Are you getting ready to enter the Business-to-Business category of the WARC Awards for Effectiveness? Here's something to inspire you! Read on to find out more about 2021 Gold winner, global engineering group Trelleborg.

Trelleborg: SmartPort

Brand: Trelleborg Marine & Infrastructure
Brand owner: Trelleborg Group
Entrant company: Stein IAS
Market: Global

The challenge: Trelleborg is a global engineering group, predominately providing polymer solutions such as rubber seals or marine bumpers. In recent years, the marine market has been driven by advances in IoT technologies, growing tech-receptivity and players such as Amazon and Alibaba entering the market. In turn, Trelleborg saw the opportunity not just to evolve along with the market, but to be an accelerant of its change.

The insight: Through research, Trelleborg found that the market was keen to digitally innovate, despite slow uptake to date. The more established players in the 'marine-tech' market space had already generated interest by launching digital adjuncts to their existing portfolios, but there was no leader in this emerging space. Thus, Trelleborg's opportunity to go big and bold by launching an entirely new brand identity and suite of offerings to take ownership of the space was amply validated.

The execution: The brand developed a new positioning, the Smarter Approach, and, within it, launched the SmartPort strategic sub-brand through a digitally integrated GTM campaign across paid trade media, social media, email marketing and earned media channels.

The results: SmartPort revenue reached 9% of overall revenue in 2020 – and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10% over the next five years.

Dive deeper

In partnership with On Strategy Showcase's Fergus O'Carroll, WARC has interviewed Richard Hepworth, business unit president at Trelleborg Marine & Infrastructure, and Tom Stein, chairman and chief client officer at Stein IAS to uncover behind-the-scenes insights on the work.

Where to listen

The WARC Awards for Effectiveness are open for entries with deadline on 2nd March.

Your Business-to-Business entry will be judged by an amazing panel of industry experts, chaired by Antonia Wade, Global Chief Marketing Officer at PwC.

Our Entry Pack contains all the info you need to enter the Awards. If you still have questions, drop us a line at effectiveness@warc.com.