Laura Ries

marketing guru, consultant, bestselling author, speaker

Laura Ries is president of Ries & Ries, an Atlanta-based marketing strategy firm that she runs with her father Al Ries.

Laura attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois where she graduated “with highest distinction” from Northwestern’s School of Speech in 1993, finishing in the top 2% of her class.

After graduation, Laura worked at TBWA Advertising in New York City as an assistant account executive on the Woolite and Evian brands.

In 1994, Laura partnered with her father to form Ries & Ries. Together they have consulted with many Fortune 500 companies. They have also written four books: The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding (1998), The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding (2000), The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR (2002) and The Origin of Brands (2004).

Released in 2002, The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, has generated enormous interest in the marketing community. The book made both the Business Week and The Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. In addition to being reviewed by these publications, it was also reviewed by USA Today, Harvard Business Review, Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times and many other publications.

In 2002, Business 2.0 named Laura a “management guru” and issued trading cards with her picture and statistics on them. Laura has appeared on the Fox News Channel, Fox Business Channel, CNBC, CNN, PBS, CBS, ABC World News Tonight, Bloomberg and more.

She is a frequently quoted marketing expert in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Associated Press, Advertising Age, and other publications.

In addition to her consulting, speaking and writing, Laura enjoys athletic activities like horseback riding, triathlons, body building and snow skiing.

Laura and Al's last book is The Origin of Brands: Discover the Natural Laws of Product Innovation and Business Survival. It applies Darwins deduction that new species aries from divergence of existing species to the branding process. What results are endless new opportunities to build new brands.

A new Ries book is due out in February 2009. Stay tuned for more details.

Laura resides in Roswell, Georgia outside of Atlanta with her husband, two children, two dogs and a horse.