Regards for Al
From Friends, Clients, and Fans Around the World
What did Al Ries & positioning mean to you?
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“World’s Greatest Dad!”
Dear Dad,
For 28 years you have been the very best business partner and for 51 years you have been the very best Dad, mentor, copy editor, cheerleader, and friend.
We have spent so many days and nights together at work and play around the world. I am grateful for every lesson and opportunity you have given me.
Working by your side was my dream come true since I was a little girl. Forget business school, the Ries marketing education you gave me is way better than I could have ever gotten at Harvard or Kellogg.
It is hard to even put in words how much you mean to me and how amazing and exciting my life has been because of you, your support, your love, and all our work together at Ries consulting.
But I am not the only one you have touched with your generosity and marketing ideas - that is why I wanted to put together this special website so Ries devotees could all show our appreciation of you, all you have contributed to the marketing, and how your revolutionary positioning concept will continue to lead companies to success.
Dad, you were the real thing and the greatest marketing mind the world has ever seen. You will live on in our hearts forever, in your namesake positioning firm, and on the on bookshelves of many, many, many generations to come.
Love,
Laura
Dear Al,
One of the luckiest things to happen to me in my career at Advertising Age was meeting you. You were the key guy who helped me shape the editorial focus of Ad Age through the years, because that’s how important your concept of Positioning was to making advertising more effective. Your book, co-authored with Jack Trout, emphasized how important it was for advertisers to be the first to register what their product stood for in the minds of consumers.
When we met at lunch when you gave a speech outlining the fundamentals of Positioning I came away with the distinct impression that your concept was the best way for advertisers to own the core product benefit in consumers’ minds. Because advertisers who were the first to register the basic product benefit were the ones to own it. That was a tremendous advantage, I realized, and soon after we ran a three-part series on the power of Positioning in shaping how consumers thought of products.
Your ideas made such fundamental sense that I asked you to write a regular column, which turned out to be one of the most popular features of Ad Age.
The corollary benefit of our working together was that we became good friends. What good times we had on our famous fishing trips when your wife Mary Lou and my wife Merrilee would help cook the shore lunches that we enjoyed so much.
I’m proud to say that you have been one of the major influences of my business and personal life. We have known each other for 50 years, and I will always cherish our conversations about what captured our interest at the time. The world won’t be the same without you.
All the very best,
Rance Crain
Former President of Crain Communications and
Editor-in-Chief of Advertising Age
“HOW AL RIES POSITIONED THE POSITIONING CONCEPT”
An interview with Al Ries by Rance Crain
“One of the luckiest things to happen to me
at Advertising Age was meeting you.”
“Al was was a brilliant marketer; but an even better human being. He was a man of integrity who will be greatly missed.”
- John Schnatter,
Fan of Positioning & a Ries consulting client
“Your spirit will always be with us.”
Dear Al,
Thank you for introducing me, and the world, to the "Mind Era."
Thank you for developing Ries consulting into a "mind hospital" that can identify problems a client might have, and then provide the exact treatment necessary to remedy it.
Thank you for these past two decades of conversation, guidance, and opportunity since my very first email hit your computer in the 1990s. Your spirit will accompany us, motivate us, and inspire us in everything we do. My deep gratitude and debt to you cannot be put into words.
The Ries brand will live on and prosper in your honor, together with Laura, we will lead the Ries consulting to new heights and continue to be the positioning pioneers that entrepreneurs all over the world respect and rely on now and in the future.
Your spirit will always be with us.
Simon Zhang
CEO Ries Global & CEO Ries China (est. 2007)
“Marketing is not a battle of products,
it’s a battle of perceptions.”
— Al Ries
“He was a real warrior and true visionary”
Al Ries was a true visionary, a luminary, and most importantly a wonderful human being.
He was a gift to us at Samsung and shed a light on our most pivotal product brand launch back in 2010. The next decade was truly a transformative period, for us and for me personally.
I still cherish the memories of working together with Al and our many great discussions that vividly displayed his great passion and wisdom for business and life.
Rest in peace, dear Al.
Paul Kim
VP, Strategy | Head of Team, Mobile Business
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, Inc.
“Ries was a global marketing superstar”
It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Mr. Al Ries, who was our teacher, the world-renowned marketing strategist and father of Positioning Theory. We deeply mourn the loss of Mr. Al Ries and send our sincere condolences to his family.
Mr. Al Ries was a global marketing superstar, a man of profound ideas and a writer of many books. The Positioning Theory he founded has influenced generations of marketers around the world. In China, the Positioning Theory has had a broad and profound impact on local companies and entrepreneurs, contributing to the development and growth of Chinese brands with irreplaceable wisdom.
Jinmailang has also followed and benefited from Positioning Theory. I have met and talked with Mr. Ries twice at the Ries Summit, and was deeply inspired. The Positioning Theory is an important theoretical tool for companies to compete in the era of rapid change, and it will guide all entrepreneurs and innovators to win business battles and the future. The guru has passed away, but his legacy will live on.
Fan Xianguo
Chairman of Jinmailang Group
“There are few real icons in this world.
Al was one of them.”
I knew Al Ries for half a century and I learned from him every time I spent any time with him. I shall miss his wit and for me, his wisdom.
He was smart but the most special was his creativity. It is an overused phrase but is so appropriate for Al. His ideas would come out like a volcanic eruption and they just kept coming. The world will miss that creativity, it will never be replaced. I knew him since we were both young pups and I am pleased to consider him a great mentor in my life and friend.
I think about him often and have a spot right there in my soul for him.
Al Ries was in many hall of fame’s and deserves all of them. I wish him well as he, I am sure, continues to solve the world’s challenges.
Warm regards,
Keith Crain
Chairman of Crain Communications
Former Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Automotive News
“We are grateful to Ries for the ideas and wisdom he brought to the globalized business world.”
On October 12, we were shocked to learn that Mr. Al Ries died in the United States at age 95. The guru has passed away, but his legacy will live on!
In 1996, based on the Positioning Theory, Mr. Al Ries proposed the focus theory to address the diversification of American companies. In 2004, in their book "The Origin of Brands", Mr. Ries and his daughter Laura Ries formally put forward the ideas that "categories are species in the business world and are the key force behind the brands" and that "new categories arise from divergence and thus new brands are born", which marked that people's understanding of marketing has shifted from the era of brands to the era of categories. The book also provided an outline of the category strategy. Since 2004, the Rieses and their Chinese partner Mr. Simon Zhang have gradually improved the theoretical system of category strategy based on the Chinese market.
Category strategy is a psychology-based marketing theory that respects both objective laws and people’s initiative. In particular, it emphasizes that the best way to "win consumers’ minds is to set up a new category from divergence and be the first in", so as to "think in categories and express in brands". It can therefore be said that Mr. Ries’ thinking developed from positioning to focus, then to a category, and finally to minds.
I came to know Mr. Ries' theories more than a decade ago and systematically read more than twenty books on related subjects, and also wrote articles such as "Thirty-three Tips for Category Strategy", "The Present and Future of Categories", "The Cause and Consequences of Brands", and "The Karma of Quality" to help employees better put category strategy into practice.
In just forty years, China's economy has transformed from the "era of shortage" to the "era of surplus", while the former requires a production strategy, the latter needs a category strategy. The point of category strategy, in my opinion, is not to do everything, but to be the champion in one category, and at the same time requires "market-based focus, divergence-based innovation, and mind-based marketing". "With a focus on innovation and consumers’ minds", the strategy helps ignite the brightest spark in the hearts of customers in a particular product category, so that a "market necessity" will become the "necessity" for consumers’ minds.
We are grateful to Mr. Al Ries for the ideas and wisdom he brought to the globalized business world. The guru has passed away, but his spirit of observing the business world with a keen and unique perspective, and his practice of constantly searching for "positioning" to win "minds" will live on.
I hereby pay my tribute to the memory of Al Ries!
Jing Zhu
Chairman of Haima Group
I read Al Ries' books in the mid-1980s when illycaffè was still a small company with sales of less than 100 million and also produced tea under the same illy brand.
Al Ries' brilliant insight made me realize that the illy brand could only represent one product, coffee.
Almost 40 years later, illycaffè has grown, now billing over 500 million, and the Illy Group also includes Dammann Frères, a French tea company. It is currently as small as illycaffè was at the time, but it has the same potential for growth.
Al Ries's ideas, now carried forward and developed by his daughter Laura, have guided my path as a manager and entrepreneur on a daily basis. And I am very grateful to him for that.
Riccardo Illy
Former Chairman of Gruppo illy
Chairman of Polo del Gusto, a Gruppo illy holding company
“He was the GOAT of Marketing. Greatest of All Time!”
Al helped make ACT! what it was. He certainly nailed it when he told us what it was..."The Best Selling Contact Manager."
In 1987, he positioned ACT! by telling us THAT is what it is.
I said to him "Al, I don't know that I feel comfortable saying it is the best-selling when we've only sold about 300 copies."
Al responded, "Does anyone else sell a contact manager?" I said no.
"Then that makes you the best-selling!" declared Al.
From that moment on we were ACT! The Best Selling Contact Manager. It became self-fulfilling. We sold over 10M copies.
I was privileged to work with him positioning other companies and organizations I was involved with. He was the GOAT of Marketing. Greatest of All Time!
Pat Sullivan
Co-founder of ACT! and SalesLogix
“When I think about people who had the most impact on my professional life, Al certainly stands at the top.”
I read his books when I was 27 and his ideas resonated with me like nothing else.
His wisdom about brands gained him some sort of celebrity status in my mind – an unreachable guru of our times.
How surprised and emotionally taken was I when I met him, his wife Mary-Lou, and his daughter Laura in Atlanta.
Whilst his thinking will always inspire me, there was so much humility and family-mindedness in this man that touched me even more.
Al, you taught me all about brands, but you also taught me that having great talent in something doesn’t mean that we should forget where we are coming from.
Johannes Hartmann
Owner, Insight Republic
Former Senior VP Consumer Insight, Estee Lauder
Former VP Global Consumer Understanding, Unilever
Ries first worked with Hartmann in the early 2000s while he was VP Marketing Asia and developed the very successful “Woman’s Secret Weapon” strategy for Knorr. Later Ries also worked on Estee Lauder brands including Smashbox.
“Al Ries with his teachings on positioning has revolutionized the world of marketing, shaking it from its foundations and slaughtering many useless sacred cows. His influence, wisdom, vision and knowledge as a marketing historian are unmatched. There are many marketers. But there will always be only one Al Ries.”
— Frank Merenda
Famed European Entrepreneur
and Ries Event Sponsor
“Al Ries was an innovator in the best sense. He gave us a new set of tools to understand markets and brands, and his influence even today is enormous.”
Adrian Zackheim
Founder and Publisher of Portfolio, Penguin Group
Former Associate Publisher at HarperCollins
Publisher of The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding and The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR
“A towering figure.”
Al Ries revolutionized the world of marketing with the publication of the beloved business classic, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. His remarkable legacy lives on in the minds and hearts of all those he touched.
Casey Ebro
Executive Editor, McGraw Hill
Publisher of Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
Twenty-five years back we sought the help of Al Ries in positioning our brand Arokya milk in India. It was at the early infant stage. He came all the way to India along with Laura, & gave direction to position the brand. Our team took it up.
Today Hatsun Agro is the largest corporate dairy in India benefitting 400,000 farmers, & also employing directly & indirectly 45,000 people.
When we were in crossroads, confused with what direction to take, he gave us the right direction to travel. Thanks to the wisdom of Al Ries. We pray for his soul to rest In Peace.
R. G. Chandramogan
Founder & Chairman of Hatsun Agro Products
India’s largest private-sector dairy company
Al was simply brilliant. Working with him on a few projects helped me realize what expertise truly looks like. Seeing him in action with a client or thinking through a positioning idea was borderline magical like watching David Copperfield make a greyhound bus disappear. Al had a mastery of business, marketing, and branding that was unmatched. Partnering with him on pro bono projects, like with the Swift School, or for-profit clients like River Road, was a joy and a tremendous learning experience. Thank you, Al, for all your contribution to the industry of branding and the dent you left on the world.
Blake Howard
Founder & Creative Director, Matchstic
Brand Identity House of the South
“Seeing Al Ries in action was borderline magical like watching David Copperfield make a greyhound bus disappear.”
“Al Ries was a pioneer in his field and broadened the way business leaders think about building brand value.”
His books and teachings are a staple and continue to inspire our team. It was a gift to collaborate with him on several projects to impact important Atlanta brands such as Swift School and Atlanta Mission.
President, Matchstic
Brand Identity House of the South
“Al Ries was a titan in marketing”
In 2000, I was the Marketing Manager at Georgia Pacific, responsible for creating a marketing strategy for office paper.
As you can imagine, office paper is a low-interest commodity. I still saw promise in finding a way to differentiate our product portfolio.
I discovered that Al Ries, the father of positioning, lived in Atlanta and was open to consulting engagements (along with his daughter Laura). I jumped at the opportunity to work with a legend.
Al and Laura created an innovative positioning called “Paper by the Numbers.” The strategy gave each product in our portfolio a numbering system that helped consumers pick the right product for their job and printer. Our business grew over 20% in the first year after the positioning and continued to build.
Al was a pioneer and legend. I am currently a Marketing professor at a small college in Arkansas. I have evangelized the positioning message that Al passed on to me decades ago. He made me a better marketer back then and today.
He will be missed.
Patrick Lynch
Former Director of Sales & Marketing, Georgia-Pacific
“Al Ries is the single most important marketing strategist the world has ever produced.”
After reading the original book “Positioning”, my life was changed forever. I couldn’t put it down. I must have read it 10 times, 100 times…. I don’t know. It not only set me on a path to build a successful company and get rich but also influenced my personal behavior. Every subsequent book or anything I could find published by Al was read…. Multiple times. I was probably most influenced by the book Focus. I really liked his writing style…..not too professional and the sarcasm was really fun.
As you also know, I contacted Al and met with him personally many times over the years. He was exactly what I expected and hoped for. A great listener. A brilliant marketing mind. A hard worker. A great strategist. Friendly….. and no bullshit. Not much small talk and he was extremely focused on me and my business issues. Meeting with him was like reading his books or his articles…….nearly identical. After reading his books, I felt like I knew him and then, when I met with him, it was the same. In other words, he talked in real life just like he talked in his books. Al Ries was the single biggest and most important influence in my life.
I think of Al, all the time. What would he say or think about something going on in the business world? Just this morning I read a Wall Street Journal article about Burger King. Same old story…successful company that was very focused at one time, gets unfocused and less profitable and deteriorates. Then, lo and behold, the answer to their problems? Get focused, get a position, simplify….. which is what the new CEO is saying. I smiled and thought of Al, never ever thinking he was not alive….just figured he read it also.
I tell everyone I know about Al Ries and Laura Ries. I preach to my children constantly about the things I have learned from your books. Al really hasn’t died for me. He will live on through acquaintances, my children, friends, and relatives. He was and is a special person that has influenced the world for the better.
Frank Fellers
Founder of Fellers & CheetahWrap.com
Dear Al:
As told you, I studied law, but I was very interested in being an entrepreneur. I started reading your books in 2006 and they changed profoundly my perception of marketing.
You gave me that push I needed in order to change the path of my future life and find my purpose. I started being more passionate and saw branding very differently. I started truly enjoying it.
12 years later we worked together and you did tremendous work with Laura on our brand: A Feast for a Beast - Fiesta para la Bestia and a great lion, a great Beast eating a big burger: A diamond battlecry and a diamond visual hammer.
I consider you, Al, a friend: We stayed in touch. You gave me great advice. You pushed me to do things and to be brave. You gave me confidence when I was afraid and doubting.
I was very lucky that I had you all this time and that we could talk. I will not forget the time you spent in order to help me. I definitely will miss our conversations.
Next year, personally and professionally comes my biggest challenge: Our first store in America. I am nervous and excited. This first store and the first burger we sell in San Antonio, Texas will be dedicated to you. Big cheers will be made in your honor.
You leave us a great person that learned so much from you: Laura. She will continue your legacy that will not be forgotten.
One more thing my friend: You taught me one very valuable life lesson:
FOCUS. Not only on your brand and company but FOCUS only on the things that matter: Your friends, family, your passion, your dreams…
Thank you Al for everything…
I don’t say goodbye, but see you soon…
All the best, your friend
Alvaro Aguilar
Founder of Cuarto de Kilo
“There is only one way to describe Al Ries...
Greatest Of All Time. The GOAT!”
Al will be greatly missed but I will always remember him. He taught me so much and his consulting advice over the years helped guide our success for both The Republic of Tea and Ron Rubin Winery! Al’s mentorship has been TEArific and WINEderful. I am blessed to have had you in my life and as a friend. Thank YOU.
— Ron Rubin
“It is better to be first than it is to be better.”
— Al Ries
“Al Ries was one of the most original minds
in the field of advertising and marketing.”
Al, Phil and Laura - September 2014
Speakers at the World Marketing Summit in Japan
Al brought more new marketing ideas for us to think about than virtually anyone else I can think of. I first learned about Al from his ideas on positioning. In an over-communicated society, it is critical that a brand finds a way to stand out and be remembered. This is accomplished by associating a key attribute with a brand (such as “BMW’s“ultimate driving machine") that is relevant to the buyer and fills a hole in the buyer's mind. Positioning has influenced scores of advertising campaigns over the years. Al published many more provocative ideas about the origin and laws of branding, the relationship between advertising and public relations, and the importance of focusing. He will be greatly missed.
Philip Kotler
Professor Emeritus of Marketing
Kellogg School of Management
“It is better to be first in the mind,
than to be first in the marketplace.”
— Al Ries
Dear Al,
In life, you normally have very few people that are key in your personal or professional development. To me, you have been one of them. From the very beginning, by reading your first books to the time that we started consulting you and Laura. Our tremendous business has been propelled by your strategies.
Very often your name is mentioned in our team meetings. Every time I start reading other marketing or branding authors, I never finish their books, too boring and useless.
You are also frequently mentioned in my personal conversations, like with my siblings. I would love to be as sharp and enthusiastic as you were at 95 years old. I know you enjoyed life every day, with the simple things, that in the end are the ones that make us happiest.
Lots of love to you and all your family Al, from your friend in Guadalajara.
Germán Rosales Wybo
CEO, Verde Valle
Al Ries has been more than a marketing consultant to me; he has been a teacher. In just a few hours he showed us the way forward as a company, and the payoff he created for our company is a masterpiece that is destined to stay with us forever. But the things that stuck with me the most were his work ethic, and his willingness to teach. His books and lectures will stay with us for a long time to come.
Matteo Rivolta
President
RiFRA Milano
“If you can’t be first in a new category,
set up a new category you can be first in.”
— Al Ries
What a storied life you have led and to still be as active working on marketing until your final day is a testament to your fortitude.
When I look back on my career, one of the best decisions I ever made was to hire you and Laura to brand our new business 20 years ago. Having been a huge fan of yours, after reading all your books, it was an honor to have you take us on as a client even though we were just a start-up company.
I well remember that day in Toronto, as we went through the positioning session with you asking lots of questions during the morning and me doing most of the talking. By late morning I was wondering if we were making progress. Shortly thereafter, you kicked in and started guiding us through the positioning concepts.
As the hours went by, we made progress on the positioning but not on the brand name. You had told us that the brand name was the last part of the process, but it seemed like we had a long way to go. The entire process was mentally exhausting and by 5 pm I was wondering if we were ever going to get there. Finally, you wrote some things on a flip chart that the group couldn't see. You asked us some more questions and we were still stumped. You then turned the chart around for all of us to see. And Everest was born!
While we all sat there kind of stunned and taking it all in, Dr. Joe Coughlin, Founder and Director of the MIT Age Lab leaned over and whispered to me "This guy is really good!". Truer words have never been spoken.
The work that you and Laura did that day enabled us to create a company that has changed the lives of thousands of people for the better, on one of the worst days of their lives.
You are a genius and a hero to me, and I will never forget what you did for Everest and for me personally. Well Done!
Mark Duffey
Everest Funeral
“We lost a Giant. Hard to put his true greatness into words.”
Dear Al,
Your books and your consulting have enriched and transformed my life and my political and business endeavors. The world is a much better place because you are in it! Thank you for dedicating your life to the ideas that enable people like me to succeed. I will be forever indebted to you and deeply appreciate your wisdom and your friendship.
You have left an incredible legacy with all your books, writings, consulting, and friendships, your spirit lives on!
God bless,
Joel Bomgar
Founder – Bomgar (now BeyondTrust)
“You are a remarkable soul.”
Thank you Al. I’ll never forget the time you met with us and helped us rebrand our work. After years and years of reading your books, studying them, and pouring over them, we finally took a flight out to Atlanta to meet with you and Laura. I’ll never forget the moment our company was born. About 20 minutes in, you turned to me and said, "Your new name is MidSchoolMath. Scott, it will work because teachers will identify with the name and say, ’That’s who I am.’
Now, almost 50,000 students across the country use our curriculum and thousands of teachers have joined us at our National Conference.
I, we, cannot thank you enough for everything you have done for us. You are indeed a genius among geniuses:)
Scott Laidlaw
MidSchoolMath
“Visuals have an emotional power that words
or sounds do not.”
— Al Ries
“Last weekend, a month shy of his 96th birthday, Al Ries, my 33-year-old mentor, partner, and friend, passed away in his sleep.
Creator of the concept of Positioning, one detail is enough to give an idea of what Al represents for those of us who work on marketing: In March 2009, Advertising Age magazine asked its readers what was the best marketing book they had read in his life. Positioning came in the first place and The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding (co-written with his daughter Laura) came in third.
All of us who have had the privilege of treating him personally will especially miss an honest, unaffected, and extremely generous man. D.E.P”
Raul G. del Rio - Lead Consulting Partner, RIES Global
RIES SPAIN, since 1989
“You will be forever the most inspirational person to me.”
You fundamentally changed the way I was thinking about business, branding and marketing. And most importantly (see the letter you sent me in July 14, 1993), you gave me the courage to start my own business in positioning back in the 1990’s. I am forever grateful for becoming a partner of Ries, the consultancy you had founded back in the 1960’s and with that to be able to call you my friend.
Although you have passed away from us, you will always remain in our hearts. You will forever have a strong position in our minds and in the minds of the entire marketing and business world.
PS: And a very big thank you for always being there when I needed help or a second opinion.
All the best from Austria,
Michael Brandtner - Lead Consulting Partner, RIES Global
Dear Al,
In 1989 my Professor at University gave me the Positioning book. I read it in one day and there was no doubt: I wanted to engage in Positioning and preferably work for Trout & Ries.
Determined, I sent a letter to you and Jack, asking if I could work as an apprentice in your firm. A couple of weeks later an elegant envelope from Trout & Ries landed in the mailbox. The letter kindly informed me that there weren’t any job openings at the time. Instead, I was invited to attend the upcoming Marketing Warfare College in Greenwich.
I booked a ticket to travel across the Atlantic to attend your Marketing Warfare College! It was an experience of a lifetime. Seeing you and Jack in action on stage. The passion, the energy, and meeting and talking to your audience made a life-changing impact on me.
I was no less interested to work with Positioning and to work with Trout & Ries, when I had to return home to Europe after the event.
For all the reasons we know, I soon after in 1994 ended up working with Jack and founding Trout & Partners.
A year after that, you and I met in Atlanta in 1995. I’ll never forget the very open discussion we had about Positioning, the future, and the advice you gave.
In 2020 when I was asked if I wanted to join Ries in the effort to expand business globally, I instantly agreed. It was like a circle ending.
Al, last year I wrote a long letter to you about how much you have meant to me for your 95th birthday. As always, you kindly, and in your very generous way replied and shared your thoughts.
You have given me so much. And you have given the world so much. I am so happy that my wish came true to work with Positioning. But most of all, I am so happy that I got to work with you.
We miss you. But I want to say that we will work as hard as we can on fulfilling your wish: To continue to drive the progress and development of Positioning in the World!
All the best,
Jens Hansen - Lead Consulting Partner, RIES Global
