Advanced Drainage Systems

Multilingual Canadian Platform Launch with Localized Content and Resource Hub

Client: ADS Pipe Industry: Manufacturing Project Focus: Multilingual Enablement, Platform Engineering, Personalization, Content Architecture

Overview

Advanced Drainage Systems (ADS) required a dedicated Canadian web experience to support direct sales growth and better serve engineers and partners across Canada. The initiative was part of a broader international consolidation strategy and included migrating the existing Canada site from a legacy platform into Sitefinity 14.

Rather than maintaining a separate regional system or launching a disconnected microsite, the goal was to unify the Canadian presence within the enterprise Sitefinity ecosystem, while preserving brand consistency, operational stability, and U.S. site continuity.

Our team designed and implemented a multilingual, country-aware Canada experience directly within ADSpipe.com, complete with localized product structures, automated French translation, standardized resource management, and a scalable architecture aligned to long-term global expansion.

The Challenge

The Canada initiative was not a standalone website launch. It was a foundational component of Advanced Drainage Systems' broader Web Consolidation and International Migration strategy — an effort to unify regional web properties into a scalable, enterprise-grade global platform.

ADSpipe.com was already a mature, business-critical digital ecosystem supporting U.S. operations. The challenge was to introduce a fully localized Canadian experience while simultaneously strengthening the underlying architecture for international growth.

Key challenges included:

Creating a dedicated Canada experience without disrupting U.S. users or fragmenting the platform
Supporting bilingual localization (EN-CA and FR-CA) powered by TransPerfect
Standardizing product and resource content across Sitefinity, Yext, and Bynder
Aligning Canadian product standards and taxonomies with a consolidated global catalog strategy
Designing a scalable URL and site structure for country and language variations

From a functional and architectural standpoint, several core systems required enhancement:

Platform & Development Evolution

Upgrading Sitefinity widgets to support full multilingual capability
Enriching and restructuring the product database within Yext for international consistency
Migrating and normalizing resource assets, including documents, videos, templates, and metadata

Multilingual & Governance Strategy

Establishing a sustainable EN-CA and FR-CA content structure
Integrating localization solution through TransPerfect
Defining governance models for country-specific content ownership

SEO, Taxonomy & Discoverability

Developing a detailed redirect plan and application
Creating country-specific sitemap and metadata strategies
Standardizing tagging conventions for Yext listings

In parallel, multiple formal deliverables required coordination across stakeholders, including:

A full development and localization plan
Resource templates and widgets for documents, videos, and blogs
Detailed product and resource data mapping
SEO and redirect documentation for Canada domains
Consolidated product catalog strategy for international use
Architectural decisions covering cloud architecture and operations in Azure, workflows, metadata, and data sources

This required a solution that preserved platform stability while enabling structured localization, global scalability, and long-term governance clarity across markets.

The Solution

We implemented a Canada-ready, multilingual extension of the existing Sitefinity 14 platform that integrates directly into Advanced Drainage Systems' current digital ecosystem, enabling Canadian sales and marketing growth without fragmenting the site or disrupting U.S. operations.

The solution combined regional site architecture, automated translation, and standardized content systems across Sitefinity, Yext, and Bynder.

Canada Site Architecture and Country-Based Personalization

A dedicated Canada experience was created within ADSpipe.com, allowing Advanced Drainage Systems to present Canadian-focused messaging, products, and content while maintaining a unified global platform.

Country-level routing and content separation ensured Canada users received a localized experience, while U.S. users continued to operate within the existing structure unchanged. Canadian product sets and taxonomies were implemented as distinct structures so the Canada team could manage their catalog independently without creating duplication or instability across markets.

Automated Multilingual Support with TransPerfect

To support bilingual requirements, the Canada site was implemented with EN-CA and FR-CA language support, with French content provided through TransPerfect as an automated translation layer.

We also provided pre-rendered search engine content through a proxy service integration with TransPerfect to allow multilingual site content to be indexed by search engines. This was integrated into ADS's enterprise Sitefinity site.

This enabled rapid delivery of French-language experiences without requiring content teams to maintain separate manual translation pipelines. Language-aware routing and page structures ensured that Canadian users could access content in the appropriate language while keeping governance and publishing centralized within the existing CMS.

Resource Hub with Language-Aware Asset Delivery

A centralized Resource section was built to serve Canadian engineers and specifiers with quick access to technical materials, including:

Videos
Documents
FAQs
Specifications
Handbooks

Bynder was used as the asset source, and the Resource experience was designed to filter and deliver assets by language, ensuring English and French users only see materials relevant to their selected language.

The architecture helps improve searchability and content quality as the resource library grows.

Standardized Product and Location Data via Yext

Yext was leveraged to support the consolidation and standardization of product information and related taxonomies, enabling a more consistent international-ready product structure.

The approach supported:

Product database enrichment and alignment for Canada
Taxonomy consistency across markets
A foundation for consistent tagging and listing alignment for regional discoverability

This created a scalable model for additional international expansions without reworking the underlying catalog strategy.

Foundation for Ongoing Experience Expansion

Beyond Canada and Resources, the architecture was designed to support planned digital experiences that Advanced Drainage Systems identified as priority expansions, including:

Blog modernization within Sitefinity's native blog capabilities
Location picker experiences for country-aware routing
"Find a Rep" and "Find a Retailer" experiences
UX refinement paths for tool and product engagement pages
Future personalization for U.S. state-level and international export experiences

This ensured the Canada launch was not a one-off build, but a platform evolution aligned to long-term consolidation and growth goals.

Security and Risk Management

Security, compliance, and operational risk were core considerations throughout the Canada initiative, particularly given its role in Advanced Drainage Systems' broader global consolidation strategy.

Key safeguards included:

Role-Based Access and Content Governance CMS permissions were structured to ensure controlled publishing across regions and languages, reducing the risk of unauthorized or cross-market content changes.
Language and Market Separation Clear separation between U.S. and Canadian taxonomies, product structures, and localized content prevents cross-regional conflicts and maintains data integrity.
Accessibility Best Practices All new development followed recognized accessibility standards, ensuring content and functionality remain usable for individuals with disabilities across languages and devices.
Security Best Practices Development adhered to secure coding standards, least-privilege access principles, and enterprise CMS hardening practices to reduce vulnerability exposure.
Privacy Law Alignment The architecture was designed with awareness of regional privacy requirements, supporting compliant data handling and content delivery across markets.

This approach minimizes operational, reputational, and compliance risk while supporting a scalable international web presence built on secure and responsible engineering principles.

Solution Benefits

The Canada platform implementation delivered strategic and operational advantages across markets:

Direct Canadian Market Enablement Advanced Drainage Systems gained a dedicated, bilingual digital presence tailored to Canadian engineers and buyers—supporting a focused growth initiative without fragmenting the broader web ecosystem.
Unified Global Architecture Rather than launching a disconnected regional site, the solution extended the existing platform into a scalable international framework capable of supporting future expansion into additional countries and export markets.
Bilingual Accessibility at Scale Automated French translation through TransPerfect enabled rapid multilingual delivery while maintaining centralized content management within Sitefinity.
Improved Content Discoverability and SEO Alignment Country-specific sitemap structures, redirect planning, and standardized tagging across Yext improved search alignment and reduced migration-related SEO risk.
Structured Product and Resource Governance Consolidated product data and resource metadata create consistency across markets while allowing regional flexibility for Canadian standards and offerings.
Operational Efficiency Across Systems Tight integration between Sitefinity, Yext, and Bynder reduces duplication, improves data consistency, and simplifies long-term content management.

Together, these benefits position Advanced Drainage Systems with a modern, international-ready digital foundation built for controlled growth and long-term scalability.

Results

The Canada experience launched as a fully integrated extension of ADSpipe.com, delivering a bilingual, market-specific digital presence without disrupting U.S. operations.

Advanced Drainage Systems now operates with:

A live Canadian site aligned to updated brand and technical standards
Dedicated Canadian product taxonomies and resource structures
EN-CA and FR-CA language support within a unified CMS
Standardized product and asset governance across Sitefinity, Yext, and Bynder

The project strengthened ADS's broader Web Consolidation and International Migration strategy, transforming what could have been a regional site launch into a scalable international platform evolution.

By extending — rather than replacing — the existing architecture, Advanced Drainage Systems gained a Canada-focused growth engine while preserving platform stability and positioning the organization for continued global expansion.

About Our Approach

We serve as long-term enterprise partners to Advanced Drainage Systems — operating as platform architect, implementation lead, and digital advisor within an ongoing engagement model.

For the Canada initiative, we delivered far more than feature-level development. We drove cross-system integration strategy, defined product and resource data modeling, implemented multilingual architecture, and executed full-stack development across Sitefinity, Yext, and Bynder. Marketing and IT provided direction and design inputs, and our team translated those requirements into durable, production-ready systems.

Our approach is grounded in meeting organizations where they are — technically, operationally, and strategically — and achieving their goals within real-world constraints. Rather than pushing unnecessary replatforming or overengineering solutions, we work within existing ecosystems, strengthen what is already in place, and incrementally improve systems over time.

This project reflects a disciplined mindset:

Leveraging the client's current platforms instead of replacing them prematurely
Implementing what is needed now while designing for what comes next