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Océ, strength unseen Damn - didn’t see that one coming
Imagine you’re an African buffalo. Imagine your strong legs, your
immense build. You’re almost six feet tall. Imagine the size of
your horns (if you’re male that is).You weigh anything up to 750
kilos. You’re one of the ‘big five’, possibly the most powerful of
them all, and you’re proud of it. Got the picture in your mind?
Now your life consists of walking around the savannah, pretty
much king (or queen) of your habitat. And life is good. Nothing
can touch you. The hyenas are laughable, pitiful creatures and
you see off prides of lions on a daily basis with a stare and flare
of your nostrils. Yet suddenly, from out of nowhere, he’s there.
You’ve heard rumours but, keeping to himself, the strength
and capacities of the creature before you were never truly
fathomed. Your world is in tatters; your throne is in danger.
Fight or flight, the adrenaline chases through your veins. This
will be a battle to remember…
If all goes as planned, a similar scenario belongs to the near
future. To break the romantic spell, the setting is not the plains
Coolbrands: Maarten & Anouk in discussion with Jan Hol
of Africa, but the world of professional document management.
It is relatively irrelevant who the fictitious buffalo is (although
those who are tuned-in will work it out), but the name of the
unknown creature starts with an ‘o’ and ends in ‘é’… Oh come
on, there’s a ‘c’ in-between!
Thing is, much to the distress of the company’s new Com­
munications Director, you could be forgiven for not knowing
the answer. But that’s likely to change. So let’s discuss.
Out of the shadows…
Founded over 130 years ago, Océ is one of the world’s leading
document management companies. Nowadays, the company
develops products and services for exchanging information,
including reproducing, presenting and managing documents and,
at least by its clients, is recognised for extremely high quality.
In fact, in some market segments, Océ has a better market
position than the top household name (hint: name contains the
letter x twice) in the States. Yet, while there has been constant
investment in technology throughout the years, there has been
next to no investment in marketing.That’s why you, as a private
consumer, don’t know about them.
Enter Jan Hol, Senior Vice President of Communications and a man
on a mission: “After a history of very little marketing commu-
nications, we faced a double challenge at Océ – internal and
external. First, we had to make the company itself brand aware.
Second, while we have an extensive, loyal client base, modern
challenges mean we have to expand beyond the trusted circle and enhance
our general brand awareness. One of the bottlenecks in our expansion has
been that, although the quality of our products is up there with the very best,
if not better, company boards haven’t dared to choose our products since
we are not as well known as others. While the company had grown between
1970 and 2000 through small and some sizeable acquisitions, the brand policy
was fragmented considering the foreign purchases had considerable freedom
in marketing and use of the logo. We decided therefore to create a feeling of
being one company by steering the brand policy centrally.”
…into the light
After extensive preparation, the international head office started getting
the various countries more involved, developing a policy known as Global
Communications with local flavour. The company formed an international
brand team with both technical and sales staff to translate the company’s
distinctive capacity towards the clients and to develop and implement a
global branding strategy for the company. The result was the development
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of the true Océ Brand Identity. This in turn led to a company brand book
that states what the company wants to stand for. It opens powerfully: “If we
communicate with one voice… all 24,000 of us at Océ… the whole world
will hear us. That’s how powerful a unified brand can be. Because strong
brands force a powerful emotional bond with their customers and help them
attract and retain those customers more easily.” The book describes in detail
yet in understandable language what the company should stand for, its brand
essence ‘Océ makes things happen beyond the ordinary’ and brand values
(involved, capable of independent thought, driven and pragmatic) which
underpin the essence. It contains detailed explanation of what the values
mean and guidelines for staff on how to communicate its contents.The book
was presented to Océ’s top 500 in February 2007 and presented at a brand
conference in June.
In order to enhance brand awareness outside the existing client circle, a new
approach was presented at the company’s OpenHouse, held this year for the
14th time. The brand values were presented in a different light by shifting CEO Rokus van Iperen | Number of employees
focus from technology to the brand experience (a new printer was 24,000 | Company turnover €3.1b | Brand
presented by violinists). The ROI is thousands of potential new clients. values involved, capable of independent thought, driven
and pragmatic | Brand promise “Océ makes things
The result of the internal marketing policy is that the marketing com­ happen beyond the ordinary” | Target group profes-
munications policy now has a permanent fixture on all company agendas and sional user environments, those processing high document
the issue has been raised to the strategic policy. With assistance from the volumes | Primary advertising media trade
brand team, all the countries have taken on the changes. media, internet.
Communications and brand policy are on the strategic agenda for the first
time.The objective is now to implement the policy structurally through staff
training and new personnel. The new approach to the OpenHouse has had
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a considerable positive impact on press, clients and relations. Adver­­tising
is next.