Welcome to this episode of the Advertising and marketing Vanguard podcast. At present, Jenny Rooney speaks with Francis Perrin, chief model and sustainability officer at Rehlko, about model transformation and B2B advertising innovation.
Francis discusses his profession, from P&G and L’Oréal to main the transformation of Kohler Power into the impartial firm Rehlko. He shares the strategic pondering behind the rebrand, together with how they created the identify Rehlko as an anagram of Kohler to keep up heritage whereas establishing independence.
The dialog explores the chance in residential energy technology, competing as a challenger model towards business giants, and why Francis believes B2B advertising gives extra alternatives than shopper advertising.
Previous to Rehlko, Francis’ profession spanned main CPG manufacturers together with Pernod Ricard, the place he gained in depth worldwide expertise managing international manufacturers and digital innovation. He beforehand held CMO roles at Bell Manufacturers and Saint Michel Wine Estates earlier than transitioning to B2B advertising.
Episode Highlights:
[03:09] The Kohler Power Heritage Story — Francis explains the historical past behind Rehlko’s basis: “Kohler is understood for his or her kitchen and tub issues, however it’s truly a really massive firm that does extra. As they manufactured bathtubs early within the twentieth century, additionally they received into the engine enterprise. After getting a foundry, they created the primary engines and in addition the primary mills initially to equip farmers within the Midwest, the place they didn’t have entry to electrical energy.” This heritage story turns into central to Rehlko’s model positioning because it establishes independence whereas honoring its century-plus legacy.
[06:35] The Strategic Rebrand from Kohler to Rehlko — Francis reveals the artistic resolution behind the identify Rehlko: “Our problem was to provide you with a brand new identify. Now we have plenty of enterprise companions that had been so hooked up to the Kohler model. The artistic resolution was discovering the identify Rehlko, an anagram of Kohler, however there’s plenty of intentionality and goal in it. The primary two letters, R and E, stand for resilience and reinvention.”
[11:11] The “Resilience as Reinvention” Marketing campaign Technique — Francis discusses their launch marketing campaign: “Resilience is an important phrase for us. We’re one of many first corporations to essentially attempt to personal that phrase. We offer energy the place and when the grid doesn’t.” This positioning helps differentiate Rehlko in a crowded industrial market by specializing in the core worth proposition moderately than technical specs.
[18:03] Embedding Sustainability in Model Management — Francis explains his distinctive title construction: “Typically, sustainability groups are separate from the enterprise. It’s one in every of their challenges to get consideration. I feel by embedding it within the model, we’re in a position to verify everybody’s engaged on it within the C-suite. I’m the one who brings up the subject within the C-suite in our conferences.” This integration ensures sustainability isn’t handled as a separate initiative however as core to enterprise technique.
[21:02] Why B2B Advertising and marketing Gives Extra Alternatives — When requested why B2B advertising is healthier, Francis responds: “As a result of there’s so many alternatives and low hanging fruit. I might encourage any B2C marketer to contemplate making the transfer. You’ll work on a brand new product launch, and the engineer will provide you with the 100 the reason why this product is healthier. After which as entrepreneurs, we’ll distill that and attempt to provide you with a singular promoting level that’s actually differentiated.”
