In Search of the Obvious : The Antidote for Today's Marketing Mess

This is the first book that states the obvious: Marketing is a mess. Marketing guru Jack Trout intends to make a lot of people, who made the mess, very uncomfortable: Advertisers are criticized as people who look for the creative and edgy, not the obvious. They will not be happy. Marketing people are criticized for getting hopelessly entangled in corporate egos and complicated projects. They will not be happy. Research people are criticized for generating more confusion than clarity. They will not be happy. Some big companies are criticized for their ill-fated marketing programs or lack of proper strategy. They will not be happy. Wall Street is criticized for putting too much emphasis on growth that is unnecessary and can be destructive to a brand. They will just ignore this criticism and continue trying to make as much money as they can. But this is a book not written to make people happy but to explain to marketers what their real problem is. Only then will they begin to look for the obvious solutions that will separate their products from their competitors -- in a way that is equally obvious to customers. All this comes with no jargon, no numbers, no complexity, and a great deal of common sense. 9780470288597 In Search of the Obvious: The Antidote for Today's Marketing Mess 1 CONTENTS 9 PREFACE 15 Chapter 1: In Search of the Obvious 19 Common Sense Is Your Guide 24 Chapter 2: What Gets in the Way of the Obvious 29 The Search Begins and Ends with the Chief Executive Officer 29 Marketing’s Big Problem: Wall Street 33 No Time to Think 36 Research Can Obscure the Obvious 39 Chapter 3: The Internet Can Be an Obvious Problem 43 Info–Clutter 43 Beware of E-Mail 46 Is Word-of-Mouth Marketing All It’s Cracked Up to Be? 49 Into the Abyss 54 Chapter 4: Advertising People Can Be an Obvious Problem 57 Advertising as Theatre 57 Loving a Brand? 60 The Emotional Trap 62 Runaway Sloganeering 64 How to Fix the Ad Industry 73 Chapter 5: Marketing People Can Be an Obvious Problem 75 The Tinkering Factor 75 Products That Do Too Much 78 Brand Schizophrenia 81 Chapter 6: An Obvious Look at the Marketing Process 85 Marketing’s Importance 85 Marketing Simplified 89 How to Evaluate Advertising 93 How to Evaluate Logos 95 Minds Hate to Change 98 Branding Simplified 102 Branding Simplified: The Bad News 105 When No One Is in Charge 107 Chapter 7: Some Help in That Search for the Obvious 111 Repositioning the Competition 111 Coping with the Competition 114 Know Your Enemy 117 Solution versus Direction 120 Mission Statement Words 123 Leadership: A Powerful Differentiator 126 Something Borrowed Is Simpler 133 Coping in a Changing World 136 Big Is the Enemy of Obvious 139 Major Marketing Mistakes 142 Chapter 8: You Must Be Aware of Some Obvious Ground Rules 147 Law of the Ear 147 Law of Division 151 Law of Perception 154 Law of Singularity 159 Law of Duality 162 Law of Resources 165 Chapter 9: Some Observations about Obvious Marketing Problems 169 Branding Lessons from General Motors: What Not to Do 169 Can Wal-Mart Change? 172 Confusion in Coke Land 174 Whither Newspapers? 176 Celebrities Who ‘‘Un-Sell’’ Products 179 That Bewildering Beer Business 182 Whither Starbucks? 184 Marketing with Other People’s Money 186 You Can’t Go Up-Market 189 Conglomerate Schizophrenia 192 Can Sears Be Saved? 194 Extreme Makeover: America’s Image 196 ‘‘Un-Marketing’’ Drugs 198 Brand China at the Crossroads 202 Chapter 10: The Future Is Never Obvious 205 Mispredicting the Future 205 EPILOGUE 209 At the Heart of the Search Is the Concept of Simplicity 209 BIBLIOGRAPHY 213 INDEX 217 #,Publisher:,Wiley,#,Number,Of,Pages:,224,#,Publication,Date:,2008-10-13,#,ISBN-10,/,ASIN:,0470288590 #,Publisher:,Wiley,# Number Of Pages:,224,# Publication Date:,2008-10-13,# ISBN-10 / ASIN:,0470288590 "In this book, marketing guru Jack Trout clears up the confusion that surrounds the marketing profession. Instead of focusing on segmentation or customer retention or search engine optimization or data mining, marketers should be searching for that simple, obvious differentiating idea. Marketers not looking for the obvious had better have a very low price." "This search should begin with what Trout considers the best book ever written on marketing-even though it was published in 1916 and isn't about marketing. Entitled Obvious Adams: The Story of a Successful Business Man, it lays out the five tests of an obvious idea that will lead you to the right marketing strategy for any product."--Jacket In an attempt to be clever and creative, marketers frequently overlook the obvious. This book, based on Jack Trout's twice-monthly columns on Forbes . com, is an attempt to clear up some of this craziness