Director of Marketing Jeremy King On Caster Connection's Brand Refresh

Caster Connection's original (and current) Head of Marketing Jeremy King gives us the inside scoop on Connection's 30th anniversary and brand refresh.

Director of Marketing Jeremy King

How long have you been with Caster Connection?

JK: I've been with Caster Connection for 6-1/2 years.

What are your primary duties as Director of Marketing?

JK: My duties have pretty much run the gamut of anything you can imagine marketing-wise during my time here, but they’ve become more refined the last couple of years. Primarily I’m responsible for development and implementation of our holistic marketing strategy and ensuring that we stick to our principles. I also do more detail oriented tasks like content creation, trade show execution, and shaping the way our company uses our CRM.

What do you enjoy most about Caster Connection?

JK: I really enjoy the company culture and the ability to make decisions and see the fruits of our labor very quickly. Caster Connection has a very enabling environment. What I mean by that is that almost any option is considered when it comes to providing a solution for a client/prospect, for a marketing campaign, for a product concept, etc. That kind of setting gets rid of any unnecessary barrier to be creative. This helps to foster some really great ideas that people across every department have come up with the last few years here.

From a marketing standpoint, what separates Caster Connection from the competition?

JK: Marketing in the caster industry has made a huge leap forward from where it was when I started here in 2011, and the same holds true for us. Early on, a big focus of ours was simply to develop basic material promoting the functionality of our products and explaining what we do as a company. Over time we’ve really started to understand our personality and our “voice”.

We’re proud of our company and what we stand for. We place a large focus on being genuine about who we are – in an interesting way. Whether we’re publishing something hyper-serious, funny, or bold, we’re looking to clearly communicate our message and garner a reaction from someone.

How would you describe Caster Connection’s refreshed brand in one sentence?

JK: Caster Connection’s refreshed brand is distinct, symbolic, consistent, and classic.

What was your primary goal when you set out to do Caster Connection's brand refresh?

JK: To borrow from Caster Connection's brand refresh press release earlier this year: “Our goal in this brand refresh process has been to develop an enduring and cohesive brand experience that will further distinguish Caster Connection from the rest of our industry”.

A lot of great stuff was published from the marketing department from 2011-2016, but we never formally documented a set of principles for what it meant to market Caster Connection. That meant things could go off the rails as we’ve added more people to the team. To fix that issue, we assessed who we are and what we care about, documented that, and then worked to develop visuals that communicate that message. Additionally, a big focus of ours was to develop consistency in our messaging and look and feel – from our Caster Connection logo, to the product logos, brochures/catalogs and more.

What’s the significance of the 30 year anniversary?

JK: Being in business for 30 years in any industry is a tremendous accomplishment. The way that Caster Connection has evolved from year 20 to year 30 is especially remarkable to me. We’ve bucked the status quo in transforming from purely a distributor of casters, to a manufacturer of casters, and a distributor of casters and more. That shift has been huge in aiding our growth and success.

Looking back, how much has changed at Caster Connection?

JK: A great deal has changed just since I started here 6-1/2 years ago. I arrived here just 13 months after the company moved its HQ (from Chardon, OH) to Columbus, so lots of pieces were still in flux.

The most significant changes since then that come to mind are how we’ve gotten the right people on board, defined our culture, developed and branded our own product lines, as well as launching a successful eCommerce site and other sales channels. I’m sure there are other big changes since then, but those immediately come to mind.

Any predictions for the future?

JK: The Cleveland Browns won’t win it all this year. Other than that, expect Caster Connection to stay on the same exciting trajectory we’ve been on for the last several years.