MILLIPORESIGMA
Life Science
GOALS
To move a rapidly growing global division out of a crowded landscape and into its own clear, desirable market position.
RESULTS
A new positioning statement, grounded in the concept of integrity, now defines the division, resonates with employees, and differentiates it within its industry. Communications tools help division leaders bring the positioning to life.
SERVICES
Developed a positioning statement and supporting key messages to define and differentiate a corporate division, based on our:
If you’re going to stay awake all night, it helps to have a good reason. Maybe you’re a new parent. Or a surgeon on call.Or maybe you’re part of the global Bioprocessing division of MilliporeSigma*, and there’s nowhere you’d rather be than with your customer’s new bioreactor, ensuring that its first hours of operation go smoothly.
We heard many such stories from our stakeholder interviews —stories that speak to a sincere, hands-on approach to helping MilliporeSigma’s Bioprocessing customers succeed in making life-saving drugs.
Yet this sincerity needed a voice. One that broke free of focusing on products and instead spoke to the customer’s needs. And united a division.
Motivated by these challenges, division leaders launched an initiative to carve out a clear, distinctive position, based on values that are important and authentic to the company and its people.
The Bioprocessing team began looking for an experienced agency to help them meet these goals. Their selection criteria led them to Brandwidth Solutions:
We started our work together by defining the conditions of satisfaction for any market position under consideration. This became our guidebook throughout the exercise.
The right positioning framework for the Bioprocessing division will be:
Next, our team kicked off a comprehensive discovery phase designed to take us deep inside the challenges facing the Bioprocessing division.
Our discovery phase involved two core components:
Looking outward: We analyzed the competitive landscape. To understand the marketplace in which the Bioprocessing division operates, our team looked closely at its competitors.
Using a matrix to plot each company relative to their core messaging, we demonstrated the division’s current market position—and showed them how they might break away from the pack.
Looking inward: We conducted extensive stakeholder research. Over the course of 40 stakeholder interviews, our team learned the sales and marketing challenges facing the division, absent a cohesive market position.
Collaborating closely with our client, we developed and iterated a positioning statement that clarified the essential goodwill of their organization and drove this positioning into customer-focused message development.
“We needed a partner with experience taking brands out of the ‘sameness’ of a crowded marketplace and into a differentiated position. That’s what the Brandwidth team offered. The fact that they’ve worked inside the MilliporeSigma ecosystem already was icing on the cake.”
– Lisa Fret
Global Marketing Communications Manager, MilliporeSigma
“I think this is really a very good idea! It’s not about Merck / Millipore … it’s about the customer and together solving their toughest problems!”
– Gerd Walter
Dipl. Ing., Director, Customer Application Downstream, EMEA – Sales Region II
*The Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada.
This position embodies the Bioprocessing division’s passion for bringing life-saving therapies to market, and how it upholds its commitments to customers in this endeavor.
√ Customer-centric.
Rather than lead with a product-centric message, positioning based on integrity instead always addresses a clear customer need and delivers on trust that is essential in life sciences. This position will be lived through the division’s actions and industry leadership.
√ Authentic and true.
The positioning is based on the organization’s core values.
√ Ownable and differentiated.
While the industry talks about products, this positioning places the focus uniquely on the integrity of solutions, the people delivering them, and the relationship with the customer.
√ Flexible enough to integrate new capabilities as they continue growing.
Because integrity is a core value shared by all divisions, product groups, and R&D, the positioning can be scaled, lived, and fostered for years to come.
