Giving Unifrax’s product launch a fighting chance

A product launch can raise anxiety levels at the best of times. Creating one within six weeks, at the height of a pandemic is ambitious and bold. But after 13 years of working with Unifrax, the global leader in high-temperature speciality fibre products, they had the confidence, that together, we’d make the Durablanket LT LTZ North American launch successful.

Even if your B2B brand is as well known in industrial sectors as Unifrax, generating the level of brand awareness necessary is no mean feat. Throw in furlough and working remotely into the mix, only heightens the challenge to get a product out to market on time.

The sales team planned a webinar for launch week, conveying Durablanket’s applications and nuanced benefits. They tasked us with devising a product launch plan and marketing campaign that would yield maximum standout. But like most in the sector, Unifrax products are visually indistinguishable.

Many B2B companies opt for lack-lustre, ‘me too’, product photography to lead their campaigns. And now, all and sundry are lazily taking advantage of the pandemic with questionable, altruistic positioning.

Unifrax wanted to buck the trend. They needed a Big Idea – a concept that would pack a punch, rise above the noise of the crowd, and appeal to their predominantly male target audience. While also having the flexibility to work across B2B marketing channels.

Once the core benefit of Durablanket was agreed – thermal conductivity performance – Intermedia’s creative team quickly got to work on concepts. Unifrax eagerly bought into the idea of a boxer in a high-temperature environment, hitting a roll of Durablanket, supported by a well-known boxing phrase in the headline.

We rallied our production studio to bring the concept to life. The team hired a professional boxer as a model and composited fire and a product shot into the concept’s visualisation. It hammered home Durablanlet’s outperformance.

If there were an example of Intermedia’s Bigger Impact philosophy, this would be it.

 

 

A product launch is often a discrete project. But still, Durablanket needed an integrated marketing approach to support and drive interest in the product and webinar. During campaign planning, we struck a careful balance between production time and budget. Concept image variations were deployed across an eBook, a technical animation sequence, and social tiles, reinforced with retouched product shots and graphics.

 

 

The launch and webinar went ahead on time, without a hitch – rolled out with a LinkedIn advertising and email campaign, and a landing page with the eBook and animation sequence in situ. Attendance to the webinar was well above industry average – especially promising – given the pandemic restrictions. High-value sales enquiries came through in days.

 

 

Completing a client project is one thing. Making their job easier and staving the pressure off, is quite another – best summed up by Unifrax’s product manager:

“You said that you’d be able to deliver in such a short deadline, and you did. Thanks to the Intermedia team, especially Mike and John for a great campaign. And thanks for going the extra mile, in giving us direction and creating a well-conceived launch plan. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

 

Are you feeling the pressure, with limited time and resource?

Covid-19 is ravaging the economy, decimating business performance, and damaging brand health. But if you want to weather through, you still need to compete and retain customer interest in your products and services.

Board directors are under pressure, which only increases the demands on sales and marketing teams. So, when you’ve got a campaign that needs Bigger Impact, even in the most challenging of circumstances, we’ll be in your corner. Talk to Intermedia.

Originally published August 5, 2020 17:39pm, updated October 14, 2020