One of our brand managers had a full category positioning analysis done in half
By Youval Peltier · October 9, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
One of our brand managers had a full category positioning analysis done in half an hour last month. That work used to take most of a week.
Here's what actually happened, because the speed is the least interesting part:
They pulled the brand's own performance from our data platform: sales by subcategory, share on its head search terms, where conversion was above or below the category. Then they pulled the market view from a second source: category size, competitor pricing, who was gaining. Both went into Claude with one question. Where does this brand actually sit, and where is it under-earning?
Thirty minutes later, they had a positioning read backed by the numbers.
What they did next is the part I want to point at. They didn't send it to the client. They used it as a first draft to decide where to go deeper, then spent the time they saved on the two subcategories where the analysis said the opportunity was.
That's the pattern that's working for us.
1. Two data sources, not one. Your own numbers tell you what happened. The market tells you whether it matters.
2. One specific question. "Tell me something interesting" produces noise. "Where are we under-earning relative to the category" produces a list.
3. The output is a starting point. The analysis bought them time. They spent that time on judgment.
I used to get frustrated when a competitive review took a week, because by the time it landed the question had moved. Now the review takes a morning and the week goes into the decision.
Speed to insight only matters if you spend the saved time on the insight.