We increased brand awareness for an engineering firm through a strategically developed creative and a highly targeted media plan.
In 2014, Huntington Ingalls Industries acquired Universal Pegasus International (UPI). UPI is one of the largest pipeline engineering companies in North America, delivering innovative solutions and leading technology to upstream and midstream oil and gas markets. For Huntington Ingalls Industries, S. O. Creative was their standout choice to develop a unique set of brands ads to help increase UPI’s brand awareness.
The situation
UPI has a history of success and has built reputable relationships with both clients and manufacturers in the subsea tiebacks; however they needed to raise awareness of their expertise and capabilities within two key market segments:
- Offshore topsides segment of the drilling and completion markets in East Coast Africa, West Coast Africa, East Coast Canada and U.S. Deepwater
- Onshore pipeline markets in U.S. Eastern Coast, U.S. Northwest Region Shale Plays, Mexico and Latin America
We developed a media plan with print ad placements purchased in key trade publications with an international readership made of key decision makers within their targeted market segments:
- Upstream Newspaper
- Upstream OTC Daily
- Pipeline & Gas Journal

Developing the message
After performing an in-depth assessment of the company, we developed a unique ad for each market segment. Our primary message for onshore positioned UPI as leading the competition through the expertise of their engineers in construction management and project management: Knowledge which is derived from experience on projects for the world’s largest oil and gas providers. To illustrate this we combined the silhouette of an engineer with the pipeline construction image blended into his hat featuring the headline ‘Connect With Expertise’. UPI has enjoyed success within the subsea tiebacks segment of the offshore market but needed to increase their visibility within the topside segment. To achieve this, our message positioned UPI as having the experience and resources necessary for every phase of any offshore project. We supported this message with a powerful image featuring a line of topsides coupled with the headline ‘Welcome To Our Workspace’.
The impact
The brand ads received 557,405 impressions from key decision makers within the offshore and onshore market segments. This increase in awareness of the brand and its capabilities made it well-positioned for strong growth.