Delegating project ownership and sustaining consistent communication from planning to execution can be daunting for retail marketing departments. SaaS project and work management solutions, however, help team members streamline project management by providing cohesive platforms to store and edit projects, schedule campaigns and track employee obligations.
The marketing team at PVH Corp. (PVH), faces an extensive list of daily tasks, such as managing traditional and digital media for a variety of brands, including: IZOD, Van Heusen, Arrow and GH Bass & Company. Without project management technology support, the plethora of everyday duties and insufficient processes for managing them often resulted in disparate communication and work updates.
Since adopting AtTask, a project and work management software tool, the PVH Marketing Studio not only has streamlined communication and work updates, but is able to “assign ownership and clarify roles for every marketing campaign and initiative we release,” said Kathleen Livingston, VP of Marketing Operations for PVH, in an interview with Retail TouchPoints.
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“Now any areas of uncertainty get called out and we address them in a time-efficient fashion,” Livingston added. “Furthermore, expectations about deadlines are communicated clearly, which helps our marketers deliver their best creativity and spend less time fixing problems.”
PVH Marketing Studio employees today are better equipped to design and develop web sites and store environments, and produce photo shoots on a daily basis for the entire PVH house of brands, according to Livingston. In addition, employees can plan events, design digital ads, manage social media accounts, produce print ads and in-store signs, and develop product trim and packaging more quickly and efficiently.
By leveraging the AtTask platform to gather and integrate project goals and responsibilities, employees have improved work planning, coordination, and collaborative proofing on all of these campaigns and initiatives.
Today the management process for PVH is simple, Livingston explained: First a project owner deploys the software to build out the project scope and list necessary tasks. Each team member then is given specific task assignments, and communicates progress through the platform. As a result, the marketing department instantly has access to project status and developments, Livingston explained, “ensuring all team members are communicating, producing and being held accountable for any errors or delays.”
Since implementing AtTask in 2010, PVH consistently has trained employees to use the platform to suit cross-channel marketing trends. “Training, coaching and customization is ongoing for us,” Livingston explained. “The very nature of consumer marketing is ever-evolving, so the processes within our marketing department and among our staff members are, as well.”
Further supporting this point, PVH has committed to yearly, weeklong visits with AtTask consultants who provide guidance on how to further optimize solutions based on individual work styles and department culture, Livingston reported. “These visits really help us evolve,” she said. “However, since we know how to utilize the tool efficiently, the meetings we have nowadays are more strategic and forward-thinking than tactical, which is helping us grow even more.”
Adopting more streamlined task and workflow management is becoming an imperative for retailers across verticals, according to Nate Bowler, GM of the Marketing Solutions Group for AtTask. Because multichannel marketing campaigns are more diverse and complex, “the demand for better ROI metrics and justification for resources is increasing,” he said. “Management teams should embrace and deploy tools that will help improve internal processes and govern change in light of these marketing trends.”
