Engineering Start-up
Creating a brand, voice and new product proposition for start up, Punk Couplings
Punk® couplings use a novel geometric philosophy to combine the benefits of a gear coupling with the functionality of a universal joint (UJ). With angular misalignments up to 15° in a compact, lightweight package, Punk® couplings provide unique systems integration opportunities – and are set to revolutionise torque transmission.
I worked with the founders of this exciting company to build a brand and proposition from scratch, having done extensive research in the market. I then worked to recruit and train a team of project managers, designers and developers to bring this exciting new brand to life.
Step 1: The brief
I was approached by Punk Couplings as a freelance project which piqued my interest immediately. The founder of this new engineering up had created a new product for use in the Aviation, Aerospace, Defence and Automotive industries. He had recently resigned from a very prominent role as an Aerospace engineer because he had come up with and patented a new invention - a type of Torque coupling. The brief was, in essence that Simon (the MD of this foundling company) knew his product and it's applications and had secured the patent, which he was very excited about.
What he didn't know was anything about digital. As one geek to another, and after demonstrations of the product, we decided to team up. Me trying to understand the complexities of Aerospace engineering and the intricacies of what we were trying to sell and to what markets, and Simon trying to understand why UX and a robust (and scalable) online presence could make or break his invention.
And so began a very interesting project!
Step 2; Establishing the market, vision and brand tone
Engineering is a complex area of expertise and one that it took a lot of. work to understand. In addition to creating the UX for the site, including mapping features to comparison tables, creating the IA and components, another really fun challenge on this project was copywriting. Before I specialised in UX I worked as an SEO copywriter, so this was a great experience for me, allowing me to combine the two things I like doing most.
I put together a team of engineers and marketers and ran a 2 day workshop to talk through marketing analysis, competitor reviews, and establish how we could stand out from the crowd.
The nearest competitor we established was Dyson - straight talking, underdog, innovative products. An expert and a disruptor. From there I started creating copy, a tag line, product names and including all the technical information necessary without being confusing - then added this into fames.
Step 3; The brand and the voice
So, what we came up with was 'Punk Couplings'. 'Punk' stood out from the rest of the market 'Torque Couplings' gave us the rankings - and a tagline to suite both 'The Torque Revolution', (which went down very well in testing!).
Placing Punk as both reliable and failsafe, as well as a market disruptor with a brand that appealed to engineers across our target markets required a lot of user testing within the industry. I ran face-to-face user tests, workshops both online and in person, and collated the information to play back to stakeholders, before establishing agreement and moving on to working with the MD t create the Punk digital and marketing team.
Step 4; Establishing the team and launch of the Punk Couplings Website
With Simon's knowledge of the industry and my knowledge of UX and digital marketing, we put together a small team to get ready for the launch of the product.
I employed a designer, FE coder, Marketing director and PR exec., CAD illustrator and Project manager. We all worked closely together to establish brand and communication, create content correct for the markets and arrange pitches and talks.
The Punk logo needed to be versatile, simple and effective (for use online, in traditional paper comms, and physically stamped on each element of the shippable product).
The website needed to contain all the technical information required for each product, as well as a simple contact form with information relevant to each market (Aerospace, Engineering, Defence and Automotive Industries).
Outcomes
The Punk website is live here, and the Punk Couplings team are currently in talks about some very lucrative deals with Aerospace and Defence. As well as gaining great traffic from organic search, the main use of the site is a place to direct potential investors following -person, shop-floor pitches. The form and CRM integration were also planned as part of the UX to allow enquiries to be assigned correctly and the right information to be sent in a personalised and sector specific way.
Testimonial
"Natalie didn't bat and eyelid at what to me seemed like quite a daunting task, given my background as a mechanic!
She took on the role with gusto, and moved quicker than I was quite ready for!
Natalie saw my confusion around creating a brief and recruiting the right people for the job - and effectively changed her role from 'advisor' to 'manager', whilst still taking the time to patiently, and often repeatedly, explain everything carefully to me.
She brought in specialists from her contacts and quickly built a small but very effective team of coders, graphic designers and marketers while performing an extra copywriting role herself (in addition to managing others, including me!)
I cannot recommend Natalie enough,".
Simon Parker, Managing Director, Punk Couplings