NanO and AerO

In 2022, AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology created brand characters that breathe new life into our two strongest brands, AMT and IMTS (International Manufacturing Technology Show) and the industry they serve. Since AMT’s focus is on the manufacturing technology community, the robot mascots bring to life the manufacturing technology they represent.

NanO, AMT’s brand representative, is a nerdy, professional robot who resembles, in spirit, something of a butler. He has high standards and is a very grounded, logical problem-solver. He represents the forward thinking, technology focused, thoughtful, and yet, at its core, connective aspects of our industry.

AerO, IMTS’s brand representative, is a welcoming, exuberant, loving, affectionate, extroverted robot who is interested in new and exciting ways to promote manufacturing – and particularly the people who work in manufacturing. She represents the thing that makes our tradeshow brand so special – the way it connects people from every facet of manufacturing technology – the way it promotes the human side of manufacturing.

While each of these characters are used to promote each of their brands separately, AMT often brings them together and has them interact, which makes sense considering AMT owns and produces the IMTS tradeshow.

Since their creation, NanO and AerO have been featured on the AMT and IMTS websites respectively, in marketing collateral including emails, magazines, signage, ads, promotional handouts, and more. Most notably, NanO and AerO are featured in a comic strip in each issue of AMT’s flagship publication, MT Manufacturing Technology Magazine.

The more these bots are used in marketing collateral, the more they help to further their respective brands and the more the AMT and IMTS audiences recognize them, associate them with their brands, and get to know and connect with their personalities. The characters lend our brands a more playful and human nature, They have allowed us to break down the more professional barriers that we may find as a B2B brand and to connect with our audience in a more intimate way.