Whatever it is, find a category that your brand can dominate…and in doing so, your brand will be able to establish its claim to authenticity. After all, why would anyone buy conventional film from an instant photography brand? But when it tried to beat Kodak in conventional photographic film, it failed miserably. 6. The Law of Credentials: “The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity.”Īccording to the law of credentials, brands must have a “claim to authenticity.” And the best way to establish that claim is by creating a new category in which your brand can become the leader.Īs Ries and Ries state, Polaroid created a new category for instant photography…and became the leader of that category. And Band-Aid owns “adhesive bandage.”Īs Ries and Ries mention, the only way that brands can succeed in owning a category word is by becoming first in their category. Kleenex is one example: it owns the word “tissue.” How many times have you heard someone use the word “Kleenex” and “tissue” interchangeably? Just like Jell-O owns “gelatin dessert.” Q-tip owns “cotton swab” (I didn’t even know the term “cotton swab” until now, since I’m so used to just saying “Q-tip”). Even better if it’s able to own the word of its category. This has weakened the brand image-and the company itself.Įvery brand should aim to become known for a single word. It has since expanded globally, which means that it’s no longer able to ship everything overnight. It created a new category and came to own the word “overnight.” So in order to gain a hold in the marketplace, FedEx narrowed its focus to just overnight shipping. When FedEx started out, it was competing with another brand, called Emery Air Freight. 5. The Law of the Word: “A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer.” Once that happens, people will automatically assume you’re the best because you’re the market leader. Instead, just focus on becoming the leader of your category (by becoming the first in your category). But Ries and Ries state that leaders should see advertising as more of a defensive tactic than an offensive tactic or “as insurance that will protect them against losses caused by competitive attacks.”Īs for what to advertise on, don’t claim that your brand is the best. A brand has to eventually shift from publicity to advertising in order to maintain its share in the marketplace. While advertising won’t help a brand get off on its feet, it is needed once it’s up and running.
4. The Law of Advertising: “Once born, a brand needs advertising to stay healthy.” When you’re first in a category, it’s much easier to generate a buzz around your brand. 3. The Law of Publicity: “The birth of a brand is achieved with publicity, not advertising.”Īs Ries and Ries mention, advertising is not the way to make a name for your brand-publicity is.Īnd the best way to generate that publicity is by being first in your brand’s category (like Band-Aid was for adhesive bandages or Heineken was for imported beer). And in doing so, they succeeded in becoming a leading fast-food restaurant chain. Ries and Ries give the example of Subway, which, amongst a sea of generalized delis, chose to just focus on one thing: submarine sandwiches. If you have to get surgery on your knee, who would you rather have operate on you? A surgeon who is specialized in only knee surgery or a general surgeon who does knee surgery…and many other things? My guess is, it would be the former. Instead, “customers wants brands that are narrow in scope and are distinguishable by a single word, the shorter the better.” 2. The Law of Contraction: “A brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus.” In the short term, brands might be successful when they expand, “but in the long term, the model expansion undermines the brand name in the mind of the consumer.” But according to Ries and Ries, the more a brand expands, the less powerful it becomes. Many brands assume that in order to grow, they need to expand. The Law of Expansion: “The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope.” So you ready? Here are the 22 (immutable) laws of branding: 1. Whether your business is 30 years old or still in the development stage, chances are, there’s something you can learn from Ries and Ries and apply to your business. I recently finished reading The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries and, since I found it to be particularly valuable, thought I would share with you the main points from the book.Įven though the book was published in 1998 (just as the Internet was starting to take off), the laws still apply today (they are, as the authors say, “immutable”).