"Excellence connects" is not only the slogan of Wakol GmbH, but also the tenor of the collaboration between the leading supplier and manufacturer of flooring materials and infolox.
The full-service agency for B2B omnichannel marketing created a future-proof omnichannel solution for the family-owned company from Pirmasens, enabling Wakol to take its product communication to a new level.
Optimising the processes for creating marketing-related publications, reducing effort and costs, and refreshing the brand image in line with current trends – that was the task assigned to infolox.
In order to eliminate manual duplication of effort and unnecessary sources of error in data maintenance, the existing decentralised system landscape was first abolished. In its place, a centralised, multimedia data repository was implemented as a future-proof and expandable omnichannel marketing platform.
The decisive factor in recommending INFOLOX to use the enterprise open source CMS eZ Publish for this purpose is the ability to maintain so-called mixed content there. This means that product information and editorial marketing content, including associated images and documents, can be managed in a single system. The result is a centralised omnichannel solution that enables all marketing-related publications to be published across all channels from a single system.
In the first stage of the project, the Wakol website was relaunched based on the omnichannel marketing platform. The relaunch involved replacing the TYPO3 CMS. Previously, both the company website for the German product market and the content for the American market had been maintained in multiple languages on this platform. Wakol also used TYPO3 to publish microsites and separate mobile versions of the company websites. The task now was to gradually migrate this multitude of components to the eZ Publish system.
At the same time, a concept for optimising usability and functionality was developed. This resulted in an optimised product overview that allows users to find the product they want more quickly. Additional value-added features were implemented, such as a download basket. A redesign gave the website a contemporary and modern look and feel with a state-of-the-art character. In addition, a version for mobile devices was redesigned and implemented.
Following the website relaunch, Wakol launched a customer competition in collaboration with its partner Loba GmbH & Co. KG. As part of a film competition, DIY enthusiasts were invited to share their tips and tricks for construction projects using Wakol products. Users were able to vote for the best video to determine the winner. The microsite "Filmreifes Handwerk" (Craftsmanship worthy of the silver screen) was created using eZ Publish and made available for the duration of the campaign. The marketing campaign was a complete success – numerous visitors and DIY enthusiasts took part in the film competition and voted for the winning video.
The next step was to automate the publication of product data sheets containing technical information from eZ Publish. Until then, these had been created in MS Word, which was extremely time-consuming. For the automated solution, the product data was enriched in eZ Publish. The initial import of the data was carried out via Excel.
Wakol can now use a convenient maintenance mask to create new data sheets. In this mask, the content is easily compiled using text modules via drag-and-drop and then published in multiple languages. Translations are also maintained directly in eZ Publish. Changes to individual text modules (e.g. DIN standards) are maintained in a dictionary and thus updated centrally across all locations and publications. The data sheets are published automatically via a process (FOP) that immediately renders the finished PDF and makes it available for viewing or downloading.
"We are very satisfied with the relaunch of our website by infolox. Maintaining our product information and editorial content in eZ-Publish is very intuitive and clear. INFOLOX designed and implemented a compelling backend concept for this purpose. Now we can maintain all online and print publications centrally and conveniently and publish them directly."
Birgit Hansen, Head of Internal Sales/Marketing and Project Manager at Wakol GmbH
