Athlon

Digital department as a service

Athlon and Perplex have already worked together in the past. For ChangeMyCar, an Athlon’s start-up, we realized an innovative product that won the Fleet Industry Award in 2018. The follow-up request of Athlon International grew into a true digital innovation: Athlon’s new international content platform.

Umbraco Awards 2020: And the winner is…

The international content platform of Athlon won not one but two awards during this year’s Umbraco awards:

  • Best Custom Solution
  • Best Gold Partner Solution

More award-winning cases

Getting you there

Athlon already knew that they can expect not only implementation but advice and inspiration from Perplex. But there was a lot to be done when it comes to their digital presence. The first step was performing an extensive international survey. Among the most essential questions were: What’s the status of Athlon’s international digital department? How does Athlon’s digital performance per country look like? What kind of resources are already available and how can they be further utilized?

This inspired the idea to develop a simple and intuitive platform which can be used for all countries and languages. A platform that also supports the marketing team by offering inspiration and advice. A platform that meets all the legal and IT requirements. A platform which offers a great range of possibilities with optimized costs.

As a beginning, it was necessary to modernize the international website Athlon.com keeping in mind the end goal: the follow-up seamless implementation for all available countries.

"Tailor-made, dynamic and 100% Athlon"

- Athlon

From a standard enterprise website to a responsive international platform

We identified the actual needs and the major differences in all the Athlon countries. The greatest challenge was to create a simple and intuitive platform which can be used for all countries and languages. Furthermore, it had to be not only inspiring change and fun to work with, but more efficient and with higher conversion rates. We used these goals to define the right direction for each step and to stay on track throughout the whole process.

And here it was: the new website of Athlon International! Each of the teams responsible for the different countries could decide on its own whether to make the switch. But after getting acquainted with the possibilities of the platform, there was no further persuasion needed!

Content & brand management

In the meantime, Athlon’s corporate identity evolved so Perplex translated it into a new digital brand guide. Furthermore, the right content strategy was created so that the functionalities of the website, the components on each page and the newly written content would actually speak to Athlon's target group.

We also needed to know what challenges the target group has to deal with and what kind of solutions Athlon can offer. Our strategy included communicating this information to the audience using the appropriate tone-of-voice. This way we ensured an impressive brand representation – not only visually, but also content-wise.

It's here: the brand new Athlon.com

After setting up the custom content management system (CMS), creating the brand guide and crafting the brand-specific content, we were ready to show Athlon.com to the world! We added LinkedIn to the channel mix of Athlon to involve the target group as much as possible and to get to know them even better.

Open to experiments

Athlon.com was live so it was time to migrate an existing country-specific website to the new platform for the first time. Sweden was eager to try the new Athlon environment out. During the first weeks, the Swedish team provided valuable feedback. The possibilities of getting in touch with Athlon as well as the way the available discount opportunities are offered to the users needed improvement. The newly developed functionalities related to these attention points are available for all the country-specific websites which are part of the platform.

Leasing tailored to the customer’s needs

How do you make sure that the potential lease drivers who really don’t want to be stuck with a fixed contract are approached in a more personal way and have more freedom? A complex and pressing question in the automotive industry. ChangeMyCar gave a bold answer and therefore won the international Fleet Industry Award in 2018.

Read the ChangeMyCar case

"This website reflects Athlon Sweden's customer focus and commitment to excellence."
- Pernilla Carlsson, Marketing specialist Sweden

 

There was so much enthusiasm in regards to the new platform, that the kick-offs of the country-specific websites for England, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium followed soon. This way, Athlon is already rapidly developing its position in the international digital world.

Leading the way

Athlon's multifunctional platform has a great potential for further developments such as personalization, marketing automation and chatbots. This makes it a sustainable investment that will enable the lease company to retain their leading position.

The teams from different countries already use benchmarking to reach their target group and objectives. At the same time, the digital marketers from all countries, Athlon and Perplex will continue to work together and reinforce each other.