Hempel

The Challenge

Hempel’s Avantguard anti-corrosion technology extends steel life by up to 50% and cuts maintenance costs by 30% — a proven sustainability answer in an industry where corrosion destroys $2.2 trillion of steel every year and replacing it drives up to 9% of global CO₂ emissions. But in a market where coatings are treated as a commodity rather than a strategic decision, having a breakthrough product isn’t enough if decision-makers don’t see coatings as part of the sustainability equation. To grow Avantguard commercially, Hempel needed to reach two very different audiences simultaneously: consulting engineers, who specify how steel structures are protected, and steel fabricators, who produce and coat them. Different roles, different buying logic, different touchpoints — within one coherent strategy. In-depth interviews with 20 customers and subject-matter experts, supplemented by research with AI-generated personas modelled on real audience data, surfaced the insight: everyone understands steel is strong and necessary, but few connect the fact that unprotected steel is also a sustainability problem. From that insight, Hempel developed The Steel Dilemma — a concept built around a fundamental contradiction that reframed corrosion protection from a commodity purchase into a sustainability imperative, with “It’s Time to Avantguard” as the communication platform that gave decision-makers across the value chain a reason to act.

Our Approach

The Outcome

The Avantguard programme set a new standard for how industrial companies can own their digital marketing execution and turn it into a growth engine — from awareness all the way to revenue. Awareness and reach: more than 8 million impressions in 2025, exceptional coverage in a niche B2B segment where the total addressable audience numbers in the low thousands globally. Lead generation: more than 600 whitepaper leads from consulting engineers — the people who shape project specifications, where a single specification can influence millions in coating purchases. Conversion and pipeline: 263 sales-ready opportunities passed to Hempel’s commercial teams, each connected to active construction projects with full engagement context. Commercial impact: in 2025, Avantguard delivered €59M in revenue — 9.2% growth year-on-year, exceeding the 7% target and running at roughly three times market growth of ~3%. Volume rose 17% versus the previous year, with the strongest performance in EMEA Infrastructure driven by the Middle East, where volume surged to 49.5%. Return on investment: over two years, €130,000 in digital media investment contributed to €5M in incremental revenue — a 38x marketing ROI. From content to contract: a landmark LEED-certified island development in the Middle East, designed to coexist with a fragile marine ecosystem, selected Hempel because The Steel Dilemma narrative opened the door and “It’s Time to Avantguard” showed how to solve it — directly attributed to two years of building credibility through digital marketing. What started as a digital marketing initiative is now the blueprint for Hempel’s global go-to-market strategy — with the AI Hub at its core.