Jack Trout is president of Trout & Partners, one of the most prestigious marketing firms with headquarters in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA and offices in 13 countries. Jack Trout manages and supervises a global network of experts that apply his concepts and develop his methodology around the world. The firm as done work for AT&T, IBM, Burger King, Merrill Lynch, Xerox, Merck, Lotus, Ericsson, Tetra Pak, Repsol, KPMG Peat Marwick, Procter &Gamble, Southwest Airlines and other Fortune 500 companies.

Jack Trout started his business career in the advertising department of General Electric. From there he went on to become a divisional advertising manager at Uniroyal. Then he joined Al Ries in the advertising agency and marketing strategy firm where they worked together for over twenty-six years.

Jack, What do you think?

S: Jack, what does the title of your book "Differentiate or Die" imply? Are you saying that the sole way for a product or company to survive in an environment of strong competition hinges on its ability to differentiate itself from competitors?
T: Yes, is the answer. The reason for this is the ever growing choice of products in every category. Without a point of difference you had better have a very low price. Winning on price is very difficult.

Some of the more renowned Asian brands have traditionally come from Japan and now Korea. There is of course Singapore Airlines. What do companies in a developing economy like Malaysia need to do in order to compete in the global arena? Like every other developing country you must learn how to compete and figure out what you have to sell. You also must be aware of your competitors. Even if a government sponsors an airline, an automobile or whatever, it still must compete.

S: How long can a product or company with a unique position stay different from its competitors before they follow on and catch up? If differentiation is not a longterm solution, does this mean marketers have to keep re-inventing and differentiating themselves?
T: You must continually evolve as the marketplace is always a changing place. This often calls for, if not reinventing, new generations of products that do not allow your competitors to get an edge on you.

S: How do you formulate different and unique positions that are hard for competitors to follow?
T: The best way is to find a way to do things differently than your competitors. And to do it in a way that forces your competitors to have to change things they don't want to change. Burger King sets up a broiling system vs. McDonald's frying system. Southwest Airlines sets up a one type of airplane, no hubs, no advanced reservations and no food system that their big airline competitors cannot match.

S: What if a product or brand doesn't have a differentiating or unique positioning. What could a marketer possibly do under these circumstances?
T: Well if it's not unique, then it'd better have a very attractive price. This is especially true if there are a number of strong competitive offerings.

S: Can one single brand have multiple positionings with multiple target groups, i.e. positioned to mean something quite different in different localities, age and ethnic groups without going into line or product extensions?
T: Within the same market or country, this is very difficult to pull off. You can be somewhat different in different countries but when you are in the same market you end up sending mixed messages that cause confusion.

S: In your book "Differentiate or Die", you describe that consumers' choices will continue to increase to such a state where they will be lost as to which product and services to pick. At such a state where consumers do not have the time to browse through all the websites and watch all the television channels in the world, where do you think advertising will continue to work?
T: The bigger and richer companies have advantages in a complex market. They can spend enough to establish themselves in the minds of the marketplace. Most people are lazy and will not conduct intensive information searches. The bigger, most visible brands will survive. This usually comes down to two. The rest will struggle.