Intranet Software Case Study – Advertising Agency

Challenge

BBDO Worldwide is one of the largest international advertising agencies in the world. The agency’s 65-member Duracell account team needed a better means of communicating across time zones when collaborating on global projects. Advertising is a fast-paced industry, so for BBDO, timeliness and consistency in meeting client deadlines is critical.

Previously, BBDO used standard tools, including mail, fax, and email to transport materials and ad concepts, but speed and the sequential nature of mail and faxes meant inevitable project slow downs. Additionally, BBDO had tried to manage team interaction and information with traditional Intranets, only to find that they were too expensive and unwieldy. The ideal solution for BBDO would help unite the team and enable them to collaborate on designing and building upon graphic-intensive ad concepts and campaigns for one of the world’s leading battery companies.

Solution

BBDO began searching for a solution that would help to simplify communication within the team and enable collaboration. In July 1999, the BBDO team came across a new “instant Intranet” from Vialect. It allowed team members to interact and communicate internally on time critical projects at any time throughout the day.

The Noodle software enables companies to build their own instant Intranets, which can be implemented and fully functional in about a day, without programming. The product is an alternative to conventional groupware solutions, which take a lot of time and programming expertise to implement and run. With Noodle, the Duracell team was empowered with complete control over Intranet content, design and functions.

Noodle also helped BBDO to simplify their worldwide communications by giving account members an essential tool in which to manage all account information.

The chaotic environment of the advertising industry can often lead to delays and uncertainties in schedules. Noodle is a real-time collaborative tool, which can help alleviate some of those problems.

Noodle At Work

Today with Noodle, BBDO team members are able to post marketing plans and brainstorming sessions on their Intranet, and other team members can instantly access this information from anywhere. Noodle enables the Duracell team to work together as a network, giving the account team the confidence that they can still work together effectively, as if they were located in the same office.

“Noodle turned out to be a powerful tool for our Duracell team. It provides the team with a central place to post ideas, presentations, and strategic plans, as well as scan images so that they could be viewed and addressed immediately,” said Wick Smith, IT Director, BBDO. “Since much of the work BBDO produces is in color, Noodle provides us with an efficient and affordable way to post near-final documents on the Intranet for review, allowing team members to view the document as it would appear in a final ad.

“Noodle not only helps us to coordinate group processes, but it is creating a community for employees who have never met one another.”

Noodle also provides BBDO with the ability to control its own Intranet without having to depend on vendors. Team members simply make necessary changes and updates to the Intranet.

Future Plans

BBDO plans to implement Noodle for several other extranet projects in the future.