Category Creation

13The Intangible Benefits of Category Creation on Customer and Teammate Success

If I could trade marketing careers with anyone in the world, it would be with a man named Duncan Wardle. Duncan’s business card is surely the envy of any marketer who has ever preferred right-brain strategy over left—he was the former vice president of innovation and creativity at The Walt Disney Company. Over his 25-year career at Disney, Duncan was responsible for developing some of the company’s most innovative ideas and strategies, including sending a Buzz Lightyear action figure to (literal) outer space on NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery to promote the launch of a new attraction at Walt Disney World. Today, Duncan is on the road speaking at events, leading workshops, and hosting ideation sessions at customer sites. His mission? To challenge everyone to claim his or her own creativity, and thus create a culture of innovation never possible before.

One of the ways that companies can create that culture is to realize that, as Duncan puts it, “People are not buying products and services anymore, they are buying purpose. And in order for them to understand your purpose they must understand your story.” That’s a deeply profound statement, and one that is especially true for category creators. I discussed in Chapter Five the importance of articulating and expressing company purpose—in fact, it’s the foundational step of the category creation playbook. Tell your story the right way, and there are transformative ...