Category Categories

Whether you are a writer, creator, entrepreneur, executive, public speaker, investor, or industry thought leader, Snow Leopard is your guide for becoming known for a niche you own.

Over the past 20 years, category creation and category design has gone from being a little-known "positioning" secret from advertising legends like David Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, Al Ries, Jack Trout, Gary Halbert, and more, to now becoming the single most in-demand skill among business leaders, Fortune 500 executives, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, marketers, and even the next generation of digital creators.

This book is for a very small percentage of business people. You see, most people in business are not trying to use Category Design to create a new category that changes the future and generates exponential new value. Instead, many people in business are trying to “not get fired.” Many people want to go to work, make a contribution, and go home.

What is Ballroom? Not a song, a documentary, a catchphrase, a TV show, or an individual pop star. It is an underground subculture founded over a century ago by LGBTQ African American and Latino men and women of Harlem. Arts-based and intersectional, it transcends identity, acting as a fearless response to the systemic marginalization of minority populations.

Short, sweet, and jam-packed with incredibly valuable insights, this “mini-book” is a goldmine of mental pivots and actionable insights that will help you cut through the noise of your industry and become a voice of thought leadership at scale.

A mediocre category designer will beat a world-class marketer every day of the week. The reason is because all marketing sits within a context. "He or she who frames the problem owns the solution." Without this context—without a category—your marketing becomes nothing but screaming, shouting, and pitching customers with deals, discounts, and other short-term tactics in the hopes of landing a sale.

Short, sweet, and jam-packed with incredibly valuable insights, this audiobook explains why year-long marketing should not be your dominant focus, and explains the exponential benefits of mattering to your most loyal customers just a few times per year.

Becoming a Category of One reveals how extraordinary companies do what they do so well and gives you the tools and ideas to help your business emulate their success. Packed with real case studies and personal reflections from successful business leaders, it helps you apply the best practices of the best companies to set yourself apart from your competitors and turn your business into a market leader.

Category Creation is the first and only audiobook on the topic written by executives and marketers actively building new categories. It explains how category creation has become the Holy Grail of marketing and, more importantly, how it can be planned and orchestrated. It's not about luck. You can use the same tactics that other category-defining companies have used to delight customers, employees, and investors. There's no better strategy that results in faster growth and higher valuations for the company on top.

Perhaps the most important book in philosophy after the Allegory of the Cave. Incomparable logic and findings about the things that matter in life with a clear succinct prose touch.

Why do some writers and creators become known for a term, a phrase, or even an entire category, while others (talented as they might be) fade away? Because the most memorable writers and creators become known for a niche they own. And, more importantly, they invented new language to help them show the world how and why they are different.

The Magic Triangle is the combination of product design, company design, and category design that produces legendary outcomes in the world of business. All three elements—company design, product design, and category design—work together and balance each other to exert great force on a company’s success and value. And the legendary, enduring companies get these three elements of company design, product design, and category design in such a state of synchronicity that they reinforce each other.

Category Pirates — Christopher Lochhead, Eddie Yoon, and Nicolas Cole — see a meaningful percentage of marketers, entrepreneurs, and executives trapped in what they like to call the "Brand Cult". These are professionals who have been taught the best (i.e., the most well known) brand wins. And this is a lie. The biggest brands in the world didn’t become successful because of their brand. They became successful by creating and dominating a new and differentiated category with which their brand became synonymous. Because categories make brands. Not the other way around.

Short, sweet, and jam-packed with incredibly valuable insights, this audiobook is an actionable guide to creating massive differentiation in your business.

Short, sweet, and jam-packed with incredibly valuable insights, this “mini-book” shares unique insight into what it takes to become a thought leader and successfully build a unique and differentiated category.

One of the most common questions entrepreneurs and small business owners ask is, “how do I create a category if I’m not a heavily funded startup, or some massively successful company? How can someone like me create a category of my own?” This reveals maybe the single greatest benefit of category design: anyone can do it, at any stage of their life.

Some writers don’t want to think about the money side. The question of how to monetize as a writer, creator, and thought leader is a bit loaded—because it requires you to address a deeper question, first.

In 2005, a little book called Blue Ocean Strategy grew into a global best seller. With over four 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. We tip our hats to the title, and the framing of the idea, because it is a legendary example of languaging. More than 15 years later, you will still hear people in business meetings referencing “blue oceans” and “red oceans”. But...there are a few problems.

In the Atlantic Ocean, hurricane Helena is gathering strength, becoming the most powerful storm in recorded history. As Helena bears down on Bermuda, Donovan Nash, along with other members of the scientific research organization Eco-Watch, are called to fly in and extract key government people who have been studying Helena. For Donovan Nash, the routine mission turns deadly when an attempt is made on the life of the lead scientist.

The tiny island of Vieques, located just off the northeastern coast of the main island of Puerto Rico, is trying to recover after hurricane Maria, but the already battered island is now half empty. To make matters worse, as on the main island, developers have come in to buy up the land at a fraction of its worth, taking advantage of the island when it is down. Lupe, Javier, and Marisol are back to investigate a series of murders that follow in the wake of a hurricane and in the shadow of a new supernatural threat.