Item #23: Ries and Trout Just Played Out

Those of you in marketing are likely familiar with the many writings of Ries and Trout: Marketing Warfare, The 21 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Positioning, Focus. If you aren’t, go read them. They’re brilliant.

40 years after they wrote them, we just witnessed their principles play out perfectly in the automotive space. Trout and Ries believe that:

- Marketing is war, with the battle being waged in the minds of consumers;
- That good positioning requires focus (ideally to stand for one thing);
- Consumers map brands perceptually on spaces in their minds;
- Once that focused space in the territory of the consumer’s mind is owned, is it very difficult to shake it i.e.: perceptions persist.

Let’s look at what has happened in the world of automotive over the last few months:

- The Quality space in the minds of consumers belonged to Toyota. First and foremost, this was the most tightly connected brand to the perceptual space in the minds of consumers with regards to automotive quality in North America. But, there’s been a shake-up. Toyota with its recall has been tossed off the perceptual Quality podium.
- That space on the Quality podium, hence, became vacant in the minds of consumers, leaving an opportunity for someone to claim (or re-claim) it. The one who was most poised to take that position (after Toyota) was the one with the latent, pre-existing potential associations to Quality. And that was Ford. We still remember, “At Ford, Quality is Job 1.” The perceptual credentials were there. No other competitive car company had that latent clear association ready to be mined. General Motors, no. Subaru, no (Adventure). Mazda, no (fun). Honda, no (performance). Only Ford had strong quality associations in the perceptual set of the minds of consumers.

Cut to this headline and short excerpt:

Ford climbs to top in quality while Toyota plunges in annual study
TONY VAN ALPHEN 
BUSINESS REPORTER
Jun 18, 2010

Surging Ford has moved into top spot in quality among non-luxury automakers while Toyota plunged after years of stellar performances, according to a key industry study.

The annual J.D. Power and Associates study of initial quality showed Thursday that Ford’s emphasis in recent years on building better autos is paying off again after it posted the least amount of defects per model for the first time in 24 years.
Ford, whose fortunes have jumped in the last year, improved to fifth from eighth spot overall behind four luxury auto makers but Toyota tumbled from seventh to 21th place,

“The blue oval is becoming synonymous with high quality,” said Bennie Fowler, Ford’s vice-president responsible for quality and new model launches.

The study, which automakers and consumers watch closely, measures the responses of 82,000 U.S. motorists in a 128-question survey on the quality of their new vehicles after 90 days of ownership between February and May.

So, as far as I conclude, the greatly admired Ries and Trout just played out. This is consumer perception at work. This is the battle in the mind of the consumer. And in this case, Ford won it; Ford conquered the territory.

Just in case: I hope there aren’t any lingering skeptics out there who might really believe that rational, factual, or functional quality changed for Ford that fast (from Toyota recall to now) in the minds of that many consumers to have rational experience effect this outcome. No way.