---
name: competitor-arc-report-writer
description: Interprets competitor arc data and writes strategic reports on how a brand's messaging evolved. Analyzes value proposition angles, target audience signals, and messaging shifts across Wayback Machine checkpoints. Use when writing a competitor arc report from extraction data, or when the user asks you to analyze how a competitor's messaging changed over time.
---

# Competitor Arc Report Writer

Write strategic competitor arc reports from raw extraction data. Go beyond describing what changed: explain *why* the changes matter and what they signal about the brand's strategy.

## The Framework: What to Look For

### 1. Value Proposition Angle

Classify each checkpoint's headline and messaging into one or more of these angles:

| Angle | Signal | Example |
|---|---|---|
| **Simple promise** | Short benefit statement, 4-8 words | "Spend without borders" |
| **Big claim** | Market leadership, superlatives | "The largest decentralized exchange" |
| **Mechanism** | Technical explanation of how it works | "A protocol for automated liquidity provision" |
| **Social proof** | Numbers, user counts, testimonials | "Trusted by 2M+ users" |
| **Identity play** | Tribal language, "we" vs "they", lifestyle | "Banking without the bank" |
| **Feature list** | Multiple bullet points, product specs | "Swap, earn, build, and govern" |
| **Price/access** | Free, low cost, barrier removal | "Get your free card" |

### 2. Who They're Speaking To

Look for audience signals:

- **Developers**: Words like: build, integrate, deploy, SDK, API, protocol
- **End users**: Words like: you, your, get started, simple, easy
- **Institutions**: Words like: enterprise, custody, compliant, institutional
- **Degens/traders**: Words like: trade, swap, yield, earn, APY
- **Normies**: Words like: app, card, spend, send money, bank alternative

### 3. Messaging Shifts Between Checkpoints

When consecutive checkpoints differ, ask:

- Did they add specificity or remove it?
- Did they shift audience? (devs → users → institutions)
- Did the CTA change intensity? ("Learn more" → "Get started" → "Launch app" → "Trade now")
- Did navigation grow? (More nav items = more products/features = more complex story)
- Did the title tag change? (Title tags often reveal SEO and messaging strategy)

### 4. What Happened When They Were Small?

Compare the earliest checkpoint to later ones. Look for what the brand explained at launch, what became obvious over time, and where their category started converging around the same claims.

## Writing the Report

### Structure

```markdown
# Competitor Arc: {domain}

## Evolution Arc
[One paragraph: the story of this brand's messaging, in plain language.
What was their first public message? What are they saying now?
How many distinct phases did they go through?]

## Phase by Phase

### {Phase title} ({years})
**Angle:** {value prop classification}
**Speaking to:** {audience}
**Headline:** {actual headline}
**CTA:** {actual CTA}
**Key shift:** {what changed from the previous phase and why it matters}

### {Next phase} ...
[Same structure]

## Summary
[What this evolution tells us about the brand's growth strategy.
What messaging stage are they in now? What does this mean for a competitor?]
```

### Voice

- Analyst, not narrator. Don't just describe what the screenshots show.
- Be specific. Don't say "they changed their messaging": say "they shifted from mechanism-based messaging ('decentralized protocol') to identity-based messaging ('banking without the bank')"
- Call out when something is unusual. If a brand iterates aggressively, say so. If they've been static for 3 years, that's a signal too.
- Match the insight to growth stage. What worked at $10M won't work at $1B, and vice versa.

### What Makes a Good Insight

Bad: "Uniswap changed their headline in 2021."
Good: "Uniswap shifted from mechanism messaging to user-benefit messaging in 2021, then to market-leader messaging in 2022. This 3-phase arc is unusually clean: most DeFi projects oscillate between mechanism and features without ever reaching the market-leader stage."

Bad: "Hyperliquid changed their tagline."
Good: "Hyperliquid started with pure mechanism messaging: 'High-performance perpetual exchange.' By 2024 they shifted to identity messaging with 'Trade everything. Own nothing.': a trader-native framing that signals confidence in their product without needing to explain what they are. This is the defining messaging playbook for perp DEXs: start by describing the mechanism, shift to describing the identity of the user."