articles

At FABTECH 2026, Mazak put its value laser on a stand under a different name. Caterpillar has done the same with SEM for years. Here is why industrial brands keep price fights away from their main name, and what a smaller business can copy.

Apple just built its new Apple Music logo by filming real sound waves in a tray of oil. As buyers grow tired of AI-generated imagery, industrial businesses are sitting on the most convincing brand material there is. Here's how to use it.

Agencies are betting big on B2B creator marketing. For industrial businesses, the most credible voices aren't for hire. They're already running your machines.

Upperton, Pyrum and Acieta all rebranded in 2026 for the same reason: the business had grown and the brand was still describing the older, smaller company. Here's how to spot that gap in your own business and close it before it costs you another tender.

Novo Nordisk and Coca-Cola both overhauled their brands this year without throwing out the assets people already recognise. With research showing most B2B ads get credited to the wrong company, that lesson matters for every industrial business.

58% of B2B firms have stepped up brand building this year, but nearly half can't get it funded. The ones who win the budget don't talk about logos. They put the gap in front of the board.

A new AIM B2B study found 69% of business leaders say B2B content gets its message across but rarely changes minds. Here's why industrial content falls flat, and the four-question insight test that fixes it.

New Siegel+Gale research finds industrial brands seen as simpler are 66% more desirable to buyers. Here's what simple really means for a complex business, and how to get there without dumbing anything down.

In August 2026 a US trademark board ruled that SitePro can't own the neon green on its tripod legs because the colour does a job. Here's why the things your whole sector needs will never make you recognisable, and how to find something you can own.

SKF makes bearings. Tra Mongkut makes fertiliser. Both won big at Cannes Lions 2026 by telling the story of what their product makes possible. Here's how industrial businesses can steal the thinking.

On 1 September 2026, ATLIX retired TRUMPF's TruPrint name from its metal printers. Honeywell Aerospace kept the Honeywell name when it split off. Two very different moves, one shared lesson for industrial businesses: know how much of your credibility is borrowed before someone takes it back.

McLaren just rebuilt its wordmark from a sign above a 1950s family garage. JCB still displays the trailer it welded from wartime scrap. Here's how industrial businesses can find the true, specific story that makes buyers believe them.

Two industrial businesses changed their names this month without changing who they are. Leonard and S&S show why a brand that describes your past puts a ceiling on your future, and how to spot it in yours.

Loenbro, Exosens, Acieta and GameChange Energy all spent 2026 folding separate names into one brand. Here is why a scatter of names makes a big industrial business look small, and three questions to ask before you touch yours.

New 2026 research found AI assistants correctly describe 96% of brands but never name 89% of them when a buyer asks a category question. Here is what industrial firms need to fix, and why it is a brand problem before it is a search problem.

Forrester says the average B2B buying decision now involves 13 internal stakeholders and nine external influencers. Gartner says 74% of those groups are in open conflict. Your brand's real job is not to persuade the person you meet, it is to win the argument that happens after you leave.

For thirty years, a sharp-looking website was evidence you were a serious operation. AI killed that shortcut in 2026. Here is what industrial buyers trust instead, and why your factory already holds the answer.

Two machinery brands rebranded at IFAT 2026 and neither move started with a logo. Both fixed what they call things. Here is why your model numbers are quietly costing you work, and the rule for fixing them.

There were 558,000 unfilled US manufacturing jobs in May 2026, and most industrial firms are trying to fix it with job ads instead of brand. Here is why your brand is your best recruiter, and what Lincoln Electric and Siemens do differently.

In July 2026 a CEO lost their job over a logo. The lesson for industrial businesses is not that rebrands are dangerous, it is that most companies knock out the wall holding the roof up while leaving the one that is blocking the door.

2026 has been called the year of the B2B rebrand, and industrial businesses are joining in. But new logos on old positioning is just expensive decoration. Here is the order that actually works, with proof from Nippon Sanso Carbonic Products, Graham Engineering and GF Smith.

On 20 July 2026 Coca-Cola launched a new global identity across 200+ markets and invented almost nothing new. The whole job was consistency. For industrial businesses, that is the cheapest brand win on the table, and most are leaving it on the floor.

The LogoLounge 2026 Trend Report reviewed more than 30,000 identities and found the same thing everywhere: brands have stopped sitting still and started behaving. For industrial businesses running on a single logo file, that gap is about to get very visible.

New 2026 research shows B2B buyers lock their shortlist before they ever contact you, and transparent pricing has been their number one ask for four years running. Here is how industrial brands stop hiding and start winning the shortlist.

A July 2026 rebrand by HVAC filter maker Brookaire shows the positioning move most industrial businesses are still missing: sell the problem that stops happening, not the object you ship. Here is how to find your version of it.

Industrial businesses treat their age like an embarrassment and bury it behind a dated logo. But a century of showing up is a risk-reduction claim no start-up can match. Here is how to modernise a heritage brand without deleting the trust you spent decades building.

Most industrial businesses hide the factory floor and show customers a brochure instead. In 2026 that floor is the most convincing sales pitch and the best recruitment ad you own. Here is how to open the door.

A new 2026 audit of 100 B2B brands found the assets companies spend the most on are the ones that make them invisible. Here is how industrial firms can own the assets nobody else is touching.

When an industrial business grows, it collects names: divisions, product brands, an acquisition or two that never got tidied up. That tangle is called brand architecture, and left undesigned it makes a capable company look scattered and small. Here is how to fix it.

More B2B buyers now start with ChatGPT or Perplexity, and the AI builds their shortlist before anyone sees your website. Here is how to make sure your industrial brand gets named.

Every industrial brand claims reliability, speed and quality, which is exactly why buyers can't tell them apart. The brands pulling ahead in 2026 sell the human on the other end and the job they finish. Here is how to do the same.

Two recent industrial rebrands quietly dropped the hype and leaned into proof of real, durable work. Here is why that move wins in 2026, and how to make it on any budget.

Businesses always talk about what they do and why they are awesome. It’s a rare occasion that they talk about the impact they have on their customers.

You've paid for the floor space. You've booked the flights. You've told your team to "make it look good." But here's the thing...

If you run an industrial business, it’s easy to underestimate the power of digital presence.

Most industrial businesses think tenders are all about pricing, experience, or who you know.

Most prospects don’t decide whether to work with you in the meeting. They decide long before that, quietly, privately, and often subconsciously.

If you run an industrial business — whether it’s in New Zealand, Australia, or anywhere in the world — you probably know this feeling...

Alright, folks, let's talk shop! Design isn't just about making things pretty (though, let's admit, that's a bonus). It's the secret sauce that can skyrocket your business or leave it lagging behind in the dust. We're diving deep into the design universe, where poor choices can sink ships, but cracking the design code can launch you into the stratosphere of success!

If your customers are mindlessly scrolling, not really paying attention, is it even possible to market your business on social and get people to buy?

So many businesses are throwing money away when it comes to marketing. Literally, scrumpling and folding it into impressive origami objects only to take a match and set the whole thing alight! This is all too common. The problem. No brand

The history of storytelling goes back thousands of years. Cave dwellers used pigment to paint on walls with their hands to create stories and myths. The ancient Greeks carved their language into walls to tell how history was moving forward.

The brander in me could only stare into the sky, smile, and appreciate the genius that is branding.

We launched the new Rockburgh brand and it's getting noticed already! Cheeky little mention from the awesome team at Design Assembly NZ. We are proud as punch right now :)

Little did we know that one word would have us locked in a 40 minute discussion about whether is stays or goes.

“What’s that got to do with you?” or “How does this affect the future of our business?”.