The best book on marketing was neither written by a Harvard professor nor by an alumnus of General Motors, General Electric, or even Procter & Gamble. We believe that the best book on marketing was written by a retired Prussian general, Karl Von Clausewitz, entitled On War, which outlines the strategic principles behind all successful wars.
– Al Ries and Jack Trout in their book Marketing Warfare.

War in Peace
War has changed dramatically since On War was first published. The tank, the airplane, the machine gun and nuclear warheads have replaced traditional weaponary. Yet Clausewitz’s ideas are as relevant today as in the nineteenth century. Weapons may change, but warfare itself, is based on two immutable characteristics: strategy and tactics. The difference today is that the same strategic principles of war guide both military commanders and companies, whether they surge ahead into an invasion of the enemy in the battlefield or consumers and competition in the marketplace. The marketing plan of companies that stay ahead in the race have possibly added many more pages on the strengths and weaknesses of their competitors in the ruthless market place. They would ideally develop a plan of action to either exploit or defend against their competitors. With the result that more and more successful marketing campaigns will have to be planned like military campaigns in their quest for ultimate supremacy.

Conversely, strategic planning will become more and more crucial and companies will have to learn to attack and outflank their competition while defending their own positions; organise better intelligence to anticipate competitive moves; and be ready at all times to wage a psychological and guerilla warfare against competition. On the personal front, successful marketing people will have to exhibit many of the same virtues that make a great military general – courage, loyalty, creativity and perseverance. In war, you win by outwitting, outflanking and overpowering the enemy. The territory you take is representative of your ability to do these things. And marketing today is no different. It clearly involves conflict between corporations and achieving success by outwi tting, outflanking and overtaking your competitor’s market and a manager’s ability in penetrating his competitor’s market share is representative of his prowess in adapting to a General’s mould.

Some statesmen and generals try to avoid the decisive battle, history has destroyed this illusion – Karl Von Clausewitz

The Principles of Defensive Warfare
The statesman who, seeing war inevitable, hesitates to strike first is guilty of crime against his country – Karl Von Clausewitz

There are three basic types of defensive marketing warfare, and it is critical for a market leader to follow defensive strategies
properly.
Rule #1: Only the market leader should consider playing defense.
Rule #2: The best defensive strategy is the courage to attack yourself.
Rule #3: Strong competitive moves should always be blocked.
Remember, companies don’t create leaders – customers do and it is imperative
for leading companies to keep that position in the minds of the consumers as long as possible. Remember, the human mind is innocent and digests what is properly communicated to them, and if a company also has the first mover advantage, then it is nearly impossible to displace. A fact that researches in 1923 suggested 25 different leaders in various categories and after 70 years 22 of those brands remained as leaders in those categories suggests what the human mind is capable of.

In US, General Motors is perceived as the complete leader and the most innovative in the automotive sector. Great! But did you know that the last invention by General Motors was in 1939 for the hydramatic automatic transmission written by John DeLorean in his book On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors. Ford Motors pioneered in practically every major new market while Chrysler produced the significant technical innovation, such as power brakes, power steering, electric window and the alternator.

But who gets the credit for engineering excellence? General Motors, of course. General Motors has been a master of the Defensive warfare Strategy 3, that is blocking competitive moves from competitors. Placing as a leader plays a pivotal part in defensive strategy as the famous experiment by social psychologist Dr Solomon E Asch of the University of Pennsylvania showed that many people are willing to go against the evidence of their own senses in order to go along with the majority.

Let me be more precise and take you through this defensive warfare by discussing strategies of few companies in India which have established their preeminence over the years. The triumphant saga that comes into my mind is that of the country’s biggest carmaker who have successfully imbibed all the warfare strategies – Maruti Udyog Limited.

Defending Their Turf: The Indian Auto Sector
Maruti Udyog Limited is iconic in this country. Not only has the auto major positioned itself unerringly in the line of attack but has also shown remarkable audacity of attacking its own throne. It is quite astounding that Maruti has four mega success brands in the A segment – the Maruti 800, Alto, Wagon R and the Zen. This bravery to attack itself not only gives Maruti great reputation but is also an obvious reason to continue being a market leader for years.

And let me remind you once again that such imposing strategies position you as an evergreen leader in the minds of the customers. During the lethal price war in the small car segment, when Hyundai with its Santro launched a severe attack on the country’s biggest carmaker, Maruti, the latter not only managed to consolidate its position vis-a-vis the Zen, against whom Santro was pitted, but also struck back by launching the Alto and the Wagon R in the same segment.

The result has been a resounding accomplishment with each of these brands in the A category. Though Hyundai continues to try, Maruti has been successful in blocking most of the great competitive moves from the Korean automotive giant. From the customer’s viewpoint, Maruti is still numero uno in terms of economy and value for money.

Another brave leader’s move in the automotive
sector is that of Honda. Despite the astonishing success of the old Honda City, the company went ahead, innovated and attacked itself with the new look City. This one with very different looks, a less powered engine but with a lower price tag. The move has been the greatest strategic success in the C segment of the Indian automotive industry’s history, effectively blocking moves from the GM’s Optra, Maruti’s Baleno and Hyundai’s Accent and the Accent Viva. Such strategic courage is what determines the leaders and not any heroic moves.

As George C Scott, the greatest military strategist of all time, says: “Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country, he won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.”

Defining the Market Warrior
No heroes, no heroic moves, but pure strategies of Maruti Udyog Limited determine its success. The general of the organisation with his men devised good strategies and the artillery and the rank commanders in the marketing and sales departments implemented them religiously. The leaders in the market – whether Maruti, Honda, Colgate, Hindustan Lever Limited or any other giant – do not believe in springing surprises but displaying strategic winning moves. They not only give adequate warning before implementation, but also conquer indiscriminately and continuously.

In Mein Kamph, a book that sold some 10 million copies, Adolph Hitler told England and France exactly what he intended to do, and a decade later he did just that. Leaders respect their values and stick to them. He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened. He who conquers others has physical strength. He who conquers himself is strong.

Another brilliant case of defensive warfare strategy is the success of oral care company, Colgate, in India. For a long time Colgate has been ruling the Indian oral care industry. Colgate has a 51% share in the oral care segment. Its flagship brand, Colgate Dental Cream (CDC), is the largest selling toothpaste brand in the Indian market with a 39% market share. The company re-launched the Colgate Dental Cream brand in 2001 with a new positioning.

Two new brands – Colgate Herbal, targeted at traditional consumers who seek natural ingredients, and Colgate Cibaca Top, a brand catering to the economy segment – were successfully launched during the year. Colgate has followed brilliant defensive warfare flanking strategy by launching its brands in every price segment.

Additionally, its marketing focus has been on selective brands such as Colgate Dental Cream, Cibaca Top and Colgate Herbal, which have been driving growth. Its great quality of flanking and blocking competitive moves from Hindustan lever Limited’s Pepsodent and Close-Up sets Colgate as a leader in the oral care industry.

Colgate also does not indulge in any heroics, instead following pure competitive defensive strategy. It would have been unintelligent of Colgate to fight a freshness war with Close-Up as Hindustan lever had already positioned the freshness concept into people’s minds. Colgate’s consolidation strategy with Colgate Dental Cream and other flanking defensive strategies are crucial in its accomplishment chronicle.

However, if I keep talking about the market leaders and the impeccable strategies
that they follow, then positioning business for number 2 and number 3 would become nearly impossible. So let us look at the strategies and tactics that the market monarch aspirants should look at in establishing their supremacy and position themselves as the cream of the crop.

The problem with attack is that it takes time. An attacker in a military campaign not only tends to sacrifice surprise but also wastes time in bringing the forces into action.

Because of the logistics problem, it can be days or weeks before the full force of an attack is felt by the defender – time that can be enormously useful to the defender. In a marketing attack, transportation is usually not a problem, the bottleneck is the communication. Getting the leadership message across millions of customers can take months or years, but it is definitely worth your bucks to keep trying.

Principles of Offensive Warfare
Where absolute superiority is not attainable, you must produce a relative one at the decisive point by making skillful use of what you have – Karl Von Clausewitz

There is no such thing as a good marketing strategy in the abstract. Good strategy is bad and bad strategy is good, depending on who is going to use it. In fact, offensive strategy is very much like defensive strategy, just that the usage is entirely the opposite. Numbers 2 and 3 should ideally follow the offensive strategy only if they think they can match up with the leader. Like the defensive warfare strategies, offensive warfare also has three prime strategies or rules.
Rule #1: The main consideration is the strength of leader.
Rule #2: Find a weakness in the leader’s
strength and attack at that point.
Rule #3: Launch the attack on as narrow a front as possible.
The psychological effect of an attack far outweighs any material damage inflicted. Whether the outcome of a battle is victory or defeat is more important than the casualty roll. “We knew that we played a part in that time-honoured aims of military tactics – making the enemy feel so insecure that he leaves the field. That, after all, is the object of all military manoeuvers, whether they are attempts to outflank or direct frontal attacks. Sometimes soldiers and generals kid themselves with arguments about wars of attrition that the basic principle of war is to destroy the enemy. But they are wrong, for it is when a feeling of insecurity corrodes the morale of the enemy that the battle is almost won.” Attacking does not merely consist of assaulting walled cities or striking at. an army in full battle armour; it must include the art of assailing the enemy’s mental equilibrium.

“In peace nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility; but when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard favour’d rage...”

Battle is: “The art of concentrating strength at one point, forcing a breakthrough,
rolling up and securing the flanks on either side, and then penetrating like lightning deep into his rear, before the enemy has time to react.”

Premeditated Offensives or Chance Encounters?
Remember the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. So keep working hard towards success and finally conquering the leader.

A relentless frontal attack strategy is what Coca-Cola in India continually launches against its customary rival Pepsi. Of course, Coke in India attacks Pepsi because not only can it match up with Pepsi, which still is the market leader in India, but also gives it a severe psychological trouble with its dominant flanking brand, Thums Up. According to statistics, Thums Up is the number 2 brand in the Indian soft drink industry, third being Coke itself. Coke’s inexorable attack on Pepsi on the too sweet taste of the latter (Offensive Principle 2: Find a weakness in the leader’s strength and attack at that point), also creates a huge psychosomatic incongruity. Coke being world wide superior to Pepsi is trying to create a battlefield positioning where the ultimate supremacy of the cola war in India goes to Coca-Cola.

Coke has realised that this battle for consumer positioning is extremely important in the emotionally charged Indian market and that’s what supremacy is all about. The attack is also strategic on the cola front, with stronger taste appeal in both the brands being made the premeditated focus. Only time can tell whether or not Coca-Cola India’s ruthless attack on Pepsi will pay dividends or Pepsi would continue to find favour in the consumers’ mind.

Hindustan Lever is another giant in the offensive warfare strategy following all the principles to the hilt. When one looks at India’s top FMCG company’s tactics in the toothpaste category, one can observe it as a great strategic offensive movement. Understanding the fact that it was extremely difficult to de-position Colgate from the consumer mindset, HLL’s move of intelligent positioning of Close-Up’s freshness through a narrow frontal attack enriched their decision.

Not just that, now a great frontal attack on Colgate’s health values has also been launched by their flanker brand Pepsodent. Though Colgate still remains the market leader, Hindustan Lever Limited has managed to infuse fear in their minds with increasing market share and consumer fidelity.

Korean car major Hyundai also did a great job when it attacked Maruti’s reign, pitching the Santro against Maruti’s ever popular Zen. They challenged Zen’s mileage and value for money factor with the narrowest frontal attack. They simply concentrated on Santro being just as economical but with better technology. The result has been a resounding success with Santro sales at an incline.

Elsewhere in the world, car rental firm Avis attacks Hertz with pure brilliance of offensive strategies. Hertz being the number one, at times, falters with packed counters resulting in sometimes faulty servicing and, therefore, consumer dissatisfaction. Avis masterminded a great attack on this weakness of Hertz. Avis talked of being perfect because of the number two tag. It’s important for Avis to maintain the best standards, cleanest cars, great customer satisfaction and, most importantly, a hassle free less packed counter for convenience of car rentals (attack on the leader’s strength). The result was an enormous success, both with the consumer and also in infusing fear in the competitor.

Thus, the similarity between war and marketing here is that both tend to attack the enemy’s strategy and create anarchy in the rival camp. The strongest survive and the weakest die.

There is a doubling of the total output of goods and services in the advanced societies
about every 15 years. This means that by the time an individual reaches old age, he will be surrounded by a society producing 32 times as much as when he was born.

Such frontal attacks play on the inherant trait of impermanence – the transience – that penetrates our consciousness, radically affecting the way we relate to other people, to things, to the entire universe of ideas, art and values. If acceleration is a new social phenomenon, transience is its psychological counterpart. Companies must focus on long term war strategies if they want to craft their leadership in the minds of the consumers in this chokehold era of product as well as advertising explosion.