Book review: The 22 immutable laws of branding

Finally started reading regularly again. The past year has been, different. Here’s my take on the book.

Title: `The 22 immutable laws of branding`
Reading Difficulty: `Very easy`
Did I like it: `Definitely`

Personal Views

The book is great and provides alot of insight into what true marketing is. I’ve always believed that marketing in university is full fluff, and you never, ever need a degree for that. Just look at the best entrepreneurs, they did everything on their own. Marketing for a big company is easy. However, try marketing for a startup with a budget of 0 dollars. Thats when the true marketers come in, and not when interns ‘market’ for big corporations with exceptionally high advertisement budgets.

Book summary

Al and Laura Ries mainly conveys the message of what is actaully detrimental to a brand. A company is not a brand, and a brand should not be a company either. The key takeaway is that to grow a brand well, you contract the brand and work on that contracted market. Don’t look to expand categories, like how Google has been trying to expand into the gaming industry, but with little result. Google Stadia, as far as many are concerned, is a failure, for now.

Concept summary

To expand, expand the market instead. Like the discord group which I have grown, it would be detrimental to try to introduce too many categories in it. What I should be doing, is to work on the number of people using discord instead. Expand the market size in that sole category.

Expansion of categories dilutes a brand and we don’t want to fall down this hole.

Additionals

One of my favourite laws is The law of Singularity. Stick to 1 specific thing, like how Volvo has stuck to safety in its brand. This is what keeps your brand strong and distinct.

Current books I plan to read: Afraid to hope, Discovering the Ottomans, The law of success, Guide to sprint and olympic triathlon training.