The Challenge
Varel International manufactures drill bits for the global oil and gas drilling industry, as well as for the blast hole mining, industrial, construction and water well drilling markets.
The company experienced explosive growth over the past several years and needed to partner with a marketing services team that could help Varel balance its image with its growing market presence. In mid-2007, the company relocated its internal marketing department from Dallas to Houston and selected BrandExtract as its new marketing services provider.
We did a complete audit of Varel’s marketing efforts, including a new logo, trade show materials, advertising, brochures and Website. We met with several key managers at Varel to discuss strategy. Our brand audit found that many of the company’s marketing pieces were outdated and lacked the cohesive image and branding breadth needed to support Varel’s growing enterprise. On the plus side, Varel was ready to embrace change and was planning for upcoming product launches that could provide vehicles for projecting a fresh image.
The BrandExtract Solution
After the initial assessment, we developed a brand toolkit that established a new look and feel for Varel and included:
- Ad series
- Trade show graphics
- Website look and layout
- Product packaging
- E-newsletter
- Product brochures
- Product specification sheets
- OTC campaign
Through collaboration with Varel, we created and fine-tuned a brand program that conveyed the company’s increasing market presence while being flexible enough for Varel to implement globally and support internally.
The Results
Varel’s new brand image has helped the company gain recognition as a top-ranked competitor in the drill bit market. Varel has had two highly successful product launches, two identity shifting ad campaigns, and has rolled out an award-winning retooled that is drawing in added traffic:
- Overall daily site traffic (visits/day) has increased 150 percent since launch of the new site.
- Page views increased from 25,621 in March 2007 to 33,761 after the launch.
A brand-building campaign in the days leading up to the 2008 Offshore Technology Conference that included print ads, Web banners, an e-invite, a micro-site and an e-newsletter, boosted awareness of the Varel brand:
- Click response for the e-invite asking recipients to attend the OTC trade show exceeded the industry average by approximately 800 percent.
- Click response for the e-newsletter announcing Varel’s involvement at OTC surpassed the industry average by over 900 percent.
- Also a result of the e-mail campaign items above, Varel traffic (page views) for the month of May increased 150 percent from the previous 12-month average.
