More than a bulldozer. A legacy in motion.
Challenge
The construction equipment industry was in freefall. The massive orders that the top manufacturers had become accustomed to were starting to dry up. POs weren’t opening. Market caps were falling. And all of a sudden, family-owned dealerships found themselves competing for the kind of small deals that the big guys had never bothered with before. For a company such as Kawasaki Loaders, Inc. (KCM), it posed a real challenge. KCM articulated wheel loaders were designed and priced specifically for medium to small operators. The dealer networks for these machines are an important share of revenue, and now that market was being hit hard from above. KCM enlisted Undivided to look closely at its marketing effort and to help reposition the company against deep-pocketed competitors.
Solution
We started by interviewing KCM’s key stakeholders, including senior engineers, plant management, and the sales and marketing team. We convened meetings with dealership owners and sales managers to understand the buying cycle. We organized a series of workshops with owners and managers from operations around the country. REPUTATIONS ARE BUILT ON IT It is a line that captures what’s important for every person with a stake in the KCM brand ecosystem. It says we understand that the business is about more than moving dirt: it's about keeping your word. That sense of integrity and the values that go along with it became the core of the brand story and of the campaign. And more important, it is a sentiment infused into every loader that comes off the line.
Results
The campaign resulted in a renewed sense for KCM about what’s really important for customers. That translated to dealers in the form of a more engaged sales process. It translated into customers in higher satisfaction rates. And it translated to the bottom line in new and more loyal customers. That’s the power of a story that hits the highest aspirations of all the stakeholders—the results are shared across the board.
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