Client description: Association representing private water operators

Practice area: Market Research and Analysis

Geographic scope: US

Industries involved: Water and wastewater

Services applied: Awareness and perception; concept testing; unmet needs analysis

Business challenge: Client association representing the major private water companies operating in the US funded a study on behalf of its member companies to understand how to drive outsourcing of water and wastewater operations to the private sector - what is the perception of outsourcing, what is the likelihood of outsourcing, what critical struggles are they experiencing that could be addressed by outsourcing, etc.

Methodologies: 102 decision-makers at municipalities across 35 states not currently outsourcing to a private water company were interviewed by phone. Targets for the study included Mayors, City Managers, Public Works Managers, City Council Members, City Administrative Officers, and City Commissioners.

The result: While interest in outsourcing water operations to a private company was very low, we provided the client with the finding that awareness of private water companies was high. In many cases, however, negative perceptions that existed were not created by direct interaction with a private water company but by a negative experience shared by a colleague in another municipality. There was significant education (or re-education) that could be done by the association and its member companies. We delivered a list of the primary challenges facing municipal water and wastewater decision-makers that were used to craft marketing messaging by the association and its members.