Learn to fight because marketing is war

The book Marketing is War by Dickson Gachuhe. Photo/FILE 

By Hugholin Kimaro

• Learn to fight because marketing is war

The book Marketing is War, authored by Dickson Gachuche, aims to introduce the universal principle that competition is not so much about products but about brands. In other words, products are similar but brands are different. Or content is usually the same, the difference is in the name.

In marketing, product owners are always looking for unique selling points (USPs) or distinguishing features. 

These USPs are, however, not found in the goods or services but in the brand.

Dickson Gachuche gives many examples in the book. For example, there is little difference in the fuel we put in our vehicles. It is pumped from the same oil wells, refined in the same refineries, shipped in the same ships, transported through the same pipeline and stored in the same tanks.

Then it reaches the oil marketers fuel station and there it becomes Shell or Total or Kenol or Kobil. The fuel becomes the brand. But even if you were to fill half your tank with one brand and the other half with another, nothing would go wrong because the product is the same.

This principle applies to any industry or economic, social or political sector.

It is the brands that fight for market share. You see it between political parties, banks, hospitals, schools and counties. The book looks critically at the question, “What is a brand?” and goes on to discuss how the brands fight.

Marketing is technically shown as a brand war. You start by creating your brand and then use various strategies and weapons to mercilessly wage war on other brands in order to capture market share.

The book gives many examples of brand wars that have taken place in this country and even goes to the battle fields and looks at the skeletons of people and war weapons that were destroyed in the wars that took place in the past.

Tusker is a brand owned by EABL, which is owned by Guinness, which is owned by Diageo. Castle is a brand that is owned by South African Breweries. To those who drink, there is little difference between Tusker and Castle.

Diageo and SAB Millers are some of the top brewers in the world. Yet here in Kenya they fought some of the fiercest marketing wars ever seen, which ended in a multibillion shilling factory being closed, and which lies idle to date.

Readers will be able to identify on going painful battles.

For example, US company Proctor & Gamble, manufacturers of Aerial detergent, is locked in a court battle with Unilever of the UK, manufacturers of  Omo detergent, over bragging rights on which of the two detergents is better.

The author of this book, in simple language, shows you what a brand is and how you can use brand strategy to win market share.

You can use the knowledge in the book to create your brand and wage war against other well established rivals and beat them at their own game.