- Case Study -
SAM
Unifying New Technology Under One Vision with TREW Marketing’s Messaging
SAM (Surveying and Mapping) is the largest Managed Geospatial Services™ provider in North America, with more than 30 years of experience delivering precise, reliable surveying and mapping solutions at scale. Trusted by utilities, departments of transportation, and leading energy companies, SAM has built its reputation on helping organizations understand, manage, and protect critical infrastructure.
As the industry evolves, SAM is expanding beyond traditional data collection into cloud-based analytics, digital twins, and asset intelligence platforms—empowering clients to visualize assets in real time, unlock deeper insights from their data, and make more informed decisions across the full infrastructure lifecycle.
Clarity Starts With Listening
To ensure each product had a message that resonated beyond its initial niche audience, TREW launched every engagement with a deep discovery process. This included forming dedicated "Brand Committees" for GridWorks, Xtensible, and CartoVid. These committees brought together internal stakeholders from both SAM and the acquired teams to provide operational context, technical clarity, and business insight.
TREW also provided stakeholder homework and conducted external customer interviews. These exercises exposed gaps in audience understanding and aligned everyone around a shared definition of the customer, their pain points, and what differentiated each product.
"From the questions TREW was asking in that first call, we realized we needed to truly define our clients."
Precision Messaging for Complex Technologies
Using insights from discovery, TREW created comprehensive messaging frameworks for each product. These included positioning statements, 30- and 60-word pitches, three distinct value propositions, and clear differentiators designed to resonate with SAM's expanded audience.
The messaging preserved each product’s technical strength while making it accessible to broader stakeholders, from BD teams to executive decision makers. Here are examples of the types of messages produced in the projects:
| Product | 30-Word Pitch |
| Gridworks™ |
"Gain a unified 3D view of your substation that unlocks proactive, compliant decisions." |
| Xtensible® |
"Replace brittle point‑to‑point systems with an open data fabric that utilities can trust." |
| CartoVid™ |
"See every asset, anytime. Ingest, index, and share geospatial media in one secure platform." |
One Portfolio.
One Story.
One Brand.
Each product narrative was mapped to SAM’s core promise: "Your assets, known. Your data, organized. Your business, accelerated." ensuring the new brands amplified, rather than fragmented, SAM’s value prop.
This wasn’t a rebrand, it was an intentional brand extension. For more than three decades, SAM has been synonymous with precision, scale, and reliability in geospatial services. As the company evolved into a provider of digital-forward solutions, the messaging needed to reflect that evolution without losing the strength of the SAM name. TREW worked to position GridWorks, Xtensible, and CartoVid not as separate ventures, but as natural expansions of SAM’s mission to help customers take the next step into digital asset intelligence.
From web copy, to trade show booths, to proposal language, TREW made sure the messaging told one cohesive story: SAM is still the trusted leader it’s always been, now with cutting-edge tools that help clients move forward with better access, analyze, and act on their data.
"Now our proposal teams, booth banners, and website all speak the same language."
