Multi-brand Drupal platform for individual brand websites

Attico International collaborated with a large chemical producer to build a centralized Drupal multisite platform for multiple brand websites across 25 markets as part of the web harmonization project. The aim of the project was to provide customers with a seamless experience through all digital touchpoints.

Harmonized websites for 3 brands with a design system

Lower costs by unifying multiple sites into one platform

Multi-regional and multi-lingual support across 25 markets

Customer

A global leader in automotive refinishing products and services

Industry

Chemical

Services

Website and platform development

Design System

Overview

The client is a large international company that offers automotive refinishing products and services. Founded in 1888, this organization operates in 25 countries and manages several brands, each with its own style and customer experience.

“We are extremely satisfied with the multi-brand Drupal platform developed by Attico for our web harmonization project.
The project was completed within the timeframe and budget set, and the results exceeded our expectations. We now have individual brand websites that are easy to manage, easy to edit, and have a harmonized view that is followed on all sites. This has helped us to achieve our goal of creating a seamless experience for all potential and active customers through all digital touchpoints. We highly recommend Attico for any complex web development project.”

Challenge

The client wanted to unify all brand websites into a single system and standardize them to ensure users have a consistent experience across all digital brand interactions. The disconnected websites initially presented the following challenges:

High-maintenance overhead

Each site required separate support, hosting, new-feature development, and CMS training sessions for new site editors.

Inconsistent tech setups

Different architectures, environments, and CMS configurations across brands led to operational fragmentation and increased system complexity.

Uneven user experience

Variations in technical setups and content editing rules led to inconsistent user experiences across brand websites.

Scalability limitations

The lack of a shared codebase and centralized settings made it difficult for the platform to scale and quickly integrate new brands.

Balance between design and system

Each brand needed a unique visual identity, while all websites needed to follow the same design system, functionality, and underlying platform principles.

Lack of a single source of truth

Each brand developed separately, resulting in duplication of decisions and differences in implementation between sites.

Our approach

Attico designed and implemented a centralized Drupal multisite platform that unified the technical foundation across all brand websites while preserving each brand’s individual identity and flexibility.

Centralized multisite architecture implementation

We developed a shared Drupal architecture for all brand websites, with common settings and reusable modules. Each brand remained independent, with its own domain, languages, content structure, and visual style.

Global design system creation

To ensure a consistent look across all websites while still allowing each brand to remain unique, we created a shared design system based on Storybook and Emulsify. Each brand uses a set of ready-made UI elements but can customize its colors, fonts, and style.

Flexible editorial experience optimization

We designed the platform to make it easier for editors to work with content every day, regardless of country or brand. Our team has added ready-made, reusable page blocks to allow editors to assemble pages from these blocks, a preview, and clear, structured editing processes.

Brand-specific customization framework

Attico’s developers have created a customization system that allows each brand to tailor its website to its custom needs without disrupting the overall platform architecture.

Unified documentation and governance process

We made Storybook a single source of information for developers, editors, and designers, bringing together all technical documentation and component descriptions. This made it easier and faster for teams to onboard and maintain new brands and collaborators.

Implementation highlights

Attico modernized the client’s digital ecosystem to simplify platform management, improve scalability, and deliver a more consistent experience across the brand’s websites. This led to:

Reduced operational complexity with a centralized Drupal multisite platform
Accelerated website launches and updates through a reusable design system
Improved consistency across all digital touchpoints by establishing Storybook as a single source of truth
Preserved brand individuality without increasing complexity through a flexible theming framework
Lowered infrastructure and maintenance costs by consolidating hosting, platform management, and shared services across all websites

Results

Our team helped the client replace disconnected brand websites with a more manageable and scalable digital ecosystem that reduced maintenance costs and improved collaboration across markets.

Accelerating website launches across markets

Business impact

Lower maintenance effort across multiple brand websites
Reduced time and resources required for CMS training and onboarding
Faster rollout of new websites and digital initiatives across markets

Marketing impact

More consistent customer experience across all digital touchpoints
Ability for brands to maintain their own visual identity and local flexibility
Simplified content management for regional marketing and editorial teams

Technical impact

Lowered infrastructure and maintenance costs by consolidating 3 brand sites into a single platform
Centralized infrastructure and documentation supporting long-term scalability

Tech insights

The platform was built around a centralized Drupal multisite model that unified governance, deployments, and reusable functionality across all brand websites. Our team implemented this approach to reduce operational fragmentation and simplify long-term platform maintenance.

If you want to simplify and scale your Drupal multisite platform, Attico can help you build a unified, maintainable solution.

Related services

Design System

Design systems & ops

We build scalable design systems and DesignOps workflows for multi-brand digital platforms. This allows large organizations to manage design easier across teams, products and brands.

Drupal Services

Website & platform development

Attico helps enterprises modernize existing platforms and create high-performance digital ecosystems from the ground up. We build scalable architectures designed to support performance and long-term digital growth.

Support

Reliability & support engineering

We render reliability and support engineering services to address your ad-hoc business requirements, technical and security emergencies, and ongoing maintenance needs.

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