This audio is packed full of interesting branding concepts. One downside is that these concepts are stated as facts. Many times they say if a company had listened to them they would not have gone bankrupt, however there may have been other factors and they fail to mention the companies who didn’t listen to them that did fine. Also, the audio was relased in 2002 so some of their facts turned out to be incorrect like how convergence never works. That said one idea that really made sense to me was to sacrifice by holding back in order to differentiate. He suggests sacrificing in three ways: by staying focused on one kind of product, product attribute and target segment in a category.
"When companies are told they have to sacrifice, they often get very upset with the idea. After all, no one really wants to give up anything or get locked into what they feel is a limited market." Good news is "What you advertise, what you sell, and what you make money on can be three different things."
"Let's take Burger King as an example. They should advertise "Broiling, not frying," because that makes them different from McDonald's. Once people arrive, they can sell them chicken or fries or whatever. Who cares? And as for making money, that comes from selling soft drinks, which certainly doesn't need advertising." ( )