Sunnen
Sunnen began in the back of Joe Sunnen’s car in 1924, selling custom-made tools for the automotive industry. Over 100 years later, Sunnen is an American success story and a global name in precision engineering. As the organization moved into the modern age, leadership enlisted Paradigm as its full-service e-commerce agency.
From manufacturing branding to creative landing pages, read on for a comprehensive breakdown of our partnership.
Role
- Brand Positioning
- Brand Identity Systems
- E-Commerce Website Design & Strategy
- Print Design
- Anniversary Campaign
Industry
- Manufacturing
Challenge
For most of its history, Sunnen’s customers knew the company for one thing and one thing only: honing machines and accessories. In fairness, the company pioneered many of the standard honing techniques still in use today. Yet, as the company expanded and acquired new subsidiaries around the world, customers weren’t seeing the breadth of what Sunnen could do.
After nearly a century in business, Sunnen was at a tipping point. It needed a brand, message and experience that conveyed a bold new chapter that would define the next 100 years — as a full-service e-commerce agency, Paradigm was up for the challenge of manufacturing branding.
Discovery
Sunnen’s brand program began with a series of Discovery sessions. We spoke with Sunnen leaders around the world to get a clear picture of where the company was, where it had been and where it was headed.
As expected, we heard some conflicting answers, but also plenty of common ground. We worked closely with Sunnen’s U.S. leadership team to determine which insights held the most weight and which ones would ultimately inform our branding work.
Brand Positioning
As a full-service branding and e-commerce agency, we have redefined countless organizations through brand positioning — but Sunnen’s scope created a challenge. Its sprawling catalog includes machines, tools and accessories over three distinct product lines of bore creation, sizing and finishing. Yet, there is one quality uniting each of them: precision.
Historically, Sunnen’s manufacturing branding centered around the quality of its products. And without detracting from that quality, we tasked ourselves with pulling back the curtain to share what that quality meant for its customers: safer products, faster engines, longer machine life — and much more.
Sunnen’s new messaging comes together in a simple tagline, built from just three words we felt best conveyed the experience of working with the company: Partnership. Precision. Performance.
Manufacturing Branding
Much of Sunnen’s visual identity was anchored by a sunburst mark, first designed early in the company’s history. However, during our discovery sessions, we learned the mark had experienced some wear and tear over the years. Some measurements were imperfect, original illustrations were lost to time and the mark itself created a sense that the company was Japanese — especially when paired with the Sunnen name.
After much consideration, we moved to refine the sunburst mark and bring it into the 21st century. We updated the manufacturing branding with mathematically sound angles and spacing, forming a radial that subtly nods to the shape of a Sunnen honing rod, one of the company’s most fundamental products. For the wordmark, we adopted a modern geometric typeface. With its bold look and all-caps treatment, the wordmark positions Sunnen to stand apart from competitors.
Brand Guidelines
With all the pieces in place, it was time to develop a comprehensive brand guidelines document. This document housed all the brand positioning messaging and design elements that made the new Sunnen brand so distinct. One of the biggest pain points we heard from Sunnen leadership was a lack of consistency from one subsidiary to another. Our brand guidelines document included in-depth instructions for the usage of the new manufacturing branding, giving all Sunnen team members a common playbook.
E-Commerce Web Design
Sunnen’s old website was localized to the U.S. and didn’t offer the modern functionality of its competitors. Our goal as its full-service e-commerce agency was to position the website as a vital sales tool for the Sunnen team, ultimately alleviating some of the burden on overtasked sales representatives.
The new website was built on an e-commerce platform, empowering Sunnen to readily share the breadth of its product catalog with users. We developed several access levels, meaning Sunnen could determine which users could only browse the catalog and which could make purchases.
The new site showcases Sunnen’s full capabilities, as well as its critical applications. Our designers carefully considered photography to illustrate the key benefits of using Sunnen equipment. We also wrote the site’s content to promote discoverability and organic search engine optimization. Our full-service e-commerce agency team wanted every user to leave the website learning something new about what Sunnen does and what it will do for them.
Challenge #2
In 2024, Sunnen officially reached 100 years of partnership, precision and performance. The organization’s legacy in the honing industry is something worth celebrating, so Sunnen turned to Paradigm again to launch a year-long anniversary campaign. From creative landing pages to social media posts, explore how Paradigm rang in the celebration.
Anniversary Logo
Historically, anniversary logos are simple. Many organizations simply add a small “100” next to their original logo and call it a day — but our team wanted to reimagine the core elements of Sunnen’s existing logo to create a new facet of established manufacturing branding.
Our designers composed a red “100” to take center stage. Lines radiate from the logo’s center as a nod to Sunnen’s iconic sunburst. Meanwhile, a cutout between the zeros opened space to insert “Sunnen” in its traditional sans-serif typeface. “1924” and “2024” align vertically between the text, marking the years of Sunnen’s inception as well as its centennial celebration.
The final anniversary logo was recognizable to Sunnen’s audience yet unique enough to distinguish anniversary content from other promotions.
Campaign Ideation
With a logo in hand, Sunnen was ready to choose a campaign theme. Founder Joe Sunnen took to the road in 1924 — in the century since, countless people, employees, awards and products have pushed the organization toward where it stands today.
The “100 Faces of Sunnen” theme opened the door to spotlight all applicable elements of Sunnen’s history while still falling in line with preexisting manufacturing branding. By broadening the scope past the present day, we paved the way to acknowledge all people, products, partnerships and milestones that contributed to Sunnen’s growth.
Creative Landing Page
Sunnen’s St. Louis headquarters kept historical records, but in the digital age, the details collected dust. Our team visited its archive to pull notable events, awards, photography and more for our content creation team. We even sourced a copy of a 1969 novelization of their history: “An American Saga: The Fabulous Tale of Sunnen Products Company.”
Our creative landing page utilized this archival information to create an engaging, side-scrolling rendition of Sunnen’s history. Our copywriters and designers created a seamless user journey through history, covering everything from the invention of early products to meetings with President Eisenhower. Additionally, our developers incorporated buttons to in-depth articles and applicable web pages to funnel traffic to the Sunnen website.
Social Media Content
The next stage of our campaign involved using social media to spark further engagement. On both LinkedIn and Facebook, our content creation team highlighted elements of the Sunnen landing page while sharing additional historic and modern contributors to its success.
Sunnen’s social media campaign became the thread between the past, present and future. Each post fits seamlessly alongside established manufacturing branding while turned a century of stories into shareable celebrations. More than that, new followers were drawn in to follow Sunnen’s walk down memory lane throughout 2024.
Facebook Performance
- Reached 58.5K Users
- Inspired 2.9K Interactions
- Funneled 415 Users to the Website
- Generated 32 Contact Forms
- Drove 28 Downloads & 4 Sign Ups
LinkedIn Performance
- Earned 1511.K Impressions and 9K Page Visits
- Gained 636 New Followers
- Inspired 2.7K Interactions
- Funneled 223 Users to the Website
- Generated 22 Contact Forms
- Drove 7 Downloads
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