THE CLIENT

Marlow was established in 1957 in Hailsham, East Sussex, an area rich in the heritage of rope production. From humble beginnings, the brand has grown to become a global leader in the design and manufacture of high performance ropes.

Originally focusing exclusively on the marine industry, Marlow has strategically expanded into a broad range of markets including Defence & Special Forces, Fire & Rescue, Film & Theatre, and Arboriculture. 

THE CHALLENGE

As an official supplier of Team Skandia, Great Britain’s 2012 Olympic sailing team, Marlow wanted to launch a fresh new marketing campaign with particular emphasis on a new website and international advertising campaign. Having primarily focused on product in their advertising in the past, the brand wanted to increase the focus on the many teams and athletes that they support throughout the world.

Marlow required full redevelopment of their website to reflect the additional new target markets that they service. They also wanted to make sure that the site was fully compatible on all modern tablet and smartphone devices, ensuring that the company continues to lead the way in technical rope innovation.

THE RESULT

Brandwave worked closely with the team at Marlow to gauge a clear understanding of their 2012 marketing objectives. The result was an aspirational new advertising campaign, which combines elements of Marlow's technical design features, with striking action imagery, and an engaging user testimonial.

In response to the second half of the challenge, Brandwave delivered a clean, modern and identifiable new website, with a template that distinctly categorises each of Marlow's target markets and features. This was achieved by creating a bespoke tabbing system that catalogued each feature of the particular product category.

The new website also incorporates a new global stockists page enabling users to pinpoint their nearest Marlow dealer via a detailed radius search. Other features include an updated Marlow TV page which draws focus to the broad range of Marlow sponsored boats, teams, and athletes; generating a greater level of interactivity and highlighting Marlow's continued support of the sailing industry.