Keeping international partners aligned to the Monsoon brand

With Concrete Publish, Monsoon Accessorize’s international partners always have access to the information and content they need to be successful.

Founded in 1973, and now operating in more than 50 countries worldwide, Monsoon Accessorize is a truly global brand. To ensure its international retail operations run smoothly as it grows, the clothing and accessories brand uses Concrete Publish to communicate and share important marketing and operational updates with its international partners.

“We have more than 660 international stores, operating through a network of franchises, joint ventures, and subsidiaries; and it’s vital that each of those partners has access to the information and content they need to be successful,” explains Cathy Gibson, International Retail Operations Manager at Monsoon Accessorize.

“Prior to working with Concrete, we were reliant on email to share most of our in-store artwork, and all of the necessary guidelines and manuals a store needs to operate effectively. However, mailbox limitations meant it became impossible to know if large attachments had even made it through,” adds Gibson.

Monsoon Accessorize selected Concrete Publish – a cloud-based portal built for retail brands that overcomes the limitations of trying to share important content through email or shared drives, where it quickly becomes out-of-date, or remains hidden from view from the teams that need it most.

A single source of truth for Monsoon

Securely accessed by the partners’ marketing and operations teams, Concrete Publish has become a single source of truth that everyone uses to find the most up-to-date and relevant content and information. Today, the head office team in London uses Concrete Publish to manage the distribution of a variety of content, from surveys and policy documents, through to

visual merchandising guidelines, Point of Sale artwork, promotional assets, and social assets that can be shared through local social media accounts. Because Concrete Publish is cloud-based, and overcomes the limitations of email, it has even allowed the London team to make better use of video content to help train local partners and their teams.

“Concrete Publish has changed the way we work as a business. Not only does it allow us to manage our content more efficiently, but we can now present it in a visually exciting way, with interactive pages and different sections for different content types. It means that across our international markets, everyone now knows exactly where to go for the most up-to-date and accurate information; while at head office in London, we can be sure that our content is being read and used by the right teams. This is fundamental to delivering a consistent brand experience across our international stores, and keeping local teams up to date with the latest news and company announcements,” says Gibson.

Concrete Publish isn’t just a one-way push of information from head office. Each local partner also has its own space to upload content for review – typically photos of in-store displays, windows and new store openings. The head office team can then annotate the content online and provide immediate, contextual feedback.

Deployment took just a few weeks, with Concrete’s Professional Services team managing training for both partners and internal users.

Local partners have the materials they need to manage the brand

“Concrete Publish has had numerous benefits,” finishes Gibson. “It’s reduced my team’s admin as we now get fewer emails from partners looking for support materials, and it’s allowed us to close down several other legacy content sites which has saved on costs, and administrative time, and therefore made the whole process far more productive. However, by far the most important benefit is the knowledge that our local partners have the content and operational materials that they need to manage the brand successfully!”