Thu, 06/07/2018 - 10:12

AUBURN, Ala. – Marketing, public relations and design agency TRINDGROUP received the highest honor in the 2018 Public Relations Council of Alabama (PRCA) Medallion Awards competition for brand development of an oil and gas safety solutions company. The Medallion Awards competition acknowledges excellence for strategic public relations programs and projects. TRINDGROUP received a Medallion Award for work representing oil and gas client Flame Smart, a burner management systems company. “In the booming oil and gas industry, brand and identity development is necessary to differentiate yourself from the competition and speak directly to your customers’ needs,” said Jessie King, communication director of TRINDGROUP. “To earn recognition on behalf of industrial, business-to-business clients in a primarily business-to-consumer competition speaks to the quality of work our team produces.” Flame Smart offers burner management solutions to combat the challenges of traditional burner management systems (BMS). A BMS is a safety solution for control and monitoring of burner units in applications such as oil and gas, manufacturing and food processing. In a market segment with several close competitors and often confusing product offerings, TRINDGROUP recognized the need introduce Flame Smart as a recognizable, innovative and modern brand within the oil and gas industry. TRINDGROUP developed and implemented tailored branding strategies for Flame Smart to tackle the challenge of launching a new, private-labeled product line that stands apart from the competition. “A company’s visual brand is more than a mark or logo,” said Kevin Smith, Creative Director of TRINDGROUP. “The brand becomes the recognizable visual element to customers, serving as a handshake and first impression to new customers, while to those who know the brand, remaining visually cohesive, unique among competitors and true to the company’s values and messaging.” “We approached Flame Smart’s branding with this idea,” Smith said. “Our client trusted the process and couldn’t be happier with the overall results.” Beginning the Flame Smart brand development process with competitive audits and product usability research, TRINDGROUP created brand guidelines, a symbol and logo, an interactive website, print and digital marketing collateral pieces, branded packaging and enhanced user manuals. View the Flame Smart branding case study and see examples of the work here. Submissions to the Medallion Awards are evaluated on their own merits for research, planning, implementation, evaluation and creativity by accredited public relations practitioners across the country. The highest level of honor is the Medallion Award, followed by the Award of Excellence and the Award of Merit. This year’s PRCA entries were judged by members of the Richmond, Va., chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). TRINDGROUP’s award-winning submissions represented client work across categories including brand development, focus group research, collateral pieces, motion graphics and media campaigns within wastewater, oil and gas, marine, processing and agricultural industries. Submitting work for consideration for the first time, TRINDGROUP earned an award for each of its entries and was one of the most awarded entities to represent its parent chapter, PRCA-East Alabama.