Designing a Global Brand Portal for PMI

01 Client Background

Philip Morris International (PMI) is a global leader in the tobacco industry, actively transitioning towards a smoke-free future. With a diverse portfolio of brands like IQOS, ZYN, and VEEV, PMI operates across multiple markets, each with unique regulatory requirements and localisation needs. Managing brand consistency while allowing for local adaptations posed a significant challenge, especially at scale.

02 Challenges and Objectives

To ensure brand consistency and reduce manual effort, PMI required a robust Brand Portal that would serve as a centralised hub for asset management and transcreation. While PMI had an existing system in place, it lacked the technological capabilities and structured workflows needed to create and manage assets efficiently, particularly for transcreation and localisation.

Outdated processes and platforms further compounded these inefficiencies, forcing employees to sift through thousands of assets manually, often recreating materials with only minor changes. Our objective was to develop a new Brand Portal—called PMI Brand Central—that would streamline these processes, improve accessibility, and enhance workflow automation.

03 Strategy and Approach

Brightful led the design and UX of PMI Brand Central, a Proof of Concept (POC) aimed at transforming PMI’s approach to asset management. We shifted the focus from a downstream, asset-heavy process to an upstream, modular approach, enabling PMI to create, manage, and deploy brand assets more effectively.

Personalised User Dashboards

Role-specific interfaces that surface relevant content based on user needs.

Improved Search Features

Smart tagging, predictive search, and refined filters for faster and more accurate asset discovery.

Digitised Playbooks

A restructured system for organising and categorising assets, providing users with clear guidelines for usage.

Self-Service Features

A library of pre-transcreated assets, reducing the need for redundant recreations.

Checkout System

An optimised briefing system that streamlines transcreation requests.

We conducted in-depth research into PMI’s transcreation process to define these requirements, collaborating with key stakeholders and market users. User stories, journeys, and concept visuals were developed to validate our approach, ensuring PMI Brand Central addressed real-world challenges. Our designs and suggested features were shared with developers from IBM, who we collaborated with to create a working prototype to test further and showcase our proposed features.

04 Results

We anticipate the PMI Brand Central portal will deliver a scalable solution for PMI’s asset management challenges, including:

Efficiency:

Improved efficiency by reducing time spent searching for assets through smart tagging and enhanced search functionalities.

Cost Reduction:

Reduced transcreation costs by making pre-existing assets readily available for reuse.

Improved Workflows:

Enabled a structured and automated workflow, eliminating redundant manual tasks.

Integration:

Established a foundation for further automation and integration within PMI’s overall Content Supply Chain Initiative.

05 Expected Impact

50%

More efficient

30%

Less manual effort

60%

More productive workstream

06 Testimonial

“PMI Brand Central has transformed the way we manage our brand assets. Brightful’s expertise in automation and structured workflows has enabled us to work more efficiently while maintaining brand consistency across all markets.”

Product Group Delivery Manager, FMCG

07 Conclusion

The success of PMI Brand Central highlights the importance of automation, templated workflows, and smart tagging in large-scale content operations. As part of PMI’s broader Content Supply Chain Initiative, it serves as a fundamental building block for improving efficiency and brand governance.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out our blog on How to build a brand portal or read how we helped PMI leverage technology more effectively.

08 More inspiration

Brand 15 May 2025