Challenges
With over 5,000 SKUs across product lines, PRADCO has a large volume of brand and product content that’s used across their customer journey. Before they had a digital asset management (DAM) solution to manage this content, all file requests were routed through their creative team…and took hours, if not days, to complete.
To expand and streamline access, PRADCO implemented the Collective in 2015. Now teams across brands, business units, and offices can securely search for and find the approved photos, videos, and creative assets they need, in minutes.
However, PRADCO still lacked a centralized database to store product data — like specifications, weight, color, and SKU — and product marketing copy. This information is used across teams to create product catalogs, marketing material, and e-commerce listings. Martin Hill, PRADCO’s Director of Digital Sales, shared that spreadsheets were primarily used to manually collect and manage this information, which was a frustrating and error-prone process. “A lot of product information was coming to our team in piecemeal fashion, which is not ideal when you’re under serious timelines and trying to be organized.”
PRADCO began exploring how a product information management (PIM) system could improve this content workflow and were interested in Entries, the Collective app designed to manage product content. “We started looking around for different solutions,” Martin said, “and that's when we noticed that Widen had just created their own PIM solution. And because it exists within our current DAM solution, it was a no-brainer for us.”
Objectives
Single source of truth
Store product data, marketing copy, and digital assets in a single, unified system.
Improved quality
Ensure all teams are using the same, approved brand and product content.
Empowered users
Give internal and external stakeholders self-serve access to the content they need, when they need it.
Solution
Centralized product content
The Collective allows PRADCO to manage their product digital assets, data, and marketing copy in one view. Martin shared, “I’m accountable for all our brands being 100% ‘retail ready,’ which means that we are achieving full excellence on all of our e-commerce product pages. And we can't do that without having centralized systems to store all of our product assets and information.”
Entries has replaced siloed spreadsheets and storage tools with a centralized location for teams to find all approved content, on their own. Martin shared that once Entries is rolled out across the company, “then anybody in the organization who needs access to product information, whether it's a marketing, a brand, a salesperson, even somebody for customer service, whatever it may be, they will be able to access it.”
Customizable attributes
PRADCO has a wide and diverse range of products. With Entries, they can build customized product profiles that capture the essential attributes for each product. “The specs required for a trail camera are significantly different from those for a tree stand, for example,” Martin shared. “And we need the ability to build out those profiles so that every time we enter a tree stand, we don’t miss any of those required specs. And there’s a lot of them.”
This flexible attribute structure makes it possible for Martin’s team to manage the unique specs for every PRADCO product.
Channel-specific content
PRADCO’s products are displayed across hundreds of websites and e-commerce channels, including Amazon, Walmart, Bass Pro Shop, Cabela’s, Academy Sports + Outdoors, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. With Entries, PRADCO can manage product descriptions that are tailored to the requirements of specific marketplaces. “We wanted the ability to customize information for certain retailers. Amazon comes to mind. The bullet points on your Amazon product page are the most important copy you'll put on your entire product page. We needed the ability to customize our copy for Amazon, and then keep that content stored somewhere that was readily available for anybody,” said Martin.
Entries then streamlines content distribution by allowing PRADCO to export just the product copy, information, and assets required by that retailer.
“Being organized is important because the retailers have spoken: strong product assets are no longer a luxury, they are an expectation.”
Martin Hill,
Director of Digital Sales at PRADCO Outdoor Brands
Benefits
Speed across teams
Self-serve access to content has brought agility and speed to workflows across teams. “Now we can grab assets without the need to reach out to other people in the organization. For the marketing team, which is responsible for everything from building presentations to populating our website, direct access to assets has sped up all of our processes, in terms of building out these things for the organization. With the Collective, everything just got a lot faster.”
This agility allows teams to spend less time on manual tasks and focus on strategic work, accelerating progress towards the company’s goals and objectives.
Enhanced accuracy
Without a centralized repository to manage product data and copy, and enrich it with related images and videos, teams across PRADCO were vulnerable to human error, despite their best efforts. “Even though I would say 98% of the time we were accurate, when we weren’t, it hurts,” Martin said.
They are using the Collective to build workflows that ensure teams across the company are using the same, approved content. “After an approval check is complete, in our eyes, that content is locked down. And once it's locked down, then we know it's ready to go out to the retailers.” This workflow will provide guardrails that empower teams to create coordinated, accurate, and trustworthy e-commerce experiences, across channels and touchpoints.
Exceptional digital experiences
As e-commerce continues to expand across industries, brands need to deliver impactful and relevant digital experiences to stay competitive. And these experiences begin with coordinated, high-quality digital content. “Being organized is important,” Martin noted, “because the retailers have spoken: strong product assets are no longer a luxury, they are an expectation. PRADCO is committed to meeting that expectation as well as giving consumers a best-in-class experience with our product pages.”
And with the Collective to help PRADCO organize, manage, and distribute their digital content, they create and deliver experiences that their customers want and deserve.
Assets
Entries
Insights
Portals
