Skip to content
Tactical Industries
Let's chat

In the news

Notes and perspectives from the Value Proposition Studio.

Notes from the studio.

01 / In the news

Category design · Oct 8, 2026

GoPro built the action camera, then watched its crown become a standard

GoPro created and named a category, held about 75% of it, and fell to about 6% in three years. A Category King case on why the throne comes without tenure.

Read article
No. 111Category designA king that lets its defining value become the entry ticket for the whole field has already started handing over the crown.October 8, 2026

Core values · Oct 5, 2026

Abercrombie & Fitch: from a premise that insulted to a premise that welcomes

In the 2000s Abercrombie & Fitch made exclusion its selling point, and by 2014 it was in decline. Under Fran Horowitz it changed its audience, its product and its tone, and reached record sales in the 2020s. A case on premise, repelling and the difference between filtering and insulting.

Core values · Sep 27, 2026

Coca-Cola Zero goes red: a textbook case of Value Swapping

In July 2026 Coca-Cola dressed Zero in the flagship red, finishing a move that began in 2016. How a brand keeps its core value and changes the product that carries it.

Lululemon

Positioning · Sep 21, 2026

Lululemon: a premise written by yoga teachers, and what happens when it gets wider

Lululemon grew by recruiting local instructors as the face of each store and selling to people who practised. Between 2024 and 2026 its home market stalled, rivals took share and the founder fought the board. A case on premise and the cost of widening it.

Pricing and scarcitySupreme: two owners in four years, and the arithmetic of selling scarcityVF Corporation bought Supreme for 2.1 billion dollars in 2020 and sold it to EssilorLuxottica for 1.5 billion in 2024. A case on why a brand whose product is the drop resists the growth plans that make acquisitions pay.Positioning
Birkenstock
Birkenstock: the orthopaedic sandal that fashion kept coming back toPortfolio and rhyming
Google
Google gives away platforms to protect the business that pays for themValue to Market
A Value Proposition session with Tactical materials on the table
The 6% rule: what Meta's Metaverse teaches about upstream budgetAdoption
Canva
Canva: the design tool that started from what users could not doPortfolio and rhyming
Xiaomi: how a phone company made a car rhymePricing and scarcity
Labubu
Labubu: Pop Mart made the rare thing easy to get, and the value leftCore values
Brunello Cucinelli
Brunello Cucinelli: a value proposition built as a villagePositioningBud Light in 2023: one sponsored post, two audiences and an undeclared premiseIn April 2023 a single Instagram partnership set off a boycott of Bud Light, which lost its place as America's best-selling beer within weeks. A case on premise, channel spillover and why a response that tries to please every audience can lose all of them.Pricing and scarcity
The Hermès Birkin: when the wait is part of what you buyCore values
Gucci
Gucci: three creative directors in three years, and the cost of resetting a housePortfolio and rhyming
Microsoft
Microsoft sold the same assets three times: as licences, as subscriptions, as cloudChannelsNike went back to sport, and back to the shops it had leftNike's push to sell direct cut back its wholesale partners, and by 2024 growth had stalled. A case on channels as part of the value proposition, and on the premise a brand returns to when it loses its footing.Rebrand
Meta
Meta named itself after a future, and a pair of glasses filled the namePremise, promise, proof
Back to Starbucks
Back to Starbucks: the room was the promise customers paid forPortfolio and rhyming
Snap Spectacles
Snap Spectacles: ten years of a product looking for its place in the portfolioChannels
Tupperware: the party built the brand, and the brand never found another roomCore values
Tesla
Tesla in Europe: when the founder's public persona becomes a core valuePremise, promise, proof
Southwest
Southwest made free bags a promise, then started charging for themPortfolio and rhyming
Disney
Disney sells the same story in four registers, and each one sells the nextCore valuesHarley-Davidson: a brand worn as an identity, and the generation that wears itHarley-Davidson turned a motorcycle into a way of life, with owners' clubs, a sound and a look. A case on core values that tie a brand to one generation, read through LiveWire and the 2024 dispute over diversity policies.Premise, promise, proof
Gorillas: groceries in ten minutes, and the questions the promise raisedPremise, promise, proof
Burberry
Burberry went back to the trench coat, one rung down the ladderRebrand
Cracker Barrel
Cracker Barrel: the Old Timer was an asset, and the redesign spent itChannelsAstronomer: the whole world learned the name, and nobody knew what it soldA Coldplay kiss cam made a data software company famous overnight in July 2025. A case on awareness without a proposition, and on how Astronomer pointed the attention back to its product.Channels
American Eagle
American Eagle: a promise about jeans, and the noise that came with itMoat
ASML
ASML: a monopoly in lithography that still keeps digging its moatRebrand
Twitter
Twitter became X, and the verb went out with the birdChannels
Duolingo
Duolingo: the owl is the channel, and in 2025 it carried two messagesPositioning
GLP-1
GLP-1 and the food aisle: when the customer's job changes under the brandPricing and scarcity
Netflix
Netflix ended free password sharing and had its best year since 2020Positioning
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola at Christmas: the brand that arrives when the joy is already therePremise, promise, proofWeWork promised a higher consciousness and signed fifteen-year leasesWeWork reached a 47 billion dollar valuation in January 2019, withdrew its IPO that September and filed for bankruptcy in November 2023. A case on a promise, an offer and a business model that described three different companies.Category design
Dubai
Dubai chocolate: a category born on TikTok, and who gets to own itCore values
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret: retiring the Angels, then bringing them back on new termsAdoption
Guinness
Guinness and Gen Z: a slow pint becomes a game, and the kegs run shortPortfolio and rhymingTaylor's Version: how to out-build an asset you no longer ownTaylor Swift lost the masters of her first six albums and re-recorded them. Read as music on a staff, it is the cleanest rhyme in recent business history.Adoption
Amazon decides the pace of the conversation, and in 2025 it paid for the exitPremise, promise, proof
Stanley Quencher: same factory, new channel, a brand people wearMoat
Nintendo Switch 2
Nintendo Switch 2: the moat drained by the purchasing departmentPremise, promise, proof
Liquid Death
Liquid Death: the canned water that wins by telling you to go awayPremise, promise, proof
Jaguar Type 00
Jaguar Type 00 and the rungs a brand cannot skipPricing and scarcity
Erewhon
Erewhon: the 20 dollar smoothie that proves what it promisesPortfolio and rhyming
Barbie
Barbie: the film that turned a doll into a franchise Mattel could tellAdoptionApple Vision Pro: a flawless product nobody had a reason to useThe Vision Pro had the best designer, the strongest brand and excellent execution. The MOA Model explains why the market still did not come.