In its 75 years as a leader in the production and distribution of aftermarket engine fluids and additives, Gold Eagle Company has succeeded in crafting an identity for itself in an industry that could otherwise be seen as commodity driven. To ensure its continued prosperity for at least another 75 years, the company's managers have taken a strategic approach to new-product development and emphasized community-driven marketing efforts geared to creating personal relationships with current and future customers.

Creating growth opportunities

As viable acquisition candidates have become fewer and farther between, Gold Eagle's managers have turned to new-product development as their primary business-growth engine, with a keen understanding of the evolving consumer automotive market. For example, their DieselPower! Brand products were developed specifically for the growing market of diesel passenger-car and light-duty truck owners – a pool previously untapped by other fuel-additive marketers. And, observing the disdain increasingly upscale consumers were showing commodity-priced stop-leak products, Gold Eagle paired a premium formula with attractive packaging to create a higher-grade, higher-priced offering, which is now showing great promise for the future.

The company's marketing efforts are similarly innovative. In 1992, Gold Eagle launched the United States Lawn Mower Racing Association, initially seen as a gimmick to promote its Sta-Bil Fuel Stabilizer. The association now has branches in three continents, is frequently highlighted in national media outlets and has received numerous public-relations awards over the years. In 2005, the company's Engine Answer Man set out on the road, traveling the U.S. to help drivers solve their engine problems – and build Gold Eagle's image as the brand with the answers among the consumer marketplace.

Strategic innovation

These successful products and campaigns aren't the result of random inspirations. Instead, Gold Eagle has made new-product development a strategic keystone in its business-planning efforts. The company has implemented a "stage gate" process, allowing mangers to measure and compare potential risks and upsides of multiple new-product initiatives, so priorities can be set on a quantitative basis. When resources aren't available to pursue all new ideas, options not selected for current development efforts are put on hold, rather than killed, so their potential can be re-assessed at a later date.

Company managers understand that product-development dollars don't always result in bottom-line returns, but they continue to make investment in such efforts a priority in annual strategic plans. In fact, Gold Eagle has set a corporate goal that a specific percentage of any single year's sales must be from products the company wasn't offering three years earlier. The seriousness of this goal is backed up by an investment of its own: Software tied to the company's enterprise resource planning program tracks progress against the goal on a monthly basis.

Furthermore, Gold Eagle has invested in the personnel necessary to keep itself moving forward. The company recently has added to its engineering staff, to enable more thorough analysis and execution of improvement opportunities.