Repositioning Digital Experience for Growth

Strategic Planning & Transformation

How do you get a seat at the table in a large Global organisation?

For years, experience design at Reckitt lacked a global mandate. We were trapped in a project-delivery cycle serving reactive requests rather than driving product strategy. To build true design maturity, we had to shift our identity from a service-provider to a product-focused organisation.

Repositioning Digital Experience for Growth

Strategic Planning & Transformation

How do you get a seat at the table in a large Global organisation?

For years, experience design at Reckitt lacked a global mandate. We were trapped in a project-delivery cycle, serving reactive requests rather than driving product strategy. To build true design maturity, we had to shift our identity from a service-provider to a product-focused organisation.

Repositioning Digital Experience for Growth

Strategic Planning & Transformation

How do you get a seat at the table in a large Global organisation?

The Friction

Without global leadership, digital design became fragmented. Brands recognised their physical goods, but viewed websites and apps as mere marketing overhead, not core digital products.

The Friction

Without global leadership, digital design became fragmented. Brands recognised their physical goods, but viewed websites and apps as mere marketing overhead, not core digital products.

The Pivot

We sought to fill the gap in product management with global brand marketing managers, ensuring that brand websites would be forward-planned and globally scaled.

The Pivot

We sought to fill the gap in product management with global brand marketing managers, ensuring that brand websites would be forward-planned and globally scaled.

The Impact

For the first time, digital experience formed partt of an annual brand plan, allowing us to strategically plan experience enhancement and capacity plan for it well in advance, driving efficiency and scalability.

The Impact

Contribution

UX Director (Organisational Design, Strategic Planning, Influencing)

Contribution

UX Director (Organisational Design, Strategic Planning, Influencing)

Disrupting the Status Quo

For many years, the Reckitt planning cycle had completely ignored digital experience and that lack of planning was impacting the realisation of true digital value.

No Investment

Annual brand planning focused on media reach & frequency and ignored the post-click experience.

No Investment

Annual brand planning focused on media reach & frequency and ignored the post-click experience.

No Strategic Plan

Digital Experience lacked a global brand authority and strategy, so was guided ad-hoc by influential local markets with an insular view.

No Strategic Plan

Digital Experience lacked a global brand authority and strategy, so was guided ad-hoc by influential local markets with an insular view.

Global Fragmentation

Without a global mandate or plan, it resulted in market-to-market fragmentation, duplication and inefficiency.

Global Fragmentation

Without a global mandate or plan, it resulted in market-to-market fragmentation, duplication and inefficiency.

Building Brand Managers into Product Managers

Shifting from a project-based service model to a product-centric organisation required a new type of leadership. We needed to identify and empower stakeholders who could act as internal Product Managers, turning fragmented regional requirements into forward-planned, globally scaled digital experiences.

An assortment of logos representing Reckitt's fragmented data platforms

Activating Partnerships

Our goal was to identify the right partner to create a proof-of-concept success story. By helping an early adopter win, we could establish a model that would persuade the rest of the organisation to follow.

Visualise the Issue

We demonstrated the cost of fragmentation to Global Brand Directors, creating urgency for a unified approach.

Visualise the Issue

We demonstrated the cost of fragmentation to Global Brand Directors, creating urgency for a unified approach.

Authority: Appoint Product Managers

We secured the appointment of Global Brand Marketing Managers (GBMMs) to act as the digital Product Manager for their respective brands. This created the authority that we required for change.

Authority: Appoint Product Managers

We secured the appointment of Global Brand Marketing Managers (GBMMs) to act as the digital Product Manager for their respective brands. This created the authority that we required for change.

Interest: Create Opportunities

We invited all Digital GBMMs to the Global Design Community to identify those that naturally engaged and leant in to design. As expected, the response was mixed.

Interest: Create Opportunities

We invited all Digital GBMMs to the Global Design Community to identify those that naturally engaged and leant in to design. As expected, the response was mixed.

Alignment: Building a Common Vision

When working with GBMMs, we shared our design vision for their product to identify where alignment was strongest.

Alignment: Building a Common Vision

When working with GBMMs, we shared our design vision for their product to identify where alignment was strongest.

Building Alignment

We built trust through smaller, early initiatives to reveal the GBMMs that shared our strategic goals.

Building Alignment

We built trust through smaller, early initiatives to reveal the GBMMs that shared our strategic goals.

Partnering with Finish

Finish was our first strategic partner to successfully adopt the Product mindset. By aligning our roadmap with their global brand strategy, we transformed their digital experience from a fragmented cost centre into a unified global product.

Screenshot examples from the new Finish website

From Fragmentation to Accountability

We moved from three competing web designs and three different CMSs (caused by market power-struggles) to a unified, globally-accountable digital ecosystem.

From Reactive to Planned

We transitioned the brand from ad-hoc requests to a forward-planned, long-term product roadmap integrated into annual brand planning.

From Maintenance to Investment

By securing a seat at the table, we shifted the focus from "fixing websites" to strategic investment in search optimization, content marketing, and template consolidation.

Unifying the Finish Experience