Digital transformation positions Nedupack: 'Might be 5 steps ahead'

Strong digital brands perform better and shape the future. Nedupack is the perfect example. With a new brand identity and a tailored performance strategy, the packaging manufacturer shaped a successful digital transformation. Sales Manager Dennis Fidom talks about the great digital strides Nedupack has made as an organization. ''We actually didn't really know who we were. Now we are the packaging architect. I'm very proud of that.''

You don't easily meet people in a much better mood than Dennis. The wide smile with which the Nedupack Sales Manager steps into the Adwise building for this interview would only sporadically disappear from his face both with and without a camera. He has been with Nedupack since 2017 and has thus been closely involved in the packaging developer's considerable digital transformation.

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A world of packaging 
Nedupack Thermoforming is a producer and developer of plastic packaging. The Duiven-based B2B company operates in four segments and has a medical, food, industrial and retail branch. Until recently, Nedupack was still a family business, but now, together with three other companies, it is part of the New Packaging Group. ''We are really becoming a serious player in the market,'' Dennis summarizes

The move to digital.
For a long time Nedupack relied entirely on trade shows for lead generation. ''A way that worked extremely well'' underlines Dennis. Therefore, the fact that the website hardly generated any leads at that time caused little disquiet. Slowly Dennis saw the way of acquisition change. ''We felt we had to hook into the digital world''. Even though the business was running well, the need arose for more framed audiences and a step up in lead quality. ''The customer is now getting information online. So that's why you have to be visible digitally.''  

That was really a
eye opener for us from the audit

About the first encounter with Adwise, Dennis is clear: ''It felt right from the first moment. When we left I really had the feeling: these people are going to help us.'' Performing a marketing audit not much later marked the beginning of the cooperation. As most important outcome of that baseline measurement, Dennis cites the unconscious and unpaid delivery of a lot of service. ''That good service also makes Nedupack unique, but for that very reason we didn't really see much of what we do as service. Which it was. By naming that you actually make it a strength.''

Plastic packaging from Nedupack

Growing with a plan.
The opportunities identified during the audit were translated into concrete action points and linked to Nedupack's business goals: more and better leads, better visibility and overall growth in website traffic. Nedupack's digital transition started.
Via a new brand identity and logo, Nedupack digitally retrained itself as a packaging architect.

A strategic marketing plan also followed later to shape the marketing organization from a fixed structure and based on data, to load the new brand more broadly and to grow structurally. ''We are now working with a clear plan. And together we are making really great strides in this,'' Dennis says enthusiastically while making a connection to the results: ''For example, we are now visible to a target group that would never have found us otherwise.'' 

A one-stop shop
A collaboration with Adwise is based on the Adwise Way-of-Work. Using different cycles, progress is constantly evaluated, measured and new goals are set. ''The knowledge and specialization is all within reach. Adwise is like a one-stop shop like Makro in that'' laughs Dennis, as he talks about working with an agency. He also cites the financial picture as an advantage. If you want to have all those specialties and knowledge in-house, the costs are prohibitive. Moreover, you have to do what you are good at. For us that is making beautiful packaging and for Adwise that is marketing''.

When I text or call, I immediately get an answer

From Nedupack was the need to be taken step by step into the digital world. There are especially praising words for Performance Manager Nathalie Wolf, who proactively took the lead in the cooperation. ''She handled that super well and very adequately and that really lit the fire from both sides. That was super cool to see,'' Dennis explains enthusiastically. As a people he also keeps insisting on the importance of a good and personal relationship. ''And that goes very well. When I app or call, I always get an immediate answer.''

De Adwise Way of Work

Increasingly mature.
Exploring the digital world feels increasingly comfortable for Nedupack. ''We need Adwise to take us to that step,'' Dennis points out when it comes to bringing marketing work in-house. ''Only now we re not to the point where we want to set that up ourselves in the form of FTEs, but that's definitely a goal in the future,'' Dennis dreams.  

Unexpectedly high impact.
In less than three years, digital has become an essential part of Nedupack's business strategy. And that is reflected in the results. ''We are now visible to a group that would never have found us otherwise,'' Dennis cites as one such outcome. ''We now get in touch daily with new companies that we can help. So generating more and better leads has succeeded!'' So the structural growth brought about by the new brand identity and performance strategy is showing. Even on a larger scale than Nedupack initially realized.

Then we saw that we're
maybe 5 steps ahead

Dennis sees the acquisition by the New Packaging Group as a reality check of how well things were actually going. ''When we were still stand-alone, we didn't realize it so much. Then you always want better. When we were taken over, we could compare very well and conclude that we were perhaps five steps ahead of fellow firms in the market.'' As a concrete example, he cites the use of social media channels such as LinkedIn, where Nedupack is highly visible on a weekly basis with good content that also generates business. ''If you contrast that with the rest of the market, we really have put on a pair of seven-mile boots,'' Dennis proudly explains.