Blue Ocean Delusion, Sheep Popsicles, & Scooby Snacks
Christopher Lochhead ????????????
New course “How To Discover Your Superpower, Become A Creator Capitalist & Thrive In an AI World” (coming) Subscribe 4 early access???? | 14X #1 writer Play Bigger, Category Pirates, Snow Leopard | Teacher | Podcaster
Thanks for reading ??
The Different Newsletter.
Musings for entrepreneurs, marketing leaders, and creators with a different mind.
From the whisky stained brain of fourteen time #1 bestselling author (Play Bigger, The 22 Laws of Category Design, and Category Pirates) and top 0.5% podcaster Christopher Lochhead.
Sponsored by Bad Tuna Industries.
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Blue Ocean Really?
In 2005, a little book called?Blue Ocean Strategy? grew into a global bestseller.?
With over 4 million copies sold and industry recognition as “one of the most iconic and impactful strategy books ever written,”?Blue Ocean Strategy?changed the way many people thought about business.
More than 15 years later, and you can still hear a few people in business meetings referencing “blue oceans” and “red oceans.”?
But...
There are a few problems.
The book?assumes the ocean.?
The book?assumes incumbents are the ones that create new categories.
The book?assumes blue oceans are not about technology innovation.?
The book?assumes Superconsumers and data-flywheels play a limited role in category domination.
The book?assumes category leadership is about product and company design, not the ability to create and design categories.
Wait, Don’t Pirates Like Blue Oceans?nbsp;
Yes we do.
And.
First and foremost, Pirates reject the premise!
They don’t (blindly) accept the way it is.
We know a lot of our fellow pirates like?Blue Ocean Strategy?and may be confused as to why we are writing this.
We get asked about it from time to time, so we thought we’d respond with a letter to make clear the difference between Category Design and BOS—specifically where we overlap and where we meaningfully disagree.
The truth is, Category Design and Blue Oceans do align nicely on a few important themes.?
Blue Delusion
Here’s what the authors of Blue Ocean Strategy assert from their analysis, in their own words.?
(The emphasis is our own.)
“Our findings are encouraging for executives at the large, established corporations?that are traditionally seen as the victims of new market space creation.
That would be great.
But…..It’s not true!!!!
How about, we dig out one of our favorite stories to help elucidate why Blue Ocean thinking, is broken mental scaffolding.
(If you’ve read/heard this one before, keep reading any way. This is a good one & we added some new shit.)
Let’s start by positing the preposterous.
Youll learn more from the farmer who wrote this ???? sign than you will from getting a Harvard marketing MBA.
(If you're open rejecting the premise.)
(And maybe some unlearning. ??)
Let's break it down:
Sheep Yogurt
POPSICLES
$4 Each
←
The sign markets the category, not the brand.
(No brand on sign)
Small "e" entrepreneurs know the category makes the brand, the category creates the interest, and the category (not the brand) creates demand.
You have to think Sheep Yogurt POPSICLES sound cool, before you ever care who makes them.
Small business owners (who feed families) learn this. Fast. They have an intimate relationship with what drives revenue and what does not.
They become intuitive category designers, or they don't eat.
Popsicles are the mega category (top of hierarchy).
The words "Sheep Yogurt" modify the mega category (popsicles) to tell us that this is a different category of popsicle.
If you start playing with the category design lens, you'll notice how often category designers create new categories by combining existing categories in unpredictable ways.
(Combining existing things in different ways is a common category design strategy. Chocolate peanut butter, is a three category combined to create a forth.)
In this case, three existing categories (again) merge to create a new one:
Category Designers are masters at "Languaging,” the strategic use of language to change thinking.
That's why three simple words on a sandwich board stop us in our tracks.
The sign (in the walkway) interrupts our normal shopping motion.
The popsicle category designer is doing high ROI marketing in a community where Superconsumers of premium farm products hang out.
The category name creates interest and immediately makes us say, "Huh? ….Never heard of that before. Let's try one!"
Category designers know how to stand out with different.
(Most marketers live stuck in the "Better Trap".)
Most people can’t do different.
Because most people live in a better world.
Better brand, better product, better business model.
Better is (always) in reference to something that exists.
(Different is a fresh reference.)
The better world lives inside comparison and competion mental scaffolding.
(It’s also important to know. That people in the better world, don’t know they’re in the better world. They think they are just in the world.)
And better people world are often irritated by the different few.
(Different wins)
The sign says “$4 Each”, telling us the value.
The average popsicle is $0.50. Selling one for $4 is a 7x increase! Category Designers use price not just to make money but to establish new categories of value. In this case, the seller is clearly communicating, "This is a different, premium popsicle category."
(This is exactly what Apple did when pricing its new "spatial computer" at $3,500.)
The sign says "←", telling us where to investigate.
We buy the product.
Taste it.
And realize it's legendary (yummy "Vanilla Maple").
Then, we discover that the brand is "Garden Variety Cheese Brand" from Royal Oaks, California.
The combination of a cool different category + a legendary product makes us buy more and tell our friends (WOM).
And that’s why a “Sheep Yogurt Popsicle” category designer knows more about marketing than (many) MBAs.
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Shalom my Pirate friend,
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There are people who say "it's all about execution".
Those people would be wrong.
Because people who execute (well) a bad strategy, are (just) stupid faster. ??
Contributing to your company's strategy is one of the most valuable things you can do.
We just launched a new Strategy Therapy course.
It's for executives who want to create an honest, bold and different business strategy.
(Using core category design principles)
Because spineless strategies do not lead to legendary outcomes.
领英推荐
The creator of this Different Newsletter failed cutting & folding in kindergarten.
Copyright Category Pirates, LLC
#NeverAgainIsNow ????
#SaveGazaFromHamas
"AI is a fundamental technology that will determine the future of society.”
- Vladimir Putin, 2019.
The creator of this Different Newsletter was likely consuming libations, is lucky enough to enough to have multiple learning differences, enjoys Mary Jane and Rock ‘n Roll, was thrown out of school at 18, does not possess a GED, drinks a lot, and has been fired more times than he can remember.
He also can not find his keys.
And his wife thinks he’s writing this newsletter right now to avoid doing things around the house for her.
"Sharing this Different newsletter (broadly) will elongate your life by as much as a decade." - US Surgeon General
Why is this part written in the third person?
Weird?
I don’t know why he does that?
Me neither.
Doesn’t he know, that we know, that he wrote this?
"Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men"
- George S. Patton
The first Mexican taco stand to get a Michelin star is a tiny business where the heat makes the meat
... this is the part of Different, that is like the very end of a movie...
….where some directors throw in silly crap-o-lla..
…simply for their own entertainment…
…assuming no people (or very few) are still in the theatre…
So I’ll just assume that you’ve either already stopped reading… or will stop here.
Because I can guarantee what follows is a complete (and total) waste of your very valuable time.
Terrifying ‘Vampire’ Wasp Discovered In Peruvian Amazon
Never forget.
In category after category, one companies earns 76% of the total value created.
Don’t compete in other people's markets.
Learn how in our new Strategy Therapy course today.
Do you know who is this thing written for?
I don’t know?
McKinsey would never let someone publish this crap.
Exactly.
You’d get fired at McKinsey for this drivel.
Who does this guy think he is?
Exactly.
Drivel is a great word.
Thanks.
Have you noticed there are tons of typos and spelling mistakes too?
Very sloppy.
I think he’s been fired a bunch.
That would explain a lot.
Hey, did you know?
The category designer of the modern toilet category is a Scottish guy named (I shit you not) Thomas Crapper?
That’s why you, “take a crap”.
Did you really need to tell me that?
I guess not, I just thought it was funny.
You really do have the sense of humor of a six year old boy.
Hey.
Who are we talking to?
We?
Who’s we?
I’m just reading to myself.
Can a newsletter make you nuts?
This one can.
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"Sharing this newsletter (broadly) will make you more sexually attractive"
- US Surgeon General
If you're not enjoying this (experimental) newsletter, you're among the vast majority of people on planet earth.
If (by some breach of your better judgement) you are enjoying this Italian olive oil smooth read, with just the right level of AD/HD insanity…
you might get fired up about our real work:
You should really take our new Strategy Therapy course.
Ever sit next to someone sneezing on a plane?
Or someone farting?
There will be repetitive content.
This is a feature.
Not a bug.
This newsletter really ties the room together.
Anyone making business, or life decisions based on this content, should do some thinking about thinking.
This Different Newsletter may contain (nuts) and forward looking statements.
“Forward-looking information” (collectively referred to herein as set forth, by the power invested in me, I now pronounce these forward-looking statements)
By reading these words you agree that forward looking statements pertain only to the pertinent, and specifically, wherein, thusfor, and herein such statements being made have a clear and present forward motion orientation.
Except for statements of historical fact (which are more than likely, if not certainly inaccurate or falsified herein) and the wherein information contained thusfor constitutes forward-looking statements and includes, but is not limited to;
the (i) projected financial performance of your financial performance;
(ii) the expected development of you, or Company’s business, projects, endeavors, joint ventures, joints of any kind and all (but not limited to) initiatives.
Forward-looking statements are (only) provided moreover, herein and whereas, to allow readers and course students the opportunity to understand the future-orientation motion (as it relates to, but is not limited by) the use such data, frameworks, beliefs, opinions and opportunities as one (seminal) factor in evaluating what to do with the rest of your professional life.
Objects in mirrors are objects in mirrors.
Hey, thanks for hanging out for the extra (silly) Scooby snacks at the end...
….let's hang out again soon ????????
Published by Category Pirates.
Sponsored By Bad Tuna Industries.
Makers of Bad Tuna Salad Dressing?
Empowering Brands with Neuroscience-Driven Insights | Experience Optimization Expert | Emotional Well-being Warrior | Startup Advisor | Mentor | Data-Driven Strategist
9 个月I am SO GLAD I read until the end. Your meanderings are THE BESTEST. Thank you!
Founders, let's unf*ck your messaging | Attract right-fit leads without paid ads | Join waitlist for 1:1 'Lead Gen in 90-Days' Bootcamp | Neophiliac | Good Human Collector
9 个月"because people who execute (well) a bad strategy, are (just) stupid faster. " ?? Agree that small "e" Entrepreneurs are natural category designers, as they learn the hard way that they have no brand equity in the beginning. You have to tell your customer which filing cabinet in their head to open to understand what you're selling. Category is the short cut to this. It's why my first retail business at 25 that was hyper niched, had a lightbox sign out the front of my category. Once you walked in, I had floor to ceiling branding and every one of my 7000 products, was branded. Build brand equity with those who become your customers. Until then, market your category first. I think this is my favourite newsletter of yours so far,Christopher Lochhead ????????????????