In 2003, Blackstone Medical was a small, privately-held spine device company competing for a place among some of the biggest dogs in the industry: Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and Stryker. The reality was: Blackstone had smarter, better products. But in a market where the perception that parity is rampant and FDA-cleared devices signify "me-too-ism," it was difficult for Blackstone to get noticed.
I worked with a great team to lift the Blackstone brand out of obscurity by helping them get specific with their message and big with their voice. "Breakthrough Thinking" captured the spirit of this tenacious young company by letting surgeons know that there may be "me-too-ism" out there and then there are companies who are actually doing things better.
In fact, our work was so successful it led to the purchase of this little company by orthopedics giant, Orthofix, for $333MM in August of 2006.
