inCONVERSATION with Matcon and Stilo

A TALE OF HOW GREAT THINGS HAPPEN WHEN INNOVATIVE BRANDS GET TOGETHER

When Graphic Designer Ian Woodley developed a new digital presentation tool to enable business owners to tell their story, little did he realise just how big some of those stories would be.  As owner and Creative Director of Worcestershire-based Stilo, Ian has been creatively exposing brands for many years, but it is only recently with the development of his innovative StiloTouch presentation tool, that the often untold and under exploited tale of some of our region’s greatest manufacturing companies can finally be told.

All great stories have a beginning, a middle and an end, so let’s start at the beginning and let Ian introduce the prologue:

“I’ve always been passionate about telling my client’s stories, but working with many product-based companies made me realise that most don’t have an engaging platform to talk about their products. They might have some information on a laptop or a PowerPoint presentation, but it’s all disjointed and relying on the operator to shift between devices and platforms to showcase what the company is capable of – not a very engaging tale for the listener!”

Like all modern storytellers, Ian knows that his audience, and indeed his client’s audience, are increasingly favouring digital consumption, so to produce a bestseller he would need a way to tell a tale interactively. Step up StiloTouch, the modern book for manufacturers and product-based companies.

“We created StiloTouch to empower sales teams, to give them a digital tool that can help close sales. It brings together all of the existing collateral a company has, such as videos, slideshows and product information into one digital hub and presents it in an interactive format that is slick, seamless and best of all, does not rely on a wifi connection to work!”

StiloTouch has been well received and implemented in a number of cutting-edge projects, but you are far from the end of the story. This is a tale of two protagonists, two innovative brands who, when they met in the opening chapters, took the story to another level, as Ian explains:

“When I was first introduced to Matcon I was amazed by their innovation. As powder handling experts, they don’t just sell containers that keep powder products safely contained when being moved, they design unique manufacturing systems that produce powder blends ranging from food to pharma, such as cake mixes, in the exact proportions and ensure nothing gets left inside.”

“But what really struck me was that despite having these unique processes and systems, and being a successful global brand, their sales teams were going to shows and exhibitions with a linear PowerPoint presentation. When you’re deep in discussion in front of a captive audience and keep scrolling backwards and forwards, unable to find what you are looking for, it’s easy to lose your listeners attention and your own focus.”

In May 2017, Evesham-based Matcon launched a new website and marketing strategy to focus on how their products can solve customers’ problems. This was the perfect time to introduce StiloTouch, to align sales materials with this new marketing approach, so perfect in fact that it was branded MatconTouch, especially for the project. Let’s allow Matt Baumber, Inbound Marketing Executive at Matcon, to take up the narration.

“Matcon products enable our customers to process powders, using a more flexible way of manufacturing compared to the traditional fixed mixer systems that many manufacturers use. Matcon IBC systems enable each of the manufacturing steps to be decoupled so that formulation, blending and packing can take place simultaneously and independent of each other. This means that idle waiting time is significantly reduced, and more recipe batches can be produced per shift.

If you take the example of a pre-made brownie mix and consider the number of different ingredients that need to go into each packet of mix, typically the containers holding these powders would need to be cleaned each time to enable each new recipe to be introduced, thus stopping production entirely. Our Intermediate Bulk Containers can carry an exact recipe around, so it is completely contained and kept away from the risk of exposure to the air, which can be quite dangerous for certain powders such as flour or chemicals. As the powder is safely contained within each IBC, which becomes the blending vessel itself, it enables multiple recipes to flow through the factory at the same time. This is particularly relevant for sports nutrition, where there is the need to provide a range of varieties from strawberry to chocolate to coffee and everything in between.

Our key product is the Cone Valve, a unique product to Matcon. It sits inside the container and discharges the product into packets, tubs or bags. The Cone Valve ensures everything is done evenly, in the exact quantities and at the same rate so essentially, you can bake the perfect cake!”

Shaking up the fitness industry

“Whey powders are notorious for getting stuck inside containers, but as the cone lifts inside the container it enables material to discharge evenly that all of the powder has come out. Without this functionality, you could see around five - ten percent of the powder left inside the container, which over the course of a year, builds up and inevitably costs the company money.”

Reducing wastage and downtime

“Perhaps the greatest benefit to our customers of using Matcon IBCs is that their factories continue to run whilst containers are being cleaned, thus reducing wastage and downtime. If we go back to sports nutrition again, typically you might be making a batch of strawberry flavour powder first until you hit the target for the day, then you have to stop, take everything apart to clean it before loading the next recipe."

With Matcon products, the recipe is in each container so there is no need to stop production when switching to a new flavour or recipe.

There’s no denying the innovative approach at Matcon and you can immediately tell from listening to Matt, that Lean principles are at the core of their business. Every good story, however, has a villain, and in this tale, it was the static sales pitches.

“Prior to implementing MatconTouch, our sales tools were very limiting. Using PowerPoint presentations, our sales teams had to jump through generic slides to showcase our products and systems, often wasting time talking about elements that were not relevant to that potential customer.”

The realisation of the importance of digital marketing and the launch of a new website led Matcon to reach out to Stilo to align sales materials with this new customer centric, problem solving approach.

Only telling a story that is relevant to that audience

“We wanted the ability to discuss and talk around the pain points of our potential customers and get straight down to explaining how Matcon products can help solve these problems. Stilo gave us this, with the MatconTouch, enabling us to only tell a story that is relevant to each individual audience and industry. We can now ask questions and take a flexible, consultative approach, in line with the rest of our marketing strategy.”

As a company that values ongoing Research and Development, Matcon are ideally placed to get the most from the MatconTouch, and the collaboration with Stilo, as effectively, Ian and his team have given this global brand a platform from which they can tell the most up to date version of their story. Information can be easily updated and uploaded, new videos and animations added, and sales teams have access to the latest version, no matter where in the world they may be.

“Everything is there in one presentation and we can move around it in a seamless way. Now that we have the tools to better communicate with our customers, we can look at how Matcon can solve further pain points. We can also improve what we do based on feedback from our sales teams, who are using MatconTouch every day. If we add new content such as videos and animations, we can get almost instant feedback from the teams using them, which enables us to constantly innovate and improve our offering.”

A happy ending

Both Matt and Ian agree, that this is an ongoing relationship and one that will continue to develop and innovate with the two brands building on and growing their story telling abilities. For Matcon, the next instalment is using MatconTouch at exhibitions around the world, starting in Delhi in

December and China, Asia and Australia in 2019. Stilo will also be exploring ways to use StiloTouch in kiosks at trade fairs and exhibitions, giving visitors the opportunity to explore product ranges without having to speak with a representative at the company stand.

It’s certainly not the end of the story for our two main characters, more the start of what we hope will be an ongoing tale of growth and development.

For more information on StiloTouch please visit www.stilotouch.co.uk
For more information on Matcon please visit www.matconibc.com