How DS Smith turned a rebrand into a scalable commercial system
A group-level repositioning was translated into sharper product stories, guided selling, and more consistent commercial execution across 30+ countries.
My role
I helped turn a group-level strategic shift into a commercially usable system. Across central marketing, product, innovation, PR, and 30+ countries, I aligned the story and shaped an enablement approach markets could actually adopt.
Result
DS Smith aligned 30+ countries behind one commercial system.
Company
DS Smith (International Paper)
Industry
Packaging / Manufacturing
Category
Execution
Messaging
Situation
DS Smith was entering a broader period of strategic change, including a global and divisional rebrand. But turning that new story into something commercially usable across a large international business was the harder challenge. Sales content was fragmented, product stories were often too technical, and adoption across 30+ countries required far more than new branding alone.
Shift
- Translated a group-level rebrand into commercially usable messaging
- Aligned central, regional, and product stakeholders around market use
- Rebuilt product and service stories into shorter, more visual sales narratives
- Structured those stories inside a custom Showpad enablement environment
- Created a more scalable model for multilingual market adoption
- Extended the story across ABM, events, customer advocacy, social, and inbound
Result
- Stronger alignment between marketing and sales around one commercial story
- More consistent sales narratives across countries, categories, and stakeholders
- A scalable enablement system connecting brand, content, and sales execution
- Broader market activation through local-language content, events, and ABM
- External recognition through awards and presentation on Showpad’s main stage
Defining moment
What looked like a content and platform rollout became something much bigger: a strategic story that could finally travel across a large, complex business. When the work was later recognized by Showpad and presented on the main stage of its annual event, it confirmed that this was not just internal alignment. It was a commercially mature system that stood out externally too.
