Client description: A global metal coatings company

Practice area: Market Research and Analysis; Strategic Positioning and Planning

Geographic scope: US

Industries involved: Metals, lubricants, pulp & paper

Services applied: Market opportunity study; go-to-market strategy; market segmentation

Business challenge: Metals coating company with new technology wanted to explore the opportunity for coating knives, saws, and blades in the pulp and paper industry.

Methodologies: Over 80 qualitative exploratory interviews with end-users, competitors, and third party experts, ethnography visits to over 25 plant operations to observe cutting and slicing operations, application analysis of the value-add of the product based on critical customer drivers.

The result: A detailed analysis of the potential winnable market segmented by blades, a comprehensive go-to-market strategy, and the recommendation that the market opportunity was limited. The client avoided investing the significant resources it was contemplating for this market and channeled them into sectors with more opportunity, while implementing our recommendations for a limited and targeted marketing effort for this application. We also provided the client with other pulp and paper applications not previously known.