Marketing Warfare

Marketing Warfare

The book that changed marketing forever is now updated for the new millennium

In 1986, Marketing Warfare propelled the industry into a new, modern sensibility and a world of unprecedented profit. Now, two decades later, this Annotated Edition provides the latest, most powerful tactics that have become synonymous with the names Ries and Trout. New content includes in-depth analyses of some of the biggest marketing successes and blunders of the past two decades—including Volkswagen, Sony, Coca Cola, Budweiser, IBM, and McDonalds—along with annotated reproductions of winning and losing ads.

Contents of original edition

Introduction: Marketing is war
- Marketing needs a new philosphy
- Becoming customer-oriented
- Becoming competitor-oriented
- The marketing plan of the future
- Maybe Clausewitz is right
- In defense of marketing warfare
2,500 years of war
- Marathon: 490 B.C.
- Arbela: 331 B.C.
- Metaurus: 207 B.C.
- Hastings: 1066
- Crecy: 1346
- Quebec: 1759
- Bunker Hill: 1775
- Trenton: 1776
- Austerlitz: 1805
- Waterloo: 1815
- Balaclava: 1854
- Gettysburg: 1863
- The Somme: 1916
- Sedan: 1940
The principles of warfare
- The principle of force
  - The mathematics of a firefight
  - The mathematics of a marketing melee
  - The "better people" fallacy
  - The "better product" fallacy
  - "If you're so smart, how come you're not rich?
- The superiority of the defense
  - The mathematics of a defensive firefight
  - The fruit of victory
  - Don't be a hero
  - Friction favors the defense
  - An attack takes time
The new era of competition
- The headline wars
- Predictions or propaganda?
- The reality of marketing conflict
The nature of the battleground
- A mean and ugly place
- Mapping the mind
- Mountains in the mind
- Segmentation is tearing up the terrain
The strategic square
- The type of warfare General Motors should wage
- What Ford should do
- What Chrysler should o
- What American Motors should do
- The mountain in the mind
  - The mountain is the high ground owned by the leader
  - Offensive marketing warfare: going through the mountain
  - Defensive warfare: coming down the mountain to stop competitive attacks
  - Flanking marketing war: Go around the mountain
  - Guerilla warfare: Going under the mountain
The principles of four type of warfare
- Principles of defensive warfare
  - Defensive principle no. 1 — Only the market leader should consider playing defense
  - Defensive principle no. 2 — The best defensive strategy is the courage to attack yourself
  - Defensive principle no. 3 — Strong competitive moves should always be blocked
  - The battle for migraine mountain
  - Johnson & Johnson lowers the boom
  - Be prepared to strike back
  - Keeping something in reserve
  - What about the feds?
  - Marketing peace
- Principle of offensive warfare
  - Offensive principle no. 1 — the main consideration is the strength of the leader's position
  - Offensive principle no. 2 — find a weakness in the leader's strength and attack at that point
  - Offensive principle no. 3 — launch the attack on as narrow a front as possible
  - The odds favor the defender
  - The weakness in strength
  - The benefits of being narrow-minded
  - The disadvantages of being broad-minded
  - Attacking a monopoly
- Principles of flanking warfare
  - Flanking principle no. 1 — A good flanking move must be made into an uncontested area
  - Flanking principle no. 2 — Tactical surprise ought to be an important element of the plan
  - Flanking principle no. 3 — The pursuit is just as critical as the attack itself
  - Flanking with low price
  - Flanking with high price
  - Flanking with small size
  - Flanking with large size
  - Flanking with distribution
  - Flanking with product form
  - Flanking with fewer calories
  - Factors in successful flanking
- Principles of guerrilla warfare
  - Guerrilla principle no. 1 — Find a segment of the market small enough to defend
  - Guerrilla principle no. 2 - No matter how successful you become, never act like the leader
  - Guerrilla principle no. 3 — Be prepared to bug out at a moment's notice
  - Geographic guerrillas
  - Demographic guerrillas
  - Industry guerrillas
  - Product guerrillas
  - High-end guerrillas
  - Developing allies
  - Guerrilla are everywhere
    - Out of 100 companies
      - 1 should play defense
      - 2 should play offense
      - 3 should flank
      - 94 should be guerrillas
Real world — examples of warfare
- The cola war
  - Cocaine and caffeine
  - Twice as much for a nickel, too
  - What Coke could have done
  - The Pepsi generation
  - Coca-cola's comeback attempts
  - Royal Crown: too little, too late
  - The battle of the bulge
  - Flanking with the Uncola
  - Choas and confusion in colas
  - The battle of the bulge: round 2
  - The Pepsi challenge
  - The return of the real thing
  - The caffeine challenge
- The beer war
  - The breakthrough by Budweiser
  - The assault by Heineken
  - The counterattack by Anheuser
  - The rise of Miller
  - The launch of Lite
    - An uncontested area
    - Tactical surprise
    - The pursuit
  - The industry sees the light
  - Colrado Kool-aid
  - The weakness of Lite
  - The fall of High Life
  - The charge of the light brigade
  - The charge of the heavy brigade
- The burger war
  - Enter McDonald's
  - Burger King's way
  - McDonald's turns chicken
  - Me too, says Burger King
  - The battle of the burger
  - Flanking McDonald's
  - The low-end guerrilla
- The computer war
  - Sperry Rand vs. IBM
  - DEC vs. IBM: round 1
  - DEC vs. IBM: round 2
  - DEC vs. IBM: round 3
  - Everybody vs. IBM
  - IBM vs. IBM
  - Apple vs. IBM: round 1
  - Apple vs. IBM: round 2
  - No. 2 vs. IBM
Strategy and tactics
- Strategy follows tactics
- The artillery officer
- The tank commander
- The advertising expert
- Strategy tolerates run-of-the-mill tactics
- Strategy direct tactics
- Single point of attack
- Attack and counterattack
- Action is not independent of strategy
- Strategy cannot be divorces from tactics
- The use of reserves
The marketing general
- A marketing general must be flexible
- A marketing general must have mental courage
- A marketing general must be bold
- A marketing general must know the facts
- A marketing general needs to be lucky
- A marketing general should know the rules

“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic”. — Peter Drucker

The shift from manual workers who do as they are being told — either by the task or by the boss — to knowledge workers who have to manage themselves ↓ profoundly challenges social structure …

“Managing Oneself is a REVOLUTION in human affairs.” … “It also requires an almost 180-degree change in the knowledge workers’ thoughts and actions from what most of us—even of the younger generation—still take for granted as the way to think and the way to act.” …

… “Managing Oneself is based on the very opposite realities: Workers are likely to outlive organizations (and therefore, employers can’t be depended on for designing your life), and the knowledge worker has mobility.” ← in a context

These pages are attention directing tools for navigating a world moving toward unimagined futures.

It’s up to you to figure out what to harvest and calendarize
— working something out in time (1915, 1940, 1970 … 2040 … the outer limit of your concern) — nobody is going to do it for you.

It may be a step forward to actively reject something (rather than just passively ignoring) and then figure out a coping plan for what you’ve rejected.

Your future is between your ears and our future is between our collective ears — it can’t be otherwise. A site exploration starting point

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