Accelerating Bayer’s Digital Transformation with a Global Primary Design System
Building a Global Primary Design System for Bayer’s Consumer Health Brands
Bayer, a global leader in pharmaceuticals and consumer health, set out to modernise its digital ecosystem to support a diverse portfolio of 23 brands and hundreds of localised sites worldwide. With the expiration of their legacy platform approaching, they needed a unified solution that would deliver brand consistency, streamline operations, and empower marketing teams with greater agility. The ambition was to create a scalable Primary Design System capable of balancing global standards with local market flexibility—while dramatically accelerating speed-to-market.
The Challenge
As their legacy platform approached end-of-life, the company faced the urgent need to modernise its digital ecosystem and unify its brand experiences.
The challenges were extensive:
Decentralised hosting created inefficiencies and governance gaps
Inconsistent brand implementation diluted global standards
Site creation was slow, requiring developer support at every stage
Marketing teams lacked the tools to update or localise content quickly
Bayer set ambitious goals: build a scalable Primary Design System, based on a single underlying technology platform, empower non-technical teams to manage content independently, and migrate all brands to the new platform within a single year-while improving speed-to-market by 5x compared to the legacy system.
Our Approach
Working closely with Bayer, we designed and delivered an integrated, low-code platform powered by Acquia Site Studio and Drupal. The solution balanced global consistency with local flexibility, giving marketing teams the agility they needed to adapt content without compromising brand integrity.
1. Primary Design System Implementation
Built a scalable design system providing a single source of truth for branding and functionality
Introduced reusable layout patterns and templates to speed up site creation
Enabled local teams to customise while maintaining global consistency
2. Acquia Site Studio Integration
Implemented a low-code editing experience to reduce reliance on developers
Equipped marketers with the ability to build pages, update messaging, and publish content in real time
Leveraged Style Guide Manager for multi-brand theming, ensuring flexibility within clearly defined standards
3. Centralised Configuration Management
Established a streamlined package management solution for updates, bug fixes, and feature rollouts
Ensured consistent deployments across hundreds of sites
Reduced technical overhead, improving platform reliability and stability
The Outcome
Within 12 months, Bayer successfully migrated all 23 brands and their localised sites to the new platform. The Primary Design System transformed both efficiency and agility across the organisation.
Key achievements include:
Speed-to-Market: 80% reduction in site build times, achieving 5x faster launches compared to legacy systems
Marketing Agility: Content teams now create and update sites without technical support
Global Consistency: Unified brand standards across hundreds of sites while allowing local market flexibility
Operational Efficiency: Centralised updates reduced technical overhead and ensured platform stability
Huge ROI: The consolidation programme saved Bayer Consumer Health $15 million in a three year period.
“I have to say, Coherence really know what they’re doing…”
— David Addeo, Global Head of Consumer Platform, Bayer Consumer Health
In Summary
Bayer’s new digital foundation demonstrates how a global Master Design System can bring consistency, agility, and scalability to complex multi-brand portfolios. By combining low-code tools with centralised governance, Bayer now has a future-ready platform that empowers marketing teams worldwide and supports continued digital innovation.
