It watches like a hawk

Introducing any new product can be difficult, but when that product is very different from anything else on the market, the process can be especially tough. Proper positioning can make or break the product's chances of success.

This was just one of the issues facing the Cleaver-Brooks Co. in late 1988 as the Milwaukee-based manufacturer of boilers and boiler control technology sat poised to unveil "The CB-Hawk," an innovative new boiler control system it developed in conjunction with Honeywell.

Steve Connor, general sales manager, Cleaver-Brooks, says that several features set the computer-based system apart from others on the market.

"The Hawk replaces normal electromechanical pressure and/or temperature controls with state of the art, solid state sensors that continually monitor boiler and burner operation. By glancing at the unit's LCD display, the operator can tell exactly what mode of operation he's in, what the pressure and temperature are," he says.

Because the unit is programmed to "know" the characteristics of the boiler it is attached to, if a problem occurs, it will shut down the boiler, provide a fault history, and show a diagnosis.

A communications interface called the CB-Hawk Link lets the operator monitor boiler operation on-site or remotely, using a computer and modem. Connor says that the integration of all these features into one system is what makes the Hawk so different.

Focus groups

Because of the Hawk's features and benefits-many of them previously unavailable in such a product-Cleaver-Brooks held focus groups with prospective buyers from a variety of industries and applications, such as hospitals, manufacturing plants, schools and universities.

"The main reason for the focus groups was to determine how we were going to position the product," Connor says. "We were looking for prospective buyers' hot buttons. What features did they respond to? Rate control? Local and remote communications? Advanced diagnostics? What was important to them?"

Curtis Gorrell, vice president, account supervisor, at the Milwaukee office of Starmark, Inc., a marketing communications firm that assisted Cleaver-Brooks, says that determining the product's target audience was also an important goal of the research.

"We had made a number of assumptions about whom the buying influences could be. But these assumptions were based on what we knew about the boiler room and what we knew about the hierarchy of buying based on our experience with boilers. With a control product and with all of the different people it could impact-facility managers, building owners, developers-people that we weren't as used to dealing with in the marketplace, we had to test our assumptions, and the focus groups were the best way to determine how these different audiences were motivated in terms of features and benefits.

"We knew the product had a whole series of features and benefits, but it's one thing for us to have an opinion, it's another thing for a customer to tell you what really is important."

To ascertain the importance of the various features and benefits, respondents were asked to rate their choices. Discussions were used to elicit opinions and clarify any questions about the product's operation.

"We not only probed their initial opinions, but we also gave them some things to react to and ideas to talk about. That was necessary in this instance because the product was so new. Some of the things we brought up as features and benefits were simply never available before," Gorrell says.

Linked with observers

In addition, the moderator was linked via earplug to Cleaver-Brooks, Honeywell and Starmark observers in an adjacent room.

"We had the ability to ask (the moderator) to probe a certain issue or to modify the way she was asking a question so that the experts who were watching could help the moderator guide these people through the technical data. Particularly with the engineering group, there were minutes of the discussion when I just didn't know what they were talking about, and I've been working on this account for years! The probing was definitely an aid in getting to the results and it was set up in such a way that there was no compromising, at least in our opinion, the validity of the findings."

Two audiences

Two target audiences emerged from the first group, each with its own set of concerns and interests. "We found we had two distinctly different audiences and each audience had some unique reasons for interest in the product, and we never would have assumed that that would be the case," Gorrell says.

The first segment, made up of people such as building owners, developers, and office complex managers, were interested in operational efficiency issues such as cost savings and return on investment. The second segment, the boiler operation/maintenance personnel, were interested in ease of use issues, and also in the operational and functional benefits. Both segments shared a fundamental interest in safety.

"We thought we might be talking to more than one audience but we found we really had two different types of marketing messages to convey because there were two distinctly different reasons for different types of people to want this product," Gorrell says.

Other changes made

Subsequent focus groups separated the two segments to better investigate their individual needs and viewpoints. And based on the results of the initial meeting, other changes were made.

Frank Pleticha, vice president of the AdFacts research division of Starmark, says that the results of the first group led to a rigorous screening procedure for the second set of groups (preceded, he says, by "a ton of phone calls" to get respondents who fit the requirements).

"I think our screening process was much more rigorous and we ended up with better groups as a result of what we learned in our first pilot group. Initially we had a mix, some people would respond to some issues and some to others, and it was very hard to get a reading on what the group was telling us, which is when we realized we had two different audiences and we should treat them as such."

The screening questionnaire asked about the technology of the boilers the respondent was currently working with, to assess the respondent's level of familiarity with boiler technology, his ability to articulate his thoughts and views, and to uncover thoughts and perceptions towards that technology.

"We needed to know how what their unmet needs were and how this new product would potentially fill those needs. And there was the overall question of how do we position this thing so that it is seen by the marketplace as filling the gap, but at the same time it's not seen as some kind of frightening Star Wars thing that makes outlandish claims," Pleticha says.

Changes were also made in the method of presenting and discussing the product. In the first group, the product was explained verbally, which posed problems, Gorrell says, because of its new technology.

"One of the things we learned in our control group was that it was confusing to try and talk about (the product) without any representation of the product itself. Respondents would say, 'I don't understand how this can be,' and, 'What are we talking about?'"

Succeeding groups used a detailed slide show to explain the product's features. A prototype of the Hawk, placed in a cabinet with no identifying markings, was also used to give respondents a concrete idea of what the product looked like and how it worked. Representatives from Honeywell and Cleaver-Brooks were on hand in addition to the moderator to answer specific technical questions and clarify any respondent misperceptions.

"Not only did the respondents see the slide show and ask all the technical questions, but with the prototype, they were able to walk up to this thing and kick its tires so to speak and play with it, look at the buttons, and ask questions," Pleticha says.

Pricing was also discussed, after the slide show and the unveiling of the prototype, using four questions:

1. What would you expect this product to cost?

2. What price would be so high that you feel you would be getting cheated?

3. What price would be so low that you would question the product's quality?

4. What price would you be willing to pay?

Respondent fears

As in the first group, the second group respondents expressed fear about the product because of its advanced capabilities, Pleticha says.

"The depth of the fear and resistance to it were just incredible. In the early minutes of the group, that really came out in a powerful way. We kind of sensed going in that there would be a little hesitation, but in the three groups we did it was overwhelming. It smacked us in the face. We knew this thing had to come across as looking friendly," he says.

Some of those fears surrounded the Hawk's ability to allow off-site boiler monitoring through the communications module.

"Many of these guys came from an environment where, by golly, if you had a ten hour shift, you walked around those boilers for ten hours and you had your eye right up to the gauge. They said, 'You're going to tell me that I can be a mile away at a different location and this thing is going to give me accurate readings and it's going to shut the boiler down if the pressure gets too high?'

"They also asked, is this the type of thing that would work so well that I'd have to fire my good friends that I've worked with for the last three decades because it would take their jobs away?"

The people who had had experience with computer microprocessor-based technology grasped the product concept very readily and embraced it enthusiastically, says Steve Connor.

"Those that had not been exposed to this kind of technology gradually came to see the benefits, but they remained a little hesitant. There were also some people that you could tell ten minutes into the presentation were afraid of it. It wasn't for them. That was very helpful because we knew that the product wouldn't just sell itself. We weren't going to have a market that was lining up outside our door to buy the product. It would have to be sold," he says.

Strong image

Uncovering this fear made it clear that the product would have to have a strong image that communicated safety. The first step in creating that image was the product's name.

Analysis of competitive ads showed that other manufacturers tended to use technological-sounding names, Pleticha says. "Most of the ads simply showed a black box sitting on a table with a caption like, 'Here it is! The XG47R.' But to make this product successful, we knew we couldn't use that approach. We had to do something that would really make people stand up and stop dead in their tracks and take notice."

Steve Connor: "Because the (respondents) put an emphasis on safety, we knew we had to give it a name that connotes a rugged piece of equipment, a state of the art system that gives you a feeling of security."

Enter "The CB-Hawk," and the slogan "No other control watches your boiler like a hawk." To create a striking image that would reinforce the product name across all aspects of the promotional campaign, Starmark used wildlife artist Lisa Bonforte's painting of a red-tailed hawk.

Information from the research was used directly in the creation of the promotional materials.

"Everything we talked about (in the promotional materials) relative to the features, functions and benefits-enhanced safety and control, advanced diagnostics and communication capabilities-was tied to and confirmed by the focus groups," Connor says.

Rhonda McCusker, Cleaver-Brooks marketing communications manager, says that she used the focus groups to clear up a number of issues related to the design and content of the advertising and product brochure.

"We were introducing a product that not only was new to the marketplace but very new for Cleaver Brooks. We had never entered the controls market per se so we needed to look at which markets were out there. I wanted to specifically know how to prioritize or position this product, and from the focus groups we needed to know what features and benefits would turn our buyer on. We had a list of 10 or 12 features and benefits but we weren't sure how to prioritize them," she says.

Very successful launch

Connor says the Hawk had a very successful launch in terms of sales and overall awareness. And Starmark's extensive communications program earned it an award in the "Top 10 Case Studies" competition sponsored by the St. Louis chapter of the Business/Professional Advertising Association. The competition, based on a program's ability to produce measurable results, solicited entries throughout the U.S. and Canada.

While the focus groups were being conducted, Cleaver-Brooks performed field tests of the boilers with sample customers, so that by the time of the product's unveiling at the annual show of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), it could point to successful field installations. "This helped cut down the anxiety for the first time buyer, " Pleticha says.

Videotaped segments of the focus groups were shown to the Cleaver-Brooks sales force to give them an indication of the kind of reactions and potential objections they might encounter in the field.

To further increase awareness, Cleaver-Brooks has also made the Hawk standard equipment on a number of its boilers.

"Some of the operators were leery at first," Connor says, "but it's been amazing the number that have come back to us and said, 'Hey, what's it going to cost to put one of those Hawks on my other boiler?'"