Jack Trout

Jack Trout, Marketing Guru, Dies at 82

Jack Trout, the ad executive who coined the term "Positioning," and is recognized as one of the world's foremost marketing strategists, died on Sunday at his home in Old Greenwich, CT. He was 82. The cause was intestinal cancer.

In a career that spanned five decades, Mr. Trout revolutionized the marketing world, in the early 70's as one of the founders and pioneers of the concept called Positioning, which later became his first book, "Positioning: The Battle for your Mind." According to Mr. Trout, "the basic approach of positioning is not to create something new and different, but to manipulate what's already up there in the mind, to retie the connections that already exist." Other positioning fundamentals include the importance of being first, inventing new categories, and the value of a strong, clear and understandable brand name.

"It's pretty amazing how one word, Positioning, can change your life," said Jack Trout

Jack Trout went on to author 15 other books on the subject, as well as lecturing all over the world.

His firm, Trout & Partners, one of the most prestigious marketing firms with headquarters in Greenwich, CT has worked and has offices in more than 20 countries. Mr. Trout managed and supervised a global network of experts that apply his concepts and developed his methodology around the world. His organization has consulted many Fortune 500 companies in categories from computers to caskets and everything in between.

More recently, Mr. Trout appointed Deng Delong, as the new Global President of Trout and Partners. "The marketing world has shifted east from its marketing origins in the United States" reports Mr. Trout, "and as China moves to a market based economy, much of my work will become very important in that part of the world."

John Francis Trout was born on January 31, 1935 in Manhattan. He was the oldest of six children and went to Iona College on an academic scholarship, where he played both basketball and tennis. When he graduated from college, he went into the Navy as a bombardier navigator.

He started his business career in the advertising department of General Electric. From there, he went on to become a divisional advertising manager at Uniroyal. After Uniroyal, Jack Trout joined Al Ries and they worked together for over twenty-six years at Ries, Cappiello , and Colwell and then Trout & Ries, the advertising agency and marketing strategy firm. He then went off on his own to form Trout & Partners.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Patricia Daley; six children, Timothy Trout of New York City, Joanne Trout of Riverside, CT, Nancy Trout of West Hartford, CT, Susan Trout of New York City, Christine Acton of Annapolis, MD, and Peter Trout of Larchmont, NY; his sisters Diane O'Grady and Laura Ginsberg; his brothers Gene, Kenny and Robert; and 15 grandchildren (Abigail, Jack, Sarah, Christopher, Thomas, Nicholas, Nicole, Caroline, Henry, James, Isabella, Charlie, George, Jackson and Wyatt).

While he was renowned as a guru in the marketing world, his true joy was spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren. He was a true family man.

Friends may call on Thursday, June 15, 2017 from 5-8PM at the Leo P. Gallagher & Son funeral home 31 Arch Street Greenwich, CT.
A mass of Christian burial will be held 10:30AM on Friday, June 16, 2017 at St. Catherine of Siena Church 4 Riverside Ave, Riverside, CT.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. http://catholiccharitiesny.org
Condolences may be offered at www.leopgallaghergreenwich.com