Brandyard Category Intelligence Series
Analyst-grade category intelligence for technical B2B markets. Free.
Seven volumes mapping where technical categories are visible, where they are invisible, and what that gap is worth — each anchored in live Paxelo data and written from thirty years inside these markets.
Volume 1 lands in your inbox immediately. Volumes 2–7 arrive as they publish.
7
Volumes
17
Sections each
50–65
Pages per volume
5
Analytical frameworks
100%
Paxelo-anchored
$0
To download
What the series covers
A standing map of the categories that build the technologies everyone else depends on.
Scope. The series covers the technical B2B categories that sit underneath the products the wider economy talks about — surface modification, die attach, precision dispensing, thermal management, advanced substrates, medical coatings, and semiconductor wet process. These are high-consideration categories with sophisticated buyers and, almost universally, underdeveloped category content.
Methodology. Each volume applies the same five analytical frameworks and the same seventeen mandatory sections, so a reader can compare one category to another with confidence. Every score is derived from live Paxelo data on how the category actually surfaces in search and AI answer engines — then interpreted through thirty years of operating experience in these exact markets.
Editorial independence. The volumes are not commissioned, sponsored, or reviewed by any vendor in the categories they cover. Incumbents are named and mapped on the evidence, not on relationships. That independence is the entire point: the series is useful precisely because no one in the category paid for how it reads.
The result is a reference that a marketing leader, a category strategist, or an investor can pick up and trust — a durable read on where the authority in a category is won, and where it is currently being left on the table.
The volumes
Seven volumes and a compendium. Volume 1 is available now.
Download what has published, and get notified the day each remaining volume lands. Every subscriber receives Volume 1 immediately as the analytical baseline.
Surface Modification: Plasma and Wet Process Technologies
Category Intelligence Series, Volume 1
38/100
Search visibility
15/100
AI visibility
$147M - $294M
Pipeline gap
45/100
Authority
Die Attach and Underfill Adhesives
Category Intelligence Series, Volume 2
Scores available on publication.
Precision Fluid Dispensing and Conformal Coating Equipment
Category Intelligence Series, Volume 3
Scores available on publication.
Battery Thermal Management Materials
Category Intelligence Series, Volume 4
Scores available on publication.
Advanced Packaging Substrates
Category Intelligence Series, Volume 5
Scores available on publication.
Medical Device Coatings and Surface Treatments
Category Intelligence Series, Volume 6
Scores available on publication.
Semiconductor Wet Process Equipment and Chemistries
Category Intelligence Series, Volume 7
Scores available on publication.
The 2026-2027 Technical B2B Content Intelligence Report
Category Intelligence Series, Compendium
Scores available on publication.
How each volume is built
The same rigor, applied to every category.
Live Paxelo data
Every score, gap, and pipeline range is derived from live Paxelo analysis of how the category actually surfaces in search and answer engines — not from opinion or desk research.
Five analytical frameworks
Each volume runs the category through the same five frameworks, so the findings are comparable across categories and defensible on their own terms.
Seventeen mandatory sections
Every volume covers the same seventeen sections in the same order — from category definition to methodology — so nothing material is skipped and nothing is padded.
Thirty years of technical B2B experience
The analysis is written from three decades of C-suite marketing leadership in exactly these markets — semiconductor, PCB, advanced materials, and energy.
The five frameworks
- 01
Visibility Gap Analysis
Maps where category buyers search against where the current leaders actually appear — isolating the exact terms the incumbents fail to own.
- 02
AI Engine Surface Mapping
Tests how answer engines surface (or omit) category expertise, and identifies which sources they cite when they do.
- 03
Pipeline Opportunity Model
Translates the visibility gap into a defensible revenue range, with the demand and conversion assumptions shown in full.
- 04
Hub-and-Spoke Cluster Architecture
The topical map that would establish durable category authority — a hub anchor with the spokes that reinforce it.
- 05
Authority Scorecard
A four-score rubric — search visibility, AI visibility, pipeline gap, and authority — that rates the category on a consistent scale.
The seventeen sections
- 01Executive Summary
- 02Category Definition & Scope
- 03Market Landscape & Sizing
- 04End-Market Analysis
- 05Incumbent Mapping
- 06Competitive Content Audit
- 07Search Visibility Gap
- 08AI Engine Visibility Gap
- 09Pipeline Opportunity Model
- 10Buyer Intent & Journey
- 11Keyword & Topic Architecture
- 12Regulatory & Standards Context
- 13Technology & Process Deep Dive
- 14Authority Scorecard
- 15Content Gap Priorities
- 16Strategic Recommendations
- 17Methodology & Sources
Why it's free
The series is free because the economics work without charging for it.
Brandyard makes its living from strategic engagements and from Paxelo, the content intelligence engine that produces the underlying analysis. The series is the clearest possible demonstration of that capability — so publishing it openly is a better business decision than putting it behind a paywall.
That model is what protects the editorial independence. Because no vendor in a category funds its volume, nothing in the analysis has to flatter an incumbent or soften a gap. You get the read as it actually is, and if it happens to describe your category, you know exactly where you stand.
Free to download. Independent by design. Anchored in live data, not opinion.

About the author
Stephen Sowinski
Founder, Brandyard · Creator of Paxelo
Thirty years of C-suite marketing leadership across energy, semiconductor, PCB manufacturing, and advanced materials — and roughly $800M in revenue driven for technical B2B companies. He built Paxelo, the content intelligence engine that powers this series, to close the exact gap he watched technical companies fall into for decades: publishing consistently, ranking for nothing. Every volume in the Category Intelligence Series is written from that operating experience and anchored in live Paxelo data — not commissioned by any vendor in the categories it covers.
Two ways forward
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Learn more about the Personal Audit
A category intelligence audit built for your domain — the same methodology behind the series, applied to your business.