Branding guru Al Ries at CIM annual conference

Branding guru and positioning expert Al Ries will be the keynote speaker at the 15th CIM Annual Conference in Colombo on May 12.

The CIM Annual Conference is the flagship event of CIM Sri Lanka Region organised for the 15th successive year.

This event is facilitated by the Knowledge Partners, Kotler Impact Inc. Canada, Philip Kotler Centre for Advanced Marketing and Hummingbird International. Al Ries will be joined by his daughter and business partner, Laura Ries along with local experts at the conference.

Al Ries and his daughter Laura Ries have been working together as focusing consultants for 18 years. Ries and Ries was founded in New York in 1994. Three years later, Al and Laura relocated in Atlanta, Georgia.Al first rose to fame when a series of three articles on a new concept called 'Positioning' authored by Al Ries and Jack Trout appeared in Advertising Age in 1972.

More recently, Al and Laura have written six books challenging traditional conventions. The positioning idea took the ad world by storm and was voted by AdAge as one of the 75 most important advertising ideas of the past 75 years.

Without focus, it's almost impossible to build a brand no matter what other laws you follow. The 22 immutable laws of branding covers every aspect of branding.

The 11 immutable laws of internet branding supplements the 22 laws by adding 11 additional laws that cover the special needs of internet brands like interactivity, proper names and divergence.

The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR contradicts traditional wisdom that calls for new brands to be launched with a big-bang advertising campaign; advocating PR first to establish credibility and advertising second to maintain market share.