Author - Al Ries & Laura Ries

Introduction

• Most products and services are bought, not sold.

• Branding is a more efficient way to sell things

• It creates a perception of being the best in the market

Law Of Expansion

• Keep a narrow line to build a brand in the mind of the consumers and increase sales in future

• To build a powerful brand in the mind of the consumer you need to contract your brand and not expand it

• Expanding the brand will diminish your power and weaken the image.

Law Of Contraction

• Brand becomes stronger when you narrow your focus

• Ultimate objective of any branding program should be to dominate the category

• Dominating a category makes a brand very powerful

Law Of Publicity

• The media wants to talk about what’s new, what’s first, what’s hot and not what’s better

• Brand strategies should be developed first from a publicity point of view

Law of Advertising

• Publicity is a powerful tool but after sometime a brand outlives its publicity potential

• Advertising budget is like an insurance that will protect the brand against the looses caused by the competitive attacks

• Brands have to advertise to defend it position and maintain leadership among the competitors

Law of Word

• Branding efforts should focus on owning a strong name in the prospect’s mind

• Once a brand owns a word its almost impossible for a competitor to take the word away from the brand

Law of Credentials

• Credentials are the collateral that guarantees the performance of the brand

• If your brand has the right credentials, your prospect is likely to believe almost anything you say about your brand

• Leadership is the direct way to establish the credentials of the brand

Law of Quality

• If you want to build a powerful brand , you must build a powerful perception of the quality in the mind of the consumers

• Become a specialist than a generalist

• A specialist is generally perceived to know more ,therefore have higher quality than a generalist

Law of Category

• Launch a brand that creates a perception of being the first , the leader , pioneer / original

• Promote the new category, make the brand name stand for the category

• Expand the category by promoting the benefits of the category, not the brand

Law of Name

• In a short term brand needs a unique idea or concept to survive. Needs to own a word in the minds of the consumers.

• What really counts is the product itself and the benefits that it provides the prospect

Law of Extension

Law of Fellowship

• In order to build the category , brands should welcome healthy competition

• It brings more customers into the category

Law of Generic

• Find regular word take, out of context and connote the primary attribute of your brand.

Law Of Company

• Brand name should take precedence over company names

• If company name is used as a brand name customers see these names as brands

• Brand should be focus of attention, use the company name in a decidedly secondary way

Law of Sub-brands

• The essence of the brand attribute you can own in the mind, sub brand takes the brand in the opposite direction

• What a manufacturer see as a mega brand, the consumer sees as a brand

Law of Siblings

• A family of brands should be developed that will assure company’s control of a market for many decades

• The key to this approach is to make each sibling have unique individual brand identity

• Sibling strategy can be used to dominate the category over the long term

Law of Shape

• A horizontal shape will provide the maximum impact for your logo

Law of Colour

• Red is a retail colour used to attract attention.

• Blue is the corporate colour used to communicate stability

• Select a colour that is opposite of your major competitors

Law of Borders

• A brand should have no borders

• The consumer value the brand based on their origin

Law of Consistency

• Brands should not change their essential characteristics

• Markets may change but brands shouldn’t

• Limitations combined with consistency is what builds a brand

Law of Change

• Brand can be changed , but only infrequently and carefully

• If you want to change your brand first look into the minds of the consumer

Law of Mortality

• No brand will live forever. Euthanasia is often the best solution

• Understand the nature of the brand and let the old brand have a natural death

Conclusion

Brands should not blindly follow the trends ,

instead understand how to build , strengthen and maintain the brand