OnRobot
From two grippers in Odense to a one stop shop for collaborative automation.
- /Strategic consulting
- //Brand building
- ///Sales and partner content
The strategy and the content that carried the sales team there, from December 2016 to 2021.
The Challenge.
How do you give a startup with two products the content of a global company, and keep it that way through a merger of three companies and a dealer network in more than 40 countries?
Task.
OnRobot is a Danish robotics company from Odense. It makes grippers, sensors and tooling for collaborative robots, the arms that work next to people on a factory floor. It was founded in 2015 by Bilge Jacob Christiansen and Ebbe Overgaard Fuglsang with two plug and play electric grippers, RG2 and RG6. In 2018 it merged with OptoForce in Hungary and Perception Robotics in Los Angeles, took on Enrico Krog Iversen as CEO, and became the one stop shop for collaborative automation it is today.
DROBE was OnRobot’s strategic, content and communication partner from December 2016 to 2021. We advised on how the company should communicate as it grew, built the brand on film, made the product and application films the sales team and the distributors sold with, and put the four core product films into 20 languages plus English. Every time the company grew, the content grew with it.
By the numbers.
Startup to scaleup, on one timeline.
What happened at OnRobot on the left. What we delivered on the right. The content kept pace with the company.
Founded in Odense by Bilge Jacob Christiansen and Ebbe Overgaard Fuglsang with two plug and play electric grippers, RG2 and RG6.
December 2016The partnership begins. Logo animation in two versions, and the first product feature films.
A small team with two products, selling through the collaborative robot ecosystem around Universal Robots and taking its first steps into the Asian markets.
JanuaryProduct feature series: nine short films of about 45 seconds each.
March to MayCustomer case films with Osvald Jensen and Grenå Spåntagning, and a brand film about the collaboration with Universal Robots.
October to NovemberRosborg Greenhouse case film. The case films subtitled in English, Japanese and Chinese for the Asian markets.
JuneMerges with OptoForce (Hungary, force and torque sensors) and Perception Robotics (Los Angeles, bio inspired grippers) to form OnRobot A/S, led by CEO Enrico Krog Iversen, former CEO of Universal Robots, together with the Danish Growth Fund.
AugustAcquires Purple Robotics and its dual vacuum gripper, and takes a triple digit million DKK growth investment from Summit Partners.
Offices open in the US, Malaysia and Germany. More than 100 distributors in more than 40 countries.
October to NovemberA new three minute OnRobot brand film for the merged company: several cuts, a new voice over, a new colour grade.
AprilAcquires the rights and 12 developers from Blue Workforce. Staff passes 145 people worldwide, 50 of them in Odense, with 175 expected by the end of the year. The dealer network is planned to grow from 200 to 1,000.
February to MayPromotional and application films for the merged portfolio: RG2 FT, Gecko Gripper, HEX force torque sensor, VG10 vacuum gripper and the RG grippers.
MarchTrade show screen formats of the product films for exhibitions.
March to AprilFour product films localised into 20 languages plus English.
AugustGecko Gripper award winner ad in square format. The library stands at 169 films.
Seven sales offices and three development and production centres across Europe, Asia and the US, and more than 160 employees.
After the last filmStrategic consulting for a company that is now a scaleup: a more streamlined marketing setup, more of the production and implementation moved in house, and a clear line between what the internal team runs and what it buys in.
What we did.
1. Strategic consulting
TODO KIM: what the advisory part covered from 2016 to 2021, in two to four sentences. For example content strategy for the distributor network, launch communication around the merger, or how the sales team should use film in the funnel.
2. Brand building
Logo animation, a brand film, customer case films, and a new brand film after the 2018 merger, so the three companies met the market as one.
3. Marketing and commercial communication
Content for the sales team and the partners: product promotional films, product application films showing the gripper at work, trade show screen formats, and a feature series.
4. Localisation at scale
The four core product films produced in 20 languages plus English, so distributors in more than 40 countries could sell with the same material in their own language.
The work.
A selection from the 169 films, one category at a time.
OnRobot and Universal Robots, collaboration film, 2017
OnRobot brand film, 2017
OnRobot brand film after the merger, 2018
Logo animation, 2016
Osvald Jensen, 2017
Grenå Spåntagning, 2017
Rosborg Greenhouse, 2017
RG2 FT, promotional film, 2019
Gecko Gripper, promotional film, 2019
HEX force torque sensor, promotional film, 2019
VG10 vacuum gripper, promotional film, 2019
RG grippers, promotional film, 2019
Gecko Gripper award winner, square ad, 2019
RG2 FT, application film, 2019
Gecko Gripper, application film, 2019
HEX force torque sensor, application film, 2019
VG10 vacuum gripper, application film, 2019
RG grippers, application film, 2019
The VG10 promotional film, one minute and fourteen seconds, in every language a distributor sold in. Four of the versions here, all 21 below.
VG10 in Hungarian
VG10 in Thai
VG10 in Vietnamese
VG10 in Romanian
- English
- Chinese
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- French
- German
- Hungarian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Norwegian
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Russian
- Spanish
- Swedish
- Thai
- Turkish
- Vietnamese
The Universal Robots film, subtitled for the Asian markets in 2017.
English subtitles
Japanese subtitles
Chinese subtitles
Nine short films of about 45 seconds each, January 2017. One feature per film.
Film 1
Film 2
Film 3
Film 4
Film 5
Film 6
Film 7
Film 8
Film 9
What it took.
Strategic consulting
TODO KIM: how the advisory part worked alongside the production, and carried on to 2021, in two to four sentences.
One film, 21 languages
Four product films, 20 languages plus English, for a distributor network across more than 40 countries. One master, one voice direction, one grade, then every version checked so a distributor in Bangkok and a distributor in Budapest sold with the same film.
One brand through a three way merger
In 2018 three companies on three continents became one. The new brand film and the films for the merged portfolio had to look and sound like one company from day one, while the earlier films still ran in the market.
Volume and speed
169 films in under three years. New products, new markets and a merger, each with its own films within weeks, because a sales team that is growing that fast cannot wait a quarter for content.
Results.
OnRobot grew from two grippers to a one stop shop in the five years we worked together. The content did not cause that growth, and we do not claim it did. It kept pace with it: every product, every new market and the merger itself had its films ready, in the language the distributor sold in.