Breakthrough Journey: Ortman Fluid Power

After decades of manufacturing quality hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders, Ortman Fluid Power found itself at a crossroads. Sales had stagnated at $7–8 million for years. Morale among employees and distributors was eroding. And despite a strong product reputation, brand awareness was virtually nonexistent.

Charged by its parent company to reach $20 million in five years, Ortman needed more than new ads — it needed a complete brand transformation. That’s when Mountain Stream Group stepped in to engineer a revitalization plan that combined brand clarity, design precision, and employee engagement.

Ortman’s situation reflected a common challenge among mature manufacturers: quality products and loyal distributors—but no cohesive brand identity to inspire confidence or drive growth. Their marketing materials were outdated, disconnected from customer values, and visually inconsistent.

Worse, a pre-campaign brand awareness study confirmed that Ortman wasn’t even on the radar of its target audiences.

With a new cylinder line in development and a parent demanding performance, Ortman needed a strategic reintroduction — a way to reestablish its value, rally its team, and reconnect with the marketplace.

Our research uncovered something simple yet powerful: the market was craving quality and trust — and Ortman’s people already embodied both. What they lacked wasn’t substance; it was visibility.

By elevating Ortman’s internal pride and external presentation around one unifying idea — quality that lasts — we could rebuild confidence from the inside out. This clarity led to the creation of the Gold Star Quality Program, a unifying emblem of excellence for employees, distributors, and customers alike.

Guided by the Nexus Control Loop and 5Ps Brand DNA Communication Framework, Mountain Stream Group developed a comprehensive, integrated marketing communications plan that rebuilt Ortman’s brand foundation from the ground up.

Corporate Identity Redesign

• Created a new logo inspired by the shape of Ortman’s cylinders — symbolizing strength, precision, and longevity.
• Unified all visual materials — letterhead, envelopes, packaging, shipping labels, invoices, product ID tags — to establish a consistent, professional identity.
• Introduced the Gold Star Quality Control Program to reinforce internal pride and communicate reliability to customers.

Advertising & Public Relations

• Designed two distinctive trade ads — “Staying Power” and “Our Hero” — for placement in leading engineering and manufacturing publications.
  • “Staying Power” built emotional resonance around Ortman’s reliability.
  • “Our Hero” introduced the new cylinder line while reinforcing the brand’s new visual identity.
• Executed a public relations campaign that reintroduced Ortman to the industry and generated coverage in 20+ trade publications.

Sales and Marketing Tools

• Developed a new product brochure and catalog that combined benefits-driven storytelling with technical detail.
• Created a part-numbering system and CAD drawings to simplify product selection and specification.
• Produced professional product photography to visualize quality and build visual credibility.

Cultural and Distributor Engagement

• Aligned employees and distributors around the refreshed brand identity.
• Presented the new materials in a phased rollout that boosted morale with every reveal.

The transformation was immediate and measurable:

• Sales volume increased to $9.2 million within the first year — a 10:1 return on investment.
• Employee and distributor morale surged, restoring pride and ownership in the brand.
• Brand awareness soared, validated by two Harvey Communication Measurement Studies that ranked Ortman among the top performers for ad recognition, recall, and comprehension.
• PR efforts generated more than 120 column inches of earned media — an advertising equivalency of over $48,000.
• A mid-campaign awareness study confirmed Ortman’s emergence as a visible, credible market contender.

Ortman Fluid Power didn’t just regain market share — it regained belief in itself.

Mountain Stream Group transformed a stagnant manufacturer into a revitalized brand with renewed energy and direction. By combining clear strategy, bold creative, and internal alignment, we proved that brand revitalization is as much about empowering people as it is about repositioning products.

Like a mountain stream reclaiming its flow, Ortman’s journey demonstrates how clarity and momentum can carve new paths — even for legacy brands.

Bold ideas. Clear strategies. Elevating your business.

Image Notes: (Top to bottom.)

1. Logo Mountain Stream Group created for new identity.
2. Sample pages from the 6-page brochure we created for the new product and identity.
3. Staying Power and Our Hero advertisements along with the back of the product line up card we developed.
4. A technology focus article from Machine Design magazine we obtained for Ortman Fluid Power.