Method has partnered with Autodesk - one of the world's largest software companies - since 1999, undertaking
four redesigns of its corporate website among many other projects, including a
global rebrand of the company.
Previous redesigns of Autodesk's websites had largely focused on the best way to segment the audience as a part of a pre-sales product marketing effort. But recently, Autodesk had aligned many back-office IT functions and systems and was now in a position to support an entire customer relationship lifecycle online. The question they faced was brand-centric: what should this experience be like and how does it reflect the Autodesk brand?
Method developed the strategy to answer that question. We interviewed Autodesk executives, leaders of business units and enterprise functions, and channel partners to identify needs and opportunities. We audited Autodes's online properties, other sites with similar business models, and sites that were creating new experience models for online marketing. From this we created best and emerging practice model. We then created an experience "architecture" that defined experience goals, and how and where different audiences would interact with Autodesk online. Finally we presented a road map for enacting the experience strategy
The resulting site, launched in Spring 2007, not only showcases a new look and feel designed to appeal to all the company's customers, but is the first step in the road map. It established an infrastructure and content strategy that allows Autodesk to begin to fine-tune its communications by targeting content and functionality to different kinds of users, based on their relationship to Autodesk.