In Jack Trout’s recent book, Big Brands Big Trouble, he explores some of the biggest branding successes and failures.

“The bigger the company, the more likely it is that the chief executive has lost touch with the front lines. This might be the single most important factor limiting the growth of a corporation.”

“What makes a company strong is not the product or the service. It’s the position it owns in the mind. The strength of Hertz is in its leadership position, not the quality of its rent-a-car service.”

“Many people believe that the basic issue in marketing is convincing the prospect that they have a better product or service…When you enter a market, a far better strategy is ‘differentiation.’ Why are you different from the other players in the category? If you can define that difference in a meaningful way, you can escape the me-too trap.”

“If there’s one lesson to take out of this book, it’s this: Success or failure [is] all about perceptual problems and opportunities in the marketplace. And it’s all about understanding that the mind of the customer is where you win and lose.”
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