Featured cases

2006

This is a spinout. For three billion dollars, Bain Capital bought the Sensors & Controls business (essentially the 'instruments' piece) of Texas Instruments, to create a more focused global leader in this industrial (with a tech edge) category.

Landor's namers played with every possible outgrowth of 'sensor' and its Latin root 'sensus,' feeling/sense. They found "Sensata," original and just odd enough to be available. The word Technologies was tacked on to reinforce diversity and more importantly, to add some hardness to an otherwise soft, even feminine-sounding name. The design solution is simply s-e-n-s-a-t-a, written in Braille, punched up with colors to suggest diversity of markets and applications.

According to designer Nicolas Aparicio, Braille has relevance in suggesting a passion to resolve customer problems and the  cool-gray-to-hot-red color flow suggests "giving life to machines."  (Process trivia: the Landor team never met their clients in person. Interviews, reviews of name lists, design presentations... all via conference call.)

The April 27 launch of the new brand coincided neatly with the spin-out transaction, and birth of the new company: that takes planning, probably some late hours, and good fortune in the legal name clearance process.   Tony Spaeth

Landor NY

Submitted by: Tony Spaeth, 13/11/2006
Status: Estimated by Tony Spaeth
Category: Electronic & Electrical Equipment
Country (HQ): United States