Images and videos at once for everyone
Lumon Oy is an international group focusing on the sales, manufacturing, installation and maintenance of balcony and terrace glazing products. The company has subsidiaries in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Spain, Canada and China. Balcony and terrace glazing is exported to more than 20 countries. The design and manufacturing of the products takes place in a highly automated factory in Kouvola. Lumon also offers tools and expertise for balcony design. Lumon employs 800 people. Lumon’s main market area is Europe.
From chaos to order
At the beginning of the 2000’s, Lumon Oy started to expand its business internationally. New affiliates, resellers, and partners spread over Europe at a steady pace. That increased the need for marketing material localization. With digitalization, along with the traditional print marketing material, a lot of online and video material piled up, the uncontrollability of the material began to be chaotic. In addition, Lumon’s high-quality images were used in unauthorized brochures by some industry players even on the web. In order to keep marketing lead in Finland and the brand management in control, Lumon started looking for a solution to these growing problems.
Today, Lumon manages all of its marketing assets through the BrandTori material bank provided by Gredi Oy. It is based on Gredi’s modular Gredi Haven software, from which Lumon has selected the most suitable modules and features. BrandTori is also a fully cloud-based system and all the material saved there is stored on secure servers maintained by Gredi.
“BrandTori is the foundation of our marketing. It’s a warehouse and a review and distribution tool,” says Jyrki Hutri, Marketing Manager at Lumon Oy. In addition to the Group’s internal asset management, BrandTori manages, among other things, communication with advertising agencies to prevent unfinished plans from spreading to third parties. “We do not send files through any other service. Otherwise you never know where they may be found,” Hutri says.
Get rid of the intermediate storage
The most popular features of BrandTori include a web subscription channel through which Lumon’s employees, resellers and other authorized partners can order almost all Lumon material, from small PR-items to exhibition material and decorative clothing. Brochures and other print material are also ordered through BrandTori, both global brochures and localized versions for local offices.
“Previously, we had a large intermediate storage facility in Kouvola. We are now working to ensure that everything is delivered directly from the manufacturers’ stores,” Hutri says. Delivery is fast and the goods get to the right address, even directly to the exhibitions. “That means big savings and it has given us an enormous relief, because the material is brand-managed.” According to Hutri, the added benefit is also the ability to see directly from the BrandTori, what is being ordered. “There is no need to browse the catalog separately.”
Photos and videos at once for everyone
Lumon is a leading supplier in its field and continuously produces a large amount of images and material for marketing. All images are stored in the BrandTori and distributed in a controlled way. Licensees and the dealers may have their own images there. The latest material will always follow marketing department guidelines and outsiders will not be able to use them.
In addition to the images, video files, mainly in-house training videos, are always distributed through BrandTori. According to Hutri, video training saves Lumon resources. “It would be foolish to fly back and forth to train individual employees. You can also use the video for training when you want.” At the same time, all Lumon employees, regardless of country, receive the same training materials, sharing large video files is not a problem at all.
One third of work time is saved
“Unnecessary work is gone”, describes Hutri’s BrandTori’s greatest benefit. Brand management stays in Finland and it has been taken in strict control. Local offices can localize materials directly within the BrandTori, for example, by changing the right images and contact information. The final material remains in line with the brand guidelines and the marketing department can sleep calm. “One third of the working time is saved,” Hutri says.
Lumon’s target is to increase internationalization and exports, without forgetting the domestic market. The company’s net sales in 2012 was EUR 78.3 million, of which exports and subsidiaries accounted for 23 million. During the year, exports grew by 30 per cent, and Lumon’s goal is to keeping that pace. “In two years we are going to increase the share of exports over the domestic share,” says Hutri. BrandTori helps with big challenges. “It’s absolutely essential for achieving the growth. Otherwise, things would get out of control.”
