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Arrow Plastic Manufacturing
Business Challenge
Established in 1961, Arrow Manufacturing designs, manufactures and distributes a wide variety of proprietary "Long Service Life" houseware items sold in retail outlets throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and overseas. Arrow's channels of distribution include Mass Merchants, Supermarkets, Dollar Stores, Distributors, Drug Chains and Hardware Chains. Arrow's challenge was that their online brand image did not reflect the industry leading position of the company.
Brand Answer
Arrow Manufacturing's new site was designed to convince buyers with large "hero" photography that Arrow has the right product for their retail establishments and to create a demand for Arrow product with pull-through from consumers. To achieve this goal, the complete product line was presented in a way that keeps page build conservative, the product photography large and maximizes the product presentation so that buyers can 'touch and feel' Arrow's products.
Site functionality was also a consideration during development. Search optimization was given every consideration in the development of the framework of the site to allow the search engines to easily navigate the site. To keep future site alterations manageable, design elements were employed that will keep the updating of the site quick and efficient.
http://www.arrowplastic.com
Healthcare Information Services
Business Challenge
Healthcare Information Services L.L.C. (HIS) was founded over two decades ago when a practice asked for assistance in organizing and handling the business aspect of the practice to allow the physicians to spend more time with their patients. Since then, Healthcare Information Services L.L.C. has been a rapidly growing company, with over 200 employees, servicing clients out of two office locations. To date, though, HIS has preferred to "fly beneath the radar" and consequently had not created a brand image. Now HIS wants to take a more aggressive approach and grab a significant portion of the market.
Brand Answer
Healthcare Information Services (HIS) new Internet site brands them within their target market of small to mid size physician practices as the leading full-service provider of physician services. The site shows visitors how HIS can save them money and make their offices more efficient while providing physicians with a wide array of services. Graphically the connection is made between their large staff and the needs of physician practices while the copy informs physicians of all the details.
The site also brands HIS as the technological leader in their market while allowing HIS personnel to work more fluidly with their clients. In their password-protected extranet, HIS clients can retrieve all of their monthly reports and their personalized newsletter from their own private folder. Non-technical HIS personnel can add and delete these client folders as well as passwords and upload client reports to specific client folders.
http://www.healthinfoservice.com
Jacobson Golf Course Design
Business Challenge
Jacobson Golf Course Design services all phases of Golf Course Architecture, from new course designs and additions to existing facilities to the Master Renovation Planning of established courses. Jacobson specializes in designing courses on environmentally sensitive sites as well as developing creative design solutions for the redevelopment and reclamation of quarry sites, Brownfield sites and Naval Base sites. Jacobson's challenge was that their industry was reaching the end of a severe downturn in the business of upscale golf courses and they needed to position themselves to take advantage of the improving market.
Brand Answer
Jacobson Golf Course Design needed to develop a brand image that established them as the company to come to for upscale courses. Course designers are chosen to compete for projects by review of their marketing materials and especially their Internet sites. To put Jacobson in a position where they could succeed, we created an integrated promotional campaign that featured Rick Jacobson who is the firm's owner, lead designer and an Arnold Palmer trained designer. A Flash presentation that pans across a number of the premier holes on Jacobson's golf courses with Rick's voice describing their services and philosophies as a voice-over is featured on the home page and as an opening on a CD presentation. To further position the company, a new logo was created and integrated into the new Internet site and CD as well as their support materials and space advertising campaign.
http://www.jacobsongolfcoursedesign.com | Print | Multimedia
Laser Aesthetics of Texas
Business Challenge
Located on the Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas campus, Laser Aesthetics of Texas combines the comfort and professionalism of the leading spa services with the safety and knowledge of a high-tech medical office. Laser offers a wide range of services by maintaining the newest, cutting-edge aesthetics equipment and instruments as well as an on-site physician. Laser's challenge involved creating a brand image for their practice that included their use of a recent FDA approved treatment for cellulite. Competition across the nation would be heavy for the revolutionary treatment called Velasmooth and those who quickly established themselves as the experts with this product would lock up the market.
Brand Answer
Laser Aesthetics of Texas needed to stake their claim in the emerging Velasmooth market as quickly as possible and create a brand image that positioned them as an expert in their industry as well as with this product. All of these needs were achieved by creating an integrated promotional program with a high-end Internet site as the central focus. In order to drive traffic to the site and support the brand, a space advertising and direct mail campaign were created. Additionally, a number of domain names were purchased that used the Velasmooth name and pointed at their corporate site to further increase traffic through the search engines. Collateral materials were created to support the brand image for use as response vehicles for advertising inquiries and to reinforce their brand with their existing customer base.
Brochure | Identity program
Dog food company
Background and Key Issues
A leading global consumer packaged food product company was struggling to grow its market share within the dry dog food category. Nielsen in-store data research confirmed the company's dry dog food category was continuing to lose at a rapid pace its retail distribution and market share. This loss was due to its competitors extending their product offering by driving their core family brand umbrella to the low and medium priced category and forcing its brand to be displaced because of lower on-shelf inventory turns. The pet food group's brand management team was considering an exit strategy. Senior management determined that the category was not generating the projected ROI to continue marketing in the category.
Strategic Solutions and Actions
A senior management presentation was designed to reposition the brand through a new product and brand solution proposition. Having read and studied the available product category research, we determined that the client must develop and build a new premium dry dog food brand name category strategy. The competitive premium product category and retail distribution environment was much less crowded.
The next step was to conduct a quantitative and qualitative research study to determine the category revenue and competitive universe potential. This included primary research with key grocery category buyers and a series of consumer/pet owner focus groups. The remaining challenge was to create a new brand name as the current brand manager for the premium can dog food category was not be willing to give up brand equity for the company's existing category leading brand.
Ten potential brand names and 3 strategic consumer marketing positioning scenarios were developed. The list of 10 was reduced to three names and product packaging was designed to incorporate a galactic and/or "outer space" look and feel. This idea was agreed upon with the business team's group consensus. It was then recommended to position the brand as the "Fillet Mignon" of the category. This product position and quality concept was submitted to the R&D pet food team to be developed as an "all Meat" product. Its canned dog food brand category was already positioned as having the number one category market share and leader.
After the fourth round of product sampling, the fifth product sampling proved the best representation for the new position. We immediately started a pet owner pet product sampling focus group study. The results after the focus group sampling provided the company with the highest taste and purchase intent for any pet food category in their 75 year company history. Tier 1 sample purchase intent test scores reflected a positive response of 93%. The Tier 2 purchase intent test scores after the brand and label were included scored a 97%. Again, the highest test score in the company's pet food category history.
The new product was introduced initially through the grocery channel, including a 4 once, 49 cent trial size offering sampler that was marketed in a 48 pack self standing shipper. This product sampler included a blind $1.00 off purchase coupon in the trial size bag. This was the first time that the company had ever used this blind coupon-offering concept to launch any pet food product category.
Return-on-Brand-Investment™ Results
· Exceeded Y1 sales projections by 68%.
· Achieved 90+% Y1 retail distribution.
· Exceeded Y1 profit projections by 28%.
· Achieved by Y2 a 3% category market share, or $ 60 million.
· Added in Y2 four new flavors.
· The brand became the company's number 1 selling dry dog food brand in history.
Food products company
Background and Key Issues
We were engaged by the President of a leading global food products company to help architect a new product brand data base model. The core objective was to determine how to identify and reduce their current product-to-market life cycle. While defining their current product brand attributes that impact the company's new product development and R&D, marketing, branding, sales, research, financial and marketing communications, the president wanted to instill strategic business language acumen within the three core operating business units by unilaterally integrating and standardizing a policy for new product and line extension development methodologies. The key goal was to grow incremental revenue, profit, market share and return of shareholder value.
Strategic Solutions and Actions
The project team engaged in an internal business audit by identifying:
1) current strategic core business and product brand attributes
2) develop a project strategy template and timeline
3) develop, design and test a market research questionnaire by prioritizing the project's product brand execution methodologies
4) track individual product cases
5) coordinate with the client's project leader an internal document introducing and explaining the key objectives of the engagement
6) develop a business execution and contingency plan for all internal and external supplier contacts
7) develop a key company contact list
8) develop a central data repository integration plan with their IT team
9) develop a project progress reporting system
10) prepare a weekly management summary reporting system
Return-on-Brand-Investment™ (ROBI) Results
· Reduced a client's product-to-market life cycle by more than 66% in only 12 months.
· Client achieved $150 million in incremental new product category brand sales, while reducing their operational cost.
· Increased by more than 80% across business unit integration architecture and procedure for product benchmarking all new product life cycle systems.
· Developed the strategic architecture template for the integration of a CRM data repository product management life cycle system combined with their consumer data research information system to lower overall operational costs by 37%.
· Built a ROI product brand pre-test model incorporating the first phase of ROBI™ model.
· Proposed hiring business unit database managers to support the corporate MID integration, increasing the company's core consumer cross product brand awareness by 44%.
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