Alfred Paul Ries (November 14, 1926 – October 7, 2022) was an American marketing professional and author. He was the cofounder and chairman of the Atlanta-based consulting firm Ries & Ries with his partner and daughter, Laura Ries. Along with Jack Trout, Ries is credited with resurrecting the idea of " positioning" in the field of marketing.

Life and career

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1926, Ries graduated from DePauw University as a mathematics major in 1950.Encyclopedia.com
/ref> He accepted a position with the advertising department of

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

before founding his own advertising agency in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, Ries Cappiello Colwell, in 1961. Jack Trout joined the agency in 1967. Ries and Trout wrote a three-part series of articles for '' Advertising Age'' in 1972. The themes discussed in that series of articles inspired their later book, ''Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind'', published in 1981. Ries wrote an article for AdWeek that centered around the historical failure of converged devices, ''Why the iPhone will fail'', published in 2007. The American Marketing Association, NY Chapter announced Ries as one of the 2016 inductees to the Marketing Hall of Fame. Ries died in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

on October 7, 2022, at the age of 95.

Books

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References

External links

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IMNO Open Source Mentoring Interview with Al Ries

1926 births 2022 deaths Marketing theorists American marketing people Advertising theorists Branding theorists DePauw University alumni Businesspeople from Indianapolis Writers from Indianapolis {{marketing-stub