The Premiere Insights and Strategy Partner for Agriculture, Animal Health, Petcare, and Nutrition.
With expertise in agriculture, animal science, petcare, nutrition, and advanced data analysis, our unique
team understands how data science can be applied for strategic growth. No matter
the business challenge, we’ll align methodologies with strategic business
objectives to create a dynamic approach to solving industry challenges – big or small.
Case Studies
Ensuring Momentum Among Pet Owners for a First-in-Class Pain Management Treatment
With the launch of two innovative new products for the management of osteoarthritis pain in dogs and cats, this pharmaceutical manufacturer needed a mechanism for establishing benchmark metrics for these new products and monitoring their performance over time to ensure a steady drumbeat of momentum was being created among pet owners.
Understanding Equine Veterinarians’ Awareness, Use, and Perceptions of Equine Orthobiologicals
A manufacturer of equine regenerative medicine devices needed deeper insights into the equine orthobiologicals’ space, including awareness of their regenerative medicine device brands, usage patterns, key drivers and barriers, and valued features or services.
Research Insights Help Inform Successful Launch Strategy for a New Line Extension in Cattle
A major livestock pharmaceutical company was introducing a new product to the market. The new product was an extension of an existing product but included a new ingredient and a different administration method.
Forward Group Helps Leading Manufacturer Optimize Farm Equipment Features and Identify Willingness to Pay
A leading global manufacturer of agricultural equipment and technology sought reliable data to help identify the combine harvester features most influential in purchase decisions.
Understanding Your Customer Globally
A major agricultural company needed a global understanding of their customers – what are the biggest problems they face and to what extent are they being solved? The team needed an approach that would work across the world in order to ensure a global perspective.
Capturing Ongoing Customer Feedback
A major agricultural company wanted to understand a select set of their customers at various points throughout their customer journey. Insights from capturing the right feedback at the right time were to be used to modify and improve their overall experience.
Ensuring Momentum Among Pet Owners for a First-in-Class Pain Management Treatment
CHALLENGE
FORWARD GROUP APPROACH
Leveraging our extensive expertise in creating reliable longitudinal studies and experience in the companion animal pain management category, Forward Group established a quantitative tracking study among dog owners and cat owners to measure and monitor key performance indicators for the new brands and competitors, including advertising and brand awareness, familiarity, use, acceptance of vet recommendation, factors that drive osteoarthritis pain management treatment selection, and perception of current brands’ ability to deliver on those factors.
INSIGHTS AT WORK
Insights from the research are key in helping brand stakeholders ascertain where the new products stand in the marketplace compared to the competition, identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, recognize the success of marketing communications, and inform future strategy to best position the new products to pet owners with a dog or cat that experiences osteoarthritis pain.
Understanding Equine Veterinarians’ Awareness, Use, and Perceptions of Equine Orthobiologicals
CHALLENGE
FORWARD GROUP APPROACH
Forward Group developed and executed a study among 124 equine veterinarians. The research was designed to help brand managers definitively identify the incidence of various non-infectious joint or soft-tissue issues and injuries seen in horses, the frequency of orthobiological use, the regenerative medicine device brands used most often in treatment, and key motivators and obstacles for both the client’s and competitors’ products.
INSIGHTS AT WORK
The findings from this research proved invaluable in successfully identifying the client’s regenerative medicine devices’ positions in the market and providing actionable data-driven guidance for next steps.
Research Insights Help Inform Successful Launch Strategy for a New Line Extension in Cattle
CHALLENGE
A major livestock pharmaceutical company was introducing a new product to the market. The new product was an extension of an existing product but included a new ingredient and a different administration method.
Our client wanted to understand how to best introduce this new product, capitalizing on the existing brand equity while demonstrating the benefits of this new product. Having an insight-backed approach to positioning, pricing, and messaging was critical to a successful launch.
FORWARD GROUP APPROACH
Based on Forward Group’s knowledge of the market landscape, we recommended an initial qualitative phase to understand what current customers and non-customers thought about the existing brand while also uncovering potential gaps in the current market to be utilized for creating meaningful messaging.
Following a robust workshop digging into the qualitative findings with key stakeholders, quantitative research was conducted to optimize messaging and understand the optimal price point (taking into account the current brand and competitors).
INSIGHTS AT WORK
Insights from all three research phases guided key stakeholders in creating a successful launch plan. The customer was considered in every decision, ensuring the company was creating marketing materials and a pricing approach that appealed to their target customer.
Forward Group Helps Leading Manufacturer Optimize Farm Equipment Features and Identify Willingness to Pay
CHALLENGE
A leading global manufacturer of agricultural equipment and technology sought reliable data to help identify the combine harvester features most influential in purchase decisions. Additionally, they needed guidance on how to effectively price combines equipped with these potential features.
FORWARD GROUP APPROACH
Forward Group developed and executed a comprehensive study among more than one thousand (1,000) commercial–grade combine users across seven (7) countries: the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK. A major element of the survey was a discrete choice experiment in which producers evaluated different configurations of combine features and price. They were then asked to indicate which, if any, of the presented combine packages they would choose if available on the market today.
INSIGHTS AT WORK
The choices made in these hypothetical scenarios provided the underpinning for the modeling of the market shares that would result from various feature configurations and pricing strategies. This enabled the manufacturer to confidently decide which features to prioritize and pinpoint customers’ willingness to pay for them. The results were further segmented by key producer characteristics (such as current combine brand, model year, purchase price, operation size, and age), allowing for deeper insights. To support ongoing analysis, an easy-to-use Excel-based simulator was delivered alongside the findings, empowering the client to explore additional “what-if” scenarios as needed.
Understanding Your Customer Globally
CHALLENGE
A major agricultural company needed a global understanding of their customers – what are the biggest problems they face and to what extent are they being solved? The team needed an approach that would work across the world in order to ensure a global perspective.
FORWARD GROUP APPROACH
We worked with the Insights team to ensure the quantitative methodology utilized could be replicated across countries/regions and target categories. From market research survey tools to reporting and other deliverables, consistency was a primary focus throughout, while still balancing the regional flexibility needed for actionable results.
INSIGHTS AT WORK
Research insights and deliverables, including an interactive reporting dashboard, guided key stakeholders in determining which problems should be addressed by their global and regional teams. Results helped prioritize and understand the relative impact of creating solutions to critical problems.
Capturing Ongoing Customer Feedback
CHALLENGE
A major agricultural company wanted to understand a select set of their customers at various points throughout their customer journey. Insights from capturing the right feedback at the right time were to be used to modify and improve their overall experience.
FORWARD GROUP APPROACH
Due to our strong understanding of agriculture, Forward Group knew the timing, tone, and ease of providing feedback was critical to getting the insights needed. Easy and quick to use online survey technology, relevant questions and terminology, and an effective partnership with the internal team helped create an enjoyable feedback experience for customers. Online surveys were created to gather feedback over an extended period while also incorporating qualitative insights.
INSIGHTS AT WORK
Having multiple feedback opportunities allowed for internal stakeholders to build upon learnings through the entire customer journey, modifying the experience for future customers. The flexibility encouraged a continual evolution of the research, leading to meaningful results throughout the whole process.