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Embracing marketing agility: ADP’s strategic leap forward with Bright

Embracing marketing agility: ADP’s strategic leap forward with Bright

The client

ADP, established in 1949 and listed on the NASDAQ, is a Fortune 500 company and a global leader in payroll services and HR solutions. With a heritage of over 75 years, ADP manages global operations across many countries and sectors. Partnering with Bright, ADP launched an ambitious initiative to instil agility within its International marketing team (known as ESI), improving responsiveness and aligning operations closely with sales and business goals.

The challenge

Facing the challenge of disparate international teams and varied operational practices, ADP’s ESI marketing function needed a realignment—not just in tools and processes but fundamentally in mindset. The goal was to transition from traditional practices to a more integrated, agile marketing approach that could unify global efforts and increase operational efficiency.

Graham Wylie, VP International Marketing said “By adopting agile practices, we can drive success, maximise our potential, and ensure our team remains innovative, efficient, and highly engaged. This transformation is vital for meeting the growing demands of our business and achieving our ambitious goals.“

Agile marketing has been a game changer for us. Whilst asking the teams to change their way of working was challenging at times, it bore fruit in the end once they understood that it’s not just about speed; it’s about being strategically aligned and responsive. The clarity and focus that Bright’s training brought have enabled us to be more adaptive and impactful.
Els Humphreys-Davies, the ESI Senior Director of Field Marketing and programme sponsor

The solution

Bright developed a bespoke agile marketing training and activation programme, tailored to the teams specific requirements and incorporating use cases that the ADP ESI marketing team would use as the pilots to activate the new ways of working and thinking.

The initiative began with an in-depth discovery phase, followed by an interactive agile marketing training programme delivered across the global marketing teams. Introducing the agile marketing principals and best practice in a way that fit the ADP ESI marketing environment, the programme focused on the role of experimentation and taking a test and learn approach, through measurement and KPIs to sustainably use agile to overcome barriers. Over 60 marketers worldwide were engaged in this transformative process.

Leadership engagement

A critical component of the solution was leadership training to help the marketing leadership team role model a growth mindset and allow the new ways of working to flourish. As well as embracing experimentation, reflecting the agile principles instilled across the function.

Activation and support

The training was hands-on, involving over 30 hours of virtual classroom instruction & interactive sessions segmented into five strategic modules. This approach ensured that the concepts taught were not only understood but also immediately implemented, fostering a learning-by- doing culture. Bright’s team, comprising B2B marketing practitioners and agile experts, provided ongoing practical support, particularly as teams transitioned into pilot phases, ensuring the new ways of working were successfully adopted and marketing effectiveness was enhanced.

The results

Agile marketing is not just a methodology; it’s a mindset that has helped propel the ADP international teams to new levels of excellence, delivering significant improvements across several key performance metrics:

Increased speed to market: Campaigns were launched faster, with a marked increase in creativity and innovation due to greater experimentation encouraged by a culture fostering curiosity and a growth mindset
Data-driven marketing: A strong emphasis on data-driven decisions and continuous improvement allowed the team to access campaign results during whilst the campaign was running and pivot activity, rather than waiting for final results.
Data-driven marketing: By prioritising data-driven decisions and continuous improvement, the marketing team gained real-time access to results, enabling them to adjust their strategies throughout the campaign.
Professional development: Marketers appreciated the investment in their skills and career development, acquiring valuable new capabilities that bolstered their professional growth
Cross-functional collaboration: Enhanced collaboration across the teams throughout campaign lifecycles aligned KPIs, shared regional learnings, and underscored the benefits of integrated marketing strategies.

Team insights

Els Humphreys-Davies, the ESI Senior Director of Field Marketing and programme sponsor, reflects on the journey: “Agile marketing has been a game changer for us. Whilst asking the teams to change their way of working was challenging at times, it bore fruit in the end once they understood that it’s not just about speed; it’s about being strategically aligned and responsive. The clarity and focus that Bright’s training brought have enabled us to be more adaptive and impactful.” Catharina Rozendaal, Marketing Growth Director for Emerging Markets, noted operational improvements: “Agile marketing allows me to reconnect with the wider marketing team faster. Using workflow tools and kanban boards means that projects & campaign information is centralised and accessible.”

Leadership perspective

Graham Wylie, VP of Marketing, whose vision was foundational to this initiative, reflected on its success: ” Agile marketing offers a method to enhance our capacity and efficiency without merely adding more staff or increasing costs. This approach allows us to continue delivering exceptional results while adapting to meet increased demands.”

Summary

Looking ahead, ADP ESI Marketing is committed to further refining agile marketing practices to continue driving operational efficiencies as well as ensuring they engage their audiences through effective marketing. The focus will be on scaling these successes to drive even greater business impact and market leadership.

ADP’s strategic partnership with Bright has redefined standards in agile marketing. By successfully integrating agile methodologies, ADP’s ESI marketing team has become more dynamic, empowered, and effective — driving both increased revenue for the business as well as operational efficiencies.

Find out more about how to inject more agility into your team with our agile marketing training

August 20, 2024 Alaina Roberts

Agile marketing training drives 123% revenue increase for Informa Pharma showcase event

Discover how Informa Markets EMEA undertook a significant agile marketing training programme to upskill their marketing teams spanning 529 hours and 57 marketers with the help of Bright’s certified agile marketing trainers.

With newly empowered teams working more efficiently and effectively, the implementation pilot programmes had an impressive impact with outstanding results achieved, such as 123% year-over-year ticket revenue increase, an 34% increase in attendees (almost 54,000—their highest ever) and 17,000 more C-level target attendees.

The client

Informa Markets EMEA, part of Informa plc and a FTSE 100 company, operates in over 30 countries, with over 11,000 employees. Informa Markets enable people to connect, learn, and do business through events, digital services, and data solutions across various global sectors including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, energy, agriculture, hospitality, fashion and more.

The challenge

The pandemic significantly impacted Informa’s events business, requiring a reassessment of growth strategies. EMEA marketing leadership wanted their teams thinking and working differently, feeling inspired, be more adaptable to change, while improving efficiency and productivity.

Victoria Hardiment, Pharma Marketing Director, and a key driver of this programme within Informa, identified that adopting agile marketing methodologies would be the launchpad, however changing mindsets and habits isn’t an easy task. Certified agile marketing trainers from Bright were brought in to educate the leadership on the value of agile marketing and provide the skills and tools to the team to run their pilot programme.

“What an incredible result! Thank you for your hard work, expertise, and support… This year, we’ve changed everything about our campaign and approach to marketing.
Through our Agile Marketing Hubs, we’ve targeted our communications more, relaunched our digital touchpoints, tested and experimented. This has enabled increased engagement across all channels. I am so proud of the amazing marketing team who have worked tirelessly to innovate and deliver this brilliant result.”
Victoria Hardiment, Pharma Marketing Director

The solution

Bright aimed to revolutionise Informa Markets marketing through a certified agile training programme that empowered the teams to work more efficiently and effectively, ultimately increasing revenue through improved audience engagement. Leadership buy-in was crucial for successful adoption, so the first step was to successfully engage this audience. The initial training programme targeted marketing directors from London, Amsterdam, and Dubai, across diverse sectors.

A discovery phase ensured the training messaging and content was customised to the team’s requirements, Bright developed a two-day interactive course demonstrating how agile practices improve audience engagement and drive more effective outcomes. Surveys and in-person feedback sessions were undertaken to gain insights, capture and address challenges, develop action plans, and create relevant content for the internal newsletter. Subsequent sessions were provided to local marketing teams launching pilot projects, introducing new agile practices and fostering a test-and-learn approach.

Delivered by Bright’s trainers, the ICAgile certified training was highly relevant, interactive, and engaging. It provided a robust understanding of agile marketing principles and best practices and identified practical use cases within the Informa workflow.

Learners gained practical tools, an easy-to-use playbook, and a set of resources and templates to activate the new ways of working and thinking. Accompanied with ongoing coaching, feedback, and support, teams felt confident in applying their new skills to real-life scenarios and during pilot programmes. The largest pilot, led by the Pharma team, served as a blueprint and focused on growing the showcase CPHI Europe event. Ambitious targets were set to measure the success of agile marketing adoption. Additional pilots were also initiated globally, including in healthcare, energy, and cityscape sectors.

Achieving tangible outcomes was essential to build a compelling business case for a more structured and widespread adoption of agile methodologies across Informa Markets.

The results

The outcomes of the newly adopted agile marketing approach are impressive. So far, 57 marketers have been trained, totalling 529 hours of training.

The Pharma marketing team applied agile methodologies to their showcase event, which delivered the best results ever achieved:

123% year-over-year ticket revenue increase
34% attendee increase (almost 54,000—their highest ever),
17,000 more C-level target attendees.

Qualitative results were captured through regular retrospectives, reviewing what the team “liked,” “lacked,” and “learned.” Key collective learnings included the importance of:

Regular communications
Making room for creativity
Addressing risks and issues early to improve adaptability
Being agile not just doing agile
Establishing effective baselines for effective measurement.

Actions were then implemented to ensure continuous improvement.

Across other Informa Markets verticals pilot agile teams set specific objectives for their tactical campaigns which provided great learnings:

Cityscape Bahrain: Aimed to collect 1,000 leads. By the end of sprint two, they surpassed this goal, achieving 1,065 pieces.
Energy Nigeria: Targeted 2,800 leads but achieved only 1,000 learning to address risks and issues early, break down tasks to better understand priorities, and set seasonal targets.

These overall successful results have led to continued investment in agile marketing training and activation programmes across Informa Markets.

Find out more about how to inject more agility into your team with our agile marketing training

July 30, 2024 Alaina Roberts

100 days to implement Agile Marketing foundations within Informa PLC’s Pharma Marketing division

In a rapidly evolving landscape where innovation meets customer expectations head-on, Informa Pharma and Bright embarked on a groundbreaking journey of agility and adaptability. Informa is a globally recognised leader in events and digital services, a member of the FTSE 100 which operates in over 30 countries, with more than 11,000 employees.

The challenge

Informa Plc is a globally recognised leader in events and digital services, a member of the FTSE 100, which operates in over 30 countries, with more than 11,000 employees. One of Informa’s subsidiaries, Informa Markets, has a dynamic pharma marketing team. They were tasked with targeting the pharmaceutical sector with the challenges of a growing number of customer touchpoints and increasing customer expectations.

Their solution? A shift towards agile marketing practices to foster flexibility and responsiveness.

We’re witnessing a shift in how our audiences interact with us not just joining our events but an increasing shift towards a long term, always-on relationship based on knowledge and access to critical insights. To thrive in this environment, we must be agile and adaptive, placing the customer at the centre of our strategy.
Victoria Hardiment, Pharma Marketing Director

The first phase

The first phase of the marketing transformation journey started by enabling the marketing leadership team with an awareness of agile marketing principles and best practices. This inspired Victoria Hardiment, Pharma Marketing Director, to delve further into how agile marketing could help the Pharma marketing team evolve their ways of working, secure better prioritisation, and use data to deliver greater business value ultimately.

The journey has been challenging but rewarding. We’ve successfully launched three pilot hubs and gained buy-in from all levels of seniority. The Scrumban method has facilitated our work tremendously, allowing us to launch our main event CPHI Europe registration earlier than ever.
Lizzie Knight, Agile Marketing Lead, Informa Pharma

Informa hired Lizzie Knight as an Agile Marketing Lead to pilot their agile transformation. Lizzie worked with Bright to launch a 100-day plan to lay the foundation for agile marketing adoption. The plan defined clear objectives and empowered the agile marketing hub teams with alignment to business goals.

Bright plays a crucial role in this transformative journey as an active practitioner, providing strategic support, training, coaching, and advisory services to the agile marketing lead. With deep expertise in agile marketing, they are reshaping the team’s marketing operations, resulting in effective outreach, increased engagement, and significant efficiency gains.

The results

With the roadmap defined and Bright enabling the change, the journey towards greater marketing agility to support the business with its ambitious growth plans is well and truly underway. The Pharma marketing team’s early experiences demonstrate the transformative power of agile marketing when well implemented. As the journey unfolds, agile marketing will continue to empower how they evolve and adapt in an ever-changing business landscape.

Early launch of major event registration: Leveraging agile marketing methodologies to drive efficient execution and timely delivery
Alignment around personas and segmentation: Refining marketing efforts by gaining deeper customer insights, improving both customer experience and journey
Advanced tracking and reporting: Increased visibility of marketing activities and their impact on the business allowing the teams to take a test and learn approach to drive continual improvement
Greater team alignment: Enhancing internal collaborations for a more seamless and efficient workflow

This is just the beginning of our journey into the world of agile marketing. We’re taking an ‘agile’ approach to our rollout; testing, learning, and iterating as we go. We’re excited to continue on this path, reap the benefits and share our experiences as we transform.
Victoria Hardiment, Pharma Marketing Director

Learn how Bright can help your organisation accelerate your marketing transformation.

November 2, 2023 Alaina Roberts