Digital Transformation plan for Fender

Fender hired our team to develop a digital transformation plan to modernize the customer experience and increase engagement amongst existing (and new) user groups.

[ THE DESIGN PROMPT. ]

How to build a lifestyle brand that engages consumers throughout a variety of music-related experiences across various platforms? The objective was to create a holistic experience for different user groups (from professional music players to music amateurs and fans) integrated into the brand’s music ecosystem.

The core challenge required that we transform the company from a product-centric company to an experience or consumer-centric company. Instead of focusing on the guitars themselves, we proposed a digital transformation strategy with the consumer at the fore-front. We designed a digital transformation strategy specifically for two key user groups: ‘music enthusiasts’ and ‘artists.’

[ THE PROCESS. ]

Conducted a competitor analysis to understand best practices in the digital e-commerce space. We specifically looked at Burberry and Harley Davidson as exemplary consumer brands that engage seamlessly with consumers throughout different channels. We identified key personas and drew out user journeys for each of these user groups. We then conducted user research with the various user consumer groups, as a way to understand how we could best engage with each group across digital and analog touch points.

[ THE OUTCOMES ]

We delivered a digital engagement blueprint, as well as a high fidelity design prototype to address the needs and desires of both music enthusiasts (interested in consuming music) and artists (motivated by honing their craft.)

The web designs are available for viewing here.

Fender’s digital transformation (and the indirect impact of this work) has been subsequently documented across different business journals: “How Fender Is Embracing The Digital Transformation,” “Fender Guitars: Can the Electric Guitar Make a Comeback?” “Why Fender Is Going to 11 With Digital.”