Ali Industries

Located in Fairborn, Ohio, Ali Industries has been in business since 1961. During the 1970’s, the company brought its sandpaper and abrasive sanding tools to the “Do It Yourself” (DIY) and commercial markets under the GatorGrit Brand name and eventually began private label brands for co-op hardware stores.

Ali Industries currently supplies sandpaper and abrasive products to over 25,000 hardware co-op and big box retailers throughout the United States, Europe, Canada and Mexico.

Challenge
While a profitable and well known company, Ali Industries was ready to take it to the next level. The company’s growth to date has been fueled by their in-house marketing efforts. However, Ali needed to find a marketing partner to help them penetrate new markets and further infiltrate an existing relationship with big-box retailers. The company turned to Hafenbrack Marketing to reposition the company for growth.

Solution
Hafenbrack was selected from several agencies because of their strong graphic abilities and proactive thought process. Hafenbrack worked with Ali to understand their goals, objectives and learn how marketing and solid consumer understanding could drive results. The initial effort was to redevelop the company’s brand from the ground up and create a new look and feel for packaging of its primary line of products, GatorGrit. Specific activities included new product development, naming and brand mark, packaging overhaul, print advertising support, presentation systems and consumer based qualitative and quantitative research.

In fact, Ali even engaged Hafenbrack’s skill set to participate in their first major customer presentation as they position the new brand. And now, building on the momentum, Hafenbrack and Ali are looking to take the show on the road and penetrate into new markets.

Results
Though still in process, the new logo, packaging and foundational elements have been well received. There is renewed interest from their existing customers for the new brand. And after the initial presentation, customers are looking for ways to place the GatorGrit family products into other departments within their facilities.