A revolutionary new system for generating the next big marketing ideas and opportunities According to Philip Kotler, the widely acknowledged "father" of modern marketing, and Fernando Trias de Bes the marketing techniques pioneered in the 1960s and '70s have worked too well.

Introduction. 1.The Evolution of Markets and the Dynamics of Competition. 1.1 In Consumer Packaged Goods, Distribution Concentration Has Increased Greatly. 1.2 The Number of Competitors Has Been Reduced, but the Number of Brands Has Strongly Increased. 1.3 Product Life Cycles Have Been Dramatically Shortened. 1.4 It Is Cheaper to Replace than to Repair. 1.5 Digital Technology Has Provoked a Revolution in Many Markets. 1.6 The Number of Trademarks and Patents Is Increasing. 1.7 The Number of Varieties of a Given Product Has Increased Radically. 1.8 Markets Are Hyperfragmented. 1.9 Advertising Saturation Is Reaching Its Highest Levels, and the Fragmentation of Media Is Complicating the Launch of New Products. 1.10 The Capacity of Obtaining Space in the Mind of the Consumer Has Been Reduced. Conclusion: Markets Are Much More Competitive. Summary. 2.Strengths and Weaknesses of Traditional Marketing Thinking. 2.1 Needs Identification as the Starting Point. 2.2 Mark et Definition. 2.2.1 Selecting a Market. 2.2.2 Adoption of a Market Category and Subcategory by Marketers. 2.2.3 Adopting a Market as Something Fixed Leads to Segmentation. 2.3 Segmentation and Positioning as Competitive Strategies. 2.3.1 Segmentation. 2.3.2 Positioning as a Strategy for Generating Competitive Advantages. 2.4 The Development of the Marketing Mix: The Only Thing That Is Seen. Summary. 3.Innovations Originated from Inside a Given Market: The Most Common Way of Creating Innovations. 3.1 Innovations Based on Modulation. 3.2 Innovations Based on Sizing. 3.3 Packaging-Based Innovations. 3.4 Design-Based Innovations. 3.5 Innovations Based on Complements Development. 3.6 Innovations Based on Effort Reduction. Summary. 4.Innovations Originated Outside of a Given Market: An Alternative Way to Create Innovation. 4.1 The Case of Cereal Bars. 4.2 The Case of Kinder Surprise. 4.3 The Case of 7-Eleven Japan. 4.4 The Case of Actimel, from Dannon. 4.5 The Case of Food Stores inside Gas Stations. 4.6 The Case of the Cyber Café Concept. 4.7 The Case of “Be the Godfather of a Kid”. 4.8 The Case of “Big Brother” TV Contest. 4.9 The Case of Huggies Pull-Ups. 4.10 The Case of Barbie. 4.11 The Case of Walkman. Summary. 5.The Need for Lateral Marketing to Complement Vertical Marketing. 5.1 Basis of Vertical versus Lateral Marketing. 5.2 How Lateral Marketing Works versus Vertical Marketing. 5.3 Effects That Lateral Marketing Provokes in the Markets versus Vertical Marketing. 5.4 Source of Volume. 5.5 Situations Where Each Type of Marketing Is More Appropriate. 5.6 Responsibility of Creating in the Markets. Summary. 6.Defining the Lateral Marketing Process. 6.1 Lateral Marketing Definition. 6.1.1 Objectives of Lateral Marketing. 6.2 Logic of Creativity. 6.3 Similarities between Humor and Creative Thinking. 6.4 Importance of Understanding the Logic of Creativity. 6.5 The Three Steps of Lateral Marketing. 6.5.1 Choosing a Product or Service. 6.5.2 Step 1: Choosing a Focus in the Marketing Process. 6.5.3 Step 2: Generating a Marketing Gap. 6.5.4 Step 3: Making Connections. 6.6 Final Outputs of the Lateral Marketing Process. 6.7 Examples from Chapter 4 under the Lateral Marketing Framework. 7. Lateral Marketing at the Market Level. 7.1 Change of Dimension as the Most Practical Technique. 7.2 Dimensions to Be Changed: Concept and Examples. 7.2.1 Changing the Need: Trying to Cover Another Utility. 7.2.2 Changing the Target: A Person, Persons, or a Group. 7.2.3 Changing the Time: Choosing New Moments. 7.2.4 Changing the Place: Move Your Product into a New Setting. 7.2.5 Changing the Occasion: Link Your Product to an Event. 7.2.6 Changing the Activity: Place Products into Experiences. 7.3 Connecting the Product with the New Dimension. 7.3.1 Connections Made without Altering the Product. 7.3.2 Connections Made by Altering the Product. 7.4 A Complete Case: Proposing a New Business Concept. 7.5 Ancillary Techniques for Displacing the Market Level. 7.5.1 Combining the Dimension “Place”. 7.5.2 Reordering the Dimension “Time”. 7.5.3 Exaggerating the Dimension “Place”. 7.5.4 Inverting the Dimension “Need”. 7.5.5 Inverting the Dimension “Target”. 7.5.6 Eliminating the Dimension “Time”. 8. Lateral Marketing at the Product Level. 8.1 Philosophy behind Applying Lateral Marketing at the Product Level. 8.2 Dissection of the Product. 8.3 Selecting the Entry Doors. 8.3.1 Selecting Natural Anchors as Entry Points. 8.3.2 Selecting Other Elements as Entry Points. 8.4 Applying Lateral Displacements: Concept and Examples. 8.4.1 Substitution. 8.4.2 Combination. 8.4.3 Inversion. 8.4.4 Elimination. 8.4.5 Exaggeration. 8.4.6 Reordering. 8.5 Connecting a Possible Market with the New Product. 8.5.1 Finding a Possible Setting. 8.5.2 Extracting the Positive Things. 8.5.3 Imagining the Purchase Process. 8.6 The Product May Need to Be Adjusted. 8.7 A Complete Case: The Double-Decker Car. 9. Lateral Marketing at the Marketing Mix Level. 9.1 Effects of Lateral Marketing at the Mix Level. 9.2 Lateral Marketing for Diversifying Our Marketing Mix: “Taking the Mix of Other Products”. 9.2.1 Pricing. 9.2.2 Distribution. 9.2.3 Communication. 9.3 Lateral Marketing for Finding New Marketing Mix Formulas: The Rest of the Lateral Displacements. 9.3.1 Combination. 9.3.2 Inversion. 9.3.3 Elimination. 9.3.4 Exaggeration. 9.3.5 Reordering. 9.4 The Product May Need to Be Adjusted. 9.5 A Complete Case: Steel Shops. 10. Implementing Lateral Marketing. 10.1 The Three Systems of an Innovative Company: The Gary Hamel Model. 10.1.1 An Idea Market. 10.1.2 A Capital Market. 10.1.3 A Talent Market. 10.2 Next Step: Managing the Whole Process. Appendix: Quick Reminder of the Lateral Marketing Framework. Index.

Today's marketers face a difficult challenge: how to innovate in a hypercompetitive, super-segmented marketplace. In a consumer economy saturated with homogeneous products and inhabited by customers who are more and more immune to advertising messages, traditional vertical marketing–with its fundamentals of market segmentation and brand proliferation–is beginning to fail us. Now, renowned marketers Philip Kotler and Fernando Trias de Bes present a new system for developing breakthrough opportunities–lateral marketing. Lateral marketing complements traditional marketing by providing an alternative route to generating fresh new ideas. Whereas vertical marketing helps us find increasingly smaller subgroups for which a product might be developed, lateral marketing lets marketers develop an entirely new product that finds a much wider audience. Instead of offering just another diaper for newborns in a cutthroat market, for example, Pull Up diapers are designed for an older child. Kotler and Trias de Bes show numerous examples of how lateral marketing leads to products that succeed even in the face of hypercompetition and product homogeneity. These innovations include new products like Honey Nut Cheerios Milk 'n Cereal bars, a quick alternative to actual cereal with milk, or Gillette's Venus, a razor with a wider head made just for women's curves. Lateral marketing also includes using old products in a new way, such as promoting Bayer aspirin as a heart attack preventative. The new marketing concepts that led to these products are the direct result of a different creative process than the endless vertical segmentation of yesterday. This book defines a framework and theory for lateral marketing and the development of breakthrough ideas that will succeed in a consumer market already over-saturated. By removing the limitations of traditional marketing as a mechanism for developing new ideas, Kotler and Trias de Bes show marketers how to beat the high odds of product failure and achieve breakthrough success.

“…He is challenging the conventions; coaching marketers to broaden our horizons; delivering a new set of solutions; thinking the unthinkable…” (Interactive Marketing, Vol 5, No 4, April/June 2004) These two marketing innovators provide effective and practical concepts and tools to help readers create new products and services based on thinking across rather than within markets. Understand the power of marketing creativity and how "lateral marketing" can expand thinking and profits. (Best Business Books 2003, Library Journal, March 15, 2004)

Introduction The Evolution of Markets and the Dynamics of Competition Strengths and Weaknesses of Traditional Marketing Thinking Innovations Originated from Inside a Given Market: The Most Common Way of Creating Innovations Innovations Originated from Outside of a Given Market: An Alternative Way to Create Innovations The Need for Lateral Marketing to Complement Vertical Marketing Defining the Lateral Marketing Process Lateral Marketing at the Market level Lateral Marketing at the Product level Lateral Marketing at the Marketing Mix level Implementing Lateral Marketing Appendix