As a pioneer in the welding industry, Kemppi has digitalised its marketing. The result was modern lead generation, better-targeted communication, and cost savings.

Kemppi embarked on several major revamps simultaneously. Known as a pioneer in the welding industry, the company has been at the forefront of promoting digitalisation and adopting new innovations in an otherwise traditionally conservative sector. The underlying currents of change included a brand overhaul and the complete digitalisation of marketing. Crasman's execution of the online service redesign played a key role in both.

"At Kemppi, we set out to revamp several processes and tools at once that allow us to achieve modern lead generation and targeted marketing. The aim was also to digitalise and streamline online publishing and to save time by centralising asset management from network drives into one system.
PÄIVI TALONEN, Marketing Director

Flexible system for multiple needs

The new online service represents the first significant unveiling of the new brand and epitomises marketing digitalisation at its best. Kemppi also decided to forgo professionally designed product brochures and invest in automated presentations that were implemented with the new website. The transition from print to a digital publishing format yields direct savings as printing costs become a thing of the past. There will no longer be a need to update layouts every time product details change. 

The technical platform of the previous online service was unavoidably outdated, and the goal was to choose a secure system that allows for easy content management, integrated asset management, and flexible future development.

Bringing innovations to the fore

As a pioneer in the welding industry, Kemppi has been at the forefront of promoting digitalisation and the adoption of new innovations in an otherwise traditionally conservative sector. IoT, cloud services, and data-driven new services and products were also intended to be showcased online in a timely manner that serves a global clientele. At Kemppi, there is also an understanding of the changing B2B purchasing process and the new demands it places on digital presence.

The revamping of online services and asset management began well in advance while the brand overhaul was still ongoing. Having previously managed large online service projects, Kemppi's Marketing Director Päivi Talonen wanted to involve the technical executor early in the concept phase and to contribute to the user interface design. 

The project progressed under Kemppi's leadership with three main partners working together on the overall package. Crasman was responsible for the technical implementation of the online service and asset management,  Hill+Knowlton Strategies was engaged in branding, and the advertising agency Nitro handled the site's concept and visual design. Avaus Marketing was responsible for marketing automation solutions within the online service. 

Business understanding is the cornerstone of collaboration

Kemppi first adopted Crasman Studio for asset management, with primary user training conducted in early autumn 2015. After a strict curation process, a vast amount of Kemppi's digital material was migrated into the system, some of which are used as content for the new online service. Asset management and carefully input metadata support the maintenance of the online service later on and were an essential foundation for the next phase of the project. 

The technical development of the online service continued into early 2016, in parallel with intensive content production. Service testing was conducted systematically on multiple occasions, first functionally and closer to launch focusing on browser and device compatibility.

Seamless integration with asset management and a robust centralised database solution for managing product information make the Kemppi online service solution unique.

"The benefit of the new online service solution to Kemppi is significant in terms of time savings and thus a direct cost impact. We have succeeded in reducing the time spent on information maintenance and fully automating the laborious product brochure production. Our sales network and end customers benefit from up-to-date information, now centrally available in one place and in multiple languages. In addition to technical implementation, Crasman's team has been able to provide added value – it is important for a partner to understand our business and the tangible benefits Kemppi can achieve with digital solutions.

PÄIVI TALONEN, Marketing Director