Carlsberg on how it plans to harness its technology stack
Now that Carlsberg has assembled its business functions around one content portal the company hopes to create a more adaptive and agile organisation through its technology stack.
People have shared stories over beers through the ages. But these stories of experiences and brands now happen on any device and in any context, forcing Carlsberg to build synergies in technology, branding and customer interaction through its Pegasus platform. The technology stack launched in 2013 and the brewer has been building it out ever since.
The latest addition has seen it partner with Adobe to unearth better performance data and quicken the approval process. Richer data on how well each asset performs are being gained through a new media tagging system and file structure, while the approval process has been streamlined to push content out to all touchpoints faster. The technology will also be used to power Carlsberg’s e-commerce, social media and online investments.
Pegasus’ arrival was greatly influenced by what the brewer felt was a “slow, ineffective and expensive” set-up that rendered its online presence confusing and not mobile-friendly. The evolving technology stack, which is being built around data, sites, e-commerce, content and social, is spawning content in what the business said is “one voice”, while lowering maintenance costs.
However, it is more than just marketing. Carlsberg has 130 brands and more than 500 sub-brands and so just having transparency among its marketers and its advertising agencies is no longer enough. The need to be a faster business means its use of technology has to bring its marketing far closer to its supply chains and packaging than it ever has been before.
“[Pegasus] touches all parts of the business from the internal aspects happening behind the scenes through to the consumer facing parts,” said Carlsberg Group’s marketing technologist Martin Majlund.
“It allows us to find out more easily what’s been done in other markets and we can use the data and publish that to other parts of the business. It’s about looking at how we deliver digital value that our competitors may not be able to.”
One key way the brewer is doing this is by using the platform to add value to its customers in the off and on-trade. Previously, Carlsberg would have just concentrated on how it could get its products to retailers and bars to sell. Now, it has the data and insights to be able to pitch deals that leverage its scale and cohesion to help its sellers grow their own businesses.
"For the business, it’s about building out this core foundation where we’re able to see and know what our stakeholders actually want from us and understand how we as a business can deliver that,” said Majlund.
“[Pegasus] is creating a new wave of thinking. It’s about how we standardise our product data and how we can build out commercial aspects, while also looking at how we can connect digitally to deliver mobile and become a presence on social.”
Signs of a more responsive marketing edge from Carlsberg can be seen in its most recent activity in the UK. Earlier this month, it tried to inject some humour into the furore surrounding Protein World’s controversial advert with its own spoof and prior to that erected a poster that dispensed free beer in East London.