Audi MediaCenter

A Hub for all communication activities of AUDI AG

Executive Summary

The Client

Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer that designs, engineers, produces, markets and distributes luxury vehicles. Audi is a member of the Volkswagen Group and has its roots at Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. Audi-branded vehicles are produced in nine production facilities worldwide. In 2019, the Audi Group delivered about 1.8 mio automobiles to customers. The company currently employs 92,000 people worldwide, including more than 60,000 at its German locations in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm.

The Challenge

In the past, any kind of information prepared for journalists, bloggers and other online multipliers was available on various platforms. For example, the press database "Audi MediaServices", the video platform "Audi MediaTV", the "Motorsport.info" and a few others were single hosted and serviced platforms as well as mobile apps. Our obvious key task was to migrate and aggregate the entire content of several platforms based on Enterprise CMS Adobe CQ4. Just mentioning: 8 years of content is not that easy to migrate! Not to forget, a CRM system connected to the former system needed some work as well.

The Solution

In 2013 AUDI setup a team to create ideas and prototypes regarding a new Audi MediaCenter. The goal regarding a new MediaCenter was to create one single hub.

An individual and expandable Content Management System (CMS) with fully responsive front-end and powerful, lightweight and operable backend based on state of the art technologies as if Angular.js and Ruby on Rails.

The Result

After completion of the concept phase and selection of the technical implementation partner on the basis of a tender, the development could start in November 2014. After 7 months of intensive cooperation, the new Audi MediaCenter went live on time on June 1, 2015.
The integration of the Audi MediaTV, which was standalone until February 2016, was completed promptly. The intensive cooperation and continuous development was acknowledged by winning several awards until this day.

The Audi MediaCenter links various external services.

The result is a modern, cross-channel research platform. Audi presents all editorially relevant topics in a clear and quickly accessible manner. Navigation is topic and media-based, simple and clear for users.

Journalists and other communications professionals consider the individual options for special notifications and subscriptions particularly helpful. Practical features such as the download shopping cart satisfy their needs.

Of course, the Audi MediaCenter is designed to be responsive and optimally prepared for smartphones, tablets and desktops. The platform is consequently also ideal for mobile research. Information may also be shared in social networks.

Technical details

Strategic technological decisions

We had to proceed rapidly - without operating superficially. Therefore, we decided to use an open and flexible platform for the system. A platform, that can grow regarding future requirements of the Audi MediaCenter and at the same time offers editors simple workflows: We developed the server-side application (front-end and back-end) based on the open source framework Ruby on Rails.

The backend user interface is based on AngularJS. This enables the various, sometimes very complex processes in the back end to be mapped in a dynamic user interface. This way we realised a dynamic template builder ("Sections Everywhere") containing more than 40 building blocks, with which almost any design can be realised. Immediate response is given to the user, the system communicates in the background via an API with the Rails application on the servers.

The development was consistently test driven, with both unit tests (RSpec) and integration tests simulating user interaction (Capybara, Selenium). Whether and how the application runs, all is instantly visible.

Migration

Audi required the data from its previous Audi MediaServices (based on Adobe CQ4) to be fully integrated into the new system. The exciting and also the challenge for our team: The previous page contents did not follow any solid structure, but the new system requires this due to its modular principle.

Facing 20.000 contents and 10 content types we had to develop an automated migration solution for this purpose. This process had to be completed in order to launch the site - including the changes to the content that had been introduced relatively close to the launch.

The extensive migration and the entire URL inventory was redirected to a newly developed multilingual and speaking URL concept. Correct indexing of the language variants and the avoidance of duplicate content were also important here, so that optimal visibility in different countries, regions and languages can be achieved globally.

Management of Microsites

In the first quarter of 2017, we introduced a further development that is advantageous for Audi: Microsite Management. The editorial workflow and toolchain enables editors to create topic-specific landing pages.

Individual microsites running on their own domains using their own design could very rapidly be set up and managed via the same backend. Some examples are the world premieres of the Audi e-tron, the Audi A5 Coupé and the new A4 as well as event-accompanying presences like the Audi Summit or an internal information page for Audi employees during COVID-19.

We also integrated content access control for specialised journalists as part of the launch of microsites; this functionality became available globally.

Hosting

The infrastructure of both platforms "Audi MediaCenter" and "Audi MediaTV" is operated by makandra. For reasons of data protection, the infrastructure runs in Germany and is designed for high availability. In total, several load balancers are available, each with 10-GBit uplinks, which themselves connect several application and database servers.

This system architecture allows scaling up to 100,000 concurrent users. This scaling is particularly necessary for live events on Audi MediaTV, as most users visit the platform within a very short time when the event starts and the video player communicates regularly with the application.

Visual design & User Experience

The information architecture and optimal user guidance in the context of an intuitive content structure, always with a focus on the journalist and his needs, ensures continuing success. The following functionalities were given special consideration and continuously questioned and revised accordingly:

Bundling of all essential topic-specific information on each content page
The download cart
Accreditation process according to the journalists needs
Individual topic-related newsletter selection

And not to forget, the visual design was created along the AUDI Corporate Design.

Team

Together with AUDI Online Communication, we created a stable small and flexible team from 2013 until present. To ensure smooth workflows, we rely on a lean interdisciplinary team of 3 service providers plus 2 Audi Communication employees.