Jack Trout

Jack Trout
Born	John Francis Trout (1935-01-31)January 31, 1935 Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Died	June 4, 2017(2017-06-04) (aged 82) Old Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma mater	Iona College
Occupation	Advertising executive

John Francis "Jack" Trout (January 31, 1935 – June 4, 2017) was an American advertising executive and an owner of Trout & Partners, a consulting firm. He was one of the founders and pioneers of positioning theory and also marketing warfare theory.

Career[]

Trout started his business career in the advertising department of General Electric. From there he went on to become a divisional advertising manager at Uniroyal.^[1] Then he joined Al Ries in the advertising agency and marketing strategy firm where they worked together for over twenty-six years.^[2]

He was the founder and president of the international marketing strategy firm "Trout and Partners". The firm is represented in offices in many countries worldwide including emerging markets.^[3] Trout worked with a number of different client companies, including AT&T, Apple, Citicorp, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Southwest Airlines and Xerox. When working with pizza chain Papa John's, Trout was majorly involved in the invention of the chain's slogan "better ingredients, better pizza".^[3]

In the fall of 2002, Trout began working with the United States Department of State in order to "train new diplomats in the art of projecting a positive image of America overseas" as a part of the Brand America campaign, which sought to improve public opinion about the upcoming Iraq War.^[4]

Trout died of intestinal cancer at his home in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, at the age of 82.^[5]

Family[]

He was survived by his wife Patricia, their six children and 15 grandchildren, and four siblings.^[1]

Books[]

• Big Brands, Big Trouble: Lessons Learned the Hard Way. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 2001. ISBN 978-0471263036.^[6]
• A Genie's Wisdom: A Fable of How a CEO Learned to Be a Marketing Genius. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 2002. ISBN 978-0471236085.^[7]
• Jack Trout on Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 2004. ISBN 978-1259589621.^[8]
• In Search of the Obvious: The Antidote for Today's Marketing Mess. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. 2008. ISBN 978-0470288597.^[9]

With Steve Rivkin

• The New Positioning: The Latest on the World's #1 Business Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 1996. ISBN 978-0070653283.^[10]
• The Power of Simplicity. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 1998. ISBN 978-0071373326.^[11]
• Differentiate or Die. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 2000. ISBN 978-0471028925.^[12]
• Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change, and Crisis. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 2010. ISBN 978-0071635592.

With Al Ries

• Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 1981. ISBN 0-07-137358-6.^[3]
• Marketing Warfare. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 1986. ASIN B007YIUE0C.^[13]
• Bottom-Up Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 1989. ISBN 978-0070527331.^[14]
• Horse Sense: The Key to Success Is Finding a Horse to Ride. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 1990. ISBN 978-0070527355.
• The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. New York: HarperCollins. 1993. ISBN 978-0887306662.^[15]

References[]