The Two Seminal Questions Every Leader Must Ask, Creator Capitalism, Legendary Category PR & Pirate (scooby) Snacks
Thanks for reading.
Welcome to The Different Newsletter.
Musings for entrepreneurs, marketing leaders, category designers and creators with a different mind.
Sponsored by Bad Tuna Industries.
With content stolen from Category Pirates.
🏴☠️
Creator Capitalism Isn’t A trend Or A Gimmick
One of the most powerful things a human being can do is earn a living creating (massive) value for other people.
In a post-AI world, where machines can take over (almost) all mundane repetitive tasks and write code, create art, and build things.
The people who will thrive are those who can create.
(With AI)
If you’ve ever taken an idea and turned it into something of value for others, you’re already a Creator Capitalist.
Creator Capitalist a new lens for how careers are built, wealth is created, and impact is made in an AI-first world.
It reframes capitalism as something profoundly positive:
The old (knowledge worker) game was:
Get good at something
Get hired to do it
Work hard
Retire
The new (creator capitalist) game is:
See problems others can’t
Build solutions others haven’t
Package those solutions for your Supers
Monetize across platforms, people, and time
Play the infinite game of creating and compounding value
🏴☠️
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When You’re The Category King
Never stop telling people.
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Two Questions Every Leader In The World Must Ask (right) Now.
1) If I were redesigning my career right now, with AI at its core, what would I build?
2) If I launched a new business today, designed around AI from day one, how would it be different?
🏴☠️
CFO to CMO Conversation
CFO to CMO:
“Our revenue is going down, so we must cut your marketing budget”
CMO:
"I’m confused, Marketing is how we drive revenue?”
CFO:
“The macro environment is tough and we need to cut costs.”
CMO:
“But, Marketing is how we drive revenue?”
CFO:
“Yes, but Marketing is the fastest and easiest way to cut costs!”
CMO:
“But, if we need revenue, don’t we need Marketing more than ever?”
CFO:
“Not sure what they’re teaching today at Marketing MBA school, but we’re cutting your Marketing budget 30%.”
CMO:
“OK, so when revenue goes down, the best strategy is cut Marketing?”
CFO:
“YES! I believe you’ve got it!”
Steal This Legendary Category PR Strategy
When you read this story.
You’ll discover the most legendary form of PR.
The whole article is a FroTo (from-to) POV, designed to drive WOM with supers and beyond.
If you are the company doing category-first PR like this.
Reporters (and therefore readers) assume you’re the category leader.
Because the only brands that anyone (ever) saw lead with category (customer problem), is the category king.
When you read this article through the category design lens you see the power of category design in earned media.
This is a PR POV Manifesto Framework.
Headline:
"The remaking of the American jean”
Screams new category.
"That makes them more comfortable but also one of the most polluting and resource-intensive items in your closet. But there’s real hope for your jeans.”
Frames the problem.
Sets up FroTos.
Sets up POV.
Creates hope.
With only 2 sentences.
Category Design big, important problem (make it urgent):
"Today’s jeans start with the same woven twill as Levi’s original pair, dyed blue and studded with rivets. But the 3 billion pairs now on the global market require additional water, chemicals and energy to create.
The dyeing process for a single pair can take about 100 liters of water, said Enrique Silla, the co-founder of sustainable denim-dyeing technology company Jeanologia.
That water sometimes ends up in rivers and streams without being cleaned. When washed, new styles of jeans are more likely to release microfibers and also can fall apart far more quickly than their predecessors."
Category Design Solution Requirements (RFP for the market)
"Here’s how to spot them."
The fabric
98 to 100 percent cotton
Buy fewer jeans
5 percent recycled cotton
Leaving denim unwashed (or raw)
lighter shade, more processed
Etc
Note the call to join in the mission/movement/community:
"Your role"
This is a large and growing category (everyone wants these), so supply is low (creates urgency, exclusivity, and sets up the opportunity to increase prices
"A slew of companies are redesigning jeans to lower their footprint, and a few of these models are now available in stores."
Also note…There are only a few jean brands mentioned.
Through the category design lens, one jumps off the page…
And dances a jig.
“Everything is designed to be disposable, and that’s the biggest problem right now,” said Mark Little, who spearheaded Patagonia’s project to redesign its jeans.
“So first and foremost, do you even need the jeans? We really want consumers to think about their relationship with the product.”
This is the only quote from a brand executive.
Every other quote is an industry expert.
We can be 99% certain this is Patagonia earned category designing media.
Legendary.
As you were reading this article.
And you read Patagonia.
Did you think, “of course”?
Because they have a well documented history of leading earth-friendly categories.
And, because Patagonia is the brand doing category level PR like this. Reporters (and therefore readers) assume they are the category leader.
Steal this.
It’s a framework.
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Thanks for reading.
Shalom my Pirate friend,
👊🏴☠️🙏
Here come the dis-credits.
Pirate (scooby) Snacks ☠️
And Legal Warnings…..
All Different newsletters contain nuts 🐿
All rights perturbed.
Copyright Category Pirates, LLC
Category Pirates is our real newsletter.
People who subscribe on Substack get this Different newsletter first.
You should feel very little obligation to read from this point on.
Your time would be better spent watching re-runs of WKRP In Cincinnati.
Or giving your dog a bath.
Marketing that does not produce revenue is called arts and crafts.
The creator of this Different Newsletter:
-can’t find his walkman
-does not possess a GED
-is friendly with Mary Jane
-was thrown out of school at 18
-has been fired more times than he can count
-possess multiple learning differences
(aka superpowers)
-got de-platformed on LinkedIn
-and re-platformed on LinkedIn
(Multiple times)
Book reviewers on the internet have called his work:
“Very shallow”
“Incredibly mediocre”
“Easily one of the worst things I've had the displeasure of listening to.”
And one of the all-time greatest business book reviews:
“This book reads more like an MLM or cult brochure.”
The Economist called Lochhead, “off-putting to some”.
There are (random) strategically placed spelling, grammar and formatting mistakes in this newsletter.
While AI decreases the value of existing knowledge, it massively increases the value of creators—those who can leverage AI to generate net-new ideas, solutions, and content.
That’s why we’re launching the first online Creator Capitalist course.
Creator Capitalist is the proven "think different" system to escape traditional paths and build a career that gives you freedom, leverage, and income on your terms.
You’ll get guided exercises, AI prompts, and a career design map to help you stop trading time for money—and start building a future that’s all yours.
Join the waitlist to get early access and exclusive pre-launch bonuses.
Octopuses can change color to blend into their surroundings and squeeze through openings as small as a coin, using their soft, boneless bodies. They’ve been known to escape aquariums by slipping through tiny gaps.
Sloths descend from trees once a week to defecate. They lose up to a third of their body weight in one poop.
Big Foot getting lucky in Kentucky.
Tortoise Lost In Mississippi Tornado Finds Its Way Back To Family Weeks Later
Virginia flag banned in Texas district over exposed breast
Man Getting Vasectomy When Earthquake Hit Thought Doctor Was Making A 'Joke'
Thinking about thinking is the most important kind of thinking.
Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuckerberg voices
Don’t forget to register for Creator Capitalist the course.
(And you’ll get these free Ginsu Knives, a Time Share in Orlando, and a life time pass to Wanker World)
Are you allowed to say wanker in a business newsletter?
No, I don’t think so.
Bet this guy will get de-platformed again!
Ya.
He (probably) should.
Ya.
This newsletter is highly unprofessional.
True.
But it is clearly not written by AI.
Clearly.
Switching topics.
Have you ever heard anyone say, “that SAP newsletter was legendary.”
Ha ha ha ha. 😎
It’s wild how truly shitty most corporate content is.
Ya.
Most companies seem to have their revenue prevention departments write their web copy.
What is it with the revenue prevention department?
Ya.
We should get rid of them.
We should.
Did you notice?
We’re talking to ourselves again.
We?
Can a newsletter make you nuts?
This one can.
🏴☠️
I haven’t heard the word “wanker” in years.
😂
You slay me, Pirates.
(Looking forward to the deets on your course!)
Finally—a leadership framework that measures marrow, not just metrics. That question about ‘who this work transforms us into’? That’s the antidote to empty growth. Every founder should tattoo this on their forearm.