Selling added value to a market driven by legislation

At a glance

One of the drivers affecting the marine industry is new environment-related legislation. One such area is ballast water treatment. All ballast water leaving a ship must be treated to not contain foreign organisms. PureBallast was launched around 2010 and developed to become one of Alfa Laval’s hero product brands through long-term strategic marketing where communication played an important role to position the brand and drive sales.

The challenge

How do you sell a premium solution to a target group who’s decision is driven by legislation, ie they must buy a ballast water treatment solution if they want to continue to operate? Taking this type of decision often leads to the ambition to comply as cost-efficient as possible, and the customer see no additional value to its operation by selecting a more expensive solution even if the performance is better.

The solution 

Alfa Laval from the start set up the objective that all ship owners should make an informed decision, ie they should know the pros and cons of selecting a certain solution and supplier. This was the base of an extensive knowledge leading positioning including:

• The Ballast Water Treatment handbook. Education of the target group
• 10's of white papers about different challenges and how PureBallast can overcome them
• 100's of case stories about successful customer relations
• All argumentation broken down to segments/ship types. What are the specific benefits for an owner of tankers as an example
• An extensive sub-site to alfalaval.com (https://www.alfalaval.com/pureballast) where all knowledge was compiled. The site also contains a number of interactive functions where shipowners can calculate benefits, experience how different solutions will work in different ports, traing the crew, etc, etc.

The PureBallast site functioned as landing page for a multitude of campaigns towards different segments, ranging from broader awareness campaigns to highly targeted ABM campaigns.

The impact

PureBallast are the market leader in UV based ballast water treatment with more than 5,000 systems sold. Alfa Laval is considered as the most reliable solution and partner in the market leading to a high share of the replacement market.

https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/ballast-water-treatment-market

Our key outtakes

The key to selling a product or solution at a premium price is to make potential customers understand the additional value it brings. To succeed the target group must understand the possibilities and threats. This can best be done through education and clear proof points but also a consistent communication to be top-of-mind among the target group.