AT&T: Connected content experience for all customers

A unified content strategy across all of AT&T helped them consistently create content that solves people problems, streamlined daily operations, reduced cost, and optimized the use of technology.

Project Objective
Create a flexible design system that allows content to be developed by different teams that is on strategy, on brand, and appears as a seamless, delightful experience to AT&T customers.

Approach
Create a repeatable process for content creation, make standardized templates for atomized content across all digital channels, and support it with accountable individuals to manage a content playbook the whole organization can follow.

The Work
A discovery exercise that involved content audits and interviewing stakeholders helped reveal the unique challenges AT&T was facing, along with its strengths. The consumer experience was mapped out to identify different places AT&T customers engaged with content.

We developed a detailed playbook for AT&T to utilize in order to standardize the creation of content. It included guidance, best practices and standards around:

• Auditing existing content
• Managing digital assets
• Documented process
• Roles and responsibilities
• Editorial guidelines
• Target audience and segmentation
• Strategic approach
• Personalization guidelines
• Internal deliverable templates for the content creation process
• Publishing and distributing content
• Measurement and optimization
• Governance

To roll this new approach out to the organization, a collaborative workshop was planned and designed in order to share thinking with key stakeholders while helping them feel ownership and accountability with the new process.

Deliverables

• Stakeholder Interviews
• Content Audit
• Unified Content Strategy
• Content Playbook
• Client Workshop

Allstate: Transforming how knowledge is managed

A major operational shift in how Allstate manages knowledge for its internal stakeholders and agents affected tens of thousands of documents, over a dozen departments, and set the stage for a new center of excellence in the organization.

Project Objective
Develop a new operating model to bring together the decentralized knowledge in the organization.

Strategy
Implement a hybrid operating model that lets decentralized experts create their own content to a common set of standards, monitored by a center of excellence, and housed in a centralized content management system.

The Work
A thorough exploratory was performed, interviewing stakeholders and reviewing examples of knowledge documents over the course of several weeks. Given Allstate’s unique culture, constraints, and objectives, we aligned to a hybrid model that leveraged key aspects of decentralization and centralization.

We developed a detailed plan for migrating knowledge from several legacy systems into a standardized, single source of truth. A new taxonomy was created for this system which would house tens of thousands of documents at any given moment.  A repeatable migration method would guide decisions about how to migrate, update, and archive in compliance with stringent insurance requirements.

Once the content was migrated, a governance system to manage the knowledge was needed. In-depth workflows were created for each type of content, showing each step of the process for multiple types of content. Decision trees and approvals were mapped out from the initial request for content updates to the moment it was published in the system.

To manage the massive migration and management effort, Allstate’s current org chart and staffing was evaluated. We identified the necessary roles and responsibilities, the effort required, and mapped that to actual personnel within Allstate. A proposal to reorganize staff, shift responsibilities, and tap into temporary resources for the surge needed during migration was outlined.

A two year roadmap and change management plan was created in collaboration with Allstate in order to set this massive project and cultural shift up for success. An initial communication plan and key checkpoints were established in order to ensure new learnings and challenges were quickly incorporated or addressed as the plan progressed.

Deliverables

• Stakeholder Interviews
• Content Audit
• Governance Strategy
• Content Architecture
• Process Design
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Change Management Plan

Chicago Booth School of Business: Empowering students to use resources

After reorganizing the wealth of student resources on Chicago Booth Career Services, student satisfaction and engagement with tools and content increased.

Project Objective
Develop a new taxonomy for the Chicago Booth Career Services intranet.

Approach
Identify categories and nomenclature that allow students to accomplish key tasks.

The Work
The first project phase involved discovery – auditing the content to reveal over fifty potential topics and stakeholder interviews to understand content constraints, challenges, goals, and the most common tasks students seek to accomplish.

Next, we performed a card sorting exercise to brainstorm different approaches to reorganizing the content in a meaningful way for students. Navigation labels were created to help gain initial alignment on nomenclature.

These cards were reviewed with a focus group in a clickable document that prompted actual students to attempt to accomplish a task using only the category and topic names as a guide.

After learning what resonated and what didn’t, we updated our nomenclature and organization. This final taxonomy was implemented on the intranet within the existing design templates and website. Some content rewrites were kicked off as there were several opportunities for content consolidation identified.

Deliverables

• Stakeholder Interviews
• Card Sort
• Taxonomy & Nomenclature Matrix
• Focus Group Testing

US Cellular: Helping rural customers get the most out of mobile

People who visit US Cellular’s eCommerce site after visiting their content marketing hub visit 4x as many pages and spend over 5x as many minutes shopping.

Project Objective
Consistently create content that drives readership and engagement among US Cellular’s priority audience segments.

Strategy
Provide the edge our segment needs to be in-the-know and maximize their mobile usage, while overcoming category pain points.

The Work
Using segmentation research and stakeholder interviews, we honed in on the content marketing sweet spot – where what customers seek and US Cellular’s unique offering intersect. With a new brand position focused on fairness, and a mission to bring technology to typically overlooked areas, we helped US Cellular carve out space in the minds of their consumers.

Our new strategy focused on four content types:

• Getting the most out of mobile
• How US Cellular fights for fairness
• Examples of how the company’s technology impacts people
• Future forward looks at new innovations right around the corner.

Every quarter, we generated topic ideas. We also looked for opportunities to plan for unplanned content based on what we knew about industry launches, category trends, search data, and company initiatives. Each article included a brief that helped creatives focus on the unique hook, what the main consumer takeaway should be, and how we could organically tie it back to a US Cellular product or offering.

Some examples of actual content pieces included long-form articles about how people with disabilities can use tech to overcome challenges, video about how VR has more applications than just gaming, and infographics about how mobile tech has evolved over the years.

Examples:

Phone Accessibility for People with Disabilities

Boost Your Productivity with Organizational Apps

The Evolution of Cell Phones: How They Got Smart

Deliverables

• Editorial Calendar
• Content Strategy

The Money Source: Marrying company culture and mortgage industry disruption

A re-imagined set of tools and resources for the modern mortgage shopper from a company with an industry disrupting model and best-in-class customer service.

Project Objective
Design an end-to-end experience for home buyers that brings The Money Source’s people focused approach together with innovative technology.

Strategy
Create a holistic personalized experience that leverages technology to make things simple and people to make it delightful.

The Work
The Money Source is a unique lender in that it has services and products the help people find, finance, and protect their home. The current site had only the most basic information, and almost no tools to help consumers.

We started by digging deep into the mindset of the TMS customer – frustrated with a confusing, complicated, and daunting prospect of buying a home. We developed detailed personas and user journeys that covered the entire process, from the initial trigger all the way to the experience of living in it.

Using these artifacts, we brainstormed tools, content, technology solutions, and customer service touch points. Each would address frustrating pain points and needs with the customer’s mindset in mind. These were prioritized and evaluated using a matrix that aligned the potential impact, the effort required, and what the effect on TMS business objectives would be.

From there we developed a content strategy, mapped out a feature set that established the roadmap for the next two years, and developed a site map that would become the aspirational future state of the new experiential website. 

Deliverables

• Communications Audit
• Personas
• Consumer Journey
• Content Strategy
• Site Map
• Future Roadmap

Blue Cross Blue Shield Tennessee: Streamlining the online health insurance shopping process

A unified site experience focused on the health insurance shopper journey led to less shopper frustration and increased enrollment.

Project Objective
Audit and evaluate content across over five different websites and design a simplified shopping experience for members, healthcare professionals, and employers.

Strategy
Utilize user research and stakeholder interviews to identify must-have content and reduce the number of pages by over 80%.

The Work
Our initial content audit uncovered an inconsistent shopping experience across the main BCBST website, Medicare / Medicaid websites, and a sprawling providers website. We methodically captured meta data like content topic and taxonomy, and evaluated each page for audience relevance, page organization, how well it delivered on user and business objectives, if the page was redundant, outdated, etc.

With this information, we identified patterns and developed a strategy that defined what content would be critical for a shopper on BCBST’s website. Our content pillars were health care 101, the BCBST difference, plan information, and high volume help topics. With that in mind, we identified key pages on the current site that met those needs most effectively.

Using our shopper journey and consumer insights, we also identified what gaps existed in the proposed content. Pages not marked for migration to the unified site were mined as source material to help us tell a complete story more efficiently. Any page without useful information was earmarked for removal.

We developed a proposed site inventory and site map that brought over 500 pages on five different sites together into a single site experience with under a 100 pages. Each page was mapped to a proposed design template. Content hierarchies were built for each template to inform wireframes, prototypes, and eventually final designs.

Examples:

https://www.bcbst.com/

Deliverables

• Content Audit
• Content Strategy
• Site Map
• Content Inventory
• Content Hierarchy

Mozilla Firefox: UX content strategy for a product with passionate users

Design and copy enhancements to critical moments in the Firefox user journey generated an uplift in the number of new account holders, a critical business metric for the company.

Project Objective
Increase the number of new Firefox account holders, plus drive enrollment in new and existing Firefox products.

Strategy
Conduct user research, rapid prototyping, and use iterative design principles to re-shape the Firefox on-boarding experience, browser, and services.

The Work
The first step in transforming Firefox’s business model was rethinking the concept and purpose of an account to a user. We identified three key value propositions, and then streamlined the on-boarding process to make it simple. We also treated account creation as a low-touch first step, which then led into the gradual discovery of other products and features as users got more familiar with the browser. These design and content decisions were rolled out across desktop, iOS, and Android versions of the browser.

To diversify revenue, the introduction of paid services was a priority. Up until this point, Firefox had no way of collecting payments. We identified the product and the entry points and built a payment flow from the ground up, which had to take into consideration the collection and management of one-time payments and subscriptions.

Additionally, several projects were prioritized to help the company rethink the approach to how the browser serves users messages, from security alerts to cross promotion. The browser interface for the logged in experience and mobile was also audited and reorganized based on user research and studies.

Results

Monthly active users and new account signups grew at an increased rate after each product update.

Examples:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/accounts/

https://fpn.firefox.com/vpn

https://extensionworkshop.com/

Deliverables

• Content Audit
• User Research
• Content Strategy
• Content Matrix
• Final copy deck for prototypes and live product

Keebler Tiny Door Project

This social media marketing effort breathed new life into icons of the brand, the Keebler Elves, by creating content and conversations around tiny elf doors installed in trees across the country. Project Objective Give millennial moms a magical experience with their children to get them thinking about the Keebler in a new way. Secondarily, this was also the brand’s first foray into social platforms other than Facebook. Strategy Inspire moms to open the doors of their child’s imagination and share their experiences on social media. The Work The Keebler Elves inspired the imagination of an entire generation, and we set out spark that nostalgia and wonder by installing miniature doors, crafted by local artists, in trees in over fifty cities all over the country. When kids and their parents stumbled across these unique doors, young minds would ask, “Who lives there?” and “What do they do?” The Tiny Door Project started as an experimental initiative that quickly grew into a big idea Keebler could reinvent their brand around. Each tree was an extension of the “Hollow Tree” that Ernie and all the Keebler elves made cookies in. They sat at the center of the campaign, and we created content that showcased the doors, prompted conversations and sharing, as well as re-created the magic and whimsy the doors inspired. Our creative focused on making people aware of the doors so they would go visit them in person through gorgeous photography. Then, we encouraged people to share their visit on social through a hashtag and message on the door, as well as conversation starters on social platforms. Last, we had fun with the concept and the idea of elves, lifting the curtain on their magical world by creating an Instagram account that posted as if it was an elf with a tiny mobile phone. The result was a blend of magical imagery and stories and helped moms take a moment out of their over-scheduled day to nurture their child’s imagination. As the doors rolled out across the country, city parks, local news, and communities of artists began to embrace and advocate for Keebler’s mission. Results We built followings in the thousands across Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram with little paid budget for a brand starting from scratch on those channels. The program quickly garnered national attention in USA Today, as well as dozens of local news outlets. Deliverables Content Strategy Distribution Strategy Editorial Planning Content & Community Management Back to Portfolio