Name A Category, Own The Market
Category Design: create one, be the loudest about it and.
Category design is a mind blowing concept by Christopher Lochhead
It’s a phenomenal way to see positioning for a brand, service, or product.
Basically, it’s creating a market category and placing your product or service as the leader/first in that category.
Similar to what Johnny Cupcakes have done by being the first t-shirt bakery
More Examples: Bob Marley — Rastafarians lewder (category designer of reggae)
Sales force: cloud-based sales automation category.
Airbnb: On-demand apartment/housing category king
Uber: On-demand transportation category king
Apple: digital music category king (with the iPod and iTunes)
Apple: smartphones category (iPhone), and tablets category (iPad).
Tesla: Electric cars category king
SpaceX: Private spaceflight category king
Amazon: Online retail category king
Amazon: E-book readers category king (Kindle)
Amazon: cloud-based computing services category king (Amazon Web Services).
Spanx: Women Underwear Category
Kuda: Bank Of The Free category
Mohammed Ali: Show-man boxer category king
Harry Porter: Young adult fiction category queen
Mahatma Gandhi: Nonviolent resistance category king
IKEA: Cheap, stylish, do-it-yourself furniture category
Laird Hamilton: Tow-in surfing category king
Starbucks: espresso-based beverages category king
Purell: Hand sanitizer
People need to know “what” it is, before “who” it is.
Category thinking works because it’s the way our brains work.
