Case Study: Making Heavy Industry Look Like High-End Cosmetics
- Ann-Kristin Kruuk
- May 8
- 5 min read
Updated: May 12
Client: REF Minerals
Agency: White Label (strategy) and McCann Riga (creative ad design)
Region: Latvia, Europe
Background
We don’t want to work with suckers.
— CEO of REF Minerals
That’s how it started. A bold statement from the CEO of REF Minerals during his first call with the agency. They came to White Label based on a recommendation, armed with high expectations and a clear problem.
REF Minerals is a specialist industrial company that operates in a deeply technical, relationship-based B2B niche. They recycle minerals from glass furnaces and resell them to industries like glass, glass fiber, glass wool insulation and ceramics industries.
They’ve been doing this for 30 years. They’re one of those companies whose work is largely invisible to the average person—but if you’ve ever used a tiled bathroom, there’s a good chance REF Mineral’s recycled materials are in it.
Their core business revolves around two highly specialised and time-sensitive operations:
Glass Furnace Demolition – Every 10 years or so, giant glass manufacturers must shut down and tear apart their furnaces. Each day a furnace is offline costs around €3 million in lost production. It’s a high-stakes operation, and REF Minerals is one of the few companies trusted to get in, rip out the structure, and recycle the valuable mineral materials inside—with speed, safety, and precision.
Recycled Mineral Supply – After extracting the raw materials, REF Minerals processes them and sells them back into high-value industrial applications. These include sectors like ceramics, tile manufacturing, and glass fiber production.
The Goal
"We Look Like Waste Managers in Tracksuits"
Ref Mineral’s track record is spotless. But their digital presence? Not so much.
“They had a website, which was quite basic—like a B2B company no one has ever heard about,” says Armands Evertovskis, Partner and Strategy Director at White Label.
According to Armands, the company has no marketing person, just a small team of engineers and salespeople doing great work in obscurity: “It was actually easier to work with them because they didn’t have a marketing person. The CEO made decisions quickly.”
The industry is conservative, mostly dominated by big Western European players.
So when you show up from the Baltics, people assume you’re the waste guys in tracksuits.
The challenge was clear: change the perception. They needed a brand that matched their actual stature in the industry. They needed to replace their “tracksuit” image with a tailored suit in the digital space.
The Strategy
A Workshop at the Furnace
White Label started with an on-site workshop with the CEO, visits to the factory, and full immersion in the REF Minerals mindset. They discovered a team that was smart, experienced, and always one step ahead.
They were doing circular economy long before the term existed.
Ahead of Time
Everyone wants to say they’re sustainable. REF Minerals is sustainability. But saying “we’re green” today is like saying “we use email”—everyone does.
So the agency went deeper. The company doesn’t just recycle—they make other companies sustainable. That became the core of the brand: “Ahead of Time.”
Ahead of Time – Because they built a circular business 30 years ago.
Ahead of Time – Because their speed in furnace demolition saves clients millions per day.
The Minerals Look Like Precious Jewels
Armands recalls that they wanted REF Minerals to stand apart from the crowd of gray, grimy industrial competitors.
Actually, these minerals are beautiful. They look like precious jewels.
So they turned their product photos into something that could almost fit into a cosmetics campaign. The agency office was filled with sacks of materials, staged a high-end photo shoot, and created something completely new for B2B:
High-resolution macro photography of recycled minerals.
A product page that looked as technical as it was gorgeous.
A brand identity that felt premium, confident, and clean.
Website Rebuild
The website was rebuilt from scratch—new structure, new content, new everything. The goal wasn’t to showcase complexity, but to build trust instantly.
In a world where first impressions often come from a URL, the website now reflects the truth: REF Minerals is a global contender in a niche only a handful of companies truly understand.
PowerPoint That Closes Deals
When you walk into a client meeting and your slides look 10x better than theirs, they assume you’re 10x more competent.
In a conservative industry, your presentation deck can be a deciding factor. While most competitors show up with ugly white-background slides that look like they were made in 2004, they gave REF Minerals something different: a stunning, on-brand PowerPoint template.
Strong visual impact.
Easy to use for sales and tenders.
Instantly communicates credibility and professionalism.
No Social Media? They Don’t Need It.
In the strategy phase, the agency asked the tough questions: Does REF Minerals really need to post weekly on LinkedIn? Should they be doing Instagram reels about crushed minerals? The answer was clear: No.
Their business relies on long-term, high-value industrial relationships; not hashtags or retweets. They win by showing up prepared, delivering on time, and outperforming expectations in high-stakes projects.
So instead of wasting time on vanity metrics, they focused their marketing budget on things that actually move deals forward:
A new website.
World-class materials for tenders and meetings.
Personal, direct communication with decision-makers.
No Blog or Content Updates? Intentional Silence.
The REF Minerals website isn’t a news site. It’s not meant to rank for “10 tips on glass recycling.” It’s built to:
Create immediate trust with new partners.
Explain what they do in plain language.
Look like a top-tier European player at first glance.
They don’t need content for SEO. They need confidence for their potential partners.
Ref Minerals doesn’t blog because they don’t have to. In their world, credibility comes from doing, not from writing weekly thought pieces.
Results
Before, REF Minerals looked like a small regional player. Now, they look like what they are: a powerful, reliable, and forward-thinking company.
They have the credibility to enter new markets, build faster relationships, and justify the high value of their work.
We changed from tracksuits to suits. That’s what they said. And they were brave enough to do things even their German competitors wouldn’t dare.
Since launching the new REF Minerals website, several tangible improvements have been observed:
Clearer message equals better conversations. Clients and investors now understand the company’s offering much faster. The company reports fewer confused inquiries and more qualified leads.
Investor Confidence: After the website overhaul, investor presentations required less explanation, and meetings moved faster.
Sales Efficiency: The site is now used as a core tool in early-stage sales conversations, helping prospects quickly grasp the value proposition.
Internal Clarity: The new site helped the REF Minerals team refine how they talk about the business, especially during hiring and partner discussions.
Lessons
Sometimes, Less Is More—Especially in the Org Chart
Working directly with the CEO can speed up decision-making and simplify communication. Without layers of internal approval or a marketing person defending legacy ideas, bold creative moves are easier to execute.
Dare to Be Different in a Sea of Sameness
When all competitors look boring and basic, standing out visually becomes a competitive advantage. Investing in beautiful design and high-quality branding can make even an industrial company feel premium and trustworthy.
A well-designed, conversion-focused website can carry most of your marketing weight. Especially in B2B, a clean, confident web presence builds credibility and saves time for your sales team.
Social Media Isn’t Always the Answer
Not every company needs a content-heavy or social-first strategy. If the audience isn’t active there—or doesn’t expect the brand to be—then efforts might be better spent elsewhere. Strategy must follow business context.
Pretty Slides Matter (and Say a Lot About You)
Even internal presentation materials speak volumes. In this case, the agency’s polished pitch decks contrasted starkly with the competition’s generic white-background slides—and that helped win the trust to reimagine the brand.
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