Laser Technology, Inc
GIS Rebranding Campaign
Market research/insight, brand strategy, brand articulation, positioning, marketing campaign, social media strategy and micro site
Longtime client Laser Technology (LTI) noticed a slow decline in sales and interest in the professional measurement tools, specifically in GIS, among core end users (water, gas and electric) over the last few years. It had been over five years since the client refreshed the marketing and the majority of the work had been handled by the in-house marketing team, so they tapped Bianca e Nero to help them figure out why the decline.
As part of getting to the heart of the issue of dropping sales and losing interest in their products, we immediately launched into three months of gathering insight from the end users. We spent lots of time with them and asked many questions. The results were very eye-opening and a sobering reality check for the client. As it turned out, as a group they felt the client’s marketing had grown stale and grossly out of step with the times with a feeling the company just didn’t get them or their jobs. Moreover, they just weren’t convinced a laser could make that big of a difference in their daily work.
This insight led us to a rebranding campaign that demonstrated the company’s deep understanding of the industry and their specific jobs. It was imperative the campaign focus on the end users and the challenges they face every day while out in the field.
The campaign needed to set a clear tone with the copy. We heavily leveraged all that was learned during discovery. An example of this can be felt in the first line of copy in one of the ads … “To the untrained eye installing a pipeline is easy….” This lets the target audience know right off the bat we get them and have a deep understanding of who they are and what their jobs entail.
Visually we wanted the campaign to look and feel like a day in the life of someone working in GIS. We learned their daily to-do lists usually are very long and almost undoable in the span of an eight-hour shift. We resisted the urge to sell them on the client’s products until an understanding was demonstrated.
The marketing strategy was simple. Let the users know we were out there by becoming more visible. We created banner ads and print ads to drive traffic to the micro site where they could get a closer look at just how much LTI understands them and the jobs they do by building tools that can help them do their jobs faster and more efficiently. While there they can view the recommended products for their specific industry (gas, water or electric) and job and also find a dealer to chat with about the nitty-gritty details and additionally sign up for the GIS newsletter that is uniquely designed and written to keep them informed and updated on trends and changes happening throughout the industry that impact them.
Results:
The campaign is a slow burn. The campaign is being rolled out methodically, but already end users are starting to talk about the campaign, and as it becomes more visible, the potential also grows.
