The issue
Our client - a global company which produces several high volume consumer products - wanted to launch a new product on the market. Prior to its launch, the company’s Public Affairs Department requested a risk assessment for the product, the developed brand, as well as the marketing and communication strategy.
Our approach
Given the product’s specificities, we identified all stakeholder groups that could be related at their detailed functional relational level. Suppliers, employees, governmental bodies, trade federations, competitors, consumers (target and non-target), scientists, sales points, alliances, media, and pressure groups were identified.
Profiling these groups for being directly or indirectly involved included:
- A risk assessment on the content and communication strategy;
- A risk assessment to identify possible issues and concerns the respective groups could have that could influence their support and attitude towards the new product brand and the company itself;
- A qualitative impact analysis; and
- Prioritisation of the issues and stakeholders alongside these assessments.
In addition, several instruments and techniques were deployed with the stakeholder group to understand its position regarding the new brand, the communications strategy, and its deliverables in terms of campaigns, promotions, and more.
On the basis of this analysis, a timetable and contingency plan was developed. Suggestions were made to mitigate the most important potential risks that might damage the sales prognosis for this product and that possibly have a negative impact on the corporate brand of the company. This could also impact sales of other products that were targeted to the same consumer groups.
The outcome
The result was two-fold:
- Because of report’s conclusions and content,the product was not launched; and
- The client has started to review its own processes to integrate similar assessments and procedures when developing new brands.
