Case Study: A Big Part of a New Brand

A brand platform and a central purpose unite a fast-growing company.

The Opportunity

Over a 20-year period, Quanex grew through acquisitions. Growth brought scale. It also brought fragmented cultures and competing brand strategies. The company needed a unified purpose. A rallying cry. A way to get employees excited about the future. They needed something big.

The Client

With 7,100 employees––up from 3,800 in 2023––across 67 facilities all over the world, Quanex is a leading manufacturer of window and door profiles, IG spacers, screens, cabinet components and more.

The Scene

Growth was strong. But it also created complexity and uncertainty. To move forward, Akhia focused on three priorities: clarify the brand hierarchy, unify the culture and bring clear brand meaning to employees, customers, communities and investors.

The Plot Twist

This was not just a new platform and tagline. It was a global brand transformation—driven by insights, informed bystakeholders, and deployed across the entire organization, from the shop floor to the corporate office.

The Action

It started with in-depth leadership workshops to address brand hierarchy. It continued with the development of a unifying brand platform. Today, it lives across Quanex in the halls, shop floors, offices, website and in the minds of employees.

How we got there:

• First: Brand hierarchy leadership workshops – A review of current and alternate structures, leadership interviews, and surveys to employees across divisions, states and countries, which resulted in alignment around the company’s path forward.

• Next: Brand platform creation – “A Part of Something Bigger” emerged as the winning brand platform. Akhia built it as an employee rallying cry that reflects the brand, highlights the employees’ importance, strengthens the culture and unites teams around a shared purpose.

• Then: Putting the platform in position – Akhia developed tailored messaging for each stakeholder group, ensuring consistency and a distinct voice for the new brand’s launch internally across the company and externally to customers.

The Victory Lap

With the new brand platform in place, Quanex embraced it and expanded upon it, embedding it across facilities, materials, websites, internal and external communications, and apparel. And it remains strong and ever present five years after its introduction.

The Last Word

"It's clear you're investing in the future, not just flipping the business." -- Voice of Customer Research

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