Legacy Brands Become Modern Communicators

Education is the highest form of marketing. Shannon Maverick sets on out on a quest to speak with business leaders from around B2B to better understand how they are utilizing education with their customers.

 

When thinking about the most innovative companies around today, we tend to reflect on those that have made the headlines within the last ten years, have recently gone public, have links to Silicon Valley, and so on. But perhaps more extraordinary are those companies that have been around for more than a decade, maybe even ten decades or more. These are companies that have endured major global and national events like the first and second World Wars, the Great Depression, the beginning of air travel, let alone the invention of the television or even the internet. But these companies haven’t just muddled along hoping to survive. They are companies that have reinvented themselves multiple times over the years, evolving through acquisitions or other business transformations while leveraging both resilience and a willing to adapt to stay in pace with the burgeoning landscape, the latest technology and ever-changing consumer habits.

One such company is Worthen Industries. Founded in 1866 as a one-product adhesive formulation company, by remaining at the forefront of innovation, branding and marketing, today, the company offers fifteen industry-leading Business Units with worldwide operations employing over 250+ employees while boasting an impressively large portfolio of patents.

On this episode of MarketScale’s Maverick of Marketing podcast, Steve Adams, Worthen Industries’ Business Manager, sits down with host Shannon Maverick to discuss the company’s history, their market-focused, eco-conscious, customer-centric, community-oriented business approach, as well as their extensive experience and diverse capabilities spanning a wide range of Business Units—Adhesive Coated Products, Film Laminating Adhesives, Performance Coated Fabrics, Printable Fabric Solutions, Extruded Films, Staple & Nail Products, and more—in particular, the sector Adams’ oversees: the Foam Fabricating Adhesives group, which designs, manufactures and provides adhesive solutions for foam fabricating applications, i.e., the bonding of cushioning materials found in mattress and furniture manufacturing operations.

“We’re very diverse, but where I think we were very successful at our marketing approach was by becoming more market-focused and not so scattered in our approach to any particular market.” Adams additionally remarked, “We’re always looking to provide sustainable innovation. These opportunities come up either through safety issues, environmental issues, process changes within facilities, or new products that are developed in the market that create challenges that need to be addressed. So, the result of all that is we’re not just making an industry-leading product—we create solutions that ensure that our customers’ processes, their product quality, their efficiency, and very importantly, their environmental practices are optimized.”

Listen to Previous Episodes of Maverick of Marketing Right Here!

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

Adrienne Mageors
Allowing Purpose to Lead: Adrienne Mageors on Building a Career Grounded in Inclusion and Community Impact
November 12, 2025

Sometimes, purpose finds you when you least expect it. For Adrienne Mageors, it came in the form of a question she couldn’t ignore—one that pulled her out of corporate marketing and into a life of service and inclusion. What began as a career pivot became something bigger: a mission to build spaces where every…

Read More
college
The New Playbook for College ROI: Podium Education’s Scalable Model for Real-World Learning
November 12, 2025

The debate around the return on investment (ROI) of a four-year degree has reached a fever pitch. As tuition costs rise and employers question the value of traditional credentials, higher education leaders are rethinking how to make college more career-relevant. Experiential learning—work-based and project-based education embedded within curricula—is emerging as one of the most promising…

Read More
Trades
Heating Up the HVAC Industry: Closing the Gaps in Mentorship, Training, and Trust with Joshua Griffin
November 11, 2025

A rapidly changing HVAC industry is being shaped by refrigerant shortages, a deepening labor gap, and shifting expectations from homeowners. With refrigerant regulations evolving and long-trusted standards like R410A being phased out, contractors and technicians are navigating not only technical complexity, but also a growing need to rebuild trust and transparency with customers. The…

Read More
talent solutions
Redefining Talent Solutions in the AI Era: Soft Skills, Purpose, and Flexibility at the Center of Career Growth
November 11, 2025

As careers become less linear and more purpose-driven, workers are increasingly drawn to environments that value adaptability, culture fit, and soft skills for career growth. These capabilities are proving just as critical as technical expertise, especially as AI, remote work, and flexible paths reshape the labor market. According to McKinsey, 70 percent of workers…

Read More