“Branding is simply a more efficient way to sell things.”

Today, communication itself is the problem. We have become the world’s first overcommunicated society.

To get into the consumer’s mind, you have to sacrifice.

The Internet is the ultimate in brand-centered buying.

A laser is a weak source of energy. A laser takes [only] a few watts of energy and focuses them in a coherent stream of light.

IBM didn’t invent the computer; Sperry Rand did. But IBM was the first to build the computer position in the prospect’s mind.

It takes a mile before anything happens. And if it was a wrong turn, getting back on course takes even longer.

Strategy and timing are the Himalayas of marketing. Everything else is the Catskills.

The essence of positioning is sacrifice.

Strategy should evolve out of the mud of the marketplace, not in the antiseptic environment of an ivory tower.

Customers want brands that are narrow in scope and distinguishable by a single word, the shorter the better.

The Law of the Generic: One of the fastest routes to failure is giving a brand a generic name.

Marketing is not selling. Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect.

It normally takes decades to build a brand because it takes decades to penetrate the gray matter in between your ears.

Successful brands get into the mind slowly. A blurb in a magazine. A mention in a newspaper. A comment from a friend. A display in a retail store.

After a slow buildup, people become convinced that they have known about the brand forever.

You must be willing to give up something in order to establish that unique position.

I balance it all by being extremely organized, and I am a very efficient delegator.

I trust my instincts. I don’t distrust them. They haven’t led me astray. It’s when I’ve made up my mind to be efficient that is when I have gone wrong.

Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.

A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.

It’s for high quality vehicles, reliable, fuel-efficient, and safe of course.

I will be ruthless in cutting out waste, streamlining structures and improving efficiency.

On the other hand, to eradicate illiteracy requires that we elect a fair and efficient political regime.

All you need is the best product in the world, the most efficient production in the world and global marketing.