Redwood deploy digital strategy

orking with the board and senior management to build a program to integrate digital into the fabric of the organisation, Compound Media trained over 150 key editorial, design and account team members

Redwood are one of the pioneers of customer publishing with a history dating back to 1983.  They have a wide portfolio of clients ranging from consumer giants such as Boots and Marks & Spencer through to large corporates like Barclays and Fujitsu.

The problem

in 2007 the business had some pockets of digital experience but the board could see that it was becoming increasingly important to be able to provide an integrated print/digital offering to clients.

Historically, digital work was sub-contracted to specialist agencies on a project by project basis and there was a risk that these digital marketing agencies could start to move into the content space.

Redwood engaged Compound Media to help establish the most effective strategy to integrate digital publishing solutions into the business.

Our role

We worked with the board on a strategic plan that examined the market opportunity for digital products by analysing key accounts and establishing a viable business model.

A detailed SWOT Analysis was carried out which identified that there were trusted, long term relationships with the clients based on great content.

However, the decentralised nature of the business meant that introducing specialist digital skills was challenging.

Specialist team or cultural change?

The board decided that a specialised central team would not fit with the culture of the business.  In addition, recruiting an expensive digital team was risky as the majority of the skills required were project based and therefore unpredictable.

As a result, the board embarked on an ambitious, company-wide cultural change project.  Teams from across the business from design and editorial through to ad sales and production attended six half day workshops each.

The workshops were designed to take everybody through a structured program.  Starting from the basics and building up to the ability to offer digital services to their clients: -

• Digital publishing 101 – an introduction to the web
• Content on the web – how it differs from print
• From pitch to publish – The process of creating digital publishing sites
• On-line Marketing – Designing for web publishing
• Search – Driving traffic to the sites
• Monetising content – On-line advertising, lead generation, sponsorship

“Compound Media helped Redwood identify and implement a digital development strategy which worked for our business, our staff and for our clients” – Redwood CEO, Keith Grainger

Ongoing partnership

In addition to the strategic consultancy and training, Redwood also partnered with Compound Media for specific, project based, digital publishing expertise.  This gives Redwood access to resources that have been used for: -

Pitching

We worked with Redwood to pitch and win digital projects for: -

• NSPCC
• Fujitsu
• BT
• Royal mail
• Homebase

Project based skills

Compound Media has provided content strategy, information architecture and and design and build resources for: -

• NSPCC
• Fujitsu
• Royal mail

Managed services

For projects where Compound Media have provided design and build services, we also provide a fully managed service for: -

• Fujitsu
• NSPCC

An integrated content agency

Today, integrated pitches are the norm and Redwood has a wealth of digital experience with many projects completed for both new and existing clients.

In all, nearly 150 staff participated in over 2,700 hours of workshops over an intensive seven month period.

As part of the project, employees were asked to rank their skills and experience on a scale of 1-10.  Those that were part of the program nearly doubled their scores from 3.6 to 6.9.