<div align="justify"> <p><b>At the height of the internet boom, Pioneer, a maker of audio and visual equipment, found itself facing a problem. It wanted to strengthen its brand image but its independent country units were following their own agendas and were creating web sites and other material that varied widely. The company decided that it wanted unity across all its sites and began looking for a solution. </b> </p><p>Raphaël Nolens, web producer at Pioneer, says, "When I joined Pioneer many factions were decentralised, sales and marketing were all doing their own things, and there was no consistency throughout Europe." </p><p>Pioneer realised that it had to alter its brand strategy. "A European marketing division was created, but this was during the days of internet hype when everyone wanted a web site, and so the European sites had created their own, all of which used different databases," says Nolens. "My main task was to unify and consolidate these sites, their advertisements and their brochures. We had to establish a common brand image." </p><p>Pioneer held internal discussions to define a solution that would meet the needs of all of its world-wide businesses. "We involved all of the local webmasters, and defined what needs we had," says Nolens. "It was decided that all of the sites had to have the same look and feel. But local information changes from country to country, and although the key topic for the sites was product information a lot of sites did not even have this, just links to other sites where it could be found." </p><p>Pioneer then began to evaluate software that could help - in particular it looked for a content management system focussed on product information. "We looked at a few technologies including those from BroadVision and Vignette but did not think that this was the way to go," says Nolens. "We needed a best-of-breed solution and one that was flexible, template-based and could be centralised, but with some localised content altering rights. We pitched with several companies and got five completely different proposals." </p><p>Ultimately, the company chose a solution hosted by product information management specialist Cedron, as its technology offered the control that Pioneer needed. "We are not selling anything ourselves but we do want to be able to guide our visitors to the product," says Nolens. "Also we wanted a one-stop solution so we only spoke to suppliers that could provide everything: hosting, design and customisation. You can choose to have one thing from one company and another thing from another company but somehow you have to gel that all together." </p><p>Pioneer now uses the Cedron Product Data Centre, where all the information is centrally stored, maintained and tailored for local needs. The implementation took 10 weeks and the system now hosts 22 product categories, with 300 products, and 45 to 150 attributes per product. It also hosts related images, brochures and manuals, all of which are stored in multiple languages. "We create one master product that is applicable for everyone in the organisation, then they add their own rules and specifications," says Rene Jempa, chief executive at Cedron. </p><p>Nolens adds that management tools are now in place to control how specific users can alter content. "For example, some people can change product data, while others only have access to a calendar where they can change dates," he says. </p></div>