The brief
Our overall brief was product marketing focussed to ‘rename, rebrand and reposition Axelos’ PPM portfolio, and move to no longer using the term PPM’.
Axelos, their competitors and the certification world used the acronym PPM freely but there was some real confusion what it meant for and what products it covered, it actually stands for Project Portfolio Management, but their was real confusion in the market.
Axelos were also keen to formulate a cohesive, full-portfolio offering to the market for their Projects & Programmes Product Portfolio, with the objective of providing a clear user journey that will improve conversion rates and grow exam volumes for other products, beyond just PRINCE2® which was their current market leading product within PPM.
The approach
Using UPs signature BASE-UP approach we defined the brief further with Axelos, ensuring we knew the history and context of the world of PPM. We then carried out an extensive audit stage, which covered:
- A competitor audit
- A internal brand workshop with key stakeholders
- An online survey aimed at current and potential customers as well as partners and intermediaries
- Desk research on what Axelos has gathered previously plus our own UP reviews
Working with Axelos we embarked on a thorough audit stage that allowed us to review how all their audiences felt about the world of PPM, how their competitors were approaching it and importantly what potential customers were presented with when they went to look into this space.
In our competitor audit we reviewed nine competitor and partners brands plus where Axelos were; we then overlaid this with research and work already completed and the thoughts, fears and plans of key stakeholders via a brand workshop. And finally we further overlaid a targeted online survey asking the key questions around PPM and its future. All of this was then fed into the strategy.
