OBJECTIVE

Monsanto Global Templates
Monsanto was restructuring its internal organization to integrate Corporate and Commercial Brand sites onto a single platform, evolving from a decentralized House-of-Brands into a more centrally managed Branded House. To support this strategy over the next three years, Monsanto plans to install and leverage the Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) as the content management solution.

Designit was engaged to develop a set of global templates that would respond to the individual needs of over 100 internal brands while satisfying the business requirements of the larger corporation. 

RESULTS

We encouraged Monsanto to begin with two brands: De Ruiter Seeds and WestBred as a testing ground for future transformation. We created templates that provided brands with the flexibility needed to differentiate themselves from one another within the constraints of the new system.  

The final deliverable was a "starter set" of global templates that could be extended to their full portfolio of brands to leverage shared content, design assets, marketing initiatives, and analytics. 

PROCESS: RESEARCH

As project design lead, I began by researching the current digitized state of the agricultural industry to understand the end-user. This presentation provided the team with an overview of AgTech and Precision Farming to better understand our client’s customers, including development of a persona who represents the new technically savvy farmer. This helped inform our discussions with Monsanto when we conducted a 4-day discovery workshop in St. Louis.

PERSONA

ONSITE CLIENT WORKSHOP

We selected two brands, Westbred and De Ruiter, as a starting point to build the new global template system. We met with the brand’s representatives to understand their vision and goals for their site redesign. We also met with corporate leaders to learn about Monsanto’s vision for its future as a more centrally managed digitally forward company. From these meetings, we constructed a roadmap for the client engagement.

CONTENT & FUNCTIONALITY ASSESSMENT

There were more than 100 global brands under Monsanto with their own websites, and each of them had different demands for content and functionality.  The first step was to take an inventory of all of the global brands and associated websites. I analyzed the websites to find common functionality and content that we would be required to accommodate in a global template solution. 

COMPONENT LIBRARY

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) was chosen as the content management system to manage all of their brand’s digital assets in one central repository. Working closely with the developers, I made recommendations for the site architecture and created a component library that would adhere to the principal demands of AEM, while providing enough creative control for the individual brands.

WIREFRAMES

Based on our research for other existing brands using enterprise platform and global templates, high level content assessment, and the functionality survey from 7 other Monsanto brands, I developed a series of detailed wireframes.

VISUAL DESIGN

The main task for the visual design team was to create a new look and feel for De Ruiter and WestBred. The goal was to demonstrate the ability to use different branding styles and content within our pre-defined templates and components.