BACKGROUND: Alemite is a well-respected brand of industrial lubrication equipment with a strong heritage covering 70+ years. However, in recent years they had not invested in their brand, and both awareness and equity had declined.
CHALLENGE: The brand was being challenged by new ownership to capitalize on its core business, recapture its reputation as a market innovator and find ways to add value to its products and services. While Alemite’s share of voice and brand awareness had been declining, it was also dealing with lower-priced imports and a lubrication equipment market that was moving toward commoditization.
SOLUTION: JMG recommended base-line quantitative brand research to determine customer and prospect awareness and imagery of Alemite among key competitors. From the research findings, an overall branding strategy was created that included a new up-to-date brand look and feel across all communication vehicles (web, B2B advertising in targeted trade publications, collateral, trade show, public relations). JMG also helped Alemite create a web-based catalog and conduct an SEM key word campaign on hose reels, a high potential product category where they had little equity.
RESULTS: The new brand image, coupled with targeted messaging and maximum integrated use of Alemite’s annual marketing communications budget, helped increase unaided brand awareness more than three-fold (from 5% at the beginning to 18% two years later). The online catalog realized more than 12,000 downloads during its first five months on the web. And the key word campaign for hose reels generated over 550,000 impressions for a cost per thousand of just 21 cents with a traffic conversion increase of 58%. The SEM program targeted to build the hose reel section of the online catalog achieved great results showing an increase in traffic by 900%, with visits increasing from 300 to 3,500 in just three months.