Case Study

Identifying a Target Market to Launch

Company

Iowa-based medical marijuana company.

Challenge

In 2017, Iowa passed the Medical Cannabidiol Act, allowing Iowans access to medical cannabis products and our client needed assistance to navigate a new market, tightly controlled by state law.

Intervention

The company approached Bâton Global (B|G) to research the rollout of medical marijuana programs in other states, provide and analyze data related to the demographics of potential consumers and assist the client to understand policy-related implications and assess market dynamics in Iowa.

Results

The insights presented to the medical marijuana company served as a foundation for their strategies in engaging legislators, health care providers, and future customers. the company had a greater understanding of the market dynamics in Iowa and confidently launched their products.

Learn More

The scope of this project includes four main areas of activity:

Insight

B|G conducted an internal and external review of documentation related to the target consumer and target market.

  • Internal sources provided by the client enabled the identification of data and information gaps towards supporting external data collection.
  • A thorough review of external documentation, including state legislation, policy papers, government reports, industry publications academic journal, and periodicals provided including a deep level of understanding of the laws, history, structure, rollout, and success of medical marijuana programs in five other case studies and identification of a common set of factors that influenced patient registry enrollment in these five case studies.
  • Furthermore, medical journals, national and state data banks, and government reports were used to research the 10 medical conditions that qualify a patient for Iowa’s medical cannabidiol program. Using this research, patient demographics, characteristics, and prevalence rates were identified.

Innovation

B|G leveraged the research findings to facilitate an in-depth focus group/information session with stakeholders.

  • 15 stakeholders provided information pertaining to the target customer that was not discoverable via secondary resources including:
  • Current consumer knowledge of medical cannabis and Iowa’s medical cannabidiol program.
  • Perspectives on physician participation, education, and training in relation to the new program.
  • Viewpoints on the current law and how to improve it.
  • Strategies for how the client should proceed moving forward to ensure their success.

Integration

B|G integrated its primary and secondary research finding to assess the market dynamics and market size in Iowa and provide the client with recommendations.

  • The overall potential market size for Iowa’s Cannabidiol program in Iowa was calculated using medical marijuana program enrollment numbers from other states and disease prevalence rate estimates in Iowa.
  • Market size estimates and demographic data for each specific disease type were also analyzed, and findings were presented to company leaders.
  • Leaders at the company were briefed on the specifications and shortfalls of Iowa’s Medical Cannabidiol law and program.
  • B|G worked with the client to help them understand implications of the law on their business, aspects of the law that should be lobbied for change, and consumers who should be targeted for an upcoming campaign.

Impact

The client used research and recommendations cultivated by B|G to take meaningful action.

  • Policy insights empowered the client to engage more deeply with the Iowa legislature and lobby for changes to the law that would make the medical cannabidiol program more effective, less costly, and more accessible.
  • The client proactively reached out to health care providers after learning about the critical importance of physician participation in their success.
  • A deeper understanding of the consumer market enabled the client to create research-backed profiles and further the development of their marketing plan for pursing the target customer.

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