Rheem supplies a greater degree of comfort

From revolutionizing how we get the perfect shower temperature to keeping us cool from the summertime heat, Rheem has long been a pioneer in the water heating and HVAC industry, continuously evolving to meet the needs of modern living since it was founded in 1925. Rheem is the sole manufacturer in the world that produces heating, cooling and water heating solutions.

JLL Design Solutions and Rheem began working together in the early 2000’s, capturing the attention of the trade audience. But the century-old company needed to find a way to effectively communicate its products and to homeowners as well as contractors, plumbers and distributors. That's when JLL and Rheem flipped gears and focused on creating a brand identity that bridges the gap between 'wooing' its clients and establishing a credible and meaningful relationship with the water heating industry.

Rheem needed strategic brand alignment across all touchpoints of its business. The partnership with JLL kicked off the brand activation by humanizing the perception of big metal boxes and showcasing Rheem’s commitment to providing comfort and value to their clients. The result? The development of Rheem’s new tagline, “The new degree of comfort™” as well as a new visual aesthetic—the universally recognized degree symbol that has become crucial to the water heating company's visual identity and brand language.

But it wasn’t just taglines, branding and imagery that needed updating. Rheem needed to think about their customers and how to interact with them digitally. That’s why Rheem and JLL began revamping all of the company’s digital platforms to become more user-friendly, in effect—guiding the audience through the buying process.

Rheem.com went beyond a simple refresh, creating a clear navigation tool for the company’s diverse audience. It tackled its usability challenges to become a driver for all users to connect with more content, on more pages, for extended periods.

• 57% increase in pages viewed per session
• 27% increase in time on page
• 30% improvement in session duration

Rheem continues to launch various programs targeted to different audiences. The Pro Partner™ program, for elite HVAC contractors, is one of its most notable.

As a global leader in the industry, Rheem brings together its core customers of contractors and distributors to learn, network and celebrate. The company hosted memorable national conferences in 2017, 2019 and 2022 and partnered with JLL Design Solutions to develop overall event branding, promotional materials, registration communications and created a micro-site dedicated to each meeting. In addition to pre-event plans and promotions, JLL was on-site through presentation scripting and design, talent sourcing and production management.

On top of Rheem’s retail and commercial offerings, the company also launched broad-reaching global sustainability initiatives.

JLL and Rheem developed an “earth-first” platform built on Rheem’s brand values to first gain internal compliance and commitment. The collaboration created a A sustainability task force made up of employees, a sustainability firm and the project team that ultimately defined what sustainability means to the global manufacturer while setting immediate actions and long-term goals.

Rheem now uses its sustainability visual identity for all campaign materials and leans on research and evolving data to develop a calendar with a toolkit, training program and social and digital content to drive education, adoption and results.

The “earth first” collaboration continues to make great strides, including:

• Executed Zero Waste to Landfill initiatives across nine global factories
• Educated 10k+ employees across 50 global offices
• Launched to more than 58K people at industry trade show
• Increased percentage of sustainable products and packaging to 70% of total offering

Rheem and JLL’s decade-long partnership contributes to the company’s overall growth of robust and recognizable brand identities, including Ruud and more than 40 other brands. Modernizing Rheem’s online presence and curating fresh marketing materials go a long way in leaving a lasting and positive impression on the company’s consumers and position the global powerhouse for an even more impressive next century.