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LMI is a leading global provider of vision sensor technology for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators. LMI serves multiple markets – LMI sensors are used in many diverse applications wherever vision sensor technology will reduce cost, improve quality, or increase yield. LMI has used Hale! Marketing’s services for a wide range of strategic and tactical marketing activities.
LMI needed to launch a new product line that used new technology. The project would involve both the launch planning and tactical marketing support of the launch itself. In addition, the product line would require a name, logo and design language. The product line would need to be positioned within the existing LMI product families, and was aimed specifically at suppliers of lumber milling equipment.
The work began with the creation of a launch plan. The plan was centred around LIGNA, at Deutsche Messe, Hannover, where LMI would introduce the product to its European customers. The intent was also to begin discussions with one major new OEM. The plan was created as a single large graphical poster that LMI could mount on an office wall, and included a complete, detailed launch budget.
Next was the positioning and naming of the product line. Chroma+scan was chosen because it reflected the new colour capabilities of the scanner line. The “+” provided opportunity for graphic recognition within the design language, and facilitated the creation of new “Chroma+” names for other product line components.
A mood board was then created to establish the look and feel of the Chroma+scan brand. Yellows and greys were chosen to reflect both the technical aspect of the product and its industrial equipment nature. Yellow was then adopted as the housing color for all scanners in the Chroma+scan product line.
Because the first products were still at prototype stage, creating a graphic library of visual materials for use in the launch involved simulating the scanner outputs, creating 3D Maya solid models of processing equipment, and using CAD drawings to construct “photographs” of scanners. In addition, we performed a photo shoot to obtain pictures of wood products.
In preparation for the product line’s launch, we then created a range of materials that used the design language established with the mood board. These included magazine ads, direct mail invitations, visuals for a video animation, a PowerPoint presentation, datasheets, a micro site, and a whitepaper. The design work extended to the trade show booth, which we created to be fully configurable for different stand layouts and sizes using a truss system and fabric panels.
After the initial launch of Chroma+scan in Europe, Hale! Marketing has continued to support LMI’s marketing program in North America, both with Chroma+scan and other product and corporate initiatives.
For the literature design system, LMI asked for a series of literature designs to be provided as templates to support marketing and sales efforts. The templates would be used by the LMI marketing and sales staff to create datasheets, custom brochures, and information packs for use in LMI’s diverse markets. We explored various alternatives and eventually decided that a custom web-based application would meet the requirements and provide LMI with the ability to generate custom literature that conformed with the corporate standard design anywhere an internet connection was available – important for a global organization.
The “Docbuilder” we developed has a Flash-based user interface that’s simple to use. For instance, creating a new datasheet involves inserting product numbers, specifications, copy and images into pre-defined form fields. Prompts and other user-friendly guides assist with the process. A single click then formats the information into hi-res and low-res PDF documents that can be used to publish directly to the web, sent in email, or quick-printed. Documents can now be quickly created by the client’s staff, automatically formatted by the Docbuilder into the corporate standard design, and rapidly sent to sales prospects.
LMI is a leading global provider of vision sensor technology for original equipment manufacturers and system integrators. LMI serves multiple markets – LMI sensors are used in many diverse applications wherever vision sensor technology will reduce cost, improve quality, or increase yield. LMI has used Hale! Marketing’s services for a wide range of marketing activities.
For the corporate advertising project, LMI required a series of three corporate “standard” ads that would contain an area for easily-changed specific market messages and be flexible to accommodate different size publication formats. The challenge was that LMI’s markets are very diverse, and because LMI operates worldwide, the language would have to be kept simple.
We approached the project by first translating the key messages the client wanted to communicate into a number of “themes” that could be explored visually. For instance, LMI’s 3D sensor technology is recognized as providing clear advantage over 2D sensing in some situations – so the derived theme was “things look better”. Similarly, because LMI designs and builds specific sensors to fit each specific application rather than offering an off-the-shelf product, “it fits” became another theme. We then defined various approaches for presenting these themes. A “lessons” approach could excuse the fact that the ad’s presentation and copy had to be simple for non-native English speakers. Eventually we decided that using a “comparisons” approach would enable us to present the major themes both graphically and simply, while maintaining interest.
The ads clearly spelled out the LMI's advantages, and LMI accepted all the concepts with no changes!
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