He graduated in 1950 from DePauw University in Indiana, where he majored in mathematics, and began his advertising career with General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y. He later moved on to Needham, Louis & Brorby and Marsteller in Manhattan.
With two partners, Mr. Ries started his own advertising firm, Ries Cappiello Colwell, in 1963 and hired Mr. Trout four years later. There, Mr. Ries had already begun applying the concept of positioning, though at the time he was calling it “the rock” — the immovable foundation upon which every advertisement rested.
“Jack suggested we call the idea ‘positioning,’ which I instantly accepted,” Mr. Ries said in the 2017 Times interview, after Mr. Trout’s death at 82. “The name was better because it suggested a ‘position’ in the mind.”
The idea took off in the advertising industry in 1972 after Mr. Ries gave a speech that intrigued Rance Crain, the president of Crain Communications, the parent company of Ad Age. He suggested that Mr. Ries write about positioning for the publication. Mr. Ries and Mr. Trout collaborated on a three-part series.
“To establish a position,” they wrote, “you must not only name competitive names, but also ignore most of the old advertising rule as well. In category after category, the prospect already knows the benefits of using the product. To climb on his product ladder, you must relate your brand to the brand already there.”
They admired classic campaigns by 7Up, which separated itself from its soft drink cola rivals by calling itself the “uncola,” and Avis, which admitted to being No. 2 to Hertz in rental cars while offering a simple reason for people to choose its service: “We try harder.”
Positioning elevated the partners’ profile within the industry and brought a wave of clients, including Paramount Pictures, AT&T, Carvel, KPMG, Sotheby’s, IBM and Humana.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nytimes.com
