Adama Agricultural Solutions, a leading agrochemical firm, undertook a global re-branding and digital centralisation project across its 45 operating markets. Building Blocks discuss the work
Brief
This year, leading crop protection manufacturer and distributor Adama Agricultural Solutions undertook a major global re-branding project. The project saw the launch of its new company name, new uniform branding across all its international subsidiaries, and the centralisation of its digital operations.
Before the re-brand, Adama (formerly Makhteshim Agan) operated 40 separate brand names and hundreds of product brands, in over 45 markets. The company had 28 international websites using different CMS systems; brand messaging was disjointed, and there were varying digital maturity levels across its global subsidiaries.
Building Blocks was appointed to build a global, centralised content management system, project manage the roll-out of Adama’s 49 new websites, and deliver training to all of its international markets.
Strategy
The overall re-brand project had a timeline of 18 months, with the website build and roll-out to be completed within eight months. In order for this to be achievable, robust planning was a necessity.
To develop its digital roadmap, Adama first undertook a thorough gap analysis which assessed central and local requirements, the local markets’ current websites, and their digital maturity levels. Following that, the full user experience was addressed, the design project began, and Adama started the process of selecting a technology platform and partner to deliver the project.
SDL Tridion was selected as the CMS platform, and Building Blocks was selected as the partner agency – largely due to its track record of success in implementing global roll-outs with aggressive timelines.
Execution
With over fifty successful Tridion implementations, Building Blocks was perfectly placed to undertake Adama’s complex project, and were confident that no deadlines would be missed.
In order to hit the tight deadlines, Building Blocks created a roll-out process which was clear and predictable. Each market underwent a four-month process which encompassed training, content preparation and localised testing. This set clear expectations and deliverables for each market, and enabled transparent reporting of the status of each country.
The 49 websites were not just a translated version of the same website; product offerings differed across the markets, and the websites needed to reflect the specific needs and target audiences in each country. To achieve this, a dedicated roll-out team worked closely with Adama’s local teams to deliver relevant content.
The success of this large scale roll-out hinged on developing the skills of the local markets. The digital skills level was assessed in each country, internal advocates were identified to help coach less digitally-savvy colleagues, and Building Blocks delivered CMS training to content editors in 33 markets. By up-skilling local teams, the pre-launch content preparation was achieved, and the local markets were able and empowered to manage their sites going forward.
Result
In the first three months, Building Blocks had:
• Developed governance, processes and a digital operating model
• Designed and built the digital infrastructure
• Delivered a centralised global content management system
• Coded a mobile-first, touch-optimised website
• Hosted the sites in the cloud, served by geo-redundant datacentres
• Delivered training to content editors across the world.
Within eight months, Building Blocks rolled out 41 websites in 39 countries, and delivered training to 33 markets from seven hubs around the world. No deadlines were missed, and there has been 100 per cent up-time since going live in April 2014.
Adama and Building Blocks are now working together to develop a global knowledge hub, which will act as a common repository for all core product information, contain all the content to be used across the global websites, and will help further develop the digital maturity levels across Adama’s international operations.