> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://kelfordinc.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Who got them into the category? — Kelford Labs Daily
- URL: https://kelfordinc.com/who-got-them-into-the-category-kelford-labs-daily/
- Published: 2026-01-28T11:24:14.000Z
- Updated: 2026-01-28T11:24:14.000Z
- Description: And how can you get their attention?
- Author: Joel Kelly
- Tags: advertising, attention, brand, categories, context, customers, demand, momentum, product

When someone buys laundry detergent for the first time, what do they choose?

Chances are, it’s going to be one of the biggest brands, because they advertise the most heavily. If you don’t know what detergent you’re *supposed* to buy, you tend to buy the one *everyone else* seems to be buying.

If you’ve *never* bought laundry detergent before, you’re probably not going to explore the more niche or speciality brands. That’s too high risk, too confusing, too overwhelming to examine. So you go with the category default.

That’s often true for fast-moving consumer goods, but it also applies to other categories, other products, even services.

**When people enter a category for the first time, they do so with *velocity*.**

They’re heading toward the [default option](https://kelfordinc.com/whats-their-default-destination-kelford-labs-daily/) in the category, typically the largest brand and the largest advertiser. Because for a brand like that to keep growing, they need to keep expanding the category and bringing more and more people into it.

But our job, as a speciality, focused provider, is usually *not* to bring more people into the category as a whole.

It’s to divert people entering the category (or who’ve been in it for some time) toward us. In fact, it’s to *intercept* them before they reach the default option.

**The job is to *be in*** [***the places they go***](https://kelfordinc.com/kelford-labs-daily-whos-looking-for-you/) **when they go looking for what they need.**

And it’s to let them know two things:

- You *do the thing* they need done
- And you do it in *the* *way they prefer*

The first laundry detergent I ever bought was in a bright orange box with a four-letter brand name.

Now, I buy the environmentally-friendly strips that come in a small paper sleeve that I can recycle. Because, on my way to buying my default, I got intercepted by a brand that told me we were aligned on values.

**They didn’t convince me to buy detergent, they *demonstrated* their values to me in their packaging and branding.**

So unless you’re the absolute leader in the category, the giant black hole at the centre of the market to which all new entrants are drawn, the job is *not* to expand the market.

The job is *not* to explain why people should be buying the *type* of thing you sell.

It’s to *demonstrate* the ways in which your company aligns with the [values](https://kelfordinc.com/daily-lab-values-theyll-value/), priorities, and [specific](https://kelfordinc.com/get-specific-get-noticed-kelford-labs-daily/) needs of those already in the market.

**By being in the right place, at the right time, with the right message, when people come *looking* for what you do.**

---

*Reply to this email to tell me what you think, or ask any questions!*

---

[***Kelford Inc.***](https://www.kelfordinc.com/) ***shows you the way to always knowing what to say.***