Essentra Components
partnership story
16+ years
Length of Relationship
About
Essentra Components is a leading global provider of essential components and solutions, focusing on the manufacture and distribution of plastic injection moulded, vinyl dip moulded and metal items. Headquartered in the UK, its global network extends to 28 countries, serving around 64,000 customers in industries such as automotive, equipment manufacturing, electronics and renewable energy.
May 2010
Partnership begins
- Strategy
Our partnership started with a white paper, back when the business still traded as Moss Plastics. That grew into developing the company's PR messaging, then the proposition work behind it, giving the business a better story for its target markets. As the relationship grew, we moved on to campaign development.
February 2011
Components catalogue
Next came the catalogue, one of the business's most important sales tools. Around 1,000 pages, up to 19 language variations, distributed across EMEA every other year. It was a technical feat that demanded precision and trust.
We took on the whole production, from artwork and pagination through translation and market approvals, to print and distribution. We produced the first editions under the Moss Plastics name and carried the catalogue through the change to Essentra Components in 2013, then every edition after that until the last printed one in 2019.
August 2015
Customer lifecycle programme
- Strategy
- Design
- Localisation
In 2015 the work moved into customer lifecycle marketing. We developed programmes across EMEA that built awareness, brought in new customers and re-engaged those who had lapsed.
We shaped the brand narrative around them and produced the content, campaigns and sales tools behind it. This allowed teams in every region to have something to take into their customer conversations.
April 2017
Content marketing
- SEO
- Copywriting
With SEO and Share of Search driving new business, Essentra wanted to hold its position as an industry expert. The Knowledge Centre became the destination for anyone wanting to understand engineering topics.
We develop new SEO-rich articles and guides each month, built from keyword analysis and a technical content calendar and aimed at design engineers and buyers across Essentra's industry targets. Each is optimised for the UK or US market, taking in differences of language, regulation and product specification, before Essentra's team translates it for other countries.
Organic keyword ranking improved by 37% between 2021 and 2022, and 58% of all organic keywords on their UK and US sites now come from the Knowledge Centre.
May 2017
Internal communications
- Content
Around the same time we started working inside the business as well.
From health and safety inductions and cross-selling training films to internal rewards programme communications, newsletters and survey engagement campaigns, we became a trusted partner for internal engagement. It’s a role we continue to play today.
October 2018
Corporate rebrand
- Creative
By now Essentra's global business spanned Components, Filters, Packaging and Tapes. Mergers and acquisitions had produced a diverse offering, with different audiences, industries, locations and cultures across it. Without a brand strong enough to hold it together, the company risked becoming siloed and disjointed.
Eight years in, we knew the nuances of the business well enough to take it on. Working with their senior leadership team, we translated the research findings into a clear and cohesive brand, aligned with their vision to be practical, experts and easy to do business with. That covered primary and secondary logos, colour palettes, tone of voice, application guidelines, templates and branded assets. We built an internal proposition toolkit, persona animations and customer infographics, and took the identity into their buildings with interior design and branding.
The new branding was well received both internally and externally, and helped position Essentra for the next stage of their strategic plan.
September 2019
Business transformation
- Internal communications
A year later Essentra began a major transformation programme and we worked with their internal communications teams to bring colleagues with them. We produced the communications that explained it, along with the training videos and animations behind the new ways of working.
June 2021
Online sales enablement platform
- Bespoke development
Sales teams were still hunting for product information across separate systems and markets. We designed and built an online platform to bring relevant information into one place, so they could find what they needed and get it to customers faster.
August 2023
Product videos
- Content
Essentra wanted a suite of product videos for their e-commerce site, to build product knowledge and drive enquiries, sales and cross-sell. Each film followed a consistent structure: introducing the product range, demonstrating how it was fitted and used, and bringing its key features and benefits to life.
We wrote a script for every product, focusing on benefits and customer-value, and built a storyboard framework to hold them together, then filmed on site and in the studio. We overlayed live footage with onscreen text and light animation in post-production. That came to 100 videos in 6 languages, now live across the e-commerce platform.
TODAY
Our partnership continues
Today we are embedded across their business, helping Essentra communicate, engage and perform with greater impact than ever. The work spans content, internal communications and campaign development, along with photography and employee engagement.
Sixteen years after our first white paper together, our relationship with Essentra now spans teams, markets and disciplines - combining creative delivery with strategic support across the business.
Client quotes
“h2o are easy to work with and take the time to fully understand the brief when working on a new project. Their relationship-driven approach to working with us over the years has really set them apart from the crowd... They always deliver to a high quality and pose thought-provoking ideas for us to consider when tackling a new challenge. Taking the time to understand me, my team and the business really takes the experience (and output) to the next level.”
“h2o have supported Essentra for many years now on a range of global, regional and local projects and campaigns from brand to product marketing, to major 1,000-page catalogues with 19 different language variations. The account management and attention to detail means that big campaigns feel straightforward and h2o remove a lot of the client stress. Their designs are creative and they have come up with a number of outside-the-box solutions for us.”
Begin our partnership
Our average client relationship runs to eight years. Our longest is over eighteen. Those numbers exist because the work keeps delivering and the intelligence keeps compounding the longer we work together.