John Francis "Jack" Trout (January 31, 1935 – June 4, 2017) was an American

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

executive and an owner of Trout & Partners, a

consulting A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

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 General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

. From there he went on to become a divisional advertising manager at Uniroyal. He then joined

Al Ries 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 ...

in the advertising agency and marketing strategy firm where they worked together for over twenty-six years. 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 An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or wer ...

. Trout worked with a number of different client companies, including

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

Citicorp Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomer ...

, Hewlett-Packard, IBM,

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

, Southwest Airlines, and

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...

. When working with pizza chain

Papa John's Papa John's International, Inc., d/b/a Papa Johns, is an American pizza restaurant chain. It is the fourth largest pizza delivery restaurant chain in the United States, with headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia metropolit ...

, Trout was majorly involved in the invention of the chain's slogan "better ingredients, better pizza." In the fall of 2002, Trout began working with the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

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 {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

. Trout died of intestinal cancer at his home in

Old Greenwich Old Greenwich is an affluent coastal village in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 6,611. The town of Greenwich is one political and taxing body, but consists of several distinct section ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, at the age of 82.

Family

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

Books

* * * * With Steve Rivkin * * * * With

* * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trout, Jack 1935 births 2017 deaths Writers from Manhattan Iona University alumni Marketing theorists Marketing people American marketing people Advertising theorists Branding theorists American business theorists Deaths from cancer in Connecticut Deaths from colorectal cancer 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American writers