Jack Trout has fired back at Larry Light.

Trout, the co-creator of Positioning theory in Marketing (with Al Ries) takes on 3 essential points that McDonald’s Chief Marketing Officer dismissed recently. See “Brand Chronicles,’ Baloney!” in the July 19 2004 issue of Advertising Age.
(In case you missed the discussion, you can find my recap here and in Mr. Light’s notes that Advertising Age magazine has posted.

Some of his rebuttals are too general, repetitive of the theory in the book, and miss the point:

“Positioning is a concept sweeping across the world as companies recognize the need to differentiate themselves in the minds of consumers and prospects.”

So what if

“A million copies of the three books on Positioning have been translated into 20 languages.”

Does the fact of Das Kapital, being translated into several languages make Marx’s theory irrefutable?

Trout appears to not want to admit that the world isn’t flat anymore. Marketing, like anything else cannot be frozen in, or held hostage to one theory. It must move on, Jack.