Identifying a New Market Segment for a Niche Player
“CoActive is the firm of choice for biotech and life sciences companies desiring a highly academic team of hands-on talent. Their science writers and media professionals helped extend Sequenom's internal product marketing resources by creating core, customer-driven messaging and deliverables seamlessly and accurately.”
History: SEQUENOM manufactures genetic analysis systems for biomedical research, molecular medicine and agricultural applications. The cornerstone of SEQUENOM's approach is the proprietary MassARRAY system, a high-performance DNA analysis platform, which efficiently and precisely measures the amount of genetic target material and variations. The system is able to deliver reliable and specific data from complex biological samples and from trace amounts of genetic target material.
Challenge: SEQUENOM's MassARRAY genetic analysis platform is consistently rated the premiere genotyping system by the research industry. In spite of this achievement, genotyping is perceived as a declining market and SEQUENOM's customers were becoming increasingly interested in new tools and applications to support research for future medical advances. How would this relatively small player broaden its role in a competitive marketplace, and do so effectively?
Solution: CoActive began by performing a massive press audit, seeking out all articles published about SEQUENOM and its competitors within the prior two years. This process allowed CoActive to devise a strategic communications platform, identifying competitive advantages to re-position SEQUENOM as a provider of multiple genetic analysis systems for the mid-to-high throughput market.
Results: CoActive's team of medical writers developed press materials, brochures, customer testimonials, white papers and application notes to support Sequenom's robust product offering while de-positioning competitive offerings. SEQUENOM now has several non-genotyping customers as well as a major commercialization partner and is beginning to broaden its role in human diagnostics.
