Al Ries
“Positioning is not what you do to a product. It's what you do to the mind of the prospect.”
- Name
- Al Ries
- Lived
- 1926-2022
- With
- Jack Trout
- Key work
- Positioning (1981)
Forms & parts of speech
Who he was, in plain terms
Al Ries was an American marketing strategist who, with partner Jack Trout, gave the field its most durable idea: positioning — the battle for a single clear slot in the prospect's mind. Their 1972 Ad Age series and the 1981 book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind reframed marketing as a war of perception, not product.
The key ideas
The mind hates confusion and holds few brands per category, so own ONE word (Volvo = safety); if you can't be first in a category, create a category you can be first in; line extension dilutes the very position that made the name valuable; and perception beats product — there are no best products, only best-positioned ones. Later, with daughter Laura Ries, he championed brand focus and PR-before-advertising.
Why he still matters
Category design, niche-down advice, the one-word brand exercise — all are Ries & Trout with new vocabulary. April Dunford's modern positioning practice explicitly stands on this foundation. Whenever a startup is told "be first in a smaller pond," the advice is paraphrasing 1981.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonyms
Origin & history
Born 1926 in Indianapolis; ad man at GE before founding Ries Cappiello Colwell (1963). "Positioning" emerged in his and Jack Trout's 1972 Advertising Age series "The Positioning Era Cometh," becoming the 1981 book. Died 2022.
Etymology: source.
Usage trends
Search interest for this term over the last five years:
Common questions
- Who was Al Ries?
- American marketing strategist (1926-2022) who, with Jack Trout, created the concept of positioning.
- What is Al Ries known for?
- Positioning - The Battle for Your Mind (1981), the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, and the focus/category-first school of strategy.
- What was Ries' core idea?
- Marketing battles happen in the prospect's mind — own one clear word or be first in a category you create.
Related tools & calculators
Resources & people to follow
- bookPositioning — Ries & Trout
- bookThe 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing — Ries & Trout
- referenceWikipedia — Al Ries
Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term.
Related training
Disciplines
Areas of marketing where al ries is a core concern: