Building Ardent Hire Solutions

The Project Deliverables

Company naming, Research & Brand Strategy, Branding, Corporate Identity and logo design, Website development, Film Production, Brochures, Sales Presentations, Advertising, Copywriting, PR, SEO and PPC, Internal communications, Vehicle livery design, e-bulletins, Newsletters, Blog and content authoring, Customer surveys, Project Management

Ardent Hire Solutions was formed in 2015 by the amalgamation of two industry-leading hire companies, creating a new powerhouse in the UK hire industry. This firmly established Ardent Hire Solutions as JCB’s largest customer in Europe.

Ardent has achieved a lot in its first year of business, but it wasn’t without its challenges. The merger brought together two teams under new management and externally the company needed a distinctive new brand that would strike a chord with all its customers - old and new.

Ardent’s management team knew that they needed their communications, and brand to work for them, their staff and their customers from the moment the business launched, so they brought Noise on board to help them get it right from the word go. We used our extensive experience in brand development and communications to help Ardent create a strong identity for the new company, internally and externally, and to manage the clear and sensitive communication of the merger to all stakeholders.

Our Approach

From the first announcements to the roll-out of the new vehicle livery, we’ve worked with Ardent every step of the way to make sure they have a brand that matches up to their company values: reliable, professional, sustainable and capable. We’ve delivered a host of communications tools including naming, branding, a responsive website, marketing materials, brand guidelines, presentations and staff newsletters.

And we’re delighted to still be supporting Ardent today, providing ongoing assistance to the management and marketing team as the company expands throughout the UK.

Creating a brand with character

Ardent needed a brand that identified them as a leading player in the plant hire industry. It had to be instantly recognisable on Ardent’s wide range of machinery and equipment as well as providing a distinctive identity for Ardent’s online and print communications.

At Noise we always ensure that we get to know our clients inside out, from the management team to how the company interacts with customers. Building a strong working relationship with the Ardent team gave us the insights we needed to create a brand that captured the character and strengths of the company and its values.

After seeing the variety of vehicles in Ardent’s fleet and learning about the company’s commitment to continually update its machines, we designed a livery that was flexible and bold enough to stand out on everything from mini excavator to telehandlers. Ardent’s logo was combined with a unique typeface and a palette of modern colours, carefully selected to convey aspects of the Ardent’s personality and add impact to their communications. All this and more was brought together in a set of comprehensive brand guidelines to enable Ardent’s own team to apply the new brand consistently and effectively in a range of situations and media.

If you’re looking for a hardworking, multi-disciplined digital marketing communications agency that constantly strives to create the most compelling campaigns for you, and can draw upon the experiences of a wide ranging client base, then Noise should be your partner of choice.

Steve Corcoran

Film production

In the fast-paced world of modern media, film is a vital ingredient in any marketing campaign and at Noise we know how to make each frame count. A film can communicate company values and product information in an efficient and highly effective way and can be used online or in direct sales. But to achieve maximum impact, a film must be produced with a clear goal in mind and tailored to reflect your brand’s values.

Noise produced films for Ardent to use internally and for external promotion, including an animated ident and a sales film showcasing their fleet. Each of the films was carefully scripted to convey the energy and enthusiasm of Ardent’s operation and the expertise of their team in a way that is as relevant to the site foreman as it is to the group purchasing manager.

Customer-focused website

As a completely new name in the industry we knew that it would be tough for Ardent to compete with other plant hire companies online. To meet this challenge, we used our web development expertise to create a dynamic new website that would not only meet Ardent’s objectives at the point of their launch but could continue to deliver in the longer term as the company grows.

The resulting site is unique in the industry. More than just an online catalogue of services, it is a digital home for Ardent’s new brand. It covers all aspects of the business, from the fundamental principles on which the company is founded, to the technical specifications of the machines available for hire and an internationally focused plant sales area. Since its launch the site has consistently attracted and converted online traffic in to new business for Ardent.

Ardent’s customer-focused service is one of its key strengths so the site provides a fully integrated customer experience. It allows for full engagement with the customer base through real time reporting, inventory of equipment on hire, invoicing, enquiry history and lead management.

We continually adapt and update the site to improve its productivity, providing regular blogs and news updates to keep the content fresh for regular customers and drawing new customers in through continual SEO and PPC management. We also launched Ardent’s first social media profiles, attracting over 1,000 new Facebook fans and almost 200 new followers in September 2016 alone.

Our proactive, forward-thinking approach means that the website is constantly evolving alongside the business.

Consistent communications

From a short email, to a technical guide outlining specifications for the company’s extensive fleet, Noise produced a complete suite of communications collateral for Ardent.

We worked closely with the management team to produce communications tailored to the needs of all the different stakeholders involved in the merger, including newsletters to keep staff informed of the changes and external notices to reassure existing customers.

Having oversight over the whole launch process allowed us to ensure a consistent tone of voice across all Ardent’s internal and external communications, and we were proud of the new identity we worked together to create – so we took every opportunity to promote its key principles and raise the visibility of the brand.

Powerful advertising

Awareness is everything in a crowded marketplace like the plant hire industry, so we made building brand recognition a key target for our work with Ardent.

First Noise created a trade marketing campaign featuring a series of potent advertisements for the trade press: image focused ads with simple, powerful messages to announce the brand and make sure Ardent landed well within the industry.

The next step was to create tactical, tailored adverts to target key sections of Ardent’s customer base via influential industry publications such as Construction News and Construction Index, the largest single construction magazine in the UK. These ads appeared both online and in print and used focussed taglines to capture how the company could meet the needs of each industry.

Roll-out

For a new brand to be successful, it needs to be reproduced and applied consistently across all areas of the business from equipment to letterheads, delivery vehicles to staff uniforms. With Ardent combining two existing businesses, each with their own livery and signage, this transformation was a significant undertaking and Ardent asked us to work with them to make sure it went as smoothly as possible.

Together we rolled out the new brand to a dozen different depots across the country and over 5000 individual assets. The change was carefully managed to make sure that both existing customers and Ardent employees were aware of the process and understood that it would be a gradual process.

Using our comprehensive brand guidelines, a creative approach and drawing on our industry experience we adapted the brand to suit unusual circumstances while keeping it consistent and instantly recognisable, resulting in a strong brand presence that both staff and customers have confidence in.

Driving Results

We’re proud to have been a part of Ardent’s first year in business, and we’ve enjoyed working with them to produce a brand with the profile, impact and character to convey the company’s values. Just months since the launch, a recent survey of the UK hire industry found that 86% of customers were aware of Ardent’s brand.

Ardent are now in the process of investing over £100m to create the youngest hire fleet in the UK. We’re looking forward to continuing to support the team as they expand their business, delivering powerful, professional communications that give Ardent a head start in the plant hire industry.

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