Frame, Name, Claim the Problem (Languaging & Point of View)
Use new language to reframe a problem so people see it differently and want a new solution.
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 93%
Languaging is the strategic use of language to change thinking. Because a demarcation point in language creates a demarcation point in thinking — and therefore in perceived value — the company that creates a category's language wins. You craft a 'point of view' that frames, names, and claims a problem and moves people from the old way to a new way, meeting the category where it is while introducing just enough new language to shift the frame.
Origin
Christopher Lochhead / Category Pirates. Core category-design concepts: 'languaging,' 'point of view (POV),' and 'from-to (Frodo).'
Core principles
- 01Languaging is the strategic use of language to change thinking
- 02A demarcation point in language creates a demarcation point in thinking and perceived value
- 03The company that creates the language for a category wins
- 04Don't describe a new thing with old language, but don't use so much new language that nobody understands you
- 05Listen to the words — the words customers use reveal the real problem
How to run it
- 1
Obsess over the problem, not the solution
Spend more time on the problem than the solution. Listen directly to customers describe the problem in their own words rather than pitching them your product.
Pro tip A founder who asks you to 'listen to some of our customers to hear what the problem is' — not just the team's view — is a founder obsessed with the problem.
- 2
Craft a point of view (POV) that reframes the problem
Build a POV that frames, names, and claims a problem and educates the world on why they should move from the current way ('from') to a new and different way ('to') — the from-to, or 'Frodo.'
- 3
Invent new language that connects to something familiar
Create new words or terms that give people mental scaffolding for the new category, anchored to a concept they already understand so the leap is intuitive.
Pro tip Otis failed selling the 'safety elevator' (a solution with no felt problem) but succeeded by naming it the 'vertical railway' — people knew what a railway did, which unlocked the idea of tall buildings.
Watch out Language that's too novel loses people; language that's too old keeps you trapped in the incumbent's frame. Meet the category where it is and bring it forward.
- 4
Teach customers the new language so it prices the value
Deliberately teach buyers new vocabulary that separates your offering from the commodity it replaces, enabling radical value and price differentiation.
Pro tip You can tell language works by how it's policed — order a 'grande latte' at a hipster independent coffee shop and you'll get side-eye for using Starbucks' language in their space.
In the wild
Elisha Otis invented the safety elevator but people saw no need for it — a solution with no problem. By renaming it the 'vertical railway,' he gave people a familiar frame (a railway moves people), which opened their minds to a new category of building: the skyscraper.
→ The languaging shift created the mental scaffolding for tall buildings; Otis became the category queen of elevators.
When Starbucks started, coffee sold for a dime and they needed a ~$3 average selling price. You can't charge $3 for a thing everyone calls a 25-cent commodity, so they invented Italian-sounding language ('double grande latte,' 'venti') and taught it to consumers.
→ New language enabled radical value and price differentiation; Starbucks became, per Lochhead, effectively the country's number-one milk seller charging premium prices.
Not long ago nobody used the term 'large language model'; now the whole industry talks about LLMs. OpenAI also popularized 'training data' as distinct from data/content, creating a new distinction in perceived value.
→ By creating the category's language, OpenAI shaped how the entire AI industry thinks and talks about the space.
Common mistakes
Describing a new thing in old language
Using existing terminology for a genuinely new innovation makes people say 'cool, but why do I need this?' — exactly what happened when Otis called his invention a 'safety elevator' instead of a 'vertical railway.'
Naming the solution instead of reframing the problem
Founders name features and demos rather than crafting a point of view that reframes the problem. Customers buy a new insight about a problem, so language that only describes the product fails to shift thinking or value.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders and marketers naming a new product, category, or point of view for an emerging space
Not ideal for
Selling into a category whose language and definitions are already fixed and where you're deliberately playing as a niche best-of-breed
From the transcript
“there's something in category design called languaging, which is the strategic use of language to change thinking.”
“he called it the safety elevator to address the current problem”
“So what does Alicia call it? The vertical railway.”
“if you want to charge three bucks for something that heretofore has been 10 cents or a quarter, change the language.”
“Not that long ago, you did not hear the term large language model.”
From the episode
How to become a category pirate
Christopher Lochhead (author of Play Bigger, Niche Down, Cat