He turns to face the room. “For 90 years, we’ve sold to engineers who read data sheets. For the next 90, we sell to human beings who are afraid of making a mistake. The strategy isn’t ‘make Wilkins cooler.’ It’s ‘make Wilkins easier to trust in a hurry.’”
The room divides.
This is the Q3 strategy session. Around the oblong oak table sit the usual suspects: the data-crunching CMO (Mara), the product-obsessed COO (James), a restless social media manager (Chloe), and the CEO (Arthur), who is already loosening his tie. wilkins marketing strategy session
The Wilkins Conundrum: Shifting from Stalwart to Staple He turns to face the room
After 90 minutes of heated debate (Arthur had to stop James from throwing an eraser), three distinct initiatives emerge: The strategy isn’t ‘make Wilkins cooler
Mara kicks off. She clicks a slide titled The Awareness Cliff . “Brand recall for Wilkins in the consumer home improvement sector is 11%. That’s below ‘store brand generic’ at 14%,” she says flatly. “We are the invisible giant. We sell 2 million gallons of industrial epoxy a year, but on Amazon, our one-star reviews come from dads who say, ‘This industrial tube didn’t come with a nozzle.’ We’re selling a jet engine to people who want a bicycle pump.”