SUMMARY ON 22 IMMUTABLE LAWS OF

MARKETING
Submitted By
Name: D.SANTOSH
Roll Number: 15PGP013

Law 1: Law of Leadership

Its better to be first than it is to be better
It is always better to be first than to be better because its much
easier to get into the mind first than to try to convince someone you
have a better product than the one that did get there first.
Examples:
1. Mahindra Tractors introduced tractors in India way back in
1940s and till date it remains as the market leader in tractors
with around 50% market share
2. Surf was the first detergent powder to be introduced in India
3. Godrej and Boyce Industries is the first to enter into organized
Interior design market through Godrej Interio
4. Maruti Udyog Limited is the first company to enter into
hatchback segment and still holds the leadership position in
the industry
5. Cadbury was the first company to introduce chocolates and
confectionery in India
6. Nestle was the first to introduce instant noodles in India with
the brand name Maggi
7. Britannia is the first biscuit company in India
8. Amul is the oldest and first established dairy company in India
9. TATA Steel was the first company in India to produce steel
10.
Fair & Lovely is the first fairness cream in India

Law 2: Law of the Category

If you cant be the first in a category, set up a new category
you can be first in
If you didnt get into the prospects mind first, dont give up hope.
Find a new category you can be first in.
Examples:
1. TVS Scooty was the first to get into exclusive women bikes.
Now people refer the category itself by the name Scooty only
2. Royal Enfield Continental GT caf racer is the first of its kind of
bike in India
3. Dell is the first to introduce customization in Laptops
4. Ola cabs is the first to enter into app based taxi on demand
category
5. Urban ladder is the first furniture e-commerce website in India
6. Zomato app is the first of its kind app in India to review hotels
7. Dettol is the first germ protection product introduced in India
8. Fair & Handsome is Indias first fairness cream for men
9. Paperboat is the first company to enter introduce a new
category known as Ethnic drinks
10.
TATA Ace was the first vehicle in the SCV segment

Law 3: Law of Mind

Its better to be first in the mind than it is be first in the
marketplace
Marketing is not battle of product; it is the battle of perception. Then
it is very much necessary to be at the top of the consumers mind.
Examples:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Best after sales network Maruti Suzuki

Innovation Apple
Search Engine Google
Photocopy Xerox (Infact some people dont know the word
Photocopy)
5. Pizza Dominos
6. Online Shopping Flipkart
7. Economy bikes Hero Motocorp
8. Luxury Cars Mercedes Benz
9. Safety in Cars Volvo
10.
Home Appliances LG

Law 4: Law of Perception

Marketing is not a battle of Products, its a battle of
perception
One of the important aspects of marketing is creating a perception
in the mind of the consumers. A good product can be perceived as a
bad one and the vice versa.
Examples:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

TATA Nano Cheap Car

TATA Indica Taxi Car
Marie gold biscuits Tasteless biscuits
Starbucks Expensive coffee
Taj Hotels, Rolex, Rolls Royce Cars Luxury
Maggi 2 minute cooking time
Close Up Freshness

Law 5: Law of Focus

The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word
in the prospects mind
The law of leadership states that its better to be first than to be
better. It enables the company to own a word in the mind of the
consumers, The word should be simple and it is sometimes invisible.
Examples:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Photocopier Xerox
Cola drink Coca Cola
Cavities Colgate Toothpaste
100% Germ Protection Dettol
On time arrival IndiGo Airlines
Youngistaan Pepsi
The Complete Man Raymonds

Law 6: Law of Exclusivity

Two companies cannot own the same word in the
prospects mind
When a competitor owns a particular or position in the mind of
consumers, it is not advisable to own the same word. It is very
difficult to change the mind of consumers once they are made up.
Examples:
1. Maggi - 2 minute noodles Nestle used this slogan to
penetrate into the minds of the consumers. After that no other
brand dared to use that word because consumers related
noodles to Maggi and made up their mind for that. Maggi held
nearly 90% market share in instant noodles market
2. Duracell Long lasting Battery The company communicated
longer life of its battery through this slogan and occupied a
strong position in the consumers mind. Competitors could not
penetrate into consumers mind with the same words
3. Pepsi Youngistaan Pepsi positioned itself as a drink for
youth through these words while Coca Cola used the word
Classic
4. Dominos 30 minutes home delivery Dominos owned the
word home delivery for pizza and still it remains as one of the
X-factors for them.
5. Volvo Safety Volvo owns the word safety. Mercedes tried to
own the word safety but couldnt succeed. So it started using
the word Excellence

Law 7: Law of the Ladder

The strategy to use depends on which rung you occupy on
the ladder
All products are not created equal. Theres a hierarchy in the mind
that prospects use in making decisions. For each category, there is a
product ladder in the mind. On each rung is a brand name. Your
marketing strategy should depend on how soon you got into the
mind and consequently which rung of the ladder you occupy.

Products Purchase every Day & High Interest Products Many

Rungs on ladders
Infrequent Purchase & Personal Pride Many Rungs
Infrequent Purchase & Unpleasant experience- Very few rings
Purchased once in lifetime & Unpleasant No rungs

Examples:
1. Hatchback Cars Maruti Suzuki is the market leader in this
segment their marketing strategy is entirely different from
other players like Hyundai, Honda, Renault
2. Beauty Soaps
3. Detergents
4. Carbonated drinks
5. E-commerce sites

Law 8: Law of Duality

In the long run, every market becomes a two-horse race
When we take the long view of marketing, you find the battle
usually winds up as a titanic struggle between two major players
generally the old reliable brand and the upstart.
Examples:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Pepsi Coca Cola In Carbonated soft drink industry

TATA motors Ashok Leyland In Commercial Vehicle industry
Mahindra TAFE In Tractor Industry
Hindustan Unilever Procter & Gamble In FMCG industry
Dell HP In Laptop Industry
Nintendo - Sega In Videogame Industry
Maruti Suzuki Hyundai In Hatchback car segment

Law 9: Law of Opposite

If you are shooting for second place, your strategy is
determined by the leader
Much like a wrestler uses his opponents strength against him, a
company should leverage the leaders strength into a weakness. You
must discover the essence of the leader and then present the
prospect with the opposite. Simply, dont try to be better, try to be
different. Often its upstart versus old reliable
Examples:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Pepsi marketing strategy is based on Coca Cola

Ashok Leyland strategy is based on TATA motors
P&Gs strategy is based on the HUL
Samsungs marketing strategy is dependent on Apple
Hyundai markets its products based on Maruti Suzuki strategy

Law 10: Law of Division

Over time, a category will divide and become two or more
categories
Like an amoeba dividing in a petri dish, the marketing arena can be
viewed as an ever-expanding sea of categories. A category starts off
as a single entity.
Examples:
1. Cars divided into Hatchbacks, SUV, MUV, Sedan, Entry level
sedan, Premium hatchback, luxury cars, Sub 4m SUV,
2. Bikes divided into Commuter bikes, Sports bikes, Super bikes,
Dirt bikes, Scooters, Mobikes
3. Phones divided into Landline, Mobile phones, Tablet, Phablet,
Smart phone

Law 11: Law of Perspective

Marketing effects take place over an extended period of
time
Many marketing moves exhibit a phenomenon where the long-term
effects are exact opposite of the short-term effects.
Examples:
1. Big Bazaar gives discount coupons to its customers for
increasing the sales. This increased the sales in the short run
but in the long run it did not turn out to be a good option
2. E-commerce websites All the sites like Flipkart, Amazon,
Snapdeal, Myntra, Jabong gives huge discounts to the
customers to encourage them for sales. The trend has been so
that the customers buy products from sites that give more
discounts

Law 12: Law of Line Extension

Theres an irresistible pressure to extend the equity of the
brand
When a company becomes highly successful starts to believe it can
be succeed in any business field it is choosing. Whenever that
happens, the company ends up becoming weaker rather than
stronger because it attempts to be all things all people rather
than staying focused to one segment.
Examples:
1. Tata Originally Tata started with Textiles and expanded into
Automobiles, Hospitality, Steel making, Airlines, Power
2. Mahindra Initially Mahindra started with Jeep assembling and
then diversified into various businesses like IT, Hospitality,
Energy, Agri business, Aerospace, Two wheelers
3. ITC Started as cigarette company and then diversified into
FMCG, Agro business, Hotels and Stationery products
4. Pepsico Started as a soft drink company and expanded into
Chips, packaged drinking water and FMCG products
5. Reliance Group Started as an Oil trading business and
expanded into Oil refineries, Retail stores, Home appliance
stores, Footwear

Law 13: Law of Sacrifice

You have to give up something in order to get something
The law of sacrifice is the opposite of the law of line extension. If
you want to be successful today, you should give something up.
There are three things to sacrifice:
Product line
Target market
Constant Change
Examples:
1. Pepsi It sacrificed its target market. It targeted only the
youths rather than the entire consumer base and now its the
leading brand among youths
2. Apple Produced products for Upper middle class and Highclass customers only. It never gave products to the lower
segment of the market
3. Royal Enfield Offered only bikes above 350cc and did not
extend the product line. Now it is the leader in that segment

Law 14: Law of Attributes

For every attribute, there is an opposite, effective
attribute
Very often competitors emulate to follow the attributes of the leader.
But this wont work. Its always better to search for attributes that
will allow you to play off against the leader.
Examples:
1. Colgate toothpaste promoted itself as the one that prevents
Cavities and Close Up promoted it as the toothpaste that gives
Freshness
2. Coca Cola focused on Old people. But Pepsi targeted the
Youths and succeeded
3. TVS Scooty focused on the women market. On the other hand
Hero Maestro promoted it as Its a boy thing
4. KFC uses the tagline Its finger lickin good pointing the
taste. Subway uses the tagline Eat Fresh conveying the
attribute Freshness
5. Lux soap focuses on beauty while medimix focuses on germ
protection
6. Facebook is a social networking site on the other hand
Linkedin took another attribute of Professional networking

Law 15: Law of Candor

When you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a
positive
It goes against corporate and human nature to admit a
problem. For years, the power of positive thinking has been
drummed into us. "Think positive" has been the subject of endless
books and articles.
So it may come as a surprise to you that one of the most
effective ways to get into a prospect's mind is to first admit a
negative and then twist it into a positive.
A good example of this comes from IIT-JEE coaching industry
of Kota, Rajasthan. The top coaching institute of Kota for many years
Bansal Classes used to take only the very intelligent students, used
to teach them in exclusive batches with very good teachers and
used to give very good results. This used to give a feeling of neglect
in people from other batches
To counter the challenge of Bansal Classes, Allen Institute Kota
openly admitted that it gave admission to students of all types of
caliber ( a negative ) and then all the batches would have equally
good faculties. Allen clearly states in its website that ALLEN has a

significant education system with a humble birth and an institution

where no student is ever neglected, where every action and thought
is student oriented.
This positioning of Allen from its inception helped it achieve
rapid growth in the top institute of Kota.
One final note: The law of candor must be used carefully and
with great skill. First, your "negative" must be widely perceived as a
negative. It has to trigger an instant agreement with your prospects
mind. If the negative doesn't register quickly, your prospect will be
confused and will wonder, What's this all about?"
Next, you have to shift quickly to the positive. The purpose of
candor isn't to apologize. The purpose of candour is to set up a
benefit that will convince your prospect.
This law only proves the old maxim: Honesty is the best policy.
Examples:
1. Cadbury bournville advertised it as Not so sweet chocolate

Law 16: Law of Singularity

In each situation, only one move will produce substantial
results
Marketers see success as the sum total of a lot of small efforts
beautifully executed. They think they can pick and choose from a
number of different strategies and still successful as long as they
put enough effort into the program. History teaches that the only
thing that works in marketing is the single, bold stroke. Furthermore,
in any given situation there is only one move that will produce
substantial results.
Examples:
1. Pepsi Focused only on youth and promoted the products to
them only. It succeeded in capturing the market
2. Maruti Suzuki Swift Tried to introduce different products like
Alto, Wagon R, Estilo and Swift. But in the end only swift
succeeded in capturing the market

3. State Bank of India Introduced different schemes and

promotions but succeeded in rural market penetration. It is
the only national bank to have most number of customer
touch points
4. Mahindra & Mahindra It was introducing a series of SUVs
after the success of Bolero and Scorpio. Every product failed
except XUV5oo which created a buzz in the market
5. General Motors Tried to get into all the car segments like
Hatchback, Sedan and SUV. But Sedan were only successful
for them

Law 17: Law of Unpredictability

Unless you write your competitors plans, you cant predict
the future
Implicit in most marketing plans is an assumption about the
future. Yet marketing plans based on what will happen in the future
are usually wrong.
With hundreds of computers and an army of meteorologists,
no one can predict the weather three days in advance, so how do
you expect to predict your market three years ill advance?
Good short-term planning is coming up with that angle or
word that differentiates your product or company. Then you set up a
coherent long-term marketing direction that builds a program to

maximize that idea or angle. It's not a long-term plan. it's a longterm direction.
So what can you do? How can you best cope with
unpredictability? While you can't predict the future, you can get a
handle on trends, which is a way to take advantage of change.
If this is not done companies would go BPL, Videocon way.
The danger in working with trends is extrapolation. Many
companies jump to conclusions about how far a trend will go.
Equally as bad as extrapolating a trend is the common
practice of assuming the future will be a replay of the present. When
you assume that nothing will change, you are predicting the future
just as surely as when you assume that something will change,
Remember Peter's Law: The unexpected always happens.
While tracking trends can be a useful tool in dealing with the
unpredictable future, market research can be more of a problem
than a help. Research does best at measuring the past. New ideas
and concepts are almost impossible to measure. No one has a frame
of reference. People don't know what they will do until they face an
actual decision.
One final note that's worth mentioning: There's a difference
between
"predicting" the future and "taking a chance" on the future.
No one can predict the future with any degree of certainty. Nor
should marketing plans try to.
Examples:
1. General Motors was doing fine until the financial folks took
over and focused on numbers rather than the competitors

Law 18: Law of Success

Success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure
The Law of Success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to
failure. Often times, successful entrepreneurs get an ego and
become less objective. They think their strategies are the best and
no one else is better than them. This may be true, but expressing it
arrogantly is a dangerous attitude that can lead to financial
hardship. You still need to find time to be interactive and be a part
of your customers success. In the fitness industry relationships are

important to success. Customers need to trust you and once they do

they will always be your customers. Dont get out of touch with your
customers. Stay involved in some of the basic stuff. Your ego should
never get so big that you think you are too good for the little stuff.
Its that little stuff that leads to success. Be confident, not arrogant!
Examples:
1. Hindustan Ambassador - Ambassador was the first car to be
made in India and was once a status symbol, but began losing
its dominance in the mid-1980s when Maruti Suzuki
introduced its low-priced 800 hatchback and further when
global automakers began setting up shop in India in the mid1990s, offering models with contemporary designs and
technology. It failed to re-invent itself
2. IBM In 1985 IBM assumed they owned the PC market. They
concentrated too much on hardware while ignoring
development on software and Internet
3. Nokia From 60% market share in 2006 it lost in mobile
market, being slow to adapt to trends in smartphones, dual
sim phones, and touchscreens. Finally it got taken over by
competitors and was sold to Microsoft
4. Kodak It was clear market leader but lost when during the
dawn of digital age
5. Blackberry Once market leader in terms of Safety and
privacy in mobile communication, it remain stagnant on this
two factorials while ignoring need for wi-fi, restrictive memory
capacity and capacitive touchscreen. It adapted it later but
was to late for it
6. HMT Indias oldest watchmaker was shut down due to heavy
financial losses. HMT dominated Indias watch market during
the 1970s. Such was once its sway that it even had a waiting
period, which could run up to 10 months. Introduction of
Quartz watches by Titan at cheaper prices took the market
away
7. Kinetic Honda - A premium scooter in its brighter days. Lost to
TVS scooty and tussle within JV of Kinetic and Honda, which
ultimately led to a break-up. It failed to generate sales later
owing to its high price

Law 19: Law of Failure

Failure is to be expected and accepted
Companies face a tricky situation when a product or a process used
in the product is a failure. Admitting a mistake and not doing

anything about it is bad for your career. A better strategy is to

recognize failure early and cut your losses.
A company can either

Find the mistake/failure and move forward with necessary

operational changes

Accept mistake and do nothing

Or
The second choice would be detrimental for the companys future. It
would result in losses and brand value also takes a beating.
Following the first law, risks need to be taken to be the first and also
best in business. These risks may lead to mistakes. Admitting these
mistakes in a large organization may not be easy. It may affect
employees future. So we often make "safe" decisions so as to not
disrupt their progress up the corporate ladder. So, if a sense of team
work and incentives for taking up creative work, also creating an
ecosystem where new ideas are appreciated would be beneficial for
the company.
Examples:
1. Coca cola bought Thumsup, and tried to decrease the brand
presence so that COKE sales would increase. This strategy
failed, but Coke did not make changes for a long time. Now,
Thumsup is also being marketed and sold.
2. FlipKart Big Billion day sale faced a lot of technical and
distribution problems. Flipkart admitted the mistake and made
changes and improvements in the same
3. Among the worst performing MPVs in India, the Evalia has
always struggled to get going in the segment. To make things
better, Nissan had even given the Evalia a couple of facelifts,
but all efforts went in vain as the MPV didnt strike the right
cord with Indian car buyers.
4. Maruti has decided to pull the plug on the Estilo due to poor
sales. Since its launch in 2007, the Maruti Estilo was a
replacement for the Zen but it could never garner the strong
sales of its predecessor.

Law 20: Law of Hype

The situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in
the press
Hype is the coin of the realm in the technology business. If
you listen to vendors and the media, it may sometimes seem as
though every new product, service, concept or even security threat
will be the Next Big Thing. Some live up to all the fuss, but many
don't -- and some fail spectacularly.
When things are going well, a company doesn't need the
hype. When you need the hype, it usually means you're in trouble.
Over the years, the greatest hype has been for those developments
that promise to single-handedly change an entire industry.
People will read the labels and buy products on their merits
rather than on the size of the brand's advertising budget. It's all
hype.
The hype created around a product sometimes causes the
product to failure. The marketing strategies used can go wrong
causing failure of the product in the market.
Over the past year, some of the most hyped products, even
those that showed promise, either turned out to be huge failures or
still had quite a few kinks to work out. While some products werent
as great as advertised, others were poorly marketed and quickly
dropped off the consumer radar.
Examples:
1. The Diet Coke was advertised fiercely in India. But the
outcome, diet Coke was a failure
2. Tata Nano, did not reach the hype created around it.
3. Many movies like Ra-1, Bang Bang did not reach the hype that
was created around them.
4. Dairy Milk Bubbly was promoted heavily but hasnt got good
appreciation in the market.
5. Akash Tablet introduced as cheaper price was much hyped but
was a failure
6. Windows 8 was much hyped but did not reach the
expectations
7. Apple Iwatch was seen as the next big thing, but its sales were
way below expectations

Law 21: Law of Acceleration

Successful programs are built on fads, they are built on
trends
We have seen very many products which was very famous and was
selling extreamly well in the start and had exited the market in a
very short span.
These products are called Fads. Its examples are as follows:
Examples:
Fad:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Tazzo
Selfy sticks
Beyblade
Pokemon cards
Cinema based merchandise

These fads are created due to the impact of a specific seasonal

happening and if one can ride it will give huge profits in the initial
stage but its market will get extinguished very fast. As we can see in
the examples the there are regular fads of spider man T-shirt during
the time of the cinema release. But sale drops fast.
Trend:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Smart phone
Jeans
Photography
Gaming
Radio

The Smart phones as a product had a steady growth and has a

sustained one since it was satisfying a specific need of the people to
communicate and its value add has made it into a necessity.
This shows faster it grows faster it falls. The market will sustain if
it is a steady market and the one with steady growth rather a rapid
increase and a fall.

Law 22: Law of Resources

Without adequate funding an idea wont get off the
ground
According to this law, if you have a good idea and you've picked up
this book with the thought in mind that all you need is a little
marketing help, this chapter will throw cold water on that thought.
Even the best idea in the world won't go very far without the money
to get it off the ground. Inventors, entrepreneurs, and assorted idea
generators seem to think that all their good ideas need is
professional marketing help.
Examples:
1. SAS Labs was a start up in the field of information security,
service and products. They failed due to lack of funding and
lack of proper team formation.
2. Discount bull.com: Online e-commerce platform for
showing discount on clothes. The problem was lack on
funds and less than attractive website.
3. Techbloggers: The Company used to deliver online
technology news. The main reason for their failure was lack
of proper cash flow.
4. Late night food: The Company was a late night food
delivery service start up with outsourced food. It failed
because of financial problems.
5. Visifybooks: It was a company which provided video cliff
notes for business books and it failed because of lack of
funds.