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.
James leans forward. “So we dumb down the product?” “No,” Mara counters. “We reframe it. We stop selling strength . We start selling certainty .” wilkins marketing strategy session
“Our value is zero failure rate. A roof tile stuck with Wilkins stays stuck. That’s boring, but true. If we put a cartoon lizard on the package, the factory guys will think we’ve gone soft.” This is the Q3 strategy session
After 90 minutes of heated debate (Arthur had to stop James from throwing an eraser), three distinct initiatives emerge: “So we dumb down the product
The smell of stale coffee and fresh marker ink hangs in the air. On the whiteboard, a single phrase is circled in red: “Wilkins: Trusted. But not chosen.”
The problem is stark. Wilkins, a 90-year-old manufacturer of industrial adhesives and sealants, is the undisputed king of the B2B factory floor. Engineers trust Wilkins. But when those same engineers go home to fix a leaky pipe or build a birdhouse, they reach for a competitor’s duct tape or superglue. Wilkins is the workhorse, not the show pony. The mandate for the session is brutal: Make Wilkins matter to the consumer without losing the industrial fortress.
