Summary
Digging deeper, Powering Ahead!
Challenge
- Late entrants into the 20-22 T excavator category which was dominated by well-entrenched players with strong product offerings. - Although CASE CE had a well-established leadership in Road Construction it was not known to manufacture excavators in India - Showcasing a product and demonstrating its excellence was a challenge during the pandemic, due to restrictions on large gatherings and events - The acquisition price of the machine (a new entrant) was not competitive. The value proposition had to be established on ownership and operation costs
Objective
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Strategy
CASE CE was presented with a unique challenge, as the last entrants in the 22-Ton Excavator market - We turned this into an opportunity through a very targeted marketing campaign. 1. We clearly identified the segment within the 22-Ton Excavator market and positioned our product in the premium electronic engine segment. 2. The competitor set for this segment was identified with clear benchmarks against their product features, cost of owning and operating, spares and service, etc. 3. We conducted extensive consumer research to identify the top three purchase drivers for our target audience and addressed those needs in our product and communication 4. A distribution strategy to make our product available at the right places (mining belt, road construction projects) was mapped out 5. On customer experience, CASE CE left no stone unturned, personally appointing 'CHEX Champions' to create a fast track funnel for our leads and give them a personal experience of the product 6. Given the challenges from the pandemic, we created a virtual launch arena where media, customers, financiers, prospects etc could discover our product and hear from the leadership about it 7. A strong social media and digital marketing campaign drove our communication engine, with an offline component on print, on-site and dealer branding 8. Product lead communication which extolled the features of the machine was created. A benchmarking document comparing features and benefits against competition machines was circulated internally as a sales aid for our 'CHEX Champions'
Data
Through field research of customers in the 22Ton Premium electronic engine segment for Crawler Excavators, CASE CE unearth the top consideration and purchase drivers. We realized that the customer was not as price-sensitive as the 22Ton Mechanical Engine Excavator customer - who was more concerned with acquisition costs and used the machine for rental/hire. Our customer was a captive owner of the machine, more concerned with productivity, performance and longer-term owning and operating cost along with easy availability of spares. We had to convince the customers that: 1. We have a great product. Even though we are the last entrants into this market, we know what we are doing. This means we had to play up our global legacy of making excavators, showcase the technology we've used in this machine and link it to real benefits for the customer 2. Spares and parts will be easily available since this is a 'Made in India' Machine. Driving home this point was important to convince customers to consider us over other competitors 3. Showcase the performance of the machine in spite of COVID-19 restrictions by doing real-time comparisons with competitors on critical functions and components 4. Build a strong case for longer-term owning and operating costs which were better than all competitors due to the cost of spares, the productivity of the machine, longer service intervals and extended warranty offered on purchase
Solution
The creative expression was represented by 2 phases. The launch phase where the theme was: 'Move on to the Best' And the sustenance phase where the long-term tagline of the product was established as 'Be Unstoppable' We extolled the customers to 'Move on to the Best' and 'Be Unstoppable'. We released extensive competitive benchmarking videos and sales aids to enable customers to 'see the difference' between us and our competitors on critical jobs We focussed on Reasons to Buy with clear and measurable advantages over competitors such as: 10% higher digging capacity World-renowned FPT engine which delivered higher fuel efficiency Multiple working modes and energy-saving modes Easy availability of spares and service Made in India for India 'With 33% increased thickness of plates and undercarriages to ensure performance in tough applications All of these reasons to buy along with our product were showcased digitally through a virtual environment where customers could interact with the product, discover its features, delve deeper into technical statistics, and chat live with a product expert to answer questions in real-time.
Results
Total Reach of Campaign - 1.4 mn Total Impression - 1.51 Mn Views of Launch Video - 8.8K Likes generated - 101 K Media Publications Coverage - 74 Over 3000 Registrations More than 500 validated leads Machines Sold - 65 Revenue Generated - INR 42 Cr
