Webinar recap: How EE transformed product content at scale‌ — ‌Lessons for marketing and retail leaders

When you’re managing 4,500 products online with plans to add thousands more, and each product description takes three hours to create, you don’t have a productivity problem. You have a fundamental business model problem.

That was Bradley Lane’s reality when he joined EE as Head of Product, New Markets. The UK’s largest mobile network operator faced an inflection point familiar to leaders across industries: explosive catalog growth, pressure to match competitors’ launch timing, and a content creation process that couldn’t scale.

Whether you’re managing a digital shelf, launching seasonal campaigns, or coordinating product releases across channels, the challenges resonate: How do you maintain brand consistency across thousands of SKUs? How do you compete when launches are industry-wide events? How do you free creative teams from tactical execution to focus on strategic work?

In a recent conversation with WRITER’s Chief Customer Officer Mina Alaghband, Bradley shared how EE achieved 90% time savings, 100% quality standards, and complete team buy-in. His learnings offer a practical playbook for any leader scaling content creation operations and supporting AI change management at scale.

When AI gives you space to fix the real problem

The conventional wisdom around AI adoption often focuses on automation: do the same thing you’re doing now, just faster. But as Bradley’s experience demonstrates, that’s missing the bigger opportunity‌ — ‌and it’s a lesson that applies whether you’re in telecom, retail, or any industry managing product content at scale.

“Now is the time to start really doubling down using AI to very much improve processes, drive speed to market, and ultimately deliver an on-page experience that competes if not exceeds with our competitors” Lane explains.

Notice what’s embedded in that statement‌ — ‌AI isn’t just about doing the current process faster. It’s about gaining the breathing room to fundamentally improve how work gets done. When your team isn’t spending hours on manual tasks — whether that’s product descriptions, campaign copy, or seasonal messaging — they can focus on what actually drives business results: strategic thinking, creative innovation, and customer understanding.

Instead of churning out content, teams can focus on brand storytelling and campaign strategy. Instead of wrestling with content management systems, they can curate customer experiences across channels. Instead of just trying to get basic content live, they can analyze which products to feature, how to position them, and what seasonal trends to capitalize on.

This reframe is powerful for any leader evaluating AI initiatives. The question isn’t just “Can AI automate this task?” It’s “What becomes possible when we free our people from this task?”

The gold standard shouldn’t be optional — lessons for brand integrity at scale

One of the most striking aspects of EE’s story is their uncompromising stance on quality. They established a “gold standard” for product content‌ —  ‌a benchmark that would allow them to compete at the highest level with competitors.

This challenge resonates across industries‌ — ‌the tension between expanding your product catalog and maintaining the voice that makes you distinctive. It’s ensuring every piece of content‌ — ‌from email campaigns to product descriptions to social posts‌ — ‌sounds unmistakably like your brand. The question is universal: how do you scale without diluting quality?

Initially, only 30% of EE’s products met their gold standard. The mathematical reality was stark: with manual processes taking three hours per product, scaling to thousands of products while maintaining quality was impossible. This is the exact trade-off organizations face daily‌ — ‌more SKUs or better quality, faster launches or brand consistency, expanded coverage or elevated standards.

Rather than accepting this false choice, Bradley and his team used AI to achieve both. By embedding EE’s voice and brand guidelines directly into WRITER, they ensured that every piece of generated content started from a position of brand alignment.

“Our … voice and brand guidelines are cemented in WRITER, so WRITER knows to return results based on these guidelines,” Lane shares. The result? A jump from 30% to 100% of products meeting the gold standard.

This achievement illustrates a crucial point about enterprise AI‌ — ‌the technology should elevate standards, not compromise them. When implemented thoughtfully, AI doesn’t force you to choose between an expanding product catalog and brand integrity. It doesn’t make you sacrifice quality for quantity. It delivers both.

Think about what 100% quality compliance means: every product page on-brand, every campaign message consistent, every customer touchpoint meeting your standards. That’s not a theoretical future‌ — ‌it’s what Bradley achieved, and it’s replicable across industries and businesses.

Time is the ultimate competitive advantage‌ — ‌in retail, marketing, and beyond

In telecommunications, product launches are coordinated events across the industry. When companies release a new product or device, every carrier needs to be ready at the same moment. Lag time means lost sales and competitive disadvantage.

This dynamic exists across industries. Black Friday launches, back-to-school season, new seasonal collections‌ — ‌competitors launch when the market is ready. Two weeks late getting product pages live means you’ve lost the moment. For campaign windows, promotional calendars, competitive product announcements, speed to market is speed to revenue.

EE’s ability to compress the product description creation process from three hours to 15-20 minutes isn’t just about internal efficiency. It’s about competitive positioning. It’s about being ready when the market moves.

“We’ve been on a journey to bring forward a provider that could help us to accelerate what we are doing, but also hit those metrics around speed to market so that we’re aligned to everyone else when there’s a new product introduction,” Lane explains.

Imagine compressing new product onboarding from days to hours. Imagine updating hundreds of seasonal product descriptions in the time it used to take to update ten. Imagine launching a competitive response campaign the same day your competitor moves instead of scrambling to create content while the moment passes. Imagine being first to market with complete, optimised product content instead of rushing incomplete pages live just to meet deadlines.

This time compression creates another benefit: the capacity for experimentation and innovation. When teams aren’t constantly buried in the mechanics of content creation, they can explore new opportunities. EE is now expanding beyond product descriptions to buying guides and editorial content — ‌growth that would have been impossible under the old model.

Freed from tactical content production, teams can focus on merchandising strategy, campaign optimization, customer journey mapping, and the creative work that actually differentiates brands.

The trust equation: A leadership blueprint for AI transformation

Perhaps the most instructive aspect of EE’s transformation is how Bradley approached change management with his team. This is where his story becomes a blueprint that transcends industry.

In an era where AI is often positioned as a replacement for human workers, Bradley was explicit about a different vision: AI as a complement to human capability.

“When we talk about AI, some organizations will just see this as a means to remove resource,” Lane acknowledges. “Fundamentally, it complements what we’re doing. It gives us that ability to scale. If you are looking to refine processes and take the mundane out of an activity, this is certainly something you should be actively looking at.”

This is a critical insight. Copywriters, designers, merchandising experts, and content specialists aren’t being replaced‌ — ‌they’re being elevated. They move from tactical execution to strategic thinking, gaining the capacity to do the parts of their jobs that require human judgment, creativity, and customer understanding.

Bradley’s approach offers a replicable framework: be transparent about intent, measure sentiment alongside productivity, and make it crystal clear that AI amplifies human capability rather than replacing it.

Bradley’s message resonated with his team. Through biannual internal questionnaires, he measures not just productivity but sentiment—how people feel about the transformation, what frustrates them, and whether they understand the strategy. The results speak to the power of transparency: 100% of his team expressed clarity on the strategy and understanding of the need to adopt AI.

Think about what that means. Not 70%. Not “most people.” One hundred percent. That’s not accidental‌ — ‌it’s the result of intentional, transparent leadership.

The practical impact on Bradley’s team has been transformative. Freed from hours of manual information gathering and formatting, they now have time for the work that truly requires human judgment and creativity.

“It’s enabling the copywriters to have more time to think, not just to process,” Lane explains. “Really to take a step back, look at the results, ensure it’s to our requirements, but also enable the copywriters to do other activities beyond PDP creation. So spend more time on the creative delivery, explore what else WRITER can do.”

What this looks like in practice: Copywriters move from churning out descriptions to crafting brand narratives and campaign strategy. Product specialists move from data entry to curating collections and improving the digital shelf. Content teams move from manual formatting to conversion optimization and customer experience design. Designers and writers move from production to innovation and experimentation.

The urgency imperative: Why waiting is the riskiest strategy

Throughout the conversation, one theme emerges with unmistakable clarity: the time for cautious experimentation has passed. AI adoption isn’t a future initiative to be planned for‌ — ‌it’s a present competitive necessity.

“I talk a lot about being on board or getting on the bus,” Lane states with characteristic directness. “Large enterprises, or regardless of their size, need to be serious about AI. We’re at a pivotal moment where we need to embrace it. You know, the future is here. It’s not something we can necessarily plan too far ahead of. Now is the moment to seize the opportunity.”

This urgency is grounded in practical reality. In Lane’s domain‌ — ‌digital commerce and product content‌ — ‌competitors who move faster with AI will achieve better time-to-market, higher quality standards, and more competitive positioning. The gap between leaders and laggards will widen quickly.

But urgency doesn’t mean recklessness. Lane’s advice centers on finding the right partners — vendors who will work with you rather than just sell to you. “You need to move at pace. You need to find the right vendors that work with you. You need to have synergy and you need to be able to deliver your ultimate strategy.”

Practical takeaways for content-intensive operations

Bradley’s transformation offers concrete lessons for any leader managing content at scale:

Start with the full process, not just the task. Don’t just automate writing or content creation. Ask what becomes possible when your team is freed from manual work. What could they accomplish with that capacity?

Don’t compromise on quality. The right AI implementation should elevate brand standards, not force trade-offs. Embed your brand guidelines, voice, and quality requirements into the technology from day one‌ — ‌just like EE did.

Prioritize time to market. Whether you’re launching seasonal collections, responding to competitor moves, or capitalizing on trending moments, speed compounds over time. Compression of cycle times creates capacity for innovation and experimentation.

Bring your team along. Transparency about strategy and intent builds trust. Make it crystal clear that AI complements expertise rather than replacing it. Measure sentiment alongside productivity—Bradley’s 100% team clarity didn’t happen by accident.

Move with urgency. The leaders in AI adoption are pulling ahead quickly. While you’re planning cautiously, competitors are already capturing market moments you’re missing. Find the right partners and start the journey now.

Consider the full impact. Look beyond immediate productivity gains to second-order effects: What happens when teams can manage 10x the volume without scaling headcount? What becomes possible when creation time drops from weeks to days? How does faster time-to-market change your competitive position during key moments? What innovations emerge when people have time to think strategically instead of execute tactically?

Measure what matters. Bradley tracks the metrics that drive business: speed to market, quality standards, conversion rates, page views. But he also measures sentiment—how his team feels about the transformation. Both matter.

Looking ahead: The expanding frontier

For Bradley and EE, the transformation is just beginning. The team isn’t stopping at product descriptions. They’re exploring how WRITER can support buying guides, editorial content, and other areas where quality content at scale drives business results.

But Bradley’s vision extends beyond just his own organisation. He sees a broader message for enterprise leaders across industries: “If you are looking to refine processes, take the mundane out of an activity, this is certainly something you should be actively — or shall I say, the word aggressively — looking at because it’s not going away.”

Consider what this means for digital shelf strategy, seasonal launches, campaign velocity, content consistency across channels, and the capacity to respond to market moments. Imagine what becomes possible when you can scale your product catalog or content operations without proportionally scaling your team‌ — ‌and without sacrificing quality.

Bradley’s blueprint offers proven results: 90% time savings, 70-point quality improvement, 100% team buy-in. These aren’t aspirational metrics — they’re real outcomes from a thoughtful transformation.

The broader lesson transcends any single metric: AI can be implemented thoughtfully, teams can be brought along willingly, and quality and scale don’t have to be trade-offs. Bradley proved it. The playbook applies across industries and content operations.

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The bottom line for retail and marketing leaders

Bradley Lane’s transformation at EE offers more than a case study‌ — ‌it offers a blueprint. Whether you’re managing thousands of SKUs, coordinating campaigns across channels, or trying to compete on speed without sacrificing quality, his lessons apply directly.

The fundamentals are universal: scale without proportional headcount growth, maintain brand integrity across thousands of content pieces, compete on speed to market, and empower teams to do strategic work instead of tactical execution.

The results speak for themselves: 90% time savings, 100% quality standards, complete team buy-in, and measurable business impact on conversion and engagement.

The question isn’t whether AI transformation is relevant to retail and marketing. Bradley proved it is. The question is: will you lead the transformation in your industry, or follow?

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Ready to see how WRITER is helping retail and marketing teams transform content creation at scale?

Watch the webinar to get the full breakdown of how EE transformed marketing operations to scale 4,500+ products

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