Following the significant announcement of the creation of WPP Media, the challenge was clear: launch a new, leading global platform ready for its official brand unveiling. WPP Media is a formidable entity, comprised of 40,000 people across 160 offices globally, uniting performance, data, analytics, and creative technology with scaled multichannel audience planning and strategic media expertise. Their mission is to deliver intelligent growth for ambitious brands worldwide.
Our brief was both exhilarating and demanding: to lead on developing WPP Media's new digital brand and user experience design, whilst simultaneously implementing a modern, headless software solution – all under a tight deadline, for a company that didn't yet formally exist in its combined form.
The primary challenges included:
Establishing a Brand Identity: Creating a cohesive and compelling digital presence for a newly formed global media giant.
Global Scale & Reach: Building a platform capable of serving 40,000 employees and numerous clients across 160 international offices.
Tight Deadlines: Delivering a fully functional and branded platform in time for the official brand launch.
Modernising Infrastructure: Moving beyond traditional monolithic systems to a flexible, scalable, and secure headless architecture.
Code was tasked with crafting a digital platform that not only addressed these immediate needs but also showcased WPP Media's combined unique selling proposition in the market, ready for future growth.
Moving from challenge to solution
A 5-day content design sprint followed to create and test a prototype focusing on the structure and flow of content, with the objective of aligning our knowledge, generating ideas and designing the end-to-end journey.
We then created a mid-fidelity prototype focusing on product usability, inspirational content and improved trust through detailed content. The prototype was then tested with participants across various scenarios such as assessing services, case studies, thought leadership, and the WPP Media careers experience.
Why DatoCMS? The Foundation for WPP Media's Global Ambition
In selecting the core content infrastructure, DatoCMS proved to be the ideal choice for WPP Media's ambitious project. Its robust features and developer-friendly approach perfectly aligned with the need for a scalable, secure, and highly flexible digital solution.
Key reasons for choosing DatoCMS included:
Content-as-a-Service: DatoCMS's headless approach eliminated the need for custom CMS infrastructure, streamlining development and future maintenance.
Enhanced Localisation & Translation: DatoCMS offered powerful options for managing content across multiple languages and regions, a critical requirement for a global entity like WPP Media.
Continuous Improvement: Its commitment to constantly improving its UI and feature set ensured WPP Media would benefit from an evolving, cutting-edge platform.
Security & Stability: DatoCMS handles its own backups and ensures architectural separation from the front end, providing a robust and secure foundation for sensitive global content.
Developer Experience: The clear APIs and structured content modelling facilitated a smooth and efficient development process for the engineering team.
"Code has been vital in defining and launching a proposition that sets us apart in the market, simplifies our content management processes, and delivers a scalable, secure platform ready for tomorrow's needs."
