Big Brands Big Trouble: Lessons Learned the Hard Way - Hardcover

Trout, Jack

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471414328 ISBN 13: 9780471414322

Publisher: Wiley, 2001

Synopsis

One of the most respected marketing gurus in the world shows why some of today's biggest brands are having trouble and how to avoid repeating their mistakes.

It wasn't long ago that Levi-Strauss, Xerox, Crest, AT&T, Firestone, and Digital Equipment dominated their respective markets. What happened to undermine their standings and of those of other superbrands? Are their declines simply the inevitable consequence of change and the birth of new competition? In this important predecessor to the classic Differentiate or Die, "the king of positioning," Jack Trout answers that question with a resounding "No!" Writing in his signature, straight-from-the-hip style he reveals the disastrous marketing and strategy blunders that led to the dissolution of the most recognized superbrands. He clearly shows how those mistakes could have been avoided. With the help of in-depth case studies chronicling the events leading up to the falls from grace of Sears, Miller Brewing, Xerox, Crest, Burger King, and other past market leaders, he identifies the ten most common mistakes that big brands make, and he develops a set of expert guidelines for marketing managers and executives on how to build, protect, manage, and expand their companies' brands and avoid brand-killing blunders.

About this title

Review

Despite impressive triumphs over the years, leading companies like General Motors, Xerox, and Levi Strauss have also stumbled badly at times. In Big Brands, Big Trouble, Jack Trout points out their biggest missteps as well as the critical lessons that can be learned from them. In his typically no-nonsense manner, Trout--a "positioning" expert who has written numerous bestselling books on the topic and served as a consultant to several of these firms--lays out the myriad errors that caused them and other giants to lose ground in the fight for success. Helpful specifics abound, such as in the chapter on Crest, in which Trout notes how the toothpaste's one-time dominance slipped away when consumer concern over cavities gave way to worries about discoloration, bad breath, and gum disease (which other brands more effectively set themselves up to attack). The lessons Trout takes from this are threefold: even winning positions must occasionally evolve; knowledge of how leadership was initially attained must always be maintained; and competitors must never be given an angle to exploit. Likewise, the section on Burger King discusses how turnover at the top, inconsistent advertising messages, and a loss of focus on how to assault the industry leader resulted in a stagnation that has perpetually mired the chain as a fast-food also-ran. "It's a fact of life that the easiest idea to overlook is the obvious one," Trout notes in this chapter. Since most ideas are apparent only in retrospect, however, his insights should prove invaluable to readers who might easily make similar mistakes. --Howard Rothman

From the Publisher

"Once again, Jack Trout manages to get to the very heart of what makes companies great and what makes them fail. Unlike so many others, Jack seems to write with the CEO in mind frank, straight-forward, and dead-on." --Rick Fersch, President and CEO, Eddie Bauer Inc.

"Everything Jack Trout writes makes so much sense." --John Schnatter, CEO of Papa John's Pizza

"You're holding the Aesop's (Business) Fables for this age of discontinuity. Jack Trout's observations ring true for EMC where we've managed to stay out of trouble by anticipating the next thing." --Mike Ruettgers, Executive Chairman, EMC

"It's 'True Trout', clear, concise and actionable. It's the best book I've read on stewarding big brands in today's competitive environment." --Bob Waldron, Vice President, Marketing, General Mills, Inc.

"A must read for marketing managers. In today's hyper-competitive markets there is little room for error." --John Spotts, Vice President, Marketing, Woolrich, Inc.

"Big Brands Big Trouble is a crisp indictment of marketing executives who ought to be shouldering more responsibility. It is packed with useful insights about how to manage innovation." --Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Companies to Fail

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0471414328
• ISBN 13: 9780471414322
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240