Forward Momentum

Why does category design matter?

When you own a category, you write the narrative, and with it the buying criteria everyone else is judged by. You can set your price by the problem you solve rather than by a spec sheet, and investors and analysts treat you as the reference point for the market. A competitor can copy a feature in a quarter. One who copies your category ends up describing it for you.

What does category design look like in practice?

Red Bull sold a small, expensive can on what the drink did for you rather than on how it tasted, and stocked it in clubs, on campuses, and at ski resorts instead of next to the colas. Supermarkets eventually gave "energy drinks" a shelf of their own.Apple didn't invent the MP3 player.

How do you design a category?

Fact-finding: interviews with leadership, customers, and people who know the company from outside, plus research into the market, until the problem is clear from the buyer's side as well as yours.Leadership sessions: the findings go in front of the leadership team, and the team settles the one position it is prepared to defend.The North Star document: the category, the problem you own, and why your company gets to.

When is the right time for category design?

It's usually time once buyers start comparing you line by line with your competitors, and you find yourself giving up margin just to win the deal. For a founder, that's often an investor asking how you're different from a better-funded rival. For a scaling company, it's the discount that has quietly become part of every deal.

Who can help with category design?

Forward Momentum is a management and brand consultancy based in New York, working globally, that specializes in category design. Our approach, North Star Momentum, covers the whole sequence above: fact-finding, leadership sessions, the North Star document, and the months of follow-through that make the category stick. Engagements run from the $8,000 Positioning Stress Test to full-service category design.