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Changing the status quo in a 100-year-old company

If there’s any absolute truth in marketing and sales, it’s that we only buy from people we know, like and trust. This was the starting point when Delfin Vassallo, Marketing Director at Uponor, set out to find an agency to support his team’s marketing efforts. 

His objective was simple: turning marketing into a key revenue driver. The F Company has helped Uponor’s in-house team by materializing a mindset change around marketing.

What kind of challenge did Uponor set out to solve?

Uponor is an over 100-year-old company specializing in sustainable building and infrastructure solutions. As for many established organizations, the role of marketing had so far been that of a support function for a variety of design and communication tasks.

So when Delfin joined the company, his goal was to change the role of marketing within the organization. He set out to rebuild the Uponor Infra marketing organization and deliver the first quick wins with experiment-based marketing. There was just one issue. 

“Handling marketing practicalities takes time, and time was the last thing I had,” Delfin said. 

Juggling everything with a small team was a tough nut to crack so a partner was needed. Delfin assessed candidates for their ways of working, service value, delivery and pricing. The F Company ticked all the right boxes. 

How has The F Company helped Uponor’s marketing team?

Creating a beautiful strategy slide is one thing. Turning that into reality and practice is another. 

The F Company not only helped piece together ideas and the strategy but also put them into practice. This was done by finding the right message about each product and placing it in front of the right audience — well and consistently.

The F Company’s most important accomplishment was helping change the mindset within Uponor about what marketing does. It’s not just about creating PowerPoint presentations, designing brochures and organizing events, but finding ways to earn revenue.

The collaboration has brought Uponor closer to marketing-driven revenue by the day. 

“Instead of remaining as a support function, marketing exists to contribute to the business. The team now has the management’s empowerment to do what we know best,” Delfin says. 

Expanding the scope of the collaboration

In the beginning, Delfin’s own in-house team was very small. Working with The F Company brought 5-10 more people to his team, and with them, just as many diverse experiences, strengths and areas of expertise. 

These days Uponor’s marketing team has more muscle and brainpower, and Delfin considers the TFC team to be an extension of it. There’s never enough bandwidth for all the detailed work that needs to be done so working with a skilled partner is truly invaluable.

Delfin sees the scope of the collaboration expanding in the future. 

“The in-house team will certainly grow, but so might the number of people on The F Company’s side.”

Delfin’s recommendations for working with The F Company 

When you already like your marketing partner, the next step is building the relationship up with mutual trust. That of course takes time, so patience is a must. After all, trust is the foundation of success. 

Delfin recommends one thing for anyone who is looking to collaborate with The F Company: having a growth mindset. Without this, the marketers would continue being order takers in a PowerPoint factory. 

“If the way of working is very old-fashioned, led with the mentality of ‘this is the way we have always done it’, it might be challenging to reap the benefits of such partnership – even with a visionary CMO on board.” 

“For any business relationship between a company and a partner, trust is a must for the people on both sides. And we have that with The F Company. We’ve seen their expertise, and now we’re getting it consistently.”

Delfin Vassallo

Uponor’s Top 3 reasons for choosing The F Company

  1. Expertise
  2. Commitment
  3. Service

Are you also looking to turn your B2B marketing into a revenue driver? Then do not hesitate to contact us! Let’s talk about your marketing and what you’d like to achieve with it.