Milwaukee Tools have rolled out a big new marketing campaign in Australia in what appears to be reputation saving effort after their distributor in Australia was smacked with a $15M fine by the Federal Court for price fixing over several years.

The distributor Techtronic is the Australian subsidiary of Hong Kong based Techtronic Industries Co Ltd and a visit to their website reveals that they are still spruiking Milwaukee Tools after their record fine last year.

The US tools Companies products which are popular in Australia were between January 2016 and July 2021, front and centre of 97 agreements with retailers and dealers in Australia which restricted the sale of Milwaukee products below a specified minimum price.

This week the brand launched a new campaign ‘Forever For The Trade’ they are delivering innovation for tradespeople instead of over priced tools.

See commercial here.

Head of digital and brand marketing Ayman Harrak claims Milwaukee is in a fortunate position because of its strong product lineup.

“For us, it’s that acknowledgement of what our brand promise is and our brand commitment. And it is simple that we’re forever for the trade,” he said. “That’s our commitment to people, everything we do, everything we create and build is designed to help tradespeople do their job.”

There was no mention of the years of price fixing resulting in trades people potentially missing out on the discounting of tools.

Milwaukee Tools distributor Power Techtronic who have not said whether management from the US Milwaukee Tools knew of their price fixing and the breaking of laws in Australia.

The business was ordered to pay penalties totalling $15 million after admitting it had engaged in resale price maintenance conduct in relation to Milwaukee branded products, including power tools, hand tools and accessories.

The total penalties, ordered by the Federal Court, were the highest imposed for resale price maintenance in Australia.

Resale price maintenance (also known as RPM) occurs when a supplier of goods specifies a minimum price below which a reseller must not supply, offer to supply, advertise, or display those goods for sale.

“The ACCC submitted to the Court that this level of penalty was appropriate given the seriousness, duration and extent of Techtronic’s conduct.

During the court case it was revealed that Techtronic also admitted it enforced the restrictive RPM provisions in its contracts 29 times by issuing warnings to dealers who offered to sell, or sold, Milwaukee branded products below the specified minimum price, they also withheld supply from two dealers.

Milwaukee Tools people involved in the launch in Australia include, Head of Digital & Brand Marketing ANZ: Ayman Harrak, Brand Marketing Manager Jacqueline Murray, and Creative Services Manager: Nikola Toyama.