Dubai: November 4, 2010. The International Advertising Association (IAA) UAE Chapter played host to internationally renowned consultant, writer, speaker, and proponent of leading-edge marketing strategies, Jack Trout, on Tuesday, 2 November 2010.

The full capacity audience, of nearly two hundred industry professionals, heard Trout espouse the theory that "good marketing is good story telling."  According to Trout, the right story for a brand is the obvious one. The obvious story, though, isn't always quite so obvious.

Trout offered the assembled audience at the IAA, five tests to see if marketing is right. In his presentation 'In Search of the Obvious' Trout advocates the following measures: the problem that your brand solves must be a simple one,  the brand should check in with human nature,  you should be able to put it on paper, your idea should explode in people's mind, the timing should be right.

Trout maintains that positioning differentiation is still a very relevant marketing concept today, nearly 50 years after he coined the term. The array of new media channels and global product competition makes relevant differentiation more critical as the consumer's mind holds so much clutter.  Therefore, in order to stand out from the crowd, it is essential to keep a brand's story simple, consistent and logical.

Owning a unique place in the customer's mind is still the imperative for marketing success and can only be achieved through positioning on the basis of a tangible and substantive benefit. Sub-brands and line extensions should remember the need to remain consistent with their mother brand.

This simple positioning theory can boil down to owning a single word in the consumer's mind.

"If you can boil a brand down to one word you're on a winner," said Trout. "BMW did this with driving. The ultimate driving machine told a great story. The car company's new word, ioy, doesn't make as much sense," he concluded.

As Dr. Lance de Masi, President, IAA UAE Chapter said, summing up Trout's presentation, "The biggest danger I and many academics see in what's going on in marketing communications today is that in the frenzy to engage, in the obsession with the where - especially if it's new, and in the unprecedented priority and permission given to execution, we forget the role of content in creating lasting brand relationships.

"In Search of the Obvious is a great opportunity to be reminded of the not-so-obvious obvious, and the need - today more than ever - to keep the obvious front and center in 21st century."

The event was hosted by the IAA, UAE Chapter in conjunction with BrandLounge - Branding & Marketing strategists and strategic partner of Trout and Partners for the Middle East and North Africa and was supported by Gulf News. The presentation was one element of the comprehensive IAA UAE programme of networking, speaker sessions and master class training. 

-Ends-

For Further Information:
Sonia Larsen
Communications Manager
IAA UAE Chapter
Telephone: 04 3903232 / 050 4679509
Email: communications@iaauae.ae / Larsensg@yahoo.co.uk

© Press Release 2010