KMF are a sheet metal fabrication company with plants in the UK and Slovakia, offering metal manufacturing and precision engineering services across Europe. The group have had a considerable period of sustained growth over the last few years and are looking to achieve a target of £50 million turnover by 2021 to celebrate 50 years in business.

When we started working with KMF, the individual sites marketed themselves in silos rather than a consolidated approach with clear, defined brand messages under the KMF Group umbrella. In order to help the group to achieve it’s £50 million target, it was looking to lead the way in terms of marketing and set themselves apart from competitors by defining key brand values and USPs. KMF Group will then communicate with colleagues, suppliers, existing customers and new through a brand campaign.

We looked to define the KMF Group brand hierarchy including the multiple sites and brands to develop a structure within the group. We wanted to get under the skin of the business and work with KMF team to define the group’s mission, vision and values and determine USPs to bring focus and consistency to KMF Groups future marketing messaging for colleagues, suppliers and customers.

Taking the current KMF brand, we looked to inject a dose of personality and modernity into it whilst building on its existing foundations to then develop comprehensive brand guidelines for the KMF Group.

In order to create the basis of the brand guidelines, Harrison Carloss conducted multiple focus groups with KMF employees at different levels. To understand the brand’s identity and values, we asked them a variety of questions, including “Why did you choose to work for KMF Group?” and “What makes you proud to work for KMF Group?” We then analysed the results of these focus groups and, along with the outcomes of a customer survey, pulled out 6 key themes which encompassed their brand personality.

In addition, we collated Brand Guidelines to align the use of logos, fonts and colours across the KMF brand. This encourages a more holistic approach to marketing across the brand and reduces opportunity for contradiction between sites.