Book Review: The Origin of Brands
Written on October 17, 2008 by Susan Payton
A friend recently lent me a copy of The Origin of Brands by Al & Laura Ries, and I really enjoyed it. The book compares brands to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Here are some key points.
- The marketplace is constantly evolving, which creates opportunities to create new niches.
- Companies do better NOT following in the footsteps of a predecessor, but rather to forge their own path. Create a need.
- Converging (car + airplane= flying car) is often a bad idea. Many businesses fail because of this.
- Diverging is usually smart. One brand can’t carry the weight of a diverse product mix.
- Sometimes you have to prune your brands. One bad apple can, well, you know what it can do.
The book gives some great case studies of ideas that succeeded (Apple’s Macs) and those that flopped (video phones). If nothing else, it’s an amusing walk through the history of brands. Expect to learn something from the successes and failures of others.
