Reshaping a Consumer Goods Company’s Digital Marketing + eCommerce Functions Into a Unified Organization
The Challenge
A consumer goods company has a declining revenue situation with an aging customer base. Despite the importance of digital sales channels and marketing efforts, the company's digital initiatives were fragmented across multiple functions, hindering progress and efficiency.
The Approach
To initiate a turnaround, we facilitated open and honest conversations through workshops, focusing on the necessary changes in the organizational structure to embrace a new way of connecting with customers and increasing operational efficiency. We thoroughly evaluated functional needs across Ecommerce, Digital Performance Marketing, Content Marketing, Brand Marketing, Social Media, Merchandising, New Product Activation Marketing, and PR functions. Based on these findings, we recommended consolidating all digital efforts into a new unified organization, including digital product development and all digital marketing channels. This consolidation enabled holistic digital product and marketing decision-making, fostering increased integration and effectiveness. Furthermore, through careful experimentation, traditional media resources were redirected toward the new digital organization. We also led the rebuilding of the Social Media Team from scratch and implemented cost-saving measures by consolidating digital agencies and bringing select agency functions in-house. Additionally, smaller adjacent functional areas benefited from increased agility and a flatter hierarchical structure.
The Result
Through meticulous organizational planning, role definition, hiring strategies, interviewing practices, and cost-saving initiatives, the consumer goods company underwent a successful digital organizational transformation. Consolidating digital efforts into a unified organization allowed for a holistic product development and marketing approach, resulting in enhanced customer engagement and improved operational efficiency. The rebuilt Social Media Team and in-house agency functions streamlined processes and reduced costs. The smaller functional areas experienced increased agility and a more collaborative work environment. Overall, the digital organizational formation revitalized the company's digital capabilities, enabling it to connect with customers more effectively, embrace digital sales channels, and maximize the potential of digital marketing efforts to drive growth and success in a rapidly evolving marketplace.