Summary
The Think Tank was approached by Stanelco Plc to advise on the re-branding of its business and product divisions.
Historically Stanelco was a company that provided radio-frequency welding services but had diversified into the manufacture and supply of bioplastics. The growth for the business was coming from the bioplastics division and a decision was made to separate the two divisions into two companies and later change the name of the plc to reflect the bioplastics division.
The Think Tank developed a new name for the plc and the bioplastics division and then created branding that could work across the whole business, as well as providing flexibility for future brand introductions.
The name Biome was chosen for the bioplastics business and subsequently this was also used for the plc. The final structure was subsidiaries in the names of Biome Bioplastics and Stanelco and a holding company Biome plc.
Following the rebrand The Think Tank developed an integrated campaign to introduce the new branding within tight budgetary constraints and subsequently to introduce new bioplastics products. This campaign combined electronic direct marketing, press relations, events and an e-newsletter. The campaign resulted in the securing of additional funding from the stock market and sales doubling, year on year, since the re-brand.
About the Client Company
Stanelco Plc was founded in the 1940’s to provide radio-frequency welding services however it diversified in the 1990’s to enter the bioplastics marketplace. Following the renaming and rebrand by The Think Tank the group became Biome Technologies plc.
The activities of Biome Technologies are split into two divisions: Bioplastics and Stanelco RF Technologies. Both divisions are underpinned by the group’s skills in the commercialisation and development of innovative technology.
The Group’s core strategy is to develop and broaden its bioplastics business organically through the exploitation of higher value areas where the properties of bioplastic materials are most suitable and valued.
The Group is engaged with a variety of large-scale international customers and partners on a number of key commercial and development partnerships. These target applications in food, horticulture and electronics markets, among others, to exploit the group’s existing and new products.
Strategy
To reposition the Stanelco business, emphasising the bioplastics division as the growth area for the future, and creating a new identity that would provide longevity and recognition for the plc as well as providing a closer relationship to the core bioplastic product.
Once branding was completed, a launch strategy was developed to communicate the development to core stakeholders, raise the profile of the business rapidly within key sectors, widen awareness within a limited budget and deliver sales enquiries.
Objectives
-To rename and rebrand the Stanleco business to allow recognition and growth of the bioplastics division while ensuring brand recognition and consistency across both divisions and the group plc. This rebranding should also be flexible enough to allow for the addition of other brands in the future.
-To develop a product naming strategy that would emphasis the brand and provide for the addition of new products and product categories.
-To deliver a suite of materials that would engage audiences and provide the sales tools required to take the business forward.
-To launch the renamed bioplastics division to internal and external stakeholders followed by the renaming of the group plc and communication to markets and shareholders.
-To develop brand awareness and introduce new products to key audiences within a very limited budget.
-To deliver enquiries from new markets and audiences for the use of bioplastics.
The Target Audience
Internal – shareholders, employees
External – stock markets, customers, suppliers, analysts, potential customers
Target markets – plastics, packaging, agriculture, electronics, personal care/cosmetics
Media/Channels Used
Renaming of Business
Several options were investigated for the renaming of the business however the name ‘Biome’ was chosen as the preferred route. The word Biome represents an ecosystem which represented the business in two ways – firstly to describe the circular nature of bioplastic products, from plant to plastic and back into the earth, and secondly to represent the goals or the business, to grow organically and for each division to support the other.
Due to the confidential nature of this name change and the impact that it could have upon a plc research was only carried out amongst the closest customers and other trusted stakeholders.
Creating the Brand
A brand identity was developed to reflect the name chosen, its meaning and the cyclical nature of bioplastics production. The branding also needed to be flexible enough to work across several divisions and allow for the addition of future business units, if required.
The Think Tank was also tasked with creating a product naming structure that would aid the growth of brand awareness as well as providing the flexibility required for the addition of new products or product groups. These product names included the Biome brand to create a series of product categories, eg BiomeHT, BiomeEP, BiomeClear, each which include several products types which retained their numerical code to provide continuity for customers.
Developing the Tools
A set of communication tools were developed to help deliver the brand and support sales efforts. These included:
-Website with animation, video content, developed in multiple languages and full CMS system
-Brochure, communicating brand messaging and demonstrating use of bioplastics and product categories available.
-Enewsletter template to provide the client with the capability to populate themselves and distribute on a quarterly basis.
-Flash video for use at conferences and on the web site communicating ‘The World of Bioplastics’ message to inspire potential customers as to the possible uses of bioplastics.
Launching of the New Brand
There was a very limited budget for the launch of the new name and brand identity. We needed to achieve awareness in the most cost effective way possible with a varied audience.
The launch was staged in the following way:
Communcation of new divisional names and brand identities to internal audience, customers, suppliers, shareholders and markets. This was carried out through PR activity to financial press, an internal conference for staff, face to face presentation to customers and direct communication to suppliers and other interested parties.
Launch of Biome Bioplastics Division to target markets
A strategy of PR and electronic communication was developed to target audiences across the various markets identified above.
Core to this strategy was PR activity, developing awareness with key journalists, arranging interviews with the chairman of the business, visits to the manufacturing plant, securing feature articles to discuss the future of bioplastics and general awareness through inclusion of news pieces in the trade press. The goal of this activity was to quickly raise awareness of the brand whilst positioning it as a thought leader within the sector.
This was supported by the purchase of data for core audiences and a series of launch e-shots, directing recipients to the web site to find out more. 4Pay per click advertising was used to increase web site traffic whilst online recognition was developed and visitors were delivered through organic searches.
An enewsletter template was provided to the client, which they could populate and distribute themselves on a quarterly basis to continue communication to target audiences.
Launch of new High Temperature Bioplastic
To reinforce the introduction of the new brand, a new product launch was planned to follow the initial campaign. This followed a similar structure to the brand launch with additional video content to demonstrate the product.
Launch of PLC Branding
Finally, the name of the plc group company was changed from Stanelco to Biome Technologies and communicated to markets by PR activity and directly to other stakeholders in writing.
The channels chosen for this campaign were gauged to provide the most cost effective route to quickly launch and raise the profile of this rebrand for the business. The mix of PR and electronic direct marketing provided us with the balance required to communicate core brand messaging and develop perceptions whilst also encouraging enquiry via direct marketing to a wide target audience.
Timescales
Name and Brand Development – six weeks
Delivery of Tools – five weeks
Campaign – four months
Total project – around six months
The campaign resulted in the securing of additional funding from the stock market and sales doubling, year on year, since the re-brand.
