Article · About 12 min read

"Play Bigger: The How and Why of Category Design" - An Interview with Christopher Lochhead

Christopher Lochhead · The Marketing Journal Free Advanced

The densest short read on the model: the 76 percent category king number, the Magic Triangle, and the full seven step category design journey in one page.

  • Lochhead's core number: the category leader takes about 76 percent of the category's market cap.
  • Most customers have to buy into the new category before they will consider buying your product.
  • The Magic Triangle is product, company, and category strategy designed together, not separately.
  • Categories move through explosion, consolidation, and dominance, and the game is winner takes all.
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The question it answers

  1. Why do the best operators design a category instead of competing inside one?

Read with it

  1. Two ideas you can use immediately: category names come before company names, and reading acquisition news as the purchase of a... Lochhead on Marketing Podcast · Short episode 025 Category Creation & Category Design: A New Lens On Business Christopher Lochhead
  2. Video · Short explainer Christopher Lochhead on What It Means to Be a Category King Christopher Lochhead
  3. Podcast · Long-form interview Christopher Lochhead, Friend to the Different, Category Design, Author & Pirate, Arrr Christopher Lochhead
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