Here’s the story of a packaging company who was manufacturing packaging equipment. All the customers trusted Taylor Products, like generations before. The company was sold.
It’s the story of a company named Smoot who was busy with pneumatic conveying equipment of their own. They were engineers designing conveying equipment, yet they were all alone.
‘Till the one day when the packaging company met this pneumatic conveying one, and they knew that is was much more than a hunch that these two must somehow form one company. That’s the way they became Magnum Systems.
Up until this time, Magnum’s competitors either sold conveying OR packaging systems, which made Magnum Systems the first singular source to move product from either rail-to-pallet or simply one place to another in one nice, neat package.
Separate websites, advertising, and social media channels continued to perpetuate this perception of two separate brands: Taylor Products and Smoot. The presentation of separate brands weakened search traffic and hurt Magnum’s economies of scale in awareness advertising.
Creating the New Brand
Where Magnum Systems excels is in the knowledge that comes from near a century of cumulative experience in the industry. The brand strategy set a goal to be cohesive in the message Magnum conveys both internally (employees) and externally (the market), in its two locations (Kansas City and Parsons, KS) under the Magnum brand, and in reclaiming its rightful place in the industry as a customer’s go-to source for pneumatic conveying AND packaging.
In order to promote the new Magnum Systems name over the established and trusted Taylor Products and Smoot names, the company wanted to develop a new singular brand. One that focused on the new brand message: keep the line moving.
The Challenge with Magnum’s Brand Development
Both Taylor Products and Smoot were widely recognized and respected names in their industries, yet Magnum Systems’ brand had to replace them without losing any recognition or respect. Rather than selling pneumatic conveying OR packaging systems, Magnum had to promote both as integrated solutions.
Also, the new brand had to honor the history and success of both former companies as they became divisions under Magnum Systems.
The Brand Development Strategy
Magnum Systems hired Kansas City-based advertising and marketing agency, EAG Advertising & Marketing to develop the Magnum brand through brand positioning and architecture, plus developing unified brand standards. Once those were complete, EAG established target industries, updated website and online presence, designed a communications strategy and managed CRM and marketing automation.
Brand Positioning Statement and Promises
Creating a unified Magnum brand started with a positioning statement. The brand promises and messaging speak directly to Magnum’s internal and external audiences. The brand language leads customers to the assumption that if Magnum had a hand in their pneumatic conveying and/or packaging systems then the lines keep running and money is being made. What keeps them running and profits flowing is Magnum’s collective expertise.
Finally, the messaging is contemporary and knowledge/solution focused. People like solving problems and having their problems solved—choosing to work with and for a company that “gets” when a line goes down valuable resources are at stake or the wrong solution can cause problems with product and cost far more than it has to in terms of installation, efficiency and operating costs.
POSITIONING:
Those in charge of keeping the line moving rely on one source, magnum systems, who’s known for setting (and raising) the bar for dry bulk solids material handling conveying and weighing and filling because a minute down or a fraction-of-an-ounce-off defeats efficiency, profit and customer satisfaction.
BRAND PROMISES:
- Magnum systems promises to have the best minds with the most experience in the industry on our staff to anticipate or solve your most challenging problems.
- Magnum systems promises to create a working environment that stimulates creativity, encourages accountability and builds better machines.
- Magnum systems promises to keep reinvesting in our people and R&D so that you always have a trusted source for proof of operation concept, seamless install, line ramp up and unfailing, ongoing support.
THE VISION:
Magnum Systems: The people, parts and systems that keep the line moving.
Brand Visual Identity
EAG’s graphic design team came up with a new logo and visual identity that refreshes the brand and distinguishes Magnum from its competitors. The new logo features geometric shapes that define the symbolic M. The negative space is an abstract and subtle depiction of the pneumatic packaging funnel and conveyor belt with the bold angles representing the open-end rotors.
The Magnum brand is key to convey at trade shows. Bringing individual pieces of packaging and pneumatic equipment to shows took away from their integrated system concept. We designed a tradeshow booth as interesting as the equipment and recommended hosting in-booth educational seminars, as well as playing an educational video on two different monitors. The sales team was armed with iPads and a photo library showing systems that they have built.
New marketing collateral was written and designed using the new brand elements.
Internal and external brand ads used the new brand visuals and messaging to get the unified point across.
The Results
Magnum Systems’ new brand is affecting every single touchpoint, from their new website and logo to marketing collateral and outbound and inbound marketing messaging.
Magnum is at long last successful in its quest to create a unified brand with Taylor Products and Smoot being secondary as divisions. The separate looks, feel and tones are gone and the stronger Magnum brand take their place. The focus of the brand on keeping the line moving is prevalent across all marketing channels, which keeps Magnum top of mind with customers.
We understand the power of a brand. And we understand how to develop one from scratch or unify a disjointed one. If you’d like to see your brand develop and grow, let’s talk.