Marketing Library pen draft

Problems

Marketing managers needed an efficient way to access the files belonging to their requested online campaigns.

Global campaigns required regions to be in sync and have visibility.

A lot of time and effort was taken from designers and project managers to find and deliver anachronically requested files.

How we solved them

Files remained stored and available so marketing managers could use them at their leisure.

Having one source of truth fostered visibility and eliminated middlemen or email chains with "you know who" questions.

Designers and project managers saved time by setting up campaigns in the library and sharing the links.

Not our first rodeo

We had already a storage and delivery system in place years before via box.com. However, due to security reasons this system was shut down and never replaced.

This time around we set out to deliver an experience that improved over the one before. By having discussion rounds with different marketing managers and their team members we got a good understanding of their expectations.

All of them needed to find and access online marketing campaigns files in the quickets and easiest way possible. For managers it was more important having 24/7 availability and a search bar. For interns, assistants, and other team members it was important to have visual references and more nuanced information like languages available or which specific kind of files belong to the campaign. For us it was necessary to have an easy upload and tagging system.

Sitemap: we decided to divide the information first by business line or vertical instead of regions, as often was the case that campaigns were localized. Therefore, finding out what's actively running, regardless of the theater, was more important as this could be leveraged.

Getting technical

Agreeing on the needs of the different parties using the site was the easiest part. All of our goals overlapped quite well. So, when it was time to wireframe we had a very strong sense of what the tool should look like.

We had few rounds dedicated to discuss and draft wireframes with stakeholders of the project, which were enough to define a layout and have a developer quickly create a click-dummy in html.

Tehcnical requirements were also discussed at the same time. The main challenge was creating a filter system that was nuanced enough to deliver accurate results without needing a whole list of inputs.

The second challenge was uploading campaigns, which was solved with excel files. These files were filled out, uploaded to the back-end, and the campaign would be available almost immediately on the front-end. They were also our offline backup – in case the tool should ever be offline or decomissioned.

Wireframes in order of appearance: start page, second level (within a line of business or vertical), individual campaign.

Ready to go

For two weeks I was forced to step away from work and focus on my personal life. Fortunately, all the ground work had been done and the library was ready for visual design.

Upon my return ~90% of the visual design was done. We did some final adjustments and while uploading the necessary campaigns for a successful launch.

Our upload system had to be tweaked and a workflow for delivery discussed with the team.

Stakeholders requested some campaigns to be added for the launch, and we selected a few others that were highly demanded to be added as well.

We finished it all and sent out an email blast:

The library is online!

Our impact:

Proactivity instead of reactivity

Manual work was reduced as well as long back and forths regarding files. Campaigns were now delivered in a secure way to the requestors, and observers could access the files without needing a separate additional request.

Brand consistency

Each team was able to attack their own markets while maintaining a coherent brand narrative for the company. This was especially important for global releases and related marketing campaigns.

Transparency between regions

Marketing teams across the globe had access to files from other regions, facilitating tasks like localization.

24/7 available self-service

Users now only needed a login to access the files they needed.

Following steps

Despite the success we had with adoption of the library by marketing managers, account excecutives, designers, and other team members, no project is really ever fully finalized.

Functionality for a "Download All" button was not introduced with the MVP but left for a following update.

A video library with similar requirements was requested after this one.

Similarly, a general marketing assets library was requested to bring loose assets to a common location.

Online Campaigns Library

for Avaya

For Avaya Inc. I worked on an in-house file system where marketing teams across the world could find final files for marketing campaigns. Due to the sensitive nature of the contents and security, third party applications like box.com or dropbox were not a choice, a custom-made service was necessary.

The process involved interviews, ideation sessions with stakeholders, wireframing and prototyping, and the deliverable was the Online Library with 12 campaigns fully available on the day of launch.

Information Architecture
Co-creation
User Experience Design
Web design