WATERAX Watson Edition

Create emotion and end-user buy-in to excite people about the new edition of an industry-leading product

What we did

Strategy, Branding, Design & Creativity, Web Development, SEO, Public Relations, Video Production, Photography

Visit Watson Microsite

Challenge

When you manufacture the industry's gold standard product—in this case a water pump that's been trusted by wildland firefighters around the world since the 1960s—how do you go about marketing a “new and approved” version? Our core challenge was to build excitement for the launch of the next-generation MARK-3® Watson Edition pump and ensure that it didn't cannibalize sales of our client's other products.

Approach

We helped our client engage the support of key stakeholders by inviting them to be part of the product's journey. Following years of R&D, engineering and testing, Comunika helped demo the prototype to key customers across North America. The stylishly branded “Watson Tour”, supported by a suite of original communication tools, helped generate excitement for the product's upcoming launch. The tour also provided firefighters the opportunity to test the new pump and be part of final product improvements by sharing their feedback.

Strategy

Our guiding strategy was to leverage the outstanding reputation of our client's MARK-3® pump. We also trained product ambassadors with the social media know-how to share their experience during The Watson Tour—an inspiring road trip across North America which took Zach, Alex and their dog Cooper to key American and Canadian stakeholders.

Tactics

Create outstanding branding for the MARK-3® Watson Edition pump, including:

Logo and branding guidelines
Booth design for tradeshows
Tour van design (vinyl wrap)
Print ads

Provide product ambassador support, including:

Training (social and traditional media, presentation skills, etc.)
Microsite to promote the tour and the new pump

Develop corporate communication materials, including:

Multi-edition lifestyle and product magazine
Backgrounder and fact sheets
Videos, featuring animation and 3D visual effects

Produced in collaboration with PIXI

Results

Significant “wow” factor and enthusiastic feedback from a specific, targeted audience

Successful, multi-purpose, multi-audience use of the MARK-3® Watson Edition microsite

Great social media engagement, including:

More than 17,000 views on Facebook
Average of 2:26 minutes on website product video page

Ongoing expansion to meet marketing needs for new ranges of organic products

“

Comunika has been providing us with marketing and strategic counsel for the last 6 years. During this time, they have become an integral part of our team and our company's success. The addition of Public Relations and Communications to their in-house services, allowed Comunika to take our WATSON product launch to another level. Even at this first stage of our launch, results of our communications and marketing campaigns have already exceeded what we were hoping for.”

Raffaele Gerbasi, President, WATERAX Inc.

A natural sub-brand

As part of the lineage of MARK-3® pumps, the Watson Edition is a made-to-measure WATERAX sub-brand. We capitalized on this strong positioning to create an inspired look-and-feel and emotion which is contemporary while being squarely rooted in the existing brand's visuals.

Photo: WATERAX

Microsite

A combination of full-on inspiration and practicality, the microsite was designed to mirror the advanced technologies used in the Watson Edition pump. We were careful to create an exciting feel that didn't overwhelm the initiative's important communication intent: communicating a wealth of important product information and data. As part of the project, Comunika created a 30-second video teaser to reveal the Watson pump.

Platform & technologies

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Public relations

Comunika's Public Relations team identified and engaged with key government stakeholders on behalf of WATERAX. We hosted a VIP reception during the Wildland Fire Canada conference in Ottawa, which involved event logistics, development of communications materials, inviting federal government stakeholders, and encouraging key opinion leaders / decision makers to attend.

SECURING ATTENDANCE

The 2019 edition of The Canadian Wildland Fire conference was scheduled right after the Canadian federal election. Leading up to the election, our strategy was to cast a wide net by reaching out to as many Ministers and Deputy Ministers as possible in order to have invitations registered and received. This would allow for post-election follow up. The event was attended by key industry leaders and decision makers who appreciated the opportunity to engage with WATERAX's team and discuss the history of the company as well as the launch of the Watson Edition pump.

Photo: WATERAX

WATERAX Watson Edition

Building appeal, shaping anticipation

Opening the valve for a next-generation product by bringing together inspiration, communication and collaboration