A New Breed Of MCUs Takes On The Big Boys

Client

Maxim Integrated

Services

Go-to-market Campaign, Product Naming, Product Positioning

21K

product page views

9K

white paper downloads

3K

evaluation kits sold

At a glance

A leading analog/mixed-signal semiconductor company, Maxim Integrated had a strong reputation for developing innovative power and interface solutions. Yet, although Maxim had been developing microcontrollers for the better part of two decades, the company was largely perceived as a pure-play analog vendor. In preparation for a new product launch, Maxim engaged Brighttail to develop a go-to-market strategy to build brand awareness and radically differentiate its products.

The challenge

The 32-bit microcontroller (MCU) market is huge. Estimated at $4 billion globally and growing at a 10% CAGR, it has become a highly competitive space with multiple vendors vying for market share. This has given engineers hundreds of MCU options for their projects from a broad variety of established vendors, including NXP, Samsung, Renesas, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments.

There hardly seemed to be any need for yet another 32-bit MCU, especially one from an analog semiconductor company. Yet, Maxim Integrated recognized that application requirements had evolved with the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), and established MCU vendors had not kept pace with these changes.

Maxim needed a campaign strategy to launch its new MCU product line into this mature market. To be successful, the campaign would need to overcome buyer complacency and encourage customers to look beyond their current shortlist of trusted MCU vendors.

Our strategy
and work

Brighttail’s strategy was built on the need for change. Our research revealed that engineers struggle to meet the new demand for products that can survive on “The Edge” of the IoT, where devices need to handle big applications and security challenges while only running off of battery power. Meeting these requirements often meant using external memories, costly coprocessors, and large batteries.

Recognizing that many engineers are struggling to keep up with evolving IoT requirements, we gave the product line a bold new name (DARWIN) and developed a campaign strategy to effectively position it against “legacy” solutions.

Anchored by this creative strategy, the campaign leveraged video, email, social media, and paid advertising to drive prospects to a dedicated landing page, where they were invited to download white papers and order evaluation boards. We then followed up with an email nurturing campaigns to convert prospects into marketing-qualified leads.