A Digital Audit: Defining a new playing field for Nestle

SecondMuse completed a category audit of online (web and social media) activity for a large Nestle global brand. The audit included the creation of a framework which was used to assess the online strategies and approaches of client’s brand, competitors from within the category, and best-in-class examples from across the web. The audit looked at how the web should be used by the client? How has its use evolved from the big corporate sites of old? Where are people going (or willing to go) for content? What role can a brand play in facilitating, influencing, or participating in that conversation?

As part of the audit, we assessed who the major players were online, how they were using the internet to both advertise to and deepen relationships with consumers, and how this intersected with online trends and best practices. The analysis took into consideration markets in the US, Europe, South America and Asia and examined variations in strategy and focus across these regions. By visually mapping site functionality, design, content, and other criteria we identified where the category and its players were, and where they hadn’t caught up to the way consumers are using the web.

We collaborated with Nestle throughout the process to gain a deeper understanding of the category and to make sense of the findings and how they could be applied to Nestle’s brand and their online strategy. It was an iterative and fluid process, on in which we were constantly challenging each for new insights and learning and for a better and more coherent strategy.

Through the audit, we showed that the packaged goods industry, and the client’s category in particular, had not embraced the new web landscape. After pinpointing areas of dissonance between current methods and where online consumers are at, we helped Nestle pave a path to navigate the complicated emergence and adaption of digital technologies without getting trapped into the buzz of we have to be on Facebook and Twitter.