Where Does Your Brand Sit?

Pokémon succeeded by locking two variables together — how widely a product travels across formats, and how deeply it holds an audience over time. Map a brand you know against the same axes.

Set Your Axes

The horizontal axis runs from Narrow (one format only) to Broad (many formats). The vertical axis runs from Short (audience fades fast) to Deep (audience stays for decades). Write one example brand you know at each extreme before moving on.

Choose Your Six Brands

List six real brands or products you know — from any industry. Include at least one from your own professional sector and at least one that you personally use.

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Place Every Brand

Plot all six brands on the quadrant below. Be honest — resist placing every brand in the top-right. A brand that does one thing brilliantly belongs top-left, not top-right.

Deep

Short

Narrow

Broad

Read the Map

Look back at your quadrant. Which cell is fullest? Write one sentence explaining why you instinctively placed so many brands there. Then identify the emptiest cell — what does that gap reveal about the brands you chose or the industry you work in?

The Quadrant You Avoid

Pokémon's lesson is that the top-right quadrant — broad reach, deep loyalty — is achievable, but only if community is designed into the product, not bolted on later. Look at your own work or sector: which quadrant do you personally gravitate toward when you build, sell or recommend something — and why do you avoid the opposite one?

Why that word?

Discuss Tell your partner: if your current employer had to move one quadrant to the right, what would have to change first?

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