The Column
Obligation Marketing for AI Builders
Most AI products fail commercially because their builders cannot do marketing. They can build extraordinary technology but cannot explain why anyone should care. This column is the antidote — a recurring perspective on how to market AI products that compound, not commoditise.
The Framework
The 7-Rung Ladder
Obligation marketing maps the journey from visibility to the point where not using you requires explanation. Seven rungs: Contextual Presence, Situational Fit, Cognitive Debt, Moral Safety, Relational Commitment, Process Lock-In, Social & Strategic Obligation. Authority (rung 3) is where obligation begins — below it you have mere awareness. The ladder explains why this discipline suits high-trust, high-stakes purchases best: buyers fear downside more than they seek upside.
The Types
The 8-Type Taxonomy
Obligation is a spectrum, not a single lever. Eight distinct types, each with its own trigger: Affinity (tribal loyalty), Philanthropic (doing good), Reciprocal (you gave first), Expertise (cognitive debt), Experiential (you felt it), Contractual (you committed), Process (switching costs), and Cultural (it's just how things are done). A strong campaign deploys three or four at once. The taxonomy helps you identify which levers you actually have available — and which ones your competitors are using against you.
The Test
Wrapper or Winner
Every AI product faces one existential question: are you a wrapper that gets squeezed when the model layer moves, or a winner that compounds regardless? Wrappers add UI on top of an API. Winners own distribution, proprietary data, workflow lock-in, or domain expertise the model can't replicate. The Wrapper or Winner framework is the fastest way to stress-test whether your AI product has a moat — or is about to become a feature of someone else's platform.
The Column
This week's column
Issue #1 — Coming soon
Why AI Copywriting Tools Are Dying — and What the Survivors Did Differently
The first column will apply the Wrapper or Winner framework to the AI copywriting category — Jasper, Copy.ai, Writer, and the tools that survived vs. the ones that didn't. Why some pivoted in time, why others are being absorbed into platforms, and what the pattern teaches every AI builder about differentiation. Full column publishing with Issue #1 of the Brief.
Full column available to subscribers in the Tuesday Brief.
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