Laws of Branding: The Law of The Word (#5)

Originaly by By Al Ries and Laura Ries

The Law of The Word

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

Volvo owns the word “safety”. Mercedes owns the word “prestige”. BMW owns the word “driving” and the idea of being fun to drive.

Kleenex is tissue. People say “I need a Q-Tip”, “Make me a Xerox copy” and “Please hand me the Scotch tape”. These brands own the word in their respective categories simply because they were first.

What word does Federal Express own? “Overnight” of course. What about building a prestige brand?

To be successful in branding a “prestige” product or service, you need to:

• Make your product or service more expensive than the competition.
• You need to find a code word for prestige. Mercedes used “engineered”.