Brand Asset Management Software

Desert Training

While reading an on-line forum recently, I ran across an interesting quote that somebody had placed on the bottom of their post. It went something like this, "It is better to train people and risk they leave - than to do nothing and risk they stay."

In the spirit of that quote, I thought I'd devote a few words to one of the best investments in training that any company with a color critical workflow can make. Whatever corner of the industry you call home - printing, prepress or premedia services, photography, graphic design, color retouching, packaging, brand management... If it involves the need for accurate color reproduction then you should consider a presence at the upcoming PIA Color Management Conference.

To be held again at the beautiful Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort overlooking the sparkling desert city of Phoenix, The 11th annual PIA Color Management Conference runs from December 6th through the 8th, with a special pre conference program on Saturday the 5th. Each year the advisory board, working with the PIA (Printing Industries of America), assembles some of the top speakers in the industry that address all aspects of color reproduction and color management. Among the many excellent speakers scheduled to present this year are Steve Upton president of Chromix, Don Hutcheson from HutchColor LLC, Dave Hunter, president of Pilot Marketing, Steve Smiley from Vertis, Dr. Abhay Sharma from Ryerson University, and Kelly McCathran from Adobe Systems. 

The conference this year includes almost 60 sessions and hands-on labs. Among them...

Color Meets the Frontier of Electronic Paper
Dr. William Ray with NthDegree Technologies Worldwide, discusses how color management is applied in the developing field of Printed Illuminated Paper which lights up and creates the illusion of motion. He has created a unique color model for emissive color that draws on both RGB and CMYK.

How to Compete in the Global Marketplace with Monitor/Softproofing
This session covers how adopting soft proofing will help you save money on materials, labor, time and transit costs. This session will give examples of companies that made the switch from contract proofs to soft proofs and saved themselves and their customers money.

Real World RAW from Large Format to Digital SLRs
Steven Johnson, world renown photographer and last year’s excellent keynote presenter takes a look at where we are in color management and where the technology is going as it relates to the uninterrupted stream of data in RAW workflows. 

RGB Working Spaces
Don Hutcheson discusses the difference between RGB working spaces and how to choose the correct space for Web, publication, fine art photography, RAW export, image archives, etc. He will talk about the benefits to wide-gamut spaces, and if there is one perfect RGB space for all work.

The program this year also includes two great keynote sessions...

Delivering the Color for Broadway
Representatives from King Displays, a Manhattan printing company, will discuss how they produce 90 percent of all the signs and displays for the Broadway theater market. Everything they produce is color critical and they will show how they meet the needs of a distinct clientele with demanding color needs and quick turnaround times.

Forecasting the Right Colors
James Martin, the president of the Color Marketing Group, will discuss how his group of color designers comes together each year to collaborate and then interpret their shared information into salable colors that will ultimately make up the color directions for all industries, manufactured products, and services.

I can speak from experience that this valuable, one-of-a-kind conference is very much worth attending. Color management technology is still in a state of evolution. Whether you live in the world of print or the Internet, every year new products, best practices and procedures are developed that benefit everyone involved in the exchange of color. See the PIA Color Management website for more information.

Follow my tweets and updates from the conference December 5-8 on twitter @widenpremedia.

Mark
        

There are a lot of companies that will say “now is the time to gear up for the new year so that you can hit the ground running,” but this customer video compilation goes to show why top marketers implemented Widen digital asset management programs to improve their marketing operations. See why these marketers have made the investment in Widen’s hosted DAM software to create efficiencies, improve productivity, and increase brand consistency throughout their marketing channels.



Is now the right time for you to implement Digital Asset Management programs?

• Are you wasting precious time and resources managing and fulfilling requests for brand assets?
• Are you looking for ways to improve marketing efficiency, effectiveness and agility?
• Are you seeking fool-proof ways to achieve brand consistency across all customer touch points? 
• Do you want to empower sales channels to be more effective?

In the first segment, Jim Magruder, Senior Marketing Communications Manager at InSinkErator, talks about their growing problem managing and distributing brand assets. He explains what a problem it was to regularly get calls from customers, sales reps, ad agencies and PR firms needing digital assets and there was no easy way to provide them what they needed in a timely matter. Sound familiar? He knew they needed a more efficient digital media asset management system so he wouldn’t lose precious time having to duplicate the same process over and over again fielding requests such as “I need an image and I don’t know what format I need.” Each time, he would have to stop what he’s doing to find the asset, convert it, ship it, etc. Widen DAM asset management services changed all that and removed the burden of having to manage and distribute assets “the old way.”

In the second segment, Jim Scarlata, Senior Marketing Operations Manager for Knaack LLC, explains that there was one gatekeeper to their digital asset library and there was no easy way to achieve brand consistency across all marketing channels, ensure the most current brand assets were always available (and used), and make assets easily available to all channel partners. With Widen’s help, Knaack has a single online location for all of the most current digital content to be globally available to any approved user.

In the third segment, John Wernecke, Global Marketing Manager (Former Public Relations Manager), Motorola Mobile Devices talks about the ease of use when it comes to digital assets management with the help of Widen. The Widen Media Collective provides Motorola with enterprise-wide ability to share and collaborate interactively 24 hours a day, which has allowed marketing and creative groups to come together at a central location that is always accurate and working.

In the fourth segment, Michele Bedard, Vice President of Marketing, Sub-Zero, Inc. and Wolf Appliance, Inc., explains how Sub-Zero and Wolf is all about the brand and making sure customers have  a consistent brand experience across all touch points. The Widen online digital asset management tools provide the people in the field with access to the most current assets so Sub-Zero and Wolf brands look the same from whatever source anyone would see it.

In the fifth and final segment, Michele Kowalkowski, Catalog Manager North America, Brady Worldwide, Inc., talks about how the Widen corporate image library empowers sales people to carry out their jobs and supports relationships with their distributor networks. Without always having to be reliant on the marketing team, they have a digital asset library they can trust to be accessible when they need assets and get them instantly in the format needed to complete their project.

To get more takes from the pros, watch more Widen Customer Interviews.

The branding article in the September / October IPA Bulletin titled "Rebranding Your Company" by Nancy Lowther features an interview with Widen CEO Matthew Gonnering.

Recognized for its comprehensive coverage of issues and challenges facing graphic solutions providers, the bimonthly IPA Bulletin magazine features in-depth articles on technical innovations, standards, and business development in graphic communications.

Go straight to the article: Rebranding Your Company.

Here's a summary of the main points in the business branding article:

Branding is the most valuable and fragile asset to an organization.

Brands have two sides – an external and an internal. Externally, it is the perception of the products or services delivered to the marketplace. Internally, it’s a personality... a set of defining characteristics to which a company aligns. 

How is Widen an example of a company re-branded? Like other traditional prepress services companies and printing companies offering prepress services have done, Widen has evolved and diversified into areas to include digital media management, digital content management, photography and premedia services. However, this goes beyond “re-branding” but also includes a company reinventing itself.

Why do companies rebrand? Companies look to rebrand if and when they say yes to any of the following questions:

• Is your revenue declining?
  
• Has your revenue been the same year after year?
  
• Have you lost customers?
  
• Are you losing key employees?
  
• Have you lost market share due to market changes and trends?
 

Companies must face the rebranding question to answer this one: "If we continue to do what we’ve always done, will we still be in business 10 years from now?”

How do companies rebrand? Branding goes along with a company’s Vision, Goals & Objectives and Strategies.

A Vision is how you see your ideal future. Without a vision, you may not recognize opportunities that can get you to that ideal future. Things to consider include: the perspectives from key leaders and possible roadblocks, market demand and competition. You have to interpret the unarticulated demand of the market to recognize an opportunity. Brand building involves connecting at an emotional level and establishing trust to build brand equity. Brand positioning defines where you place your products/services relative to your competition and where you place in the minds of your customers. A Vision for your brand is achieved by learning what your customers need and want to be successful.

Objectives and goals are what shapes your vision. Every employee must know what an organization’s goals and objectives are. Objectives and goals are shapes by an organization’s major strengths (core competencies) and how they can be built upon. You must not forget to look for deviations from what it is and what it should be. Goals and objectives can also be developed by categorizing products and services according to a lifecycle state—startup, growth, mature, declining, etc. Other factors in formulating goals and objectives include a gap analysis of the market, products, services, customers, employees, finances and technology.

Strategies are the action steps on how to achieve your objectives. There will be one or more actions for every objective. Marketing actions are included for most objectives. Marketing uses this information to create a marketing plan. However, this is not owned by just the marketing department. Business and technology strategies must be aligned and every employee and manager must know how to implement them.

“Marketing Your Brand” - With an abundance of marketing and customer touch points and channels, brand consistency is a major concern for organizations of all shapes and sizes. Centralization of branded content and brand asset management is critical to making sure your audience hears and sees a consistent message. Your branded content involves everything from your stationery and business cards to brochures, website, packaging, signage, trucks, how you present yourself at a dinner meeting, how the company phone is answered and how the front lobby looks. As the old saying goes: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

Read the full article in the IPA Bulletin: Rebranding Your Company

Matthew Gonnering, CEO of Widen Enterprises, will present as part of the Company Previews session at the 2009 SIIA OnDemand Conference. If you’re planning to attend, be sure to check out the Widen presentation scheduled for Thursday, October 29th at 10:10am. Gonnering’s presentation will introduce why Digital Asset Management (DAM) deserves ranking among other enterprise software acronyms—SFA,  CRM, ERP, etc. He will also talk about Widen’s DAM SaaS model and give way to the latest thought-leadership practices at Widen in making sense of key statistics and ratios branded as DAM Success Metrics.
 
SIIA OnDemand, produced by the Software & Information Industry Association, takes place October 28-30 in San Jose, CA and is the industry’s most comprehensive ISV conference for understanding the business drivers around SaaS and Cloud Computing.

SIIA OnDemand will focus on “Driving Revenue in a Recovering Economy” and features timely sessions covering social media and other demand generation techniques, lead nurturing automation, sales force optimization, and winning channel strategies. In addition, you’ll hear from the CEOs of a dozen innovative SaaS/Cloud companies, including ours!
 
Here’s the SIIA OnDemand keynote line-up:

• Lars Dalgaard, CEO of SuccessFactors (a recent SaaS IPO success story), will address how ISVs can benefit from “The New Era of Cloud Computing”
• Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, will present “Navigating a Crowded Sky: Making Sense of the Cloud Platform Revolution”
• Michael Lock, Google Enterprise’s Director of Americas Sales & Operations, will share his top 5 lessons learned selling and marketing cloud-based computing.

For more info about the SIIA OnDemand Conference, check out these links: 

• SIIA OnDemand Home Page
• Current Attendee Roster
• Conference Agenda
• Registration Link

If you plan to attend, leave comment or Contact Us and we’ll provide you with a promo code to save $100!

If you’re unable to attend but interested in what Matthew has to say, please leave a comment or Contact Us and we can have a conversation or send the video and slide deck.

Watch the preview video from Matthew Gonnering, Widen CEO, on OnDemand DAM Software.

Watch the video compilation from several marketing professionals discuss their experiences with Widen Digital Asset Management Software as a Service (DAM SaaS).

This short video compilation includes three different customer interviews making a case for the SaaS deployment model for digital asset management programs. The first customer is Jim Scarlata, Senior Marketing Operations Manager for Knaack LLC. He speaks about why SaaS makes the most sense for companies with limited IT resources. He argues that DAM software is a subject area outside of the core competencies of Information Technology personnel responsible for critical business systems. Digital asset solutions reside more in the area of creative and marketing and should be handled by a company whose core competency is digital asset management workflow. Widen has 15+ years of experience in DAM software implementations across a variety of business models and vertical industries. Furthermore, Widen’s service-driven culture offers the consultation and suggestions to make the implementation go as smooth as possible.

The second customer is Jim Magruder, Senior Marketing Communications Manager at InSinkErator, and he states that he turned to Widen as a DAM SaaS provider because of two main promises—technological expertise to solve problems and the service commitment backing the technology. As a self-proclaimed “non-technical” person, Jim Magruder and his team at InSinkErator have both the technology and service experts to make life easier when it comes to managing brand assets and promotional materials.

The third customer is John Wernecke, Global Marketing Manager for Motorola Mobile Devices, and he talks about the rapid response from Widen support teams and how they go “above and beyond” with no questions asked. He explains that when there’s a problem, it’s quite simply “What happened? ... What were you doing when it happened? … And, we’ll fix it.

For the latest about Widen’s commitment to service when it comes to digital asset management software support, watch the video about Widen25.

Below is an excerpt from the KM World article, DAM takes on many roles by Judith Lamont, Ph.D., about UNICEF’s adoption of Widen Digital Asset Management tools and services. The full article provides three unique case studies from digital asset management vendors. The excerpt below introduces the digital media management needs from UNICEF and explains why they selected Widen DAM SaaS.

[Excerpt]

Rich media assets

UNICEF was founded by the United Nations in 1946 to help save, protect and improve the lives of children through immunization, education, healthcare, nutrition, clean water and sanitation. It delivers those services and material resources on a regular basis, and responds to emergencies throughout the world.

The UNICEF Web site is the primary means of conveying information about activities in which the organization is involved. With nearly 200 offices operating in 156 countries, and fundraising partner organizations in 36 industrialized countries, UNICEF has deployed a Web content management (WCM) system that allows distributed editing and publishing of content, and localization of field office Web sites.

As rich media, particularly video, became more prevalent, UNICEF also saw a need for a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system that could help staff members deal more effectively with the increasing number of digital assets.

"We drop professional UNICEF journalists and photographers into all sorts of places where children are affected by crisis, as well as serious ongoing challenges," says Alexander Struminger, executive project manager in UNICEF’s Internet, broadcast and image section. "Video is a good format for quickly telling complex stories and effectively feeding into news cycles, but we needed to be able to store, retrieve and distribute the files more easily."

SaaS delivery model

UNICEF had tried several approaches to DAM, including developing its own software, but usage of the systems had been limited. "One of the lessons we learned in our early attempts was that the way in which we rolled out the system was critical," says Struminger. "We knew we needed a good software product, but better software alone is never the answer. We also needed to facilitate adoption by involving stakeholders." After researching the available options and requesting proposals from best-in-class vendors, UNICEF selected the DAM platform from Widen Enterprises.

The software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model of Widen’s DAM platform removed the burden of installing and maintaining the software. UNICEF also took note of the company’s long history of high-quality service. "Widen helped us start out with a pilot project so we could introduce the product to a small group of beta testers," Struminger explains. "We made sure we had a group of motivated UNICEF stakeholders involved. This ensured early adoption and a sense of ownership by key stakeholders."

The system was introduced by UNICEF’s Geneva office at a gathering of UNICEF fundraising organizations, and several of the individuals involved in the pilot spoke enthusiastically about its merits. "This event changed the conversation," Struminger says, "and we realized it was the kind of advocacy we needed in order to get that vital adoption."

Other parts of the organization began to request the DAM system, and a global rollout is now in progress. Feedback has been very positive, and users are beginning to suggest new applications, like asset sharing between divisions, countries and partner organizations. Widen’s application for video Web streaming is also under consideration.

Users can quickly find video clips they need, along with scripts and shot lists. They can send those files directly to a journalist or news organization for review. UNICEF offices and partners can have access to up-to-date branding assets, as well as print publications files for localization, printing or electronic distribution.

"The robust search engine is really one of the keys to this system," explains Struminger, "and its ability to leverage metadata." Although the metadata and taxonomy needed to be sorted out as the system expanded, the Widen DAM system is now becoming the preferred distribution platform for digital assets.

Widen Enterprises draws its expertise from its own experience in pre-press workflow, so in addition to offering a software product it also has substantial subject matter expertise.

"Our emphasis is on service and being with customers throughout their process," says Matthew Gonnering, CEO of Widen. "For example, we staffed our own video production studio to make sure we understood the workflow. Our product handles every major video format as well." That ability provides support to social marketing efforts, allowing the distribution of video to many channels. "We don’t just get our customers set up with the software and then part company," Gonnering emphasizes. "We are available throughout the entire time of our relationship."

View the full article from KM World: DAM takes on many roles

For this example I will show you how to create some cool chrome effects on a digital asset. A high end furniture store wanted a nice looking catchy banner created for display. My direction was a certain color palette along with a neat chrome effect. To accomplish this task I used the powerful possibilites of Photoshops layer effects. At the end of this blog entry I will actually let you download the final .psd digital asset. (It has been resized.)


Achieving this effect required just about every trick that layer effects offers.

Step 1 - I type set both lines of copy
Step 2 - I created an upper and lower bar with the path tool
Step 3 - I created a midnight blue background with an inner shadow effect
Step 4 - I applied a drop shadow, inner shadow, inner glow, bevel and emboss, color overlay, gradient overlay, satin and stroke to the text and bar layers
Step 5 - I also applied a Hue/Saturation and Curve adjustment layer to each of the type layers for additional color correction and contrast.
Step 6 - Using an air brush that fades, I painted white strokes for a nice catch light


*Hint* an easy way to copy and paste layer effects between layers is to control(Mac) click on the layer effects you want to copy (in the layer palette) and select copy layer style. Next, select the layer(s) you want to apply the layer effects too, control(Mac) click and select paste from the layer style option. Now your layer style is quickly applied to the new layer.


Click here to download the layered Photoshop file.

Keywords: Color Retouching, Color Manipulation, Color Management, Brand Recognition, Photoshop, Creative Software, Layer Effects, Chrome

For this next example I am going to use layer effects to recreate a mirrored look on some expensive trendy glass tiles. My client provided me a digital asset of mirror glass tiles that reflected a dark room. The ambient room lighting provided a dark and unattractive reflection. To create a more appealing and marketable appearance I recreated a traditional mirror reflection using Photoshops layer effects.

Step One - Using the pen tool I masked off all in interior contents of each fragment.
Step Two - Using the pen tool I masked off all the glass tile from the grout.
Step Three - I made a selection from my glass tile path to mask off the layer effects.
Step Four - I made a selection of the grout and with color manipulation I neutralized the warm cast of the grout.



To accomplish this layer effect I did the following:
(Tiles are masked on their own layer)

1. Created a Drop Shadow
2. Created an Inner Shadow
3. Created an Inner Glow
4. Created a Color Overlay
5. Created a Stroke

Using these settings in tandom provides a reflection more in line with what consumers are use to seeing in brand marketing of reflective pieces. (The soft white neutral cloudy nature.)


My final step was to use the grout selection and desaturate the warm casted grout.

Keywords: Color Retouching, Color Manipulation, Color Management, Brand recognition, Photoshop, Creative Software

Training, reporting and analysis are key ingredients to the implementation and ongoing success of digital asset management systems. Widen is helping customers understand four ratios serving as key success metrics to digital asset management adoption. As a DAM Software as a Service (SaaS) provider, Widen is able to collect quantitative usage data from all customer deployments. The data can be applied to help customers compare numbers against historical activity within the same system or against historical activity across the entire customer base. The key ratios are defined below:

Digital Asset Activity Ratio: A comparison between the quantity of files that have been ordered and the amount of files stored in the DAM system. This ratio provides insight into the relationship between download activity and all the assets stored in the digital asset library.

Repurposing Ratio: A comparison between the active digital assets and the quantity of files ordered. This provides insight into the amount of content repurposing that is taking place over a period of time. Repurposing continues to be a key component of digital asset management value.

User Activity Ratio: A comparison between the total number of logins and the quantity of users that have logged in provides information about visitation frequency. This metric also provides insight into how frequently users visit to browse or check back on new branded materials.

Digital Asset Consumption Ratio: Comparing the quantity of files ordered to the users that logged into the system provides information on the amount of data being consumed by each user over a specific time period.

The ratios are further explained in the Business Management article “What Those DAM Statistics Can Tell You.”

DEAR DR. DAM:  I’m Eddy, the director of corporate marketing with a large engineering, consulting and construction company and I’m working with our I.T. business analyst to find a solution to our current digital image management process—which is doomed.  We’re leading an initiative to find a better digital media management system to manage and share images and marketing collateral.  We have nine different locations throughout the US and we’re in dire need of a more organized approach to share approved imagery with our marketing and engineering folks around the world.  We’re losing a lot of time and money chasing our tails with materials that we don’t even know exactly where they are. 

Our corporate marketing team wants to be able to drive brand consistency while doing a better job of capitalizing on the money spent on purchased images we know exist somewhere, but cannot locate.  Right now, we’re just using a shared network drive and it demands a lot of our designer’s time to fulfill requests for images.  We are also having issues with our marketing collateral containing outdated info and need to develop a more accurate process for customizing brochures with different pieces of information.  We currently use another enterprise software vendor for content management and looked into the DAM plug-in but that would cost us $100K+, which is out of the question.  We want a hosted digital asset management system because we don’t want to deal with our own internal servers anymore.  Please point us in the right direction.

DEAR ENGINEER A NEW DAM EDDY:  Looking toward a hosted DAM is a smart alternative, particularly in these times.  There are no major expenditures on hardware or expensive upgrades/add-ons to purchase.  The Widen hosted digital asset management system provides you with your own branded web portal to drive your corporate branding initiative.  Plus, you’ll get free software upgrades on a quarterly basis for as long as you’re a customer.  Your designers will enjoy more time to concentrate on what they set out to do because your agents will be able to fulfill their own requests.  No more purchased images will fall through the cracks as a new DAM system will greatly help you improve organization and accountability.  The Widen Media Collective includes a project collaboration module to route images and documents for comment and approval tracking.  And, the media building app will help your users produce custom marketing collateral using images and content fit for the situation.  You’ll enjoy the ability to run usage reports and see where your users are and what’s being downloaded.  Get ready for a change because you’ll start realizing an ROI within a few short months.  

As I investigate new possible brands and product avenues for Widen to go down, I inevitably end up studying our current flagship product, the Media Collective Digital Asset Management system, quite a bit. And having come from an enterprise-software sales background my mind is always going down the path of "what is the benefit to the customer, what is in it for them?"

In today's economic conditions most companies demand an ROI. Those projects that have a "this would be nice" benefit or even arguable soft costs are getting buried at the bottom of the stack while products and solutions that can reduce costs or even show an ROI are going straight to the top. And in a time of high unemployment employees have a vested interest in finding solutions to reduce their companies’ costs: the more a company can save, the better they can afford to pay their employees.

While we know there is an ROI associated with time it can be difficult to articulate to customers because there are too many soft costs... How much is your time worth? How much time could you save if you could find images faster? If you could protect your brand better how much is that worth to you?

All great talking points but in a world of black and white numbers sometimes that is not enough. Hard numbers and clear ROI are required.

To that effect, I came across some great statistics on DAM and how DAM can help various organizations reduce costs. The numbers come from GISTICS research, with some highlights below:

• An average of $8,200 per person per year is spent on file management activities which include searching, verification, organization, back-up and security.
• Creative professionals spend an average of 1 out of every 10 hours of their time on file management, mainly searching.
• The average creative person looks for a media file 83 times a week and fails to find it 35% of the time.
• Research shows that digital asset management solutions will drop that figure to 5%.

$8200 per year per person!!  How many people at your firm or organization deal with file management per year? How much does that add up to on a 1-year and 5-year basis?

And those numbers don't take into account the fact that when you are not searching for files/images you can be working on something else, possibly something billable. And the average person fails to find digital media over one-third of the time? How much productivity is lost there? And how much frustration is built up there? And with SaaS, hosted DAM you don't even have to worry about maintenance, servers, etc.

Add to that the fact that with a digital asset management solution you CAN protect your brand, that little thing you've invested thousands and millions into.

Digital Asset Management has always made sense and always had clear benefits and process efficiencies. But as the economy continues to struggle it is also becoming more and more clear that there is ROI to be achieved as well.

DEAR DR. DAM:  I’m Betty, the director of marketing for a division II university.  I just took a position with the U about 2 months ago and I’m leading an initiative to implement a digital asset management system by start of the semester.  It’s one of those summer projects that I didn’t want to let pass me by.  We have hit a wall in managing our institution’s digital assets.  Our photos, logos, videos, and marketing documents are scattered everywhere across the network and the IT department has come down on us to clean it up.  Every department is creating their own stuff when we could be doing a lot better job sharing and re-purposing each other’s work and master assets.  Not to mention how difficult it is to keep the school’s branding and reputation in check.   With more departments, more people in different locations and more channels where our stuff is used… we have a problem.  It was manageable when we just had printed materials, but with the advance of the web and social networking sites, we need a master repository to keep everything together.  This master repository should be the communications hub for marketing, athletics, library, media relations, photography services, crisis communications, event support, webcasting and videography.  Does such a thing exist? 

DEAR BREAK DOWN THE WALL BETTY:  Sure thing!  Widen has helped several other colleges and universities on a very tight budget implement a 100% web-based digital asset management solution.   The Widen DAM solution will allow you to centralize digital content for multiple departments.  Photographers have ability to upload assets and add metadata.  Marketing can store, share and retrieve images and brochures with ease.  The Athletic department can store videos and convert to different formats on-demand.  You can control access levels to keep all departments separate and provide for various roles at each level.  Your top-level admins keep the University’s master assets and insignias in check and delegate administration to each department head to regulate their own digital media system.  Best of all, you can get up-and-running with training in 4-6 weeks – just before homecoming!  It’s no short term solution either; Widen DAM software is scalable to meet unlimited storage size growth.  It’s like comparing apples and oranges when pinned against installed solutions in the same price range.  Best of all, you’ll appreciate their special pricing for educational institutions.

Since the Aberdeen Group Report, The Marketers Guide to Justifying Investments in Digital Asset Management, came out, we've been speaking with all sorts of organizations from various vertical industries – manufacturing, retail, healthcare, financial services, insurance and non-profits to name a few – about their marketing operations and digital media management practices.  Organizations of all shapes and sizes are learning more about leveraging Digital Asset Management technologies for enhancing brand management and improving return on marketing investments with greater ability to reuse, repurpose and re-channel existing digital media assets.  Is DAM right for you?  Where do you stand? 

Gauge how you compare with the Aberdeen Study participants and others researching DAM systems...Take the live poll below:

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The current issue of Business Management Magazine has an interview with industry analyst Melissa Webster of IDC, a leading technology research company.  The article, Optimizing Digital Asset Management on page 86, includes a section devoted to defining the Types of Digital Asset Management Systems.

The types of Digital Asset Management (DAM) Systems that are mentioned in the Business Management article include the following:

Brand asset management systems: Focus on content re-use of marketing and sales materials such as product images, logos and marketing collateral.

Library asset management systems: Focus on storage and retrieval of large amounts of infrequently changing media assets—video and photo archiving.

Production asset management systems: Focus on storage, organization and revision control of frequently changing digital media.

Digital supply chain services: Focus on pushing digital content out to digital retailers, such as music, videos and games.


Brand Management & Marketing Operations

• DAM Library of Photo Archive
• Basic Brand Management
• Multi-Lingual Brand Management
• Marketing Asset Production & Distribution
• Ad Production

Publishing

• Periodicals Production & Distribution
• Multi-Channel Publishing
• Catalog Production
• Rights-Managed Syndication & Distribution

Video Production

• E-Learning
• Video Ad Review & Approval
• Short Form Video Production
• Broadcast Video Production

This DAM analyst firm suggests Widen’s digital asset management services are best fit for these use cases:  dam library or photo archive, basic brand management, marketing asset production & distribution, and catalog production & management.

Widen’s 11 most recent customers added in Q2 2009 fall into several of these overlapping use cases, but primarily fall into the brand management and marketing operations category.  Nonetheless, they all adopted Widen digital asset management tools to make creative workflows more streamlined, improve brand consistency and be more agile marketers. 

Do you agree with the breakout of the types of Digital Asset Management systems above?  How would your use cases agree or differ? 

From capture to distribution, Widen helps marketers save costs, improve efficiency and speed time to market with its array of digital production services. 

Photographic Capture

Specializing in tabletop and lifestyle digital photography, particularly for the apparel industry, Widen is able to reduce photography time and costs by capturing only a neutral color garment of a particular style instead of photographing every color swatch needed to bring that product to market.  This method dramatically reduces photography costs and model time because it greatly reduces the amount of products to shoot.  Products are captured according to the client’s pre-determined product display standards.  For example with these apparel garments, Widen photographers shoot three-quarter front and back views of the item on a mannequin.  Captures are tagged and instantly delivered to Widen’s digital production team who then create the full line of products. 

Digital Production

After the captures are taken, Widen color retouching specialists apply the necessary colors and special markings according to the client’s technical specifications, thus creating all color swatches and product variations.  This process is formally referred to as “digital sampling” for the apparel market.  This process is manual versus automated for the purpose of producing superior quality hi-resolution images that accurately represent the physical product.  Final images are created for both print and web use.  Benefits derived from this process include: reducing physical sample cost by marketing digital samples without physically producing all of the products, improving time to market with a process that previously took weeks or days to one that now takes only a couple of days to a couple of hours.  Intangible results for the client include improving brand consistency by accurately displaying all products available for sale in addition to improving market penetration by marketing the full line of products.

Web-based Collaboration, Management & Distribution

Widen also develops web based digital asset software for collaboration, approval tracking, management and distribution of digital files, an industry defined as digital asset management (DAM).  Widen speeds the approval process by allowing clients to instantly review the digital samples (digital assets) online and make comments, annotations, and order immediate changes.  Once the digitally produced file is approved by the client, they are available in a web-based, password protected, client-branded website where key internal marketing teams and external sales / distribution channels or retailers have access to download official product images.  Based on the level of permissions, users can download hi-resolution CMYK images for print use or lo-resolution RGB images for the web.  All files are instantly converted to the necessary output type from one master file type so that multiple formats of the same file do not need to be stored.  The Widen online DAM system is equipped with a number of features to manage images rights and access levels.  One of the hottest features and trends is publishing digital samples to online sources using digital asset embed links where the master file displayed online is referenced in the Widen DAM, which is the master repository.


 

If you are meticulous about the management of your brand, you are highly likely to use a digital asset management system to support your business branding initiatives.  If you are meticulous about the management of your risk, you should be using the software-as-a-service model as the delivery method for the DAM system.

Why is the DAM SaaS method less risky than the installed?  I was in beautiful downtown Madison, WI at the University of Wisconsin this morning and I was inspired to communicate the risks.  Check out the video.

Widen is continually working to build strong partnerships with third party vendors who provide technologies and services that are complementary to our own digital asset management programs.  By partnering with industry leading vendors we can expand into new markets and bring more features and functionality to our own Widen Media Collective customers.  It’s a win win for everyone.  Through strategic partnerships and the technologies that they bring to the table, Widen can help our customers build out entire media workflow environments that go far beyond digital asset solutions.  One of the central messages I have tried to focus on in some of my previous blogs was that DAM systems should be the backbone to our customer’s larger marketing operations, brand and creative software technology environments.  So I thought it would be helpful to start a series of blogs highlighting some of our partner relationships and how our customers are using these external services and technologies to streamline and improve their internal media workflows.  Level III Services is one of those partners who immediately came to mind as a great place to start.   

Level III Services offers print on-demand and product fulfillment services that are second to none.  Their online suite of products leverages Widen’s hosted DAM platform to give customers instant access to their marketing materials from anywhere in the world.  Need to manage a large inventory of marketing literature or products online?  Need to ship the latest brochure to the event for your biggest customer and need it there tomorrow?  Tired of drowning in extra materials and cost because your printer requires you to adhere to large print runs instead of paying for just what you use and need?  Yeah, they do all that.  Level III Services saves their customers thousands by embracing the simple idea that less is more.  You can save money and the environment by producing only what you need, when you need it.  That sounds good to Widen and is one reason we think Level III is such a good neighbor.  Customers of Widen’s hosted DAM service have been paying for only what they use, rather than what they can install, for over 12 years.  For more info on Level III Services, visit www.level-3.com. 

DEAR DR. DAM:  My name is Jackie and I’m a “Jack of all Trades-Master of None” one person marketing team for a large energy corporation.  I handle it all – marketing, communications and PR – but, with the help of several key outsourced providers and partners.  Since I handle all of our business branding and promotional materials, I deal with a large amount of digital media.  We have hundreds of files … mostly images, videos and brochures … used for ad campaigns, websites, mail inserts, presentations and investor materials. 

We pay a lot of money for photography and videography but this digital content seems to always have a way of disappearing after only one or two uses.  It’s like “poof” and it’s gone.  Different departments throughout the company have no idea what other departments have.   We are constantly recreating old stuff instead of repurposing existing work or creating new stuff.  It’s definitely becoming very frustrating and seems like we’re missing out on a lot of opportunity.  It’s hard to realize any marketing ROI if we can’t realize the full value of our assets.  I attempted to implement a DAM system about 6 years ago, but didn’t have the time to dedicate to a project like this and the project got pushed to the back-burner.  Now it’s time… point me in the right direction Dr. DAM.

DEAR JACKIE OF ALL TRADES:  I like that you’re able to rely on an outsourced team of experts that are just a phone call away.  It makes you look like a star and you have the best help available.  As a hosted digital asset management provider, Widen has proven that for over a decade and sounds like it’s time for you to “phone a friend.”  With centralized digital asset storage for all your photos, videos, Flash animations, illustrations, brochures, logos, and press clippings you won’t have assets slipping through the cracks or vanishing on you.  With administrative access controls, you can open up the digital asset library up to nearly all 5,000 internal employees as well as external partners while maintaining control with sophisticated digital asset tracking tools.

Don’t be overwhelmed… This project is something you can handle on your own and with the help of the right DAM SaaS vendor.  SaaS vendors like Widen have entire teams of project managers and implementation consultants that walk you through everything from best practices to training and help desk support.  Plus, automatic upgrades future proof your marketing resources from going extinct.  Best of all, I.T. will continue to support the business operations and  you can stay on top of everything marketing operations while you get to be a little more savvy with marketing software.  Need to quantify the time and money on DAM activities, check out the ROI Calculator from http://digitalassetmanagement.com.

This question was raised in one of the DAM discussions on LinkedIn:
“Is there a clear distinction between Digital Asset Management and Digital Archivism?” 

The question came about from the New York Times article in early February of this year Digital Archivists, Now in Demand.

Here’s part of the distinction I can offer between Digital Asset Management and Digital Archival…

Archival is just one of the four main phases of DAM and the digital asset life cycle – creation, management, distribution and archival.  We link in Creation phases with DAM to quickly realize the value of the digital asset by achieving faster time to market and tightly integrating that with the management and distribution functions.

Here’s a list of the typical functions within each phase of the Digital Asset Life Cycle:

There are obviously several roles / players in any one or a combination of phases to DAM.  Typically, a DAM admin is involved most with the Management & Distribution phases, but there’s a great deal of cross-over and roles vary by organization.  Even different vendors specialize in some areas more than others.  I say this as Widen performs the functions on the creation end of the digital asset life cycle while also providing the software technology, infrastructure and service (personnel) to blend all four levels.

A digital asset is truly an asset when it is leveraged to maximize its intrinsic value to the organization it is serving, commonly for the purpose of driving brand value and revenue.  It seems to be the job of the digital archivist to recognize who/what/when/where/how the asset is to be applied to maximize its value and then again control when it is time to relinquish that value.

I’m interested to learn more about the roles of people performing each function these days as the economy has forced marketing operations and creative departments to reallocate and reposition resources.  Please share.

Do you ever get the urge of “I just gotta have it”...  Who doesn’t? ... Whatever “it” is.

Now when it comes to info, video clips and pictures, what do you do when you just gotta have it?

Applications like Facebook and devices like the iPhone have made that so much easier and have trained us to think that way. 

Now, how does this apply to digital asset management software?  The demand for rich media has been on the rise and will only continue to skyrocket.  If you’re responsible for creating, managing and distributing digital assets – the lifeblood driving brand awareness and revenue – you need to have a system that can satisfy the “I gotta have it” need for those that need it most. 

Search – Whether you’re a marketer, designer, web developer or salesperson, when you need a file – you just gotta have it now.  You can’t wait for someone else and you can’t waste time sifting through file folders or legacy systems.  Google has trained us to search by keyword and get the most relevant search results.  It’s expected.  Shouldn’t your rich media be the same way?

Preview – So now you got the file in front of you – print brochure, hi-res image, PowerPoint presentation, audio / video clips – don’t you want to actually see it.  It’s no good to you if all you get is a small thumbnail preview.  You want the whole DAM thing.  The ability to preview files saves you the time of waiting for a file to download, unzip or pull down off an FTP site. 

Transform – After you find the asset you’re looking for, you’re going to need it in different formats.  No marketer is running a single channel anymore.  You’re assets must be available for use in web pages, print pieces, catalogs, emails, blogs and social media.  Moreover, they're being consumed on a whole variety of devices.  You can’t always depend on a designer to convert the files for you or having the right software to handle every single file processing need.  Wouldn’t it be great if you could automate file transformation services?

Apply that mindset to a whole organization whose team is dependent on the ability to access, share and repurpose your digital assets – they all just gotta have it.  For those that don’t (or shouldn’t), a digital asset library gives you the ability to control rights, access and usage levels.

When it comes to producing and repurposing digital assets, a web-based digital asset management system offering the ability to access what you need, when you need it satisfies the hunger for “I gotta have it.”