Landing a distribution deal with a Top-1 game console company

Strategy & Presentation for a local Saudi Arabian distributor that helped to secure a deal with the world's biggest game console manufacturer.

The сontext

Our client, a novice distributor in Saudi Arabia, approached us with a challenging task. They needed our help to pitch to the world’s top game console manufacturer and secure exclusive distribution rights for their consoles in the Saudi Arabian market.

The manufacturer had specific expectations for a well-defined proposal, including a comprehensive market overview, a robust distribution strategy, and detailed financial forecasts with investment projections. Unfortunately, our client had no prior experience in building such documents – which is exactly why Waveup stepped in to help.

The challenge

  • Lack of market understanding: The manufacturer’s decision-makers had preconceived notions that the Saudi gaming market was fairly risky and unattractive in terms of growth potential. To change this narrative, our client needed to deliver a market study that would effectively prove the opposite and showcase the market’s worth.
  • Weak strategy and growth plan: Our client had no prior knowledge of building go-to-market strategies and financial forecasts for the distribution business, facing challenges in building a compelling, believable plan on how to win the market.
  • No experience pitching to an industry giant: Our client lacked experience in building proposals for Fortune 500 companies, having very little idea on how to conduct the proper research, frame and package the arguments, and ultimately present them to key decision-makers.
  • Pressing deadline: The manufacturer’s board was set to decide on our client’s proposal within two weeks of approaching us. This meant we had limited time to complete the market study on top of a comprehensive GTM strategy, financial model, and presentation.

HOW WE HELPED

Deep market dive-in to build the argument of why now

We started the market exercise by building a detailed snapshot of Saudi Arabia’s macroeconomic environment. This was followed by a deep dive-in into the state of the gaming industry in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia. Research showed that the recent investments had positioned Saudi Arabia as one of the top 3 gaming markets in the MENA region, with Saudi Arabian gamers displaying 3x higher spending power than their American and European counterparts.

These evidence-based insights helped to build a highly compelling argument on why the momentum was perfect for the investment in the market. Our data-driven approach ensured that the follow-up distribution strategy was supported by solid market evidence and persuasive visuals, providing a bulletproof case for potential investors and stakeholders.

HOW WE HELPED

Strategic planning and modeling to create a winning go-to-market blueprint

  • Waveup collaborated closely with the client team to define their growth vision and create a comprehensive go-to-market (GTM) strategy. Our approach involved carefully selecting distribution channels, developing high-level marketing plans for each channel, and creating two- and five-year plans encompassing pre-launch, launch, scaling, and growth stages, with key milestones for each stage.
  • To support the strategy and ensure it would efficiently bring the promised results, we also built a comprehensive 5-year market distribution model that presented critical metrics analyzed across three different scenarios. This meticulous financial analysis helped us validate the GTM strategy and ensured it would deliver efficient and quantifiable results.

HOW WE HELPED

Professional design and presentation to win over the decision-makers

  • Our final task was to ensure the presentation would leave a long-lasting impression and compel decision-makers to take action. We crafted strong “why us” slides that showcased the most enticing reasons why our client should be chosen as the manufacturer’s distributor.
  • Understanding that emotion can play a pivotal role in high-value deals like this, and we went the extra mile to develop a unique branding style that visually reflected the values and ethos of both our client and the manufacturer. Our goal was to create a sense of synergy and emotional connection. To further captivate the audience, we transformed the numbers and arguments into visually stunning and insightful charts and slides that presented the information in the most engaging way possible.

Results

Big-scale impact
delivered

The developed strategy has effectively persuaded the manufacturer company’s Board of Directors to invest in the MENA market

Multi-million dollar exclusive
deal signed

The developed deck and financial model resulted in a multi-year, multi-million dollar exclusive distribution deal signed