3M: Many brands sharing one global gateway

3M finished in the top 10 of the 2011 Web Globalization Report Card. Its global gateway strategy is one reason why it scored so highly.

But what’s particularly impressive about 3M is how the company has reused its global gateway across various brand web sites.

Here are four distinct brand web sites, all which make use of the same gateway:

Post It Notes

3M Pocket Projector

Scotch Brite

And Command Brand

A number of other 3M sites also make use of this template.

It’s also important to note that these gateways share centralized source code, so changes can be easily rolled out across all gateways. This is a smart and sophisticated model.

The “not invented here” syndrome is particularly acute in large multinationals. Separate divisions, separate budgets, and separate locales all contribute to the desire to start from scratch when developing a web presence for brands. Which makes what 3M has accomplished all the more impressive.

 

John Yunker
John Yunker

John is co-founder of Byte Level Research and author of Think Outside the Country as well as 19 editions of The Web Globalization Report Card.

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