Vivaldi has built go-to-market strategies for British Telecom, Marriott, PPG, Western Union, and McGraw-Hill. The 9 case studies below span new market entry, retail and product launches, and sales motion redesign. Among the outcomes: a retail brand launched consistently across 650+ stores, 3 prioritized traveler segments that put new financial products into the US, UK, and Germany, and an enterprise sales transformation that improved pipeline conversion at one of Europe’s largest telecoms. Each case names the problem, the strategic choice, and what it delivered.
Search for go-to-market examples, and you find the same recycled startup legends, narrated by people who watched them from the outside. This list works differently. Every engagement below is Vivaldi client work. We ran the segmentation, built the value proposition, and sequenced the launch. That firsthand vantage point matters, because what readers may call a GTM strategy or a go-to-market plan is a comprehensive plan built around a target market, a target audience, and the distribution channels that connect demand to revenue. Those commitments are visible only from inside the work.
Preparing a launch or a market entry? Explore Vivaldi’s go-to-market strategy work, or contact us before the launch plan hardens.
Three problems every go-to-market strategy has to solve
The nine cases below cluster around three distinct problems. New market entry: you have a product, and the market does not know you exist, so the right plan starts with clear business objectives and clear goals. Launch: you have a brand, and it needs to arrive everywhere at once, coherently, because setting clear goals is essential for measuring GTM success. Sales motion redesign: you have customers, and the way you sell is losing deals your product deserves to win. These three problem types also imply different sales strategies and marketing channel choices. The list runs in that order. Find the cluster that matches your situation and read those cases first.
The GTM strategy case studies
1. Western Union: finding the travelers worth building products for
Western Union wanted to grow beyond remittances into financial services for international travelers, but did not know which travelers to build for. Vivaldi’s segmentation research started with market research into customer needs, pain points, and market demand among international travelers, then profiled the opportunity across three countries with behavioral, attitudinal, and product preference data behind every profile. The result: 3 prioritized traveler segments that clarified the ideal customers for the product launch in each country and for new financial products launched in the US, UK, and Germany. Read the Western Union case study
2. Chile Oliva: entering a premium category the Mediterranean owned
Chile Oliva set out to sell Chilean olive oil in international markets where heritage-rich European producers held every advantage, including the basic awareness that Chile makes olive oil at all. Vivaldi built a phased market entry strategy on Chile’s terroir, purity, and modern production methods, grounded in competitive analysis of premium olive oil direct and indirect competitors, to position Chile Oliva in an existing market where heritage brands already owned market share and to raise brand awareness through education-led marketing before pushing conversion. The brand achieved entry into premium specialty and retail channels with a differentiated origin positioning. Read the Chile Oliva case study
3. Polish vodka: naming a premium entrant for the US spirits market
A new Polish vodka brand needed to enter the crowded US spirits market, where the name does much of the work of signaling premium origins before a single bottle is poured. Vivaldi applied its proprietary Naming Blueprint framework, exploring territories from Good & Evil to Purity and Lightness, then testing candidates against product characteristics, market feedback, and customer feedback. The outcome was a distinctive brand name validated through research to develop key messaging and sharpen competitive advantage for premium US market entry. Read the Polish vodka case study
4. PPG Paints: launching one retail brand across 650+ stores
PPG’s retail paint stores competed against Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore with inconsistent identity, communications, and employee engagement across the network. Vivaldi designed a cohesive brand identity system, from signage kits and advertising assets to the internal tools that rallied store employees behind the launch system, covering product, price, place, and promotion across the store network to support the pricing strategy. PPG Paints achieved brand unification across more than 650 retail locations, with consistent messaging at every customer touchpoint from day one, and this kind of coordinated rollout can reduce time to market for a multi-location product launch. Read the PPG Paints case study
5. Del Monte: entering the cat treats category against entrenched loyalty
Del Monte wanted into the growing cat treats category, where incumbent brands held loyalty that new entrants rarely crack. Vivaldi assessed category dynamics and consumer needs, then validated customer needs and target customers before developing the brand concept, product positioning, and commercial approach, confirming direction with consumer research before launch. The strategy carried Del Monte to retail placement and initial trial in a category it had never played in, with an approach designed to attract customers despite entrenched brand loyalty and customer loyalty in the aisle. Read the Del Monte case study
6. McGraw-Hill: taking the Sharpen platform directly to students
McGraw-Hill built the Sharpen learning platform for students as a shift in business model from institutional selling to a direct-to-consumer and self service model, and needed a go-to-market strategy to match. Vivaldi developed the launch strategy and brand positioning for student audiences, clarifying the sales channels and distribution channels needed for that move—including direct-to-consumer paths and field sales teams—and shaping the structure of an AWS cloud partnership that delivered reach at scale, while the platform itself had to demonstrate value quickly in a product-led approach. Sharpen launched to praise as a “cool new student app” and established McGraw-Hill’s first direct relationship with student end-users at scale. Read the McGraw-Hill Sharpen case study
7. British Telecom: redesigning an enterprise sales motion that was losing winnable deals
BT’s enterprise sales function was underperforming its market position, and Vivaldi’s diagnostic traced the cause to structure, not product: it was a sales strategy problem centered on converting interest into revenue more reliably, including how deals were built, how value was articulated, how pipelines were managed. Vivaldi redesigned the go-to-market motion and built a value selling framework with sales enablement for the sales team and stronger alignment between marketing and sales teams for strategic conversations with CXO buyers. The transformation improved pipeline management and conversion rates, with gains that typically show up in sales cycle length and cost per dollar of sales expenses, and BT’s enterprise setup was closer to a field sales model supported by a dedicated sales team rather than direct-to-consumer distribution channels. Read the British Telecom case study
8. Marriott: winning the global B2B meetings and events market
Marriott’s meetings business faced corporate planners—the target market and prospective customers for this B2B offer—who saw little difference between it and its competitors, so Marriott needed to convince potential buyers during the buyer’s journey, not just differentiate on features, at exactly the moment experience quality was becoming the deciding factor. Vivaldi redesigned the B2B value proposition end to end: the booking journey, a flexible meeting space framework, and a model for personalization and speed, while also aligning marketing and sales efforts across the customer journey and sales funnel. Marriott gained a clearly differentiated meetings proposition and a redesigned booking journey that improved both planner satisfaction and conversion efficiency. Read the Marriott case study
9. B2B software provider: reimagining go-to-market communications
Not every engagement can be named. Vivaldi reimagined the go-to-market communications strategy for a leading B2B software provider, rebuilding how the company presents its offer to the market; this kind of enterprise sale often requires account-based marketing to reach specific high-value accounts. Read the B2B software case study
Conclusion
The nine cases above cover three different go-to-market problems: entering a market you have never sold in, launching into retail at scale, and redesigning a sales motion that has stopped converting. What they share is sequence. Segmentation and positioning came before channel and message, every time. Western Union launched into three countries because it first knew which three traveler segments were worth winning. PPG unified 650-plus stores because the brand decision preceded the rollout. Launch mechanics are easy to buy; launch strategy is what separates entries that stick from entries that quietly retreat.
The cost of a wrong go-to-market is rarely the launch budget; it is the year you lose relaunching. Contact Vivaldi while the strategy is still open.
