Laura Ries is a leading branding strategist, bestselling author and television personality.Check out her new book Visual Hammer released March 2012.Since 1994, Laura has run Ries & Ries, a consulting firm with her partner, father and legendary Positioning pioneer Al Ries. Together they consult with Fortune 500 companies on brand strategy and are the authors of five books which have been bestsellers around the world. They have traveled to over 60 countries from Chile to China and India to Indonesia teaching the fundamental principles of branding.Laura is a frequent marketing analyst on major news programs from the O'Reilly Factor to Squawk Box. She regularly appears on Fox News, Fox Business, CNBC, CNN, Headline News ABC, CBS, PBS and is frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Advertising Age and others.Laura attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois where she graduated "with highest distinction" from Northwestern's School of Speech finishing in the top 2% of her class.Laura and Al have co-authored five books together: The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding (1998), The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding (2000), The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR (2002), The Origin of Brands (2004), and her latest War in the Boardroom (2009).In 2002, Business 2.0 named Laura a "management guru" and issued trading cards with her picture and statistics on them. In 2008, the Atlanta Business Chronicle named Laura a top 40 under 40. In 2009, the readers of Advertising Age voted Al's book Positioning as the best marketing book of all time with The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding coming in close behind in the number three spot.