Al believes the primary function of a marketing organization is to position the brand. He also believes that Marketing is 90% strategy and 10% execution unlike Jack Welch who said “You pick a general direction and implement like hell.” Improving product and cost cutting can not be marketing strategy. They are everyday business practice. To enter a new category, new brand is a better solution instead of Line extension. With right product, right name, the right target audience, the right position and right timing, most marketing program bound to work.

1. War in the Board Room
Al & Laura Ries.
Synopsys by Michael Hong

2. Left Brain Management vs. Right Brain Marketing
Verbal
Logical
Analytical
Visual
Intuitive
Holistic
Management argues
for ideas and
concepts that are
plain “common
senses”
Marketing argues
for ideas and
concepts that are
“paradigm
shifting”
“If we can get employees to work
one hour more per day, our
productivity will increase by 10%”
“If employees accept the company’s
vision as their personal vision, our
productivity will sky rocket.” 0

3. Management deals with reality.
Marketing deals in perception
Marketing thinks perception is reality but
management thinks reality reflects perception.
Changing reality does not necessarily change
perception.
• Why has Walmart failed to sell high fashion
clothing?
• Why is Volkswagon withdrawing Phaetons
from the US market?
1
Pepsi Tastes Better! The “New & Improved” Authentic Taste is Better!
Phaetons
Starting Price at $64,600

4. Management concentrates on Product.
Marketing concentrates on Brand
Pepsi tastes better but
Coca-Cola is a better
brand. Coca-Cola
outsells Pepsi in the US
by 50%
AN ENGINEERING ICON SLIPS
Quality ratings for Mercedes drop in several survey
-- WSJ Feb 4, 2002
MERCEDES HEAD-ON COLLISION WITH QUALITY
SURVEY
--Business Week July 21, 2003
MERCEDES HITS A POTHOLE
Owners complaints are up. Resale values are down.
--Fortune, Oct. 27, 2003
308%
1993-2007
2
Strong brands can withstand negative publicity
better than the weaker ones.

5. Understanding Category.
11
TV
CRT
Projector
Flat Panel
OLED
LCD
Plasma
LED
Size
Price
3D
Smart
Family or
Personal?
People think of category first before a brand.
A category for a customer may be different
then a category for management
Movie or
Sports?
Currentoutdated

6. Management wants to own the brand
Marketing wants to own the category
Strong brand usually dominates the category but
when the category melts down so does the brand.
Management prefers using the existing brand
equity for a new category while marketing wants
a new brand for a new category.
Local Consumer
Telecommunications
National
Telecommunications
3
If Laptop PC is one-stop-solution, why do we need Tablet PC?

7. Management demands better products
Marketing demands different products
Becoming a leader by creating a ‘better product” or a “better service” almost never
works.
• Burger King versus McDonalds
• Energizer versus Duracell
• Pepsi-Cola versus Coca-Cola
• Newsweek versus Time
Innovation by being the first in the category is better than innovation to outpace
your competitor.
4
VS
VS
VS
VS

8. Management favors a full line
Marketing favors a narrow line
Full line strategy takes away brand building effort.
5
512,766 VS
Jetta
Rabbit
Passat
Phaeton
Golf
Eos
New Beetle
221,760
5.6% MS 6.8% MSVS

9. Management tries to expand the brand
Marketing tries to contract the brand
Passenger or Cargo?
Business or vacation destination?
International or Domestic?
Business class or Coach class?
6
YES TO ALL!
Business destination only
Coach class only
Domestic only
Focus on selected opportunities
Most companies went bankrupt except SW Airlines.

10. Management strives to be the “first mover”
Marketing strives to be the “first minder”
7
In a new category, the first brand that gets into consumers’ minds is almost
always the winner.
Panasonic was the first mover to sell Flat Panel
TV in 1997 but not in the mind of consumers.
“Does the name of Panasonic had a chance to
become the generic name for the Flat Panel TV
category?”
Samsung is #1 with 18.7%. #2 is LG with 13.1%, #3 is Sony with 10.3% and #4 is
Panasonic with 7.9%.
Lexus was NOT the first Japanese luxury car,
Acura was. Acura later introduced cheaper car
tarnishing their premium image while Lexus
steadfast with premium position.

11. Management expects a “big-bang” launch.
Marketing expects a slow takeoff.
8
Trivial products or ideas might take off rapidly, but products that end up
changing the way we live or work take longer to gain acceptance.
2002: 345K
2003: 1,306K
2004: 4,540K
2005: 22,497K
2006: 39,409L
2007: 51,630K
Lego brick was
first introduced in
1958. 140
employees.
Lego reached over
9,000 employees
worldwide in 2000
In the first two years, Wham-O sold 100 million hula hoops. A few years later,
the fad was over.

12. Management targets the center of the market.
Marketing targets one of the ends.
Taste and Calories.
“Ideal” Spot.Real Sweet Spot. Real Sweet Spot.
Excellent Taste Zero Calories
9

13. Management would like to own everything.
Marketing would like to own a word.
10
Delivering a good brand experience isn’t enough. The end result of marketing
articulates brand experience into a single word.
• People need help sorting out names and concept.
Driving Luxury Prestige Safety Reliability Youth
Management Marketing Economic Finance Technology

14. Management deals in verbal abstractions.
Marketing deals in visual hammers.
11
UPS deliver more
parcels to more
people in more places
Synchronizing
the world of
commerce
Management Talking Visual Talking
Boston ChickenBoston Market
Marketing-
Communications
Advertisement
Business description leads to complex verbal abstractions. Use the words that
are down to earth and visually strong.

15. Management prefers a single brand.
Marketing prefers multiple brands.
12
SuperToyota
90% of new products are bound to fail. To
reduce the risk, management prefers line
extension to enter the market.
To enter a new category, a new brand will
serve a better opportunity to capture market
share.
Mainframe computer?
Personal Computer?
Internet Search?
Successful Not so Successful

16. Management values cleverness.
Marketing values credentials.
Credential reinforces what the brand stand for.
Cleverness may attracts attention without brand truth.
“Engineered like no
other car in the world”
– Mercedes
“King of the Beer”
– Budweiser
“Be all you can be”
– US Army
Credential Which do you think
works best for Coca-
Cola?
“Polar bears”
“Always.”
“Enjoy.”
“Life tastes good.”
“All the world loves Coke.”
“The Coke side of life”
“The Real Thing.”
Credential-less
“Relax..it’s FedEx”
– FedEx
“We know why you
fly”
– American Airlines
“Army strong”
– US Army
Benetton continue to loose business in spite of clever ads.

17. Management believes in double branding.
Marketing believes in a single branding..
11
Double branding means confusion, not a solution.
Brand names that don’t serve a real function ultimately obsolete.

18. Management wants to communicate.
Marketing wants to position.
11
Advertising is not communications; advertising is positioning.
Advertising is to establish and reinforce a position in the prospect’s mind.
Driving Luxury Prestige Safety Reliability
Chevy is
?

19. Management wants customers for life.
Marketing is happy with a short-term fling.
11
Children Teens Young Adult Adult
Business opportunity does not improve with chasing after current target.
New brand might work better for the new category (Segment)
In spite of chasing after teen market for the last 10
years, sales remain relatively flat.
1998 $1.9M to 2007 $2.0M (Adjusted for inflation)

20. Management loves coupons and sales.
Marketing loathes them.
11
Coupon is not a marketing strategy. It’s a crutch. Once addicted, reversal is
near impossible. Coupon should be treated like a nuclear bomb. Use it with
caution.
Once coupon become main driver of sales, it’s impossible to count
• Customers who would have purchased anyway without a coupon
• Customers who didn’t buy because they didn’t have a coupon
• Damages to the brand (Macy’s premium brand image has been tarnished)
Coupon Driven Coupon-less
Leverage
Manufacturer’s
coupons

21. Management tries copy the competition.
Marketing tries to be the opposite.
11
Most management uses the same strategy and they just want to do it better.
Best marketing strategy is to be “different” or “opposite”
Coke has been around
for a long time. Coke
is your parents drink.
Pepsi is for new
generation!
McDonald wants to sell Premium coffee.
McDonald wants teen market.
What will happen to Happy Meals?
Ronald McDonald,
the sacrificial lamb
Germ killing
Medicine
Fresh
Breath

22. Management values equity in name.
Marketing values position enhancing name.
11
As clichéd as it may sound, I can’t believe
It’s Not Butter is one the best selling
margarines in America. “It must taste like
butter, ” thinks the consumer, “otherwise
they wouldn’t used that name.”
Ralph Lauren or Ralph Lifshitz
Name changing from NYNEX to
Verizon removed bad reputation on
customer service by NYEX

23. Management bent on constant innovation.
Marketing is happy with just one.
11
Innovation is not necessary a marketing strategy unless innovation itself is
the brand position. Innovation does not last forever. Competition will catch
up soon or later.
OR
What consumer will buy comes down to the brand they believe in.

24. Conclusion.
11
Al believes the primary function of a marketing organization is to
position the brand.
He also believes that Marketing is 90% strategy and 10%
execution unlike Jack Welch who said “You pick a general direction
and implement like hell.”
Improving product and cost cutting can not be
marketing strategy. They are everyday business practice.
To enter a new category, new brand is a better solution instead of
Line extension.
With right product, right name, the right target
audience, the right position and right timing, most
marketing program bound to work.

25. Michael Hong Marketing Consulting
Michael is a Senior Marketing Management professional with exceptional skills and experience in e-
Commerce Marketing. Michael has 20 years of marketing and marketing communications experience
at corporations such as AT&T and LG Electronics. He is a creative marketer and a thought leader in
digital marketing and multicultural marketing industry. He spoke at numerous conferences such as
Internet Retailer and the eM9-Marketing Conference.
Specialties: Advertising Strategy, Planning and Execution, Digital Marketing (SEO, SEM, Social media,
Word-of-Mouth), Direct Marketing, Multicultural Marketing, B-B Marketing
Education: Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
B.A. 1985 School of Art, Architecture and City Planning
2 Brookstone Dr. Boonton Twps., NJ 07005 (C) 201 841 9659 njmikehong@yahoo.com
Thank You