AW Capabilities Month Case Study Wednesday: Sonoco

Welcome to Addison Whitney Capabilities Month! Throughout the month of March, we will be designating one week where we will be highlighting one of Addison Whitney’s capabilities – visual branding, verbal branding, market research and brand strategy – via brand salsa and our social media channels.

This week, we are focusing on Brand Strategy, which encompasses the balance of business planning with creative thinking to create clear road maps to where you want your brand to be in the future!

As one of the leading global branding firms, Addison Whitney is behind some of the world’s strongest and most iconic brands. We’re proud of the work we do for all of our clients and love sharing our stories, especially our brand strategy experience. That’s why this week’s “Case Study Wednesday”, where we highlight one of our amazing clients and the work we have done with them, will focus on our brand strategy work!

Our case study this week highlights Addison Whitney’s work with Sonoco: 

When Sonoco acquired Tegrant Corporation, it created a leading multi-material protective packaging business unit within one of the largest diversified global packaging companies in the world. While Sonoco had a small protective packaging presence, it was not as well known as Tegrant and its three primary business units – Protexic, ThermoSafe and Alloyd – all leading brands in their individual spaces.

Following the Tegrant acquisition, Sonoco sought to create a new brand architecture that would integrate Tegrant’s three businesses into Sonoco’s primarily master branded strategy in a way that would effectively communicate the brands and product offerings while minimizing any loss to brand equity and sales. In addition, it was important that the new structure help tell the Sonoco protective packaging story to existing and potential customers.

Addison Whitney conducted a number of internal interviews with leaders of both organizations as well as brand owners, and multiple workshops in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of overall business and marketing strategies as they relate to the current and potential brand architecture strategies.

Based on the research, we recommended Sonoco change the name of its protective packaging division to Sonoco Protective Solutions to better communicate the division’s broad offerings. We also recommended the Alloyd and ThermoSafe brands be maintained in the short term in order to introduce the Sonoco name alongside the existing brands to key audiences; in the long-term, the brands would be transitioned to Sonoco product brand names.

Leveraging the Sonoco brand as soon as possible was important as it signaled strength, stability, and more global capabilities to the target audience. Additionally, it helps internal audiences more quickly adopt the new brand identity.

Addison Whitney is a global branding firm with a passion for building strong brands. 

To learn more about Addison Whitney, visit our website at AddisonWhitney.com, or contact us here.

 Want to get exposed to real projects and attain real-life knowledge and skills vital for success in brand strategy? Click here for information about interning with the Addison Whitney brand strategy team!