Positioning Case study Synopses  ________________________________________________________ Sweet Creations baked dessert caterer (Wakefield, MA)   Sweet Creations is a high-end dessert baker selling to the trade.  Company sales were flat with hopes, but no plans, to increase the business. Velocity designed and launched a website. Within 4 months a major hotel chain "found" Sweet Creations.  The ensuing sales from this single new customer increased sales by nearly 30%.    PFE-Ltd (Oxfordshire, UK)    PFE had invented a very clever method for producing the cathode component of a Wall TV. The downside was that the idea was barely a laboratory prototype, they build only the cathode part of the display, and the image quality was a bit grainy.  Holzel first showed the board that licensing was the only realistic path they could take. Holzel pointed out at Japanese Director-level meetings that since Asian flat-panel display companies have proven they can perfect any technology, why should they wait for a 30-man company to perfect a technology that could result in the first-ever profits in that industry?  If he could show that the PFE system is cheaper than all the others, shouldn’t Japanese manufacturers fight to get the technology?      Holzel demonstrated (by price elasticity analysis--see "Detailed Case Study") that to achieve the desired sales volume, the selling price for any 42-inch Wall TV had to drop to $2000. Finally, he showed that none of the competing technologies could ever get to that low price–except PFE. This was evidence enough, and four Asian and one European TV manufacturers were brought to the table to negotiate licenses, while the competition treaded water.     Raytheon (Quincy, Massachusetts) As Marketing Manager of Raytheon's Display Devices Group Holzel was given the side task to exploit a new concept $2000 high-density (60W/in3) low-voltage power supply. While engineers were thrilled at the high power- density, he recognized that the best position for this exotic product lay in its light weight. He subsequently sold the device while still a prototype into the main antenna of the Motorola Iridium satellite project–for $20m. IBM (USA) IBM was sending their high-priced salesmen to individual prospects using colored brochures to explain its products. Holzel suggested using big screen video projectors to demonstrate actual computing capabilities, that they invite the prospects to come to them (saving IBM travel time), and that they bring them in in groups–thus letting one salesman sell 20 people at a time. What was needed was a video projector that could sync-up to the higher computer scan frequency–which was the technology his company--Arcturus--invented. IBM completely changed its computer selling strategy to embrace this new concept, building 45 "Arcturus big screen rooms" all over the country. IBM went on to purchase $5m of “Arcturus Big Screens” and enjoyed increased sales and greatly reduced sales costs. Sony (USA) All video projectors were once designed to synchronize to a single broadcast TV scan rate.  Yet computer monitors, with their higher resolution, operated  at a higher scan frequency.  In order to show computer graphics on the big screen, his company bought and modified Sony projectors to do the job.  Holzel's small company-- Arcturus--was soon selling more Sony projectors than any Sony outlet in the US, a fact that Sony soon realized heralded a new market position for video projectors.   Sony tried once, and once again to break into that market, but each time their long planning cycle meant they arrived to the fast-moving computer display market with projectors already out of date. Finally, on the third try, six years later, they succeeded in achieving operational parity with his company (and quickly captured most of the business). PixTech (Santa Clara, CA & France) PixTech, a French display start-up, was developing a new type of flat panel display called the FED. The FED had a bright image with wide viewing angles, but to Holzel its great advantage lay in its “instant-on” capability at any terrestrial temperature. (LCDs freeze and crack at very low temperatures–and if not broken, take minutes to warm-up.) His positioning strategy was to sell it to markets where instant-on was absolutely essential--to heart defibrillator manufacturers. A defibrillator can be stored in freezing ambulances, tossed in the snow at an emergency site, and once strapped onto a patient, must instantly show heart function in any temperature. The first sale was to Zoll Medical for $12m while the product was still a prototype.  Holzel founded the US operations of PixTech in Santa Clara.  Starting by himself, he built up a 25-man sales and R&D facility.) Ideal Image (New York City) While consulting for Management Television and staying at the Beverly Wilshire hotel, Holzel met a glamorous young lady at poolside. “Let me take your picture,” he told her, “and I’ll put you on the cover of Vogue Magazine.” Five rolls of film later, Margaux Hemingway was off to New York City–and on to the cover of Vogue. (Scout's honor.) See VelocityPress for more examples of clear, trenchant exposition.