Kemppi, a pioneering company in the welding industry, is digitalising its marketing. The outcome has been modern lead generation, better-targeted communication, and cost savings.

Kemppi embarked on several major innovations simultaneously. Known as a pioneer in the welding industry, the company has been at the forefront of promoting digitalisation and adopting new innovations in a traditionally conservative sector. The brand revitalisation and the complete digitalisation of marketing were the undercurrents driving this change. The web service redevelopment implemented by Crasman played a key role in both aspects.

"At Kemppi, we set out to renew several processes and tools at once that enable us to have modern lead generation and targeted marketing. The goal was also to digitalise and streamline online publication, saving time by consolidating content management from network drives into one system.
PÄIVI TALONEN, Marketing Director

A Flexible System for Various Needs

The new web service is the first significant public appearance of the new brand and represents the best of marketing digitalisation. Kemppi also decided to abandon product brochures crafted by professional graphic designers and focus on automated brochure generation, which was implemented in conjunction with the new website. Transitioning from print to digital publication formats brings direct savings as printing costs become a thing of the past. Furthermore, there is no longer a need to update layouts whenever product information changes. 

The technical platform of the previous web service was hopelessly outdated, and there was a desire to select a secure system that enables easy content management, integrated asset management, and flexible further development.

Highlighting Innovations

Known as a leader in the welding industry, Kemppi has been at the forefront of promoting digitalisation and adopting new innovations in a traditionally conservative sector. IoT, cloud services, and data-driven new services and products were also to be prominently showcased online in a manner that serves a global customer base. Kemppi also understands the evolving B2B purchasing process and the new requirements it poses for digital presence.

The renewal of online services and asset management began well in advance, while the brand refresh was still a work in progress. Having previously carried out large web service projects, Kemppi's Marketing Director Päivi Talonen wanted to involve the technical implementer early on in the concept development and give feedback on user interface design. 

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

Understanding Business is the Cornerstone of Collaboration

First, Kemppi adopted Crasman Studio for asset management, with main user training sessions conducted in early autumn 2015. After a stringent selection process, a vast amount of Kemppi's digital material was transferred to the system, some of which is used as content in the new web service. Asset management and carefully input metadata will later support the maintenance of the online service and were a crucial foundation for the next phase of the project. 

The technical development of the web service continued into early 2016, concurrently with intensive content production. The service was systematically tested several times, first functionally and, as launch approached, with an emphasis on browser and device compatibility.

The seamless integration with asset management and a robust centralised database solution for product information management make Kemppi's web service solution unique.

"The benefit of the new web service solution for Kemppi is significant time savings and thus a direct cost impact. We have successfully reduced the time spent on information maintenance and automated the production of product brochures entirely. Our sales network and end customers benefit from up-to-date information, now centrally available in one place in multiple languages. Crasman's team was able to provide added value beyond technical implementation – it is vital for a partner to understand our business and the tangible benefits that Kemppi can achieve with digital solutions.

PÄIVI TALONEN, Marketing Director