How Ralph Lauren built a connected foundation for product creation

The problem: the front end of product creation was still disconnected

Ralph Lauren was already undertaking broader transformation across the business, but Bailey Heckel, Director of Design & Merchandising Technology, saw a persistent gap at the earliest stage of the product lifecycle.

Enterprise systems supported much of what happened after a product was defined. Upstream, where products were imagined, reviewed, and shaped, visuals and structured product information still lived in different places.

For Bailey, it was a problem she had seen throughout more than two decades in merchandising.

• Visuals and product data were disconnected
  Creative teams needed to understand what a product looked like while commercial and product teams needed its structured definition. Without a shared foundation, those two representations had to be brought together manually.
• Skilled teams spent time moving information
  Product data and imagery moved from Excel into PowerPoint, back into spreadsheets, and into other presentations and visualization tools. The work kept the process moving, but it took highly skilled people away from the work they were hired to do.
• Workarounds could not support enterprise scale
  Spreadsheets, macros, SmartSheets, presentations, and other “survivor apps” could solve immediate problems, but they depended on individuals maintaining increasingly complex connections between them. At Ralph Lauren’s scale, that model was not sustainable.
• Digital product creation needed a stronger foundation
  COVID accelerated the move away from a product-creation process centered on physical rooms and physical samples. At the same time, the growing importance of 3D and digital product creation made the underlying disconnect between product visuals and data more consequential.

The solution: connect the headwaters of product creation

Ralph Lauren introduced VibeIQ as part of a broader transformation program, bringing connected technology into a part of the product lifecycle that had historically remained more fluid and less structured.

• Bring visual and product context together
  VibeIQ gave Ralph Lauren a way to connect how products look with how they are defined, creating a common foundation for teams working across design, merchandising, and technology.
• Support enterprise scale without an enterprise-style user experience
  The platform needed to satisfy two very different requirements: support the scale and technology expectations of a global enterprise while remaining modern and intuitive enough for product teams to use naturally.
• Treat change management as an enterprise issue
  Connecting product creation earlier in the lifecycle also changed how information moved through Ralph Lauren’s technology environment. That meant change management could not focus only on designers, merchants, and other end users. Enterprise technology teams also had to adapt to a stronger common product definition being created further upstream.
• Build the foundation for what comes next
  The objective was larger than replacing individual spreadsheets or presentations. Ralph Lauren needed a connected foundation that could support the continued evolution of digital product creation, visual assets, product information, and the decisions around them.
  

“To be 20-plus years into my career, and to finally have [a common foundation for teams working across design, merchandising, and technology] actually coming to life in a very intuitive and usable solution is a pretty fabulous part of the journey.”

Bailey Heckel, Director of Design & Merchandising Technology

The results

• A connected foundation at the front end of the lifecycle
  Ralph Lauren introduced enterprise technology into a part of product creation that had historically depended on looser connections between visuals, data, and individual tools. That created a stronger foundation for product information and creative context to move together as products progressed downstream.
• More of the team’s talent could stay focused on product work
  Connecting visual and product information reduced the need to rely on manual transfers between spreadsheets, presentations, and visualization tools as the primary way to communicate the line. The goal was not simply faster administration. It was allowing talented product teams to spend more of their time on the specialized work they were hired to do.
• Greater confidence in the path toward digital product creation
  For Ralph Lauren, connecting visuals and structured data was foundational to making 3D and digital product creation work at enterprise scale. VibeIQ gave confidence that it was building in the right direction.
• A technology partnership became a strategic advantage
  Working closely with VibeIQ gave Ralph Lauren the opportunity to influence the roadmap while drawing on a team with deep industry and enterprise experience. When evaluating a technology partner, Bailey highlighted three things: trust in the people, responsiveness, and the stability and functionality of the product. For Ralph Lauren, VibeIQ met those requirements and became a strategic partner in the broader transformation.