Digital Asset Management Tools

• Accelerated search and retrieval time in accessing official imagery
• Increased real-time collaboration of assets and approvals
• Cost savings through the elimination of physical delivery of samples
• Elimination of the cost of lost or misplaced work
• Reduction in time-to-market through digital delivery

• Speed to implementation inside 30-90 days versus 6-9 months
• Low monthly subscription and minimal startup costs make it easier to budget
• Flexibility, adaptability and scalability to grow and change with client needs

A coworker recently asked me: "What is the next big format that will hit after 1080p? I'm curious what is on the horizon."

There are a number of ways to answer that question. In terms of factual numbers, 1080p is a "resolution." The next logical larger sizes are 2K and 4K. But those exist already... so the answer switches from fact-based, to opinion-based.

I am a video tweak head, so I am always interested in the next video format that can squeeze in one more pixel of resolution. But I realize that I am in the minority, at least as far as a business case goes for an entire industry to adopt a format. Moving from standard definition video to HD (specifically 1080p) was a no brainer. There are clearly visable advantages in clarity and overall viewing experience. But if you look at what is next in terms of higher resolution, we run into a wall.

The wall is the ability for the human eye to see the detail that the device is displaying. Here is an interesting article on the science behind what the human eye can see. It basically says that there is almost no visable difference even between 720p and 1080p when watching a 50" screen from 8 feet away, which is the average viewing distance in the average home. Therefore, in order to need more detail than what 1080p can provide, you would either need to sit closer than 8 feet, or need a screen larger than 100". Video is mostly consumed on a TV, or online. As far as online video publishing is concerned, most online video is downres'd from 1080. So higher res will not get a push from online video management either.

My coworker also asked what the next "big" format would be. If you define "big" as something that will change the entire industry, including aquisition, editing, display, and broadcasting, I don't think 2K or 4K will be the next "big" format. There isn't enough of an advantage for large groups of consumers to make a switch.

I really think that the next "big" format change will be something regarding 3D. Something that does not require wearing nerdy glasses. We will also have to keep a close watch to see how it affects digital asset managment tools.

• 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?

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

Widen recently published a new “Brand Standards” document in efforts to maintain a consistent face to the marketplace. This exercise has been quite a grueling process as we work to gather, catalog and manage all of our logos and templates to enforce consistent use of our branding. (Go figure, a Digital Asset Management company has many of the same frustrations as the customers we serve!)

Like many organizations, the most public facing and prominent marketing touch point is the corporate website. We launched a new website in Q1 of this year and just recently updated our brand standards document that is three years removed from the last major update. (I’m sure you can relate!) Besides our website, we have several other forms of digital media channels that we try to maintain consistent with our corporate brand—landing pages, blogs, social networking pages, print collateral and corporate documents.   

The part of this process that became particularly complicated was managing all the different versions of our logos… 

Widen has 35 different logos from 13 different styles of the Widen logo:

1. 3-D Reflected versions
2. Flat versions
3. Black & White 3-D Reflected versions
4. Black & White Flat versions
5. 3-D Reflected versions with the tagline “Empower Your Digital Media”
6. Flat versions with the tagline “Empower Your Digital Media”
7. Black & White 3-D Reflected versions with the tagline “Empower Your Digital Media”
8. Black & White Flat versions with the tagline “Empower Your Digital Media”
9. 3-D Circle W Icons
10. Powered by Widen stamps for customer sites
11. Widen Media Collective product stamps
12. Widen Appliance product stamps
13. Widen for Appexchange logos for our Salesforce.com apps

Portfolio View of the Widen Logo Library

As users of our own digital asset management tools we can control which formats are convertible and what conversion options are to be configured within our DAM SaaS application. Most of the 13 different styles have RGB (for web or print conversion), CMYK (for print only) and PMS (for print only) versions so that’s why we total 35 different logos. There are 4 "for print only" logos that can be downloaded only as the CMYK or PMS file in the original .ai file format, meaning there is no conversion.

The RGB versions hold the integrity of the file the best—particularly with the reflected red 3-D Circle W that has several different colors in it. The RGB files can be converted to any file format for print or web use. Conversion options include: JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and EPS (configurable to each client’s specifications). Therefore, instead of having on file and keeping track of more than 52 additional logos in different file formats, we only need to keep track of the 13 master logos that can be converted to any format using Photoshop conversions on-demand within our own Widen Media Collective DAM system.

Logo Conversion Options Configured Specific to the Widen Corporate Internal DAM System

Are there any other marketing people that can relate to the vast challenges in managing a logo library?  We’d love to hear your story!
 

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

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

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

I have been tasked to learning more about our Prepress services division, and “as I walk through the valley of retouching and color management”… I will try my best to inform you about the significant work we do here.

With being my first day and all, the experts tried to take it easy on me. Yet, I still came away with a bit of a culture shock. Now I feel like I’m a fairly smart guy and pick things up quickly, however I was like a fish out of water in terms of trying to keep up with these guys. I was amazed to find out that the men and women who handle images from our clients such as Reebok, Motorola, and Mason Shoes, many have 20+ years of experience in their designated fields. They have extensive knowledge and abilities that, even being a guy with no color background, completely respect and admire.

In just my short time with this department, I came away feeling like we really do have the best in the business, and now I know why we are the 8th largest prepress services provider in North America. The amount of communication that takes place and dedication to perfection is unmatched. Each account has a devoted person that learns the customers’ expectations, and allows them to get exactly what they are looking for the price they want to spend. Have some work that needs to be done, but don’t necessarily care that the shoe extends a little past the model’s toe, we can do that. Have some very high end work like jewelry that needs to be of utmost quality, we can do that as well. Take a look at some examples. View the new Widen Color Retouching Portfolio.

When you tie all this expertise into a workflow that utilizes our digital asset management tools, that just screams efficiency!

I wanted to take a crack at the Dr. DAM persona played by Jake, so I’d like to share this true story.  All names have been changed to protect the identity of those involved, and no animals were harmed in the making of this post.

DEAR DR. DAM:  I’m struggling with image management.  I feel as if we take a picture, use it once, and then it vanishes.  We have files located all over and this recurring theme is burned into my brain.  I recall my Manager frantically shouting “Go find a picture of a chicken breast, and if you do not find it in less than 5 hours, schedule a photo shoot!  We have an important deadline!” Needless to say I did not find any, all the while knowing there are at least 8 or 9 of them somewhere!  Another problem is we have another department that does this very same process, and we may have the perfect image for them to use already, but they never ask (and vice versa).  I feel like we are wasting so much time and money searching and scheduling photo shoots!  Is there anything that can be done?

DEAR SCHEDULE A PHOTOSHOOT SAM:  If this story doesn’t scream image management software, I don’t know what will.  Photo shoots are expensive and re-shoots because of misplaced assets are un-called for.  You could practically pay the month’s subscription to DAM SaaS for the price of a photo shoot.  A web-based digital asset management tool help you centralize all your images in one repository, complete with full metadata searching for quick and easy retrieval.  All you need to do is log in, type the words “chicken breast” and your 8 or 9 images are there for immediate use in whatever format you’d like.  No longer would you need to scrounge through countless hard drives to find that one image.  I hesitate to even get into “Roles and Permissions” or “Video Management” in fear that you have already stopped reading and are currently running around jumping for joy. 

Matthew, Al and I had a call with a DAM analyst from Gartner yesterday – those DAM analyst you know… they're always on to something new!  We enjoyed sharing the ‘ole Widen update about our direction with video asset management, cloud computing, creating a more enjoyable user experience and appliance expansion among other top R&D initiatives for 2009. 

But then we got into the juicy stuff affecting marketing operations in 2009.  The type of marketing operations dealing with tight budgets, a change in spend and shift away from traditional ad mediums. 

Then the conversation shifted to YouTube.  (My favorite online hobby).  No doubt, YouTube, social media and the demand for rich media is changing the attitudes and behaviors of the workforce, marketing strategies and the corresponding demands on I.T.  It’s an exciting time to be in this industry!  What are your corporate governance policies on YouTube as a purposeful messaging medium?  Please share!

Our stance on YouTube is that it is an excellent destination site for video and serves the purpose for socializing and democratizing video content by providing a community for “like” videos.  However, it’s digital asset management tools that take the pain out of having to manage and repurpose video and other rich media content.  As Gartner has predicted, more than 25 percent of enterprise content will be images, audio and video by 2013.  How will organizations manage this content?  The simple answer is DAM.  In a tough economy, the more exact answer is DAM SaaS.  Hence, the reasons why we’re investing so much R&D efforts on embed links and cloud computing resources for offsite media storage.

Digital asset embed links allow marketers (who are shifting more toward online mediums) to repurpose images and video across all online channels while controlling their brand by maintaining the master file in one central repository.  Cloud computing allows us to offer our DAM SaaS solutions with on-demand scalability, while you budget for what you use.  As many of the analysts have stated, SaaS has the lowest penetration rate, but highest growth rates.  There are several (several may be stretching it) hosted digital asset management tools out there, but only one mid-market DAM company can claim the longevity and an evolving 60-year understanding in the makeup of digital assets.  Ok, Al Gore, we didn’t "invent" or "create" digital assets 60 years ago, but Widen was there...

Guest blog post from Sean Banahan, Widen Area Sales Director

I wanted to share an experience I recently had while presenting Widen’s suite of web-based digital asset management solutions to a group of prospective customers.  I was asked how, and how often, Widen updated our system each year.  In a rush of excitement I described how Widen’s release schedule calls for four releases each year, two of which are major product version updates.  I was just saying how this feat was unparalleled in the content management industry when I noticed how quiet the room got.  One of the people sitting closest spoke up to explain why I could hear crickets all of a sudden.  It was explained how they saw our release schedule not as a plus, but as a real concern and liability. 

Their IT department and resources were very limited and adapting to numerous product releases wasn’t possible, especially for a software product that was not their desperately needed and coddled CRM or ERP systems, which is where the IT group focused all of their time.   It probably shouldn’t have surprised me to be reminded of how some people view the software that they purchase as a troll under the bridge, but it did.  This group had experienced how difficult it is to maintain software against required databases, application servers, hardware and everything else.  When one changes, the whole system sways like a Jenga tower.  With no army of IT personnel to hold the tower up, they were worried it would topple. 

This concern is addressed by the most core advantage of the software-as-a-service model.  You don’t have to worry about it.  Widen provides so many upgrades a year because we can.  It’s our software and each product update is carried out by us and provided seamlessly to the customer.  You don’t need to care what database version is supported or how many CPUs your application server license permits.  We worry about those things.  Your creative teams shouldn’t have to worry about becoming an IT powerhouse to get digital asset management tools in the front door.  Leave it up to professionals.  I drive a car every single day and couldn’t tune an engine and can barely change a tire. 

Being the gatekeeper for video here at Widen, I decided to piece together some clips of our client interviews that deal with how Digital Asset Management and Video Asset Managment has helped our clients reduce costs, increase efficiency and increase capabilities.  In the current economic climate, we often hear companies say that they have a freeze on new spending.  The reality is that most of our clients don't consider our web-based digital asset management system a "new spend." They are reallocating budgeted dollars from other areas that DAM will free up resources or cost spending in.

Jim Scarlata from Knaack Manufacturing talks about saving time and cost of burning CD/DVDs and shipping.  Doug Rammel, formerly of Reebok, talks about how they would not even be able to produce the amount of physical samples needed to support their current sales.  DAM and Digital Sampling not only reduce their production costs, but support their current sales volume which would not be able to be supported with out it.  John Wernecke from Motorola talks about how there would need to be four more employees to do the amount of work he can do with the Widen Digital Asset Management tools.  How's that for an ROI?

Take a look at the video compilation titled Reallocate in a Down Market.