THE POWER OF POSITIONING
Following a multi-billion-dollar corporate merger, Regal Rexnord found itself with a greatly diversified product catalog and a brand-new value proposition. Because both Regal Beloit and Rexnord PMC had built their respective success by specializing in different parts of the industrial powertrain, their merger created a new opportunity to provide customers with fully optimized, end-to-end solutions. The trouble was, they were still learning how to talk about these new capabilities. Previous marketing messaging focused on the products available within the unified family of brands. But because different industries and applications use totally different powertrains, product-focused conversations excluded many types of customers, operations and situations. Regal Rexnord came to us looking for brand messaging that expressed these complex benefits in a way that all customers could easily understand, without getting bogged down in situation-specific details. The answer started with a moniker: Regal Rexnord Powertrain Solutions.
Discover
Before we could explain Powertrain Solutions to anyone else, we needed to understand it ourselves. And that meant qualitative and quantitative research. We polled and interviewed customers within every target audience to find out their interest, understanding and knowledge related to industrial powertrains. Did they see value in a partner who could troubleshoot and/or provide end-to-end solutions? What would motivate them to turn to a single provider for multidisciplinary support? Did they all share a general understanding of the term “powertrain” and use it in the same way when describing their operations? The answers to these questions helped us craft messaging that would be both compelling and universally understood.
Develop
When it came to solving Regal Rexnord’s messaging conundrum, our solution was to focus less on the tangible aspects (i.e., specific products) and more on intangible benefits (i.e., comprehensive solutions). Sure, the expanded product catalog made Powertrain Solutions possible. But for customers, what made the value proposition valuable was Regal Rexnord’s insight, experience, expertise, and ability to audit and troubleshoot any operation to create a fully optimized system. The benefit wasn’t a product line, per se, it was a suite of services, customized for their specific industry and application. From design, to sourcing, to installation, to implementation, to monitoring—Regal Rexnord Powertrain Solutions was able to help customers see the “big picture” and unlock unlimited performance. With that framework in mind, we suspected that a subtle shift in positioning could make all the difference—and our newly completed research provided statistical reassurance to support our hunch.
Deliver
To help Regal Rexnord see the new communication approach in action, we created a robust palette of messaging examples, expressions and tools. An animated video laid out the Powertrain Solutions value proposition at a high level, while an overview brochure and website landing page spelled out the positioning in greater detail. We also created a Powertrain Solutions print ad and revamped some existing Regal Rexnord case studies to reflect the refined messaging. Finally, we added a suite of graphic tools that would visually communicate Powertrain Solutions to customers, along with guidelines for when, where and how to use each visual approach. Our multifaceted messaging toolkit gave Regal Rexnord everything they needed to tell the Powertrain Solutions story—at trade shows, events, client presentations and beyond.
THE RESULTS
I had the pleasure of working with Big on our Powertrain initiative, and I must say that the collaboration was excellent. Tina, Ben and Chad played pivotal roles in helping us understand the dynamic needs of the market and crafted messaging that resonated with our customers. One achievement from our partnership was the success of our first LinkedIn campaign. We generated over 50k views for our joint video, a feat we were incredibly excited about. Big is a creative and professional organization, and I enjoyed our collaboration and their support to launch our critical initiative. I’d recommend Big for any strategic consulting work, and I look forward to future collaborations.
Jesse Dupuis, Director, Powertrain Product Management, Regal Rexnord