It is believed that building your own business is impossible without proper motivation. Moreover, her role is often played not only by the notorious dream of getting rich or asserting oneself, but also concrete examples of successful people. It is precisely such citizens that the book “Marketing Wars” describes, which has not lost its popularity among business representatives for over 20 years. What is so special about this edition? What does it say? And what do readers think of him?
Book Overview
The book with an excellent talking title was first written in 1986, published by Al Rice and Jack Trout (you can see it in the photo below). It is noteworthy that both writers were real marketers who managed to succeed in their field.
The authors took as the basis for their future bestseller the theory that the Prussian officer and military writer Karl von Clausewitz had once expressed in his scientific works On the War . According to this theory, in their work “Marketing Wars”, writers drew an analogy between real hostilities and imaginary financial competitions among large corporations. In their opinion, this connection is obvious, and they call the author of the theory the greatest marketing strategist in history.
What is the main purpose of the book?
The purpose of writing "Marketing Wars", including an indication of the reasons, the authors describe in detail in the preface. In it, they talk about the readiness of large corporations to fight for leadership, not disdaining even the most dirty methods of struggle.
According to them, the book "Marketing Wars" is a kind of manual for large and small entrepreneurs who want to build their own business, are not afraid of competition and simply "want to survive."
The publication provides specific examples of doing business with all the ensuing consequences.
E. Rice and D. Trout “Marketing Wars”: Summary
In the sensational publication, we are talking about modern marketing. Moreover, readers are invited to look at the struggle between corporations from a completely different angle.
The book talks about the very essence of marketing, which, according to the authors, boils down not to customer service, but to the use of various tricks and tricks that help to get around and overtake competing companies. Moreover, marketing in this case is presented as the conduct of certain hostilities between representatives of large business over the territory, in which the entire client audience plays the role.
What marketing strategies do authors propose?
In addition to useful tips, E. Rice and D. Trout (“Marketing Wars” - one of the most famous publications of the authors) talk about existing marketing strategies. According to their assumption, they are of the following types:
- offensive;
- defensive;
- partisan;
- flanking.
Based on the aforementioned book on marketing, an offensive strategy is to search for talented generals for two or more large competing companies. In this case, the main tasks of the found commander are to search and skillfully use the enemy’s weaknesses.
Defensive tactics involve playing a major marketing leader. It is noteworthy that the basis of the strategy is an attack not of the chosen opponent (competing company), but of himself. In addition, according to such tactics, a strong corporation must timely see and prevent a competitor's attack and do everything to fail miserably.
Partisan and flank tactics
Jack Trout and his co-author write the following about guerrilla tactics: almost all players in a marketing war are required to conduct covert activities. The fact is that many companies, which are very far from leaders in a serious financial race, can only count on success if they do not fight openly. According to the authors, they will greatly succeed in waging a guerrilla war.
Flank tactics, as it turned out, directly depends on the moment chosen successfully. Moreover, it is necessary not only to determine it, but also to make adjustments to it. In other words, if a company has gaps in the analysis of a segment market, it is imperative that they fill out the competitor’s corporations. And of course, here, as in a real war, it all depends on the factor of surprise.
What large companies are mentioned in the book?
As the main players, Al Rice and D. Trout mention the leaders of carbonated soft drinks, fast food, beer production and sales, IT-technologies and many others. For example, the authors are talking about a real war between titans such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The competition between these two companies is so great that it entails a century-long confrontation.
In a book on Marketing Wars, these brands are first compared and then described how they deal with each other. So, according to the authors, the taste qualities of both drinks are approximately the same. But Coca-Cola keeps its composition a secret, and Pepsi, on the contrary, writes on each label. But that's not the point.
Both companies prefer to fight on the advertising field, using for this media, billboards, signs and other attributes. Moreover, their fight, according to Jack Trout, is very serious. As soon as one participant in the war shoots a video partially ridiculing a competitor, the second creates his own video in response.
Well, then both leaders begin to compete, creating a new bottle, working on improving the formula, as well as coming up with a variety of promotions with a prize draw and win-win lotteries.
Interestingly, the offensive struggle is precisely Pepsi. Coca-Cola most often ignores such attacks, choosing a wait-and-see attitude. But then, if the company responds, then it does it in a big way.
Confrontation between fast food leaders
Another striking example of hostilities mentioned in the book “Marketing Wars” is the many years of confrontation between fast food restaurants McDonald's and Burger King.
At the same time, competitions between organizations also occur through advertising. For example, a case is known when the Burger King restaurant placed its banner near the entrance to McDonald's. Moreover, it depicted a large hamburger with the inscription "Feel the taste, not the aftertaste" and there was an arrow in the direction of the restaurant Burger King. Thus, the company managed to make fun of a competitor and attract the attention of customers.
Somewhere in the 80s, marketing wars between leaders reached their peak. At this time, Burger King made a real blow to the breath of his eternal rival, having shot a frankly provocative video. In it, young actress Sarah Michelle Gellar ate a burger and said that Burger King products had 20% more meat than McDonald's.
In response to such a daring move, the competitor's representatives sued not only the company itself, but also the actress, as well as the advertising agency that developed the script for the video.
The war between Apple and Samsung
Considering the examples from the book on marketing, one cannot fail to mention such major IT technology players as Samsung and Apple. Both companies chose flank tactics. For example, after the release of iPhone 4, Apple began to receive a lot of indignation and criticism regarding interruptions in communication.
Having learned about this failure of the eternal rival, Samsung immediately created a whole line of Galaxy S. At the same time, it sent the new product for free to the most famous English bloggers, who, in fact, wrote about Apple's flaws.
At the same time, Samsung launched Galaxy S advertising support, using the communication icons instead of the LL letters in the word Hello. Thus, the company promoted its products and mocked a competitor.
The struggle between car leaders
The publication "Marketing Wars" also talks about automotive giants who often compete with each other. A striking example is the confrontation between Audi, Porshe and Nissan.
As a weapon, these manufacturers, like previous competitors, use advertising. For example, Nissan is considered to be the most successful marketing move , which has chosen an alternative comparison with competitors as a strategy. To this end, she launched Audi and Porshe cars in the cities of England, accompanied by the inscriptions: “More expensive, slower and not as powerful as the Nissan 370Z” and “I want to be as fast as the Nissan 370Z”.
What was the response to this advertising stunt by Audi and Porshe, in the bestseller "Marketing Wars" (reviews and discussion about this work to this day do not fade). But, most likely, the companies did not leave this move unattended.
A real sensation was made by the spectacular advertising of BMW in 2003. According to the idea of the marketers, a vivid photo shoot was made, during which the BMW X5 in the guise of a predatory jaguar chased Mercedes ML in the form of a fast-footed zebra.
Examples from the life of domestic brands
Looking at large foreign representatives, domestic marketing is also gradually developing (teaching this simple science is very popular among students from different countries today). At the same time, employees of Russian companies and their representative offices are not far behind their foreign colleagues. For example, a battle has recently taken place between Unilever Rus and Nestle. And it was a truly culinary duel. So, the first player released a commercial for chicken Knorr TM broth, which twice mentioned that cooking is necessary without magic. And at the end of the video, a slogan sounded: “This soup. No magic. ”
What are the opinions of users about the book?
Despite the fact that a lot of time has passed since the publication and translation of the book into Russian, they still talk about it. For example, one of the marketing staff writes that he is impressed with the publication. In his opinion, the book talks about really working methods that many large and small companies use today. Moreover, the user expresses his regret that he did not read the publication earlier.
Another user also describes his first acquaintance with the book. From his words, it becomes clear that the publication is positioned with him as a kind of textbook, on the basis of which he managed to undergo complete marketing training.
The third claims that the book is written in plain language and contains a number of specific examples with colorful illustrations. The fourth liked the non-standard approach of the authors, using comparisons of real hostilities and lively competition between companies. Some readers who have studied the book from cover to cover, consider the marketing methods used by the authors irrelevant.
In a word, a book about Marketing Wars impressed someone and who didn’t. Someone found a lot of useful advice in it, while another considers it inappropriate and outdated. Be that as it may, the publication is noteworthy. Having studied it, you will find in it what interests you specifically.