Whelen Engineering: Refreshing the brand to capture emotional resonance and blunt competitive incursion

This dominant player in warning lights and sirens for first responders built its business with quality products, unwavering service, and a commitment to do right by its customers. But, armed with slick video and web sizzle, upstart competitors began encroaching on its dominant market share. And its rallying cry, “Manufactured in America,” was losing steam. To counter this, a new brand strategy was developed, beginning with a fresh manifesto: Trusted to Perform. The inference was clear: sizzle sells, but quality and reliability saves lives when it counts most. With this as a springboard, a new generation of marketing is being unleashed, including video, testimonials, training materials and more, which focuses on the human emotions associated with life-threatening work — helping to significantly revitalize engagement and sales.

The brand manifesto that energized the company internally and introduced the brand strategy to key stakeholders.

Video to introduce the brand refresh to customers and prospects.

CREDITS — AGENCY: SOURCE MARKETING. RICH FELDMAN: BUSINESS STRATEGY, RESEARCH DESIGN AND ANALYTICS, CAMPAIGN STRATEGY, CREATIVE STRATEGY, COPYWRITING ON SELECT ELEMENTS. SHOUTOUTS: BRIAN SITTS, CREATIVE DIRECTOR/COPYWRITER; BRETT ADOLFSON, ART DIRECTOR, ASHLEY MARCIANO, ACCOUNT DIRECTOR.