Strong Culture. Measurable Business Performance.
Vulcan Industrial already had a distinctive culture: competitive, relentless and deeply committed to excellence. What it lacked was a clear way to articulate that culture, unite employees across multiple locations and sustain it as the company grew. Savage developed Vulcan’s employer brand strategy, translated it into a visual identity and cultural framework, and activated it through leadership onboarding, employee experiences, internal communications and a new mobile-first communications platform.The work made an intangible cultural strength visible and actionable across the organization, and Vulcan subsequently experienced measurable improvements in business performance and employee engagement. Five prestigious industry awards have since recognized the impact of the work.
Competitive by nature.
Relentless by design.
One culture, carried
by every shift.
Vulcan’s culture was competitive, relentless and deeply committed to excellence. What it lacked was a clear way to articulate that culture, unite employees across multiple locations and sustain it as the company grew.
A Fast-Growing Manufacturer Needed Its Culture to Scale With It
Vulcan was growing rapidly through acquisitions and business expansion, competing for talent while managing a workforce spread across multiple North American locations. Its leaders knew what made the organization successful, but that culture had never been clearly articulated in a way employees across roles and locations could understand, share and carry forward.
The communications challenge added another layer of complexity. Much of Vulcan’s workforce worked on manufacturing floors without company email, making traditional internal communications largely inaccessible. The organization needed both a shared cultural language and a way to reach the people responsible for bringing it to life.
Savage Uncovered and Articulated the Idea That Could Unite Vulcan’s Culture
Through discovery, Savage uncovered a shared mindset rooted in grit, competition and an intense drive to succeed. Savage gave that culture a clear, ownable expression that could unite the organization and support where it was headed.
That became “Winning Big,” an employer brand positioning that gave Vulcan’s culture a name and rallying cry. Savage also created six cultural maxims designed to be memorable, actionable and unmistakably Vulcan.
Winning Big.
A name and a rallying cry for a culture of grit and competition, carried by six maxims every Vulcanite can recall, repeat and act on.
01The relentless finish first
02Fail forward
03Favor progress over perfection
04Navigate by numbers
05Consider the impact
06Don’t forget the funThe employer brand visual identity was developed as an extension of Vulcan’s existing corporate brand, carrying its visual equity into a more employee-focused expression.
Bold typography, Vulcan’s orange and navy palette, macro product imagery and employee photography shot inside Vulcan facilities gave the employer brand an energy and authenticity that reflected the people and environment behind the business.
The Launch Was Designed to Be Experienced, Not Announced
Savage developed a cascading activation strategy that began with executive leadership, moved through managers and culminated in an all-employee launch across Vulcan’s major locations.
The “Opening Ceremony” concept turned the introduction of the employer brand into a high-energy experience tied to Vulcan’s competitive spirit. Employees shared their own stories of “Winning Big,” participated in a team catapult-building competition rooted in Vulcan’s engineering DNA and experienced the new culture through presentations, activities and branded touchpoints.
Opening Ceremony
Team Catapult Build
Engineering DNA
Winning Big, TogetherA Vulcan manager reported that employees on the shop floor could recall the maxims from memory the following day.
Reaching the Shop Floor Required a Different Communications Strategy
For the employer brand to endure, Vulcan needed a way to communicate with employees who did not sit at desks or have company email accounts.
Vulcan selected Microsoft Viva Engage, and Savage developed the strategy to turn it into a mobile-first employee communications hub. The work included a teaser and launch campaign, branded templates and content strategy designed to keep employees participating rather than simply receiving information.
at launch of the employee communications platform
following launch
from 55.4% to 40.4%
from 85% to 95%
from 11% to 5%
These results were achieved from January 2024 to January 2025 alongside Vulcan’s broader continuous improvement efforts.
Five industry awards have recognized the impact of the work.
Gold Stevie Award
2026 American Business Awards Achievement in Employer Branding Campaign Read the newsCrystal Award
2026 AMA Houston Crystal Awards Corporate Culture Read the newsBronze Quill Award
2026 IABCLantern Award
2025 Houston Business Marketing Alliance Internal Branding Program Read the news1st Place
2025 Rally Awards Best Employer Brand Launch Read the news
Winning Big, from the leadership team to the shop floor.
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Build a Culture
That Performs.
When culture needs to support retention, productivity and growth, Savage helps leaders define what makes the organization distinctive and turn it into an experience employees can understand, believe and live.