Relaunching the premier provider of mission-critical workplace solutions
Since its inception in 1963, Winsted has been a pioneer in designing and developing products for mission-critical control environments – workspaces supporting 24/7/365 activities that require tools beyond typical office furniture and supplies. Over time, Winsted became a world leader in its highly specialized field, but by the end of 2021, its once-booming measures of success had become more sporadic. While the company still enjoyed high recognition in security and military sectors, it was less well known in the broadcast, transportation, and power industries, and had very little awareness among PSAP (public safety answering point) providers such as 911 call centers.
Linnihan Foy identified terrific areas of opportunity, recommending shifts in creative and strategic directions to return Winsted’s profile where it belonged: as the premier provider of mission-critical workplace solutions.
The Actions
In the first six months of our partnership, Linnihan Foy reimagined Winsted’s look, feel, and voice, and worked with the company to develop a strategy of tailoring each step of the consumer’s journey to maximize engagement, using a “loyalty loop” as a guide. Each phase of the journey had unique objectives that served the overarching goal of turning consumers into customers. Content marketing was identified as a pillar, with finished content repurposed many different ways to maximize brand exposure.
Linnihan Foy’s team designed a communications plan focused on the unique phases of the consumer journey for each priority audience. Markets were organized into three tiers of activity based on input from the Winsted team. Strategies included defending Winsted’s position in the security market by prioritizing budget and communication levels with this audience, maintaining new product and brand launch momentum with a steady drumbeat of communication among audio/visual, transportation and power audiences, and effectively launching Winsted into the PSAP market through attention-grabbing and engaging marketing efforts. Specific applications were identified and tailored for each tier of the plan.
The Results
Linnihan Foy’s work to promote Winsted resulted in increases in awareness, brand exposure, engagement, and media leads. Metrics included targeted media impressions through print and digital platforms across all markets, digital impressions, and direct clicks to Winsted’s website from tactics like display, email, and paid digital advertising. Additionally, trade media efforts aided in achieving other goals without direct measurement, such as lifting other traffic sources (direct, organic, and other traffic). All these efforts resulted in increasing awareness, perception, familiarity, and consideration of the Winsted brand.
