. But small-brained mammals and other vertebrates have relatively smooth brains.” — Scientific American

Well, one of the smoothest brain brand strategies in marketing today is to take your brand and then slap it on anything and everything you can find. Because the brand is what made you successful, right? Brands drive growth, right? Everybody knows how important branding is! The brand is what people love!

In 1994 (so ahead of their time), Al Ries & Jack Trout wrote one of the definitive books on “business thinking,” The 22 Immutable Laws Of Marketing. And in Chapter 18, The Law of Success, they state the following:

“Success is often the fatal element behind the rash of line extensions. When a brand is successful, the company assumes the name is the primary reason for the brand’s success. So they promptly look for other products to plaster the name on. Actually, it’s the opposite. The name didn’t make the brand famous (although a bad name might keep the brand from becoming famous.) The brand got famous because you made the right marketing moves. In other words, the steps you took were in tune with the fundamental laws of marketing. You got into the mind first. You narrowed the focus. You preempted a powerful attribute. Your success puffs up your ego to such an extent that you put the famous name on other products. Result: early success and long-term failure…”.

If blindly branding customers with a hot poker is mistake numero uno, then mistake number two is taking your brand and doing what Ries & Trout famously languaged as “line extension”…