Mercer Valve Co.
How do we protect a 36 year legacy from competitors stealing our story?
For 36 years, Mercer Valve Co. had been a premier provider of high-quality pressure relief valves, with a patent known as Auto Seat Technology®.
They'd built it on the strength of their patented solution alone. No marketing. No brand investment.
Then competitors started claiming they sold “Mercer-like valves.”
The problem wasn't product quality.
The problem was that Mercer Valve Co. had become the Kleenex of valves—a benchmark everyone borrowed from.
Without a modern day marketing infrastructure and social presence, it was hard to protect what they'd built in a highly competitive marketplace.
Research revealed competitors were promoting faulty products using Mercer Valve Co.'s credibility.
By not branding themselves, Mercer Valve Co. was allowing their own reputation to sell someone else's failures.
The approach
01
Define the brand
Develop a brand that spoke to the power of safety as only Mercer Valve Co. could define it—backed by 36 years of protecting people, equipment, and communities.
02
Reclaim the position
Develop sales and marketing strategies to reclaim the proven position of safety (as in life-saving) and the promise of reliability, both internally and externally (nationally and globally).
03
Combat the perception
Create campaigns that allow Mercer Valve Co. to compete on safety, lead times, testing, and repair services.
The campaign that emerged:
“Because Safety Takes Time.”
The result
employee engagement
years of legacy protected
years of ongoing partnership
What changed
Defensible position
Mercer Valve Co. now has a highly defensible position in the marketplace—competitors can no longer borrow their equity unchallenged.
Ongoing Sales Stabilization and Expansion
Marketing and sales work hand in hand to identify purchasing gaps, customer needs, and service.
Integrated partnership
Jayne Agency continues as Mercer Valve Co.'s outsourced marketing arm, crafting messaging and creative that inspires employees, partners, and clients.