Apple’s iPod ad —“1,000 songs in your pocket”— has been dissected and praised for its simplicity, benefit-driven messaging, and emotional resonance. But we’re not just looking at a great ad. We’re looking at how Apple engineered a market shift, reframed consumer perception, and strategically owned a category before anyone else knew it existed. So, what…

From happiness to sustainable performance – a new category in consulting. Traditional consulting firms extract human capital like an industrial resource, grinding talent through long hours, overpromising results, and optimizing for short-term client gains rather than sustainable success. Embark Consulting challenges this burnout-driven model, positioning itself as “The Happy Consulting Firm” and as the pioneer…

And Why It’s Just Positioning Most people don’t realize that “brand positioning” and “product positioning” are misguided marketing myths that distort what positioning actually is. Even Al Ries, the co-author of Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, has stated that positioning isn’t about the product or the brand. It’s about the space you own in…

Does any of these sound familiar? “We keep saying we’re different, but when clients compare us to competitors, we sound exactly the same.” “I Just Walked Out of a Client Meeting, and I Have No Idea What They Actually Want.” “I feel like I’m competing on price instead of value.” If this thought has ever…

It didn’t start with Al Ries. It existed long before business books, ad agencies, or marketing jargon. Long before companies fought for market share, civilizations, religions, and empires fought for mindshare. They used positioning to shape beliefs, rally people, and define their place in history. Here’s how positioning shaped the world long before it had…

In every industry, a moment comes when an outsider challenges the status quo so effectively that it forces incumbents to rethink their foundations. That moment has arrived for AI with DeepSeek, the Chinese startup that has upended expectations by delivering a high-performing AI model at a fraction of the cost. At first glance, DeepSeek’s breakthrough…

Every software company falls into the same trap: They build powerful features, stack them up like a Jenga tower, and then wonder why customers don’t care when it collapses. This is what I call the Feature-Resonance Trap — where companies obsess over what their product can do instead of why anyone should give a damn.…

In every industry, there comes a moment when an outsider rewrites the rules, challenging incumbents to rethink their very foundations. For the AI industry, that moment is DeepSeek. The Chinese AI startup has burst onto the scene with a powerful combination of low-cost, high-performing models and an open-source ethos, challenging the dominance of giants like…

Positioning is not just a business buzzword but the foundation upon which companies build their identity, strategy, and long-term success. Yet, despite its importance, positioning remains one of the most misunderstood concepts in business. According to research, 70% of startups fail to scale beyond $10M ARR, with misaligned positioning as a primary culprit. This isn’t…

Finding Your Signal in the Noise The most powerful question in positioning isn’t “What do you do?”It’s “What do people say when you leave the room?” That’s your positioning. Not your LinkedIn headline. Not your elevator pitch. Not your resume. It’s the mental shorthand people use to define you. The Truth About Positioning Most people…

It’s about what you own. Disclaimer: I wrote this post to build on the wonderful work Jon has shared, adding depth and nuance to his thoughtful breakdown of Canva’s positioning strategy. Jon’s insights are spot on, and my goal here is to expand the conversation. To highlight not just what Canva is doing right but…

In the business world, positioning is a concept often misunderstood, oversimplified, or confused with other marketing or strategic elements. Positioning isn’t a model we invent; it’s a force we align with. Just as Newton didn’t create gravity but identified how it works, positioning is an inherent dynamic in business that operates whether we understand it…