BACKGROUND / CHALLENGE:

For 40 years, Vander-bend has partnered with medical technology OEMs to provide complex manufacturing and assembly for innovative medical markets including Robotic Assisted Surgery (RAS), Radiation Oncology, Surgical Instruments and Components, Orthopedics, Dental implants, and more. In the early days, the company began as a single, metal bending shop. Through deep partnership with OEMs, precise technological solutions, and intuitive problem solving the company grew to a national medtech manufacturer with centers of excellence across the country.

In 2023, Vander-bend approached WANT seeking a branding expert who could rebrand the company and develop a powerful brand supportive of their medical manufacturing expertise and their growth ambitions.

SOLUTION:

WANT began the rebranding process by conducting discovery interviews to uncover unique differentiators for the business, customer needs, competitive threats, and market context. Additionally, we completed a competitive brand audit to understand the opportunity space from a brand positioning and naming point of view.

After the discovery phase, WANT worked with the Vander-bend executive team to develop a unique brand positioning idea. With the company’s unique partnership and problem-solving capabilities in mind, the positioning idea “Whatever It Takes” was selected. The idea was both internally galvanizing and instructive while also differentiating their depth of partnership with OEMs against the competition.

After completing the discovery phase, WANT began developing names for the new brand. After aligning on a shortlist of names, WANT worked with the leadership team to arrive at a final name: Vantedge. The name is derived from the word “advantage” and denotes both the advantage the company delivers to medical OEMs and also a company at the vantage point of powerful new technologies in the medtech space. Additionally, WANT worked with leadership to determine that a descriptor should be appended to the name – creating the final name Vantedge Medical.

With the final name in hand, WANT worked with the leadership team to create a powerful new logo. The new Vantedge Medical logo communicates collaboration, precision and unity. Made up of 3 colors, the rivets form a perfect circular icon amplifying complete teamwork and synchronicity with OEMs combined with precise manufacturing solutions.