The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

From the book The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.

1. EXPANSION
The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope.

2. CONTRACTION
A brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus.

3. PUBLICITY
The birth of a brand is achieved with publicity, not advertising.

4. ADVERTISING
Once born, a brand needs advertising to stay healthy.

5.THE WORD
A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer.

6.CREDENTIALS
The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity.

7. QUALITY
Quality is important, but brands are not built on quality alone.

8. THE CATEGORY
A leading brand should promote the cateogry, not the brand.

9. THE NAME
In the long run a brand is nothing more than a name.

10. EXTENSIONS
The easiest way to destroy a brand is to put its name on everything.

11. FELLOWSHIP
In order to build the category, a brand should welcome other brands.

12. THE GENERIC
One of the fastest routes to failure is giving a brand a generic name.

13. THE COMPANY
Brands are brands. Companies are companies. There is a difference.

14. SUBBRANDS
What branding builds, subbranding can destroy.

15. SIBLINGS
There is a time and a place to launch a second brand.

16. SHAPE
A brand's logotype should be designed to fit the eyes. Both eyes.

17. COLOR
A brand should use a color that is the opposite of its major competitor's.

18. BORDERS
There are no barriers to global branding. A brand should know no borders.

19. CONSISTENCY
A brand is not built overnight. Success is measured in decades, not years.

20. CHANGE
Brands can be changed, but only infrequently and only very carefully.

21. MORTALITY
No brand will live forever. Euthanasia is often the best solution.

22. SINGULARITY
The most important aspect of a brand is its single-mindedness.

In this fun read, marketing legend explains why good marketing is essential to good business, and uses many examples, both successful and disastrous, to illustrate his point. It's

This one's considered as an industry bible, go get the book by Al & Laura Ries: The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to the smart folks over at Logo Orange.