ZAG: The #1 Strategy of High-Performance Brands

You can keep yourself from making most positioning gaffes if you will simply remember the following principles: 1. Positioning, first and foremost, is a noun, not a verb. That is, it is best understood as an attribute associated with a company or a product, and not as the marketing contortions that people go through to set up that association. 2. P

To understand this race to the top—and to prosper inside it—it pays to appreciate the forces driving customer expectations of quality: Transparency Triumph and the survival of the best. Creative Destruction and the many benefits it brings people. Easy Experimentation and a tendency toward greater access to—and trust of—the new.

Finally, we must mention a dangerous yet common idea. The idea is that in order to stand out and attract attention, brands should be constantly striving to look different, to employ whacky eye-catching colours, shapes and gimmicks. Some people think this is what it means to be distinctive. This idea leads to dangerous behaviours of regularly changi