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Multi-billion-dollar technology leader

Challenge

A multi-billion-dollar technology leader faced the core challenge of growing sales and building consumer preference in a mature market and commoditized category. After decentralizing worldwide operations and giving business units autonomy, the company looked forward to new levels of innovation and growth. Instead, they found their overarching corporate brand eroding, resulting in share declines, indifferent customers and a decreasing selling price across all channels. The company was thrashing, trying to build a coherent corporate brand strategy while spending heavily on a small army of ad agencies, consultants and design firms to treat the symptoms of a deeper problem.

Solution

A comprehensive, unifying brand architecture that delivered a better, stronger grouping of the company’s brand assets. A carefully crafted, “negotiated settlement” that preserved business unit autonomy while leveraging corporate brand assets for maximum impact.

  • Creation of proprietary case studies to illustrate and stress-test plausible strategic options
  • Completion of in-depth stakeholder interviews that revealed and validated trouble spots
  • Qualitative analysis of industry best practices (both inside and outside the company’s industry) that enabled company executives to see past industry conventions and adopt industry best practices
  • A comprehensive stakeholder strategy to guide internal discussion and build agreement for ultimate brand architecture
  • A clear, compelling presentation to gain approval at business unit, executive, and board levels.

Result

The Company’s executive board adopted a detailed, far-reaching brand architecture, bringing brand clarity and aligning the interests of corporate and business unit stakeholders. These guidelines, modeled on industry best practices but tailored to accommodate the client’s unique circumstances, provided a strategic roadmap for the company to optimize its corporate and business unit brand assets. The architecture emerged as a valuable marketing touchstone for the company, guiding all facets of packaging, merchandising and global product marketing. As one of the Company’s seasoned marketing leaders said, “We now have a clear brand strategy—it’s no longer just my opinion vs. your opinion. We have clear, agreed-upon principles to inform and drive all aspects of our marketing.”

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Financial services start-up

Challenge

A financial services start-up had developed a powerful and proprietary technology for online investment, but struggled to convert this asset into a compelling product offering. The value proposition was self-limiting, the benefit story overly complex. Business was stagnant. Venture investors were growing restless. The company drifted from one marketing strategy to another while burning through the remains of its early-stage funding.

Solution

A dramatic re-imagining and reinvention of the business proposition, effectively creating a new segment in the online investor category.

  • Product reformulation based on dollar-based fractional investment
  • Redefinition of the target audience from tech-savvy day-traders to the broader segment of novice investors looking to invest safely and easily.
  • A new value proposition aligning product and audience, leveraging emotional and process and well as rational benefits.
  • Brand parameters based on thought leadership and innovation.
  • Naming strategy and messaging architecture synched to telegraph this new offering, gain traction, generate buzz and capture share quickly.

Results

The company launched successfully and grew rapidly, bolstering venture investor confidence and insuring continued funding. Unique, defensible market position and a loyal subscription base of more than 2.1MM. Revenue growth in excess of 850% over past five years leading to Company’s sale to to #3 financial services firm in 2007.

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Sports entertainment company

Challenge

A leading sports entertainment company identified a potential opportunity to extend its assets and brand into the interactive channel, but wrestled with the implication this move would have on current product design, delivery and user experience. Executives were torn between the potential upside of substantial organic growth and the potential disaster of cannibalizing existing distribution lines and jeopardizing hard-won brand equities.

Solution

A detailed strategy for extending the network’s content assets to new distribution channels and new customer segments.

  • A detailed audience needs assessment and thorough brand audit.
  • A strategic plan based on these findings for developing and launching a new business division
  • A financial model outlining new revenue streams and blueprint for monetizing content assets

Results

The company successfully launched the new business and became the preeminent provider of online sports content, commentary and analysis. Incremental sales rocketed to more than $1b within 5 years and paved the way for eventual acquisition by one of the world’s largest media conglomerates.

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Start up coffee company

Challenge

A fast-growing start up coffee company was at a critical juncture. In addition to daunting competition from local and regional roasters, its success had placed it on the radar of the industry’s behemoth. Its USP was becoming co-opted. Distributors were under intense exclusivity pressure. It lacked resources to increase incentive programs or pursue an aggressive retail location strategy.

Solution

A 360° strategy to build and protect sustainable competitive advantage. A plan to turn small size and underdog position from liabilities into competitive assets.

  • A rigorous segmentation study that uncovered a lucrative audience - college and university food service customers - underserved by industry giants.
  • A product strategy built on a 100% commitment to fair-trade, organic and sustainable coffee.
  • A value proposition marrying rational and emotional benefits key to establishing strong target loyalty.
  • Brand architecture and framework to support the “leader in sustainable coffee” position.
  • Partnership strategies with leading food management companies that insulated them from exclusivity pressures.
  • Seamless follow-through with synchronized brand, sales, promotion and communication strategies

Results

Company growth in excess of 300% since strategic redirection, leading to 2007 sales of more than $5MM. Secured strategic partnership with the world’s largest food management company as the preferred provider of “sustainable and ethical” coffee to 10,000 commercial accounts nationwide.

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Italian automaker

Challenge

An Italian automaker with a proud history of sports cars aimed squarely at the male ego was preparing to bring to market its first C-class car, targeted predominately to women and young families. With growth in spider, saloon (coupe) and sedan segments stagnant, the company’s success weighed heavily on its ability to successfully expand into a new market and customer set, without compromising its reputation among loyalists.

Solution

A go-to-market strategy for making the brand’s history and essential equities relevant to a broader audience

  • User experience specifications tied to brand pillars and reflective of target preferences
  • Launch test-drive promotion strategy aimed at women grounded in Italian archetypes of sensuality, style and fashion.
  • Communication strategy that placed C-class benefits of storage, economy and drivability within the promise of a more exciting, satisfying driving experience

Results

The new C-class car was the most successful launch in the company’s history, and continues to be a strong seller in all markets.

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Global information services company

Challenge

A global information services company was preparing to de-merge from its parent and trade under its own name. The story to investors depended in part on shifting perceptions from reliable vendor to trusted strategic partner among corporate executives at multi-national clients. Having purchased 60+ businesses around the world in five years, the company struggled to align and motivate its entire organization around a unified strategic direction, and to synthesize an offering to clients greater than the sum of its parts.

Solution

A research-based positioning strategy for clients, investors and analysts

  • Depth research with executives across the company and key national and international clients, followed by a projectable global field study of both B2B and B2C customers.
  • A value proposition aimed at re-aligning perceptions among the most valuable customers
  • A master brand portfolio and architecture organizing 80 business brands and 1,000+ products worldwide.
  • Strategic guidelines informing all aspect of rebranding, including logo development, graphics guidelines, investor and customer communications.
  • A deployment plan to align and motivate the entire global organization around the strategy.

Results

Company opened strongly on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and today is part of the FTSE 100 Index.

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Forest products manufacturer

Challenge

A Fortune 200 global manufacturer and marketer of forest products needed to revitalize its perception among key constituents. It was becoming complacent. Its brand image was showing signs of age. Its stock was underperforming relative to the industry. It was losing too many top recruits to flashier companies. Among key investors and category analysts, its historic perception as an innovator was fading.

Solution

An evolutionary strategy to reinvigorate and add dimension to the company’s corporate reputation, based on its history and core equities.

  • A new corporate mission grounded in innovation, responsiveness and market performance.
  • An updated value proposition tied to quarterly quantitative measures on financial performance, service leadership, product innovation and market share growth.
  • A new technology brand to bolster the company’s thought leadership in cellulose science and broadcast its commitment to develop sustainable alternatives to products made from non-renewable resources.
  • A deployment plan to drive strategy through the entire organization.
  • A tactical plan to communicate this new spirit to investors and analysts, including performance milestones.

Results

The strategy reinvigorated the company, helped recruit top talent, served as a cornerstone corporate and investor communications. The new technology brand became a touchstone of new product commercialization. The company went from being off the radar as a technology innovator to a sponsor of the World Innovation Forum, and continues to build on and leverage the equity of a more contemporary brand identity.

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Residential wood products business

Challenge

A major player in the Residential Wood Products industry was at risk of losing its leadership reputation. Consolidation among new-home builders, downward pressure on margins and new competition were commoditizing the category. Growth was stalled. The company was focused on themselves. Production was not customer-driven and unresponsive to changing market dynamics.

Solution

A transformative brand and business strategy, for driving customer preference and commanding a premium in a commodity-driven market:

  • Defined a new category “Whole-House Construction” and established pre-emptive thought leadership.
  • Built a new business-facing brand with renewed commitment to product innovation and customer focus.
  • Organized hundreds of disparate products and brands under a master brand architecture delivering greater cumulative value.
  • Changed from a product-centric to a solutions-centric business model and sales structure, for increased performance and growth.
  • Galvanized 16,000 employees into a unified, more excited, more confident workforce.

Results

The introduction was a success. Employee morale increased. Customer satisfaction improved. The business was able to protect market share and premium pricing, even during a housing industry downturn.

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