In 2019 the UK arm of global automotive piping manufacturer Sanoh Industrial Co. took the decision to spearhead their marketing with an enhanced digital presence. Sanoh's mission is to deliver quality and innovation through expertise, so they set Redwing the challenge to convey that in a new website. In Q1 2020 we met Angus McCubbin, Director of Sales & Commercial at Sanoh UK and asked how the website, and digital content in general, is changing their business and their industry.
Redwing: Why was the decision taken to upgrade the Sanoh UK website?
Sanoh UK: We didn’t have our own web presence before. Instead we were relying on the global Sanoh website, which was built and maintained out of Japan where we're headquartered. That website is quite old and wasn't meeting our needs and we wanted to showcase our offering far better and move our marketing forward. This new website is the start of a process which will ultimately take our innovation and products to new branches of automotive R&D, and also markets not necessarily connected with the automotive sector.
Redwing: How has the requirement for digital platforms changed in your industry over the past 10-15 years?
Sanoh UK: Certainly the old reliance on face-to-face contacts has been superseded by the need to communicate with a more diverse audience, often around the globe. As the automotive industry moves more towards global networks and development, marketing channels have increasingly moved online. We realised that we needed to evolve with that change and provide digital content that talks to a global audience and shows it what we do.
Redwing: How important was it for the new website to showcase innovation, and how was that made possible?
Sanoh UK: It was extremely important. Our products are commoditised and we need to be able to demonstrate added value to our customers in many areas but particularly in manufacturing innovation. Our customers have set us many different challenges, which we've met head-on by using our experience, skills and knowledge to develop new, automated machinery for superior products. In the new website, we’ve used video and case studies to demonstrate exactly how that machinery works, which has been transformative.
Redwing: How does the video help your customers?
Sanoh UK: Video is powerful because it doesn’t need any words, and increasingly it’s what people expect. The quality of the images and the way it's been produced allows our customers to visualise in seconds complicated, robotic processes that we'd struggle to convey in a thousand words. We can demonstrate our manufacturing ideas and innovation directly, succinctly and powerfully, and there’s no doubt that it also adds a real gloss to the overall user experience.
Redwing: What is the role of the digital agency in making it happen?
Sanoh UK: Redwing’s response to our brief demonstrated an immediate understanding of the direction in which we wanted to go. Not only did they deliver on the brief but they brought a number of innovative and creative ideas to the project which enhanced our initial thoughts and delivered a high quality, functional and relevant end-product.
Redwing: What next with your digital platforms?
Sanoh UK: The next step is to develop the copy to appeal to a wider audience. The market place is changing rapidly with the rise of EV (electric vehicle) technology and the eventual demise of ICE-powered (internal combustion engine) vehicles, driven primarily by legislation. Keeping pace with those changes, we need to demonstrate how our innovative technology and products meet the needs of the transport of the future. Moving forward we wish to collaborate with others and keep up with the pace of change, and our website needs to reflect that.