On the Origin of Specious Arguments

Those of you who worship at the alter of Al Ries, co-author with Jack Trout of the seminal Positioning, will appreciate this.

It’s a summary of his newest book, co-authored with his partner and daughter, Laura.

The book, The Origin of Brands, is built on the Darwinian metaphor. Thanks to my B.S. in Biology, I know enough about this topic to be dangerous so I’m not terribly impressed by the metaphor.

Based on the overview, the book seems to boil down to the same stuff that Ries has been churning out for some time. It amounts to various chapters from his previous co-authored book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (which I do recommend, by the way), in “brand” new clothes.

If “diverge, don’t converge” and “own a category” and “if you don’t own a category, create a new one” are news to you, then read this book now. Otherwise….