KDP QR1

Q2 ‘26 ongoing
Timeline: 09/01/26 projected end date
Deliverables: Throughput capable of scaling for global package render and Salsify POG/PDP revision touching 1,000+ PDP assets

Stakeholders

Client: Keurig Dr Pepper
Agency: Publicis / Mars

Summary

The challenge: A massive request from the client could not be delivered in a timely manner by legacy production methods and the agency‘s existing production creatives.

The solve: I engineered a thoughput that leveraged a cascading components system and broke the deliverables into a tiered-level library, reducing production costs dramatically, and delivered governance and agentic compatiability to a fragmented library of PDP assets.

The request

44 Brands, 280 SKUs, 1500+ POAs

Due to regulatory changes and changing retailer standards, KDP needed to execute an update impacting all owned hot beverage, ready-to-brew brands. The update would modify recycling messaging on both packaging and PDP creative. While flagship brands would be excluded due to timing, their portfolio of long tail brands with small budgets needed a solution.

The existing agency pipeline would not scale at cost. The legacy approach to production was Photoshop-first, produced a cumbersome collection of massive PSBs, and the division of creative execution against Art Directors and freelancers created too much risk of inconsistency and too many paths toward approval.

Additionally, the client’s north star was a workflow that lent toward AI-assisted production. I was wholly aligned. They needed not only a faster path to market, but also an output optimized for machine read and the agentic shelf.

Select featured brands impacted by QR1

Engineered to cascade

Three levels of messaging

The brief contained a wireframe that could be divided into three messaging levels: brand, SKU, and item. Using this insight, I put together a mock of what the delivered creative could look like. It reduced branding to a minimum, leveraged the component-based functionality of Figma, and locked-in layouts for product features, use cases, and quantity information. I presented this mock skinned in five different brands to be included in the project and pitched the client a workflow that broke production down into more manageable segments that would require just one development phase.

The efficiencies were undeniable. Whereas legacy methods could require 6+ hours or more per SKU, the first draft of the process reduced the time cost to 40 minutes per SKU. Furthermore, it was estimated that, once the throughput was finalized, end-to-end production could take as little as 10 minutes once users were trained on the system. The strategy was socialized, and approvals were received to proceed.

Data-to-delivery using this throughput reduced production costs from 6+ hours per SKU to 10-40 minutes per SKU

Success at Scale

Priming the process for tomorrow’s market

eCommerce creative is increasingly read by machines before it is seen by people. Retailer algorithms, search indexing, and agentic shopping tools all parse the digital shelf for structured signals — clean typography, consistent hierarchy, standardized asset dimensions, legible product information. QR1 was designed with that reality as a first principle. The output is not optimized for the thumbnail. It is optimized for the system that decides whether the thumbnail gets shown.

Select featured brands demonstrating QR1 flexibility in handling different brands, skus, and beverage styles.

Mark William Mills

• Contact

• Connect

• Home