Positioning a new power tool range for two audiences

The question

An outdoor equipment maker was preparing a new range of power tools for homeowners, to sell in big-box stores where professionals shop too.

The range had to speak to homeowners without putting off the lawn care professionals in the same aisles. The brand needed to settle whether to call it professional, how to describe its power, and what its displays and packs should say.

Our approach

We heard from both kinds of shopper: homeowners who use high-end outdoor equipment, and owners of small landscaping businesses, the professionals who share the aisle.

With both, we explored what different grades of equipment meant to them, what they expect from a professional tool, and how they want power explained.

Then we brought the aisle to them. People reacted to in-store displays carrying each positioning route, set beside a competitor’s display, and to pack options that described power in different ways. Seeing the routes as they would appear in store kept the conversation close to the moment of choice.

What the team came away with

Brand and marketing leadership had an evaluation of each positioning route and pack option, heard from both kinds of shopper.

It arrived while the positioning was still open, so the direction could be chosen with both audiences’ reactions in view.