Thermo Fisher Scientific needed to drive organizational alignment around a common market understanding and then chart the course to realizing growth potential. To realize the market opportunity, leadership needed cross-functional teams—marketing, sales, technical support, product management—to be aligned around a common purpose.

Each team had people with deep knowledge of either water purification or water analysis. Their challenge was to reframe teams’ thinking, allowing them to combine their knowledge under a unified purpose and better serve those who use, influence and purchase both systems.

The intended business outcome driving this leadership transformation was the creation of a healthy business pipeline. A critical component of the project was to identify the most applicable go-to-market plan. Knowing the new, combined offering’s route to market made it possible to bundle solutions or route through distribution partners.

Furthermore, customers and prospects were not turning to Thermo Fisher Scientific to help them solve their water purification and analysis problems. In that aspect, the brand was invisible.

Align around a common purpose and customer

To build a clear, fact-based understanding of the market landscape, Somnio used a range of tools and methods that together defined the “Learn” project phase. Using Somnio’s Audience Intelligence Suite we were able to pinpoint key topics relative to audience job role and industry—who’s talking and sharing, what they’re talking about, when they’re taking action and where they’re choosing to share and consume. Market analysis brought into sight competitor forces at play. Subject matter and customer interviews revealed clear definitions of the problems these customers needed to solve.

Bringing key Thermo Fischer team members together from marketing, sales, technical sales and product management to find a common understanding of the customer and the problems they needed to solve was critical to establishing cross-functional and emotional alignment around a common vision and purpose.

An engaging and energetic one-day workshop was held. Participants were able to express opinions and share perspectives, and in-the-moment alignment was driven. The team gained clarity around prioritized target customers and a deeper understanding of their decision-making process. The knowledge wealth in the room was harnessed and supported by Somnio’s previously curated insights.

The next step was to achieve alignment between the two internal business units. Somnio moderated a full-day Buyer’s Journey workshop with cross-functional marketing, sales, technical sales and product marketing teams. We began by identifying the differences and commonalities between the two divisions, which led to a unified vision. Somnio’s Audience Intelligence Suite was employed to give us a 360-degree view of the audience, providing greater insight into their motivations.

The workshop resulted in:

• Alignment on a unified purpose
• Prioritizing current and potential audiences
• Identifying motivations and activities for our audience(s)
• Creating an initial framework of their Buyer’s Journey

Audience Identification and Buyer’s Journey Development

Following the workshop, we validated proto-personas and proto-journeys with our target audience to ensure we had clarity and accurate analysis.

Somnio collected and synthesized additional information from other stakeholders and sources to enrich the final Buyer’s Journey. We then identified opportunities to engage with the audience.

The value of Somnio’s approach is to gain a deeper understanding of the people that use and buy the product—their needs, passions and fears, how they really work and make decisions. That empathy supported a complete and accurate Buyer’s Journey Map and revealed a distinct path the that aligned the entire organization. For Thermo Fisher, this Journey Map was used to guide all internal conversations around the buyer and their journey to ensure that decisions were based on fact, not assumption.

Story Arc

This foundational approach also drives the creative strategy and campaign tactics. The Story Arc provides the context for the communication strategy which tells the unified brand’s story as the Unique Provider of a Comprehensive Water Quality Portfolio in a way that aligns with audience priorities. It also positions Thermo Fisher as the industry leader and go-to resource for knowledge and advice.

Campaign

The end product was a fine-tuned campaign powered by targeted audience understanding. The campaign included an anthem video, display banner campaign, landing page design and blog articles.

Going deep into client understanding resulted in cross-functional teams from two distinct business units that aligned around a unified purpose. An integrated campaign was deployed that surpassed the client’s expectations in its ability merge the Water Analysis and Water Purification messages into an effective narrative that resonated with its audience. Throughout this year-long campaign, the landing page for “Water Quality,” which was the destination for all campaign elements, received the most traffic out of any pages on Thermo Fisher’s website.

Somnio continues to successfully partner with Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in science technology.