Branded Consumer + OEM Products

 The Challenge(s)

A well-known + beloved product the world over, marketers at Velcro Consumer + Industrial Products groups faced 4 ongoing challenges - regardless of product line or markets.

The Velcro legacy is a great Brand story - Swiss inventor Georges de Mestral discovers natural 'hooks' in the cockleburs caught in his dog's coat. Today dozens of companies make hook + loop fasteners. But there's only one Velcro™ brand - in the name is one of its most important assets.

• To create understanding that Velcro™ is actually a registered Brand + not a generic. (As ‘guardians of the Brand’, we developed + protected Brand + communication standards zealously.)

• That it’s a technology-driven product line; that there are hundreds of different Velcro™ brand hook + loop combinations, each with a specific purpose

• With so many often innocuous uses, it required focus on very specific applications to drive sales and;

• It’s not a destination product: people don’t make a special trip to Home Depot just to buy Velcro™ fasteners alone.

During our 17 years as the agency of record for Velcro USA Inc., we were charged with 1000s of projects marketing speciality (OEM) fasteners + consumer products over dozens of product lines + markets.

OEM/Industrial

The Velcro companies historically do not manufacture healthcare products - they partner with OEMs to create ingenious + utilitarian products. ThomasBoston created a group logo + tag (Ingenuity by Alliance™) + an infographic depicting the partner development process

• Medical device + wellness (OEM)

• Personal care + hygiene (seniors + infants)

• Aerospace, automotive, military markets - high technology hook (HTH™), heat + fire retardant, FAA, MIL-SPEC

• Textile + needle trades

• OEM Merchandising, Point Of Purchase, trade show + display

Consumer Products Group

This was was one of the company's first entries into manufacturing + distributing a finished product beyond its cut pieces, straps + rolls. Kids + parents loved them! We've heard they will soon be introducing more of these fabulous + magical toys.

• Retail DIY, hardware, crafts, toys, education, package goods, home goods, health & beauty, automative aftermarket. Dozens of new product/new category launches + extensions

• Product line consolidation program for VELCRO® brand Consumer Products unified branding, multilingual packaging (blister, clamshell, box, flexo) + merchandising/POP; also many re-staging programs (approx. every 4 yrs.); executed over 500 package designs

Result

Today the Velcro companies remain solidly the leader in most all of its categories. We worked with them through 4 major management changes over 17 years, when the UK majority shareholder bought back all public shares (about 40% of its shares had been traded on the NYSE at one point).

We do not know current sales of this now private company, but we do know we made money when we sold back our Velcro holdings.  

ThomasBoston also launched the start-up Brand of  FASTENation, one of Velcro USA Inc.’s most successful preferred partner fabricators + distributors.

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