Sparking Transformative Outcomes for the Largest Door Manufacturer

Challenge

Masonite, a leading provider of residential and commercial doors, was looking for an expansive growth strategy for the business. One that would help them evolve from a slow-growth and cost-management paradigm to delivering market-leading topline and bottom-line growth. This was a significant challenge in a category seen by many as commoditized and homogenized. Masonite had historically depended in part on macroeconomic factors like housing starts to deliver business growth and profits.

Solution

To help the Masonite teams go beyond the obvious and envision a future state for the category, these category paradigms and legacy operating models had to be addressed first. One where their business and brand could grow despite macroeconomic headwinds. To do this, the team at Shapiro+Raj had to approach this assignment in a very different way.

We assigned an integrated team comprised of multi-disciplinary experts with deep specialization in the building materials market – credentialed market researchers, seasoned brand planners, and business strategists, data scientists, and creatives. These experts worked together as a team to not only unearth insights but also derive transformative activation programs.

This integrated team synthesized historical learnings, interviewed key business leaders to develop a series of hypotheses, and used syndicated and secondary data to develop a cohesive learning agenda incorporating multiple research, analytic, and strategic steps. Using a hypotheses-led narrative, each stage was defined to surgically answer specific strategic questions versus using a boil-the-ocean approach. What they needed was a transformative idea that they could activate quickly in-market. This entire effort was executed over a four-month period.

The Shapiro+Raj approach is based on a simple premise: Find the end-consumer who drives any category. Identify problems that are not being solved by the category. Frame a brand value platform that can resolve their problems in a distinct and differentiated manner. By way of this approach, brands can disrupt the category value chain.

We began with a robust buyer and market profile study. The data helped us identify a credible and sizable consumer segment that is very involved in their home, and are very active in updating and upgrading on a constant basis. Unlike the rest of the market, they are very interested in finding doors that can solve some of their life and living problems, and are willing to pay much more for them. We had found our Strategic Value Target (SVT).