Brand in Action: Chip off the old block

Who: Saelen and TS Industrie

What: The Saelen and TS Industrie brands had a long history in European green waste solutions. Yet, a series of acquisitions and changes to the business had created a muddled brand identity with little consistency across the company’s products and markets. “We had no continuity in our brand strategy,” marketing manager at Saelen Juliette Berchon says. “We have two different brands, Saelen and TS Industrie, and we wanted to have the same identity for both in order to make them stronger.”

How: Saelen teamed up with French branding consultants Brand Brothers to unify both the design and communications strategy of the brands and products. Ultimately, the Saelen brand remained the purview of the French market while the German and export markets would be communicated to under the TS Industrie brand. This relates back to the nearly 140 year history of the Saelen brand in France. However, the company has been united under a green- and yellow-based brand system that represents the environmental aspects of the brand while reflecting its modernity. The products were split into the wood series – for wood chipping – and the green series – for the shredding and chipping of mulit-vegetation both with Saelen’s patented mixed-rotor technology.

Why: From a disjointed, yet highly- regarded heritage brand to the modern face of agricultural and environmental waste, Saelen and TS Industrie have changed the way their brand communications and positioning. “This new brand is a first step to a future communications strategy,” Berchon says. “It sets the foundation for the future. We have to grow further because we now have to use these new brands to have a consistent and coordinated communication across all countries.”