How We Helped Bayer Validate Digital Product Ideas
Bayer
Bayer AG is a German chemical-pharmaceutical company founded in 1863. Currently, it shares the vision of transforming its corporate culture towards a more horizontal and dynamic model, adopting the DSO (Dynamic Share Ownership) methodology. This approach aims to reduce bureaucracy and streamline decision-making through cross-functional teams capable of executing initiatives quickly and effectively.
We couldn't be more aligned!
In global companies like Bayer AG, the scale and diversity of operations complicate the creation of agile and effective processes to quickly generate and measure value. In this context, the key to success has been process agility, direct collaboration with marketers, and an iterative/incremental mindset based on user experience. This approach has allowed us to avoid long waterfall-style development cycles and efficiently generate value.
The Challenge
The task was to help Bayer's markets better develop their marketing strategies, be more efficient, reduce costs, and achieve better results. With a global presence in 160 markets, Bayer needed an innovative technological solution that could be easily implemented and adapted to different local contexts.
The ideal scenario to propose a strategy based on rapid validation experiments.
The hypothesis was that we could create a landing page engine for campaigns that was fast, robust, and easy to use, based on the design system we had been creating for Bayer previously.
Bayer trusts Builder.io so that the experiment was going to be based on this visual headless CMS.
As Builder partners we trust that this technology is flexible enough to cover the different use cases that the platform would address, while also ensuring that it is accessible to various marketing teams with very different realities and resources.
To validate this hypothesis, we worked with three pilot markets. If the experiment proved successful, the solution could be scaled to all of Bayer AG's global markets.
Processes
A cross-functional team from Runroom, composed of experts in design, technology, and product strategy, worked in short two-week cycles. Using a continuous discovery and continuous delivery model, we conducted research, identified problems, and defined solutions iteratively, with constant feedback from stakeholders in each of the markets.
Close collaboration and an agile approach allowed us to develop a product that effectively met the needs of the markets. The team worked hand-in-hand with Bayer to ensure that each product iteration incorporated feedback and improvements based on user testing and stakeholder interviews.
Changing the mindset from working on outputs to focusing on outcomes is the most efficient way to achieve the desired impact. Small, cross-functional teams with autonomy and a clear vision are the most powerful tool to tackle truly ambitious challenges. With Bayer, we are achieving this.
Results
The result is a landing page engine that meets the pharmaceutical industry's and Bayer's security standards, addressing identified issues and enabling markets to implement more efficient marketing strategies.
In a few weeks, we launched a product into production that has been adopted by the pilot markets, demonstrating its utility and effectiveness. Thanks to the partnership with Builder.io, we were able to confidently face the challenge and provide a robust and adaptable technological solution.
The most remarkable aspect of this project is how a small, cohesive team, working in a cross-functional environment with a clear objective, achieved a true outcome in record time that positively impacted Bayer's way of working.