Hire an AI market category launch planner

Everything it can hand back

Your task sets the actual outputs. The specialist picks the methods that cover them.

• A grid of who holds what, with the open spots marked
• A ranked short list of categories you could lead, each scored on four tests
• The category in plain words, ten brand names scored on seven tests and a category pitch
• A launch that starts with press and says when ads begin

How it does the job well

• Start from the user problem and the evidence for it, then the solution.
• Write decisions down with the reason and the options you rejected.
• Keep scope small enough to ship and learn. Name what is out of scope.
• Define how success will be measured before building.

Mistakes it avoids

• Treating opinions or one loud request as proven demand.
• Specs that skip edge cases, error states or dependencies.
• Roadmaps with dates but no owners or confidence levels.

What a good result looks like

An example, not your task: A rival leads your market and you can't win by being better.

• step-01-competitor-white-space-mapper.md. A grid of who holds what, with the spots no rival serves marked.
• step-02-first-in-category-finder.md. A ranked short list of categories you could lead, each scored on four tests.
• step-03-category-name-writer.md. The category in buyer words, brand name ideas that could become its word, and a category pitch.
• step-04-publicity-first-launch-planner.md. A launch plan that starts with press, then says when ads begin.
• HAND-BACK SUMMARY. Each step's file, any step not run and why, and every MISSING line in one list.

How the work is checked

• The category reads "the first (kind) for (who)", not "better than".
• Every branch has four scores that add up, and branches that fail on different or open were dropped.
• At least one name could become the word for the whole kind of product.
• The pitch sells the category first, then the brand.
• States which checks passed, failed or could not run, and names missing inputs.

These checks have not been run against a model yet. Your AI uses them to check its own work.

A second opinion

Before it hands back, your AI reviews the draft the way Al Ries and Jack Trout would. This is a way of reviewing the work. It does not mean they wrote or endorse it.

Capabilities

• Maps where no rival is strong. Rates rivals on what buyers value and marks the rungs held and the spots nobody serves.
• Finds a category you can be first in. Asks "first what?", splits the market and tests each branch for being different, open, big enough and well timed.
• Names the category. Writes the category in buyer words, brand names that could become its word and a pitch that sells the kind before the brand.
• Plans a launch that starts with press. Finds a news angle a reporter would care about, plans coverage before any ad and sets the point at which ads begin.

How the role works

1. Checks your task, context and available tools.
2. Picks the methods needed and prepares a work plan.
3. Carries out supported tasks, with each method's limits and review gates.
4. Checks the real deliverables and corrects supported faults.
5. Hands back files, evidence and unresolved gaps.

Your specialist's working setup

Download the base specialist without a task form or account. README.md and SETUP.md explain how to use the folder. SOUL.md defines its scope. INTAKE.md asks missing questions inside your AI. PLAYBOOK.md, SKILLS.md, BEST_PRACTICES.md, CHECKS.md and HANDOFF.md guide the work and its checked deliverables.

Complete associated skills, supporting files and licences are included. Choose only the methods needed for the actual task. Keep context, working files and accepted feedback in your AI project.

Use this specialist through MCP or the API

Call prepare_specialist with role_id new-category-launch only. No task is required to load it. Your AI asks what job you need done, what you want back and which relevant context it can use.

For task-led hiring, call find_specialist, explain the suggested specialists and let the user accept or change the team.

Complete ZIP: Download base specialist. API: GET /api/v1/specialists/new-category-launch/pack. The host AI supplies its own model, tools and execution; a pack does not connect accounts or run a task.

Inputs and helpful context

The specialist starts from the task brief. Only active methods require their inputs.

For the primary method, when used

• Your main rivals and what each is known for
• Your product facts, such as price, benefits and proof
• Your brand facts, including any name you must keep
• Customer reviews, press you have won, and how long your money lasts (optional)

Tools and access

• Any good chat AI: Gridding and rating from pasted evidence is text work any strong chat AI can do.
• A spreadsheet: Holds the grid so you can add rivals and rerun.
• Any good chat AI: Splitting a market and scoring branches is text work any strong chat AI does with this skill.
• A web search: A quick search shows whether a rival already claims the branch.
• Any good chat AI: Writing and scoring names is text work any strong chat AI does with this skill.
• A trademark register: Only a register search can say whether the name is free to use.
• Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini: Choosing a category claim and writing pitch lines is text work. No files or paid tools needed. Web search helps check who was first.

Functions and deliverables

• Market category launch planner: Share rival evidence, product facts and buyer language. Get possible category gaps, naming ideas and a press-first launch proposal.
  • A grid of who holds what, with the open spots marked
  • A ranked short list of categories you could lead, each scored on four tests
  • The category in plain words, ten brand names scored on seven tests and a category pitch
  • A launch that starts with press and says when ads begin
• Market opportunity finder: Find gaps in your market that no rival serves well. Paste your rivals and what buyers value to get a white space map and a small test.
  • A grid of rivals against the features that decide the choice
  • The gaps nobody serves well, each with evidence
  • Where to stop fighting
  • A small, cheap, reversible test of the best gap
• Market category opportunity finder: Find a new product category you can lead when a rival owns your market. Paste your market map and get ranked options, each tested for fit.
  • A list of candidate categories made by splitting the market
  • A score on four tests for each
  • The top one or two, each as "the first ___ for ___"
  • What would make you drop each
  • Gaps you need to fill before you commit
• Category name writer: Name your new product category in plain words. Get ten brand name options scored on seven tests and a category pitch for buyers.
  • The category in plain words
  • Ten brand names scored on seven tests
  • The top three, with a reason for each
  • A category pitch in three lengths
  • A plan for getting others to use your word
• Publicity-first launch planner: Plan a product launch that wins press before you spend on ads. Get your category claim, one idea to own and when ads should start.
  • A category claim you can defend, or a narrower category you can lead
  • The one word or idea to own
  • A news angle that works without your product name
  • A press and third-party plan, with a date for each step
  • The signs of trust that mean ads can start, and how much to spend
• Product context file writer: Share product facts, audience and positioning. Get a reviewed context file that other marketing skills can reference.
  • A product marketing context file
  • A summary of what the file already holds
  • A change log of updates
  • Gaps you still need to fill
  Source: Corey Haines.
• Al Ries: Clarify what a brand should stand for using Al Ries’s recorded approach. Examine its category, focus, name and launch story.
  • Your problem worked on the way Al Ries would: their questions, their method, their push-back
  • The answer or the work, in Al Ries's voice, using their ideas by name
  • Anything that goes beyond their public record, marked
  • One suggested next step
• Jack Trout: Sharpen a brand’s place against rivals through Jack Trout’s recorded approach. Pick one clear idea, check the proof and avoid a blurred message.
  • Your problem worked on the way Jack Trout would: their questions, their method, their push-back
  • The answer or the work, in Jack Trout's voice, using their ideas by name
  • Anything that goes beyond their public record, marked
  • One suggested next step

Tasks you can use it for

• A rival leads your market and you can't win by being better.
• You are third or lower and attacking the leaders is not working.
• You have a product that doesn't fit any existing kind.

Limits to check before starting

• You can win by being better than the leader: use a plain positioning review of your offer and your rivals, not this workflow.
• No rival holds a category in your market yet: skip the map and start with the Best customer finder to learn who you serve.
• You only want to see what rivals do in their ads: use the Competitor ad opportunity finder.
• You already compete in a category and want the one word to own in it: use Pick the one word to own in your customers' minds.

Best way to use this role

Give it one clear outcome, the actual files and a definition of done. Keep the work in one AI project so it can reuse checked context and earlier files.

• Download the handoff pack. It is a zip with HANDOFF.md and every skill file this workflow uses.
• Give the folder to Claude, in Claude Code or as files in a Claude Project, and say "Follow HANDOFF.md". It needs a tool that can read files.
• Paste your rivals and product facts when asked. Add reviews if you have them.
• Check each step's file before the next step starts. Fix any MISSING line you can fill.
• Search the top category name yourself before you commit, since a rival may already use it.
• Check the top brand name in a trademark register. The skills do no legal check.

Read it as data

Read the complete role setup as JSON. Connect your AI to the AI Blocks MCP library and read aiblocks://roles/new-category-launch for its role instructions and pinned sources.

This is a prepared AI role. No task has run. Your AI carries out authorized work using its available tools and reports the actual deliverables and checks.