Digital Asset Management Workflow

We realize all customers need assistance when it comes to the ongoing success of their Digital Asset Management implementation. Watch the video to learn more about Widen’s approach to digital asset management as a service.




In the video, I discuss how the most successful digital asset management deployments start with a very candid conversation to identify the objectives for managing and distributing digital assets. Then, we’ll work with you to create a long-term vision for what’s to be accomplished. We do not manage projects in terms of feature by feature requests. Our mission is to understand your objectives and work with you to create a plan by leveraging our expertise in the DAM space.

How are you going to prove that DAM is going to work for your company? What are you going to do to provide a very clear ROI to your management team? As we’ve done for many successful DAM deployments, we will paint a clear, long-term picture of how our product direction aligns with your vision, while executing in the short term to get the brand under control by centralizing all digital media assets used by the marketing organization. With Widen being a DAM Software as a Service (SaaS) provider, you get the benefit of being on a platform with over one hundred other customers sharing in the same universal functionality to achieve the purposes of meeting their long-term vision.

Widen still recognizes there are certain cases where customers have unique requirements and workflows requiring additional functionality and, oftentimes, customization. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. How do we handle those cases? We still start those customers at the basic brand management level because that platform is consistent with the DAM needs for all customers and users. If requirements are unique and a different level of customization is required to meet specific needs, then we will break you away from the pack of all the other customers on the same universal functionality. We know what works and what doesn’t in DAM and it’s our mission to provide you with the service and technology that proves ongoing success.

This is the fifth video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Jim Scarlata, Senior Marketing Operations Manager for Knaack LLC. In this segment, Jim talks about why the Software as a Service delivery model makes the most sense for digital asset management at Knaack. “Why bring a technology into your company that is not a core competency,” he says. DAM SaaS is particular valuable for a company with limited IT resources or where the IT team has limited knowledge of creative and marketing workflows. In 15 years of providing DAM as a service provider, Widen has seen it all and is able to offer the consultation and support needed to implement and maintain a successful DAM system.  Watch the video to learn more about why the SaaS model for digital asset management makes the most sense, especially in this business climate.

This is the thirteenth video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Cheryl Rugland, Agency Director for Edge Advertising. After 21 years, Widen has never let Edge down. Edge thinks of Widen as a partner in providing digital asset management solutions and services. Cheryl explains that there is not another company that can provide the capabilities and service levels that Widen provides to the Edge catalog publishing workflow. Widen has delivered DAM tools and services that provide a huge impact to the catalog production process. Widen has helped Edge cut page production timelines down by 20-30 minutes per page. Edge has been able to reduce freelance time while increasing efficiency with their internal staff. Watch the video to learn more about why Edge has stayed with Widen through 21 years of working together.

This is the eleventh video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Cheryl Rugland, Agency Director for Edge Advertising. There isn’t a challenge relating to the catalog production and digital asset management workflow that hasn’t been looked at. Cheryl is amazed that Widen is a company that doesn’t stop coming up with new ideas. “Widen is a color house that doesn’t stop coming up with new ideas.” Watch the video to learn more about meeting client challenges with DAM services.

This is the seventh video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Cheryl Rugland, Agency Director for Edge Advertising. The most recent addition Widen has provided to Edge is the Project Collaboration application. This application has helped provide a soft proofing workflow to create efficiencies in the collaboration processes and speed up catalog production. Watch the video to learn more about the soft proofing impact of digital asset management.

This quick tutorial will show you how to make a film like edge on your selection / mask in photoshop. Film has an inherent grain, and if your trying to do some masking or digital asset retouching, a simple blur on a selection line won't cut it.

For our example I'm using a simple textile selection.



Here you can see a quick mask view of the selection, where green denotes the areas selected.



Next I applied a Gaussian blur, radius' of usually 5-10 pixles works well, depending on the size of the transition needed.



Hitting the "tilde"key, you will get a black and white representation of your quick mask selection.



Next we're going to apply the "film" effect to the selection.
Goto Filter/Brush Strokes/Spatter



A setting I have foud that works well is a Spray Radius of 4 and a smoothness of 1.
If your image has less/more grain/transition needed, feel free to tweak the radius value in conjuction with the prior gaussian blur.



Here is the resulting effect on our blurred selection.



Our next step is to take the edge off the grain, and create a subtle and more realstic film grain. Unless your initial image is overly sharpened, you'll want to soften the grain selection edges to match. Here I have used a value of .3 gaussian blur to take the hard edge off.



Lastly, hit Q for quick mask again, this will show the "crawling ants" selection, and proceed to save your alpha / mask.




Keywords: Digital, Asset, Retouching, Film, Selections, Images, Matt, Anderson, Spatter, Gaussian, Blur, Selection, Soften, Photoshop, CS4, Filter, Effects, Workflow, Digital Asset Management Workflow, Image Asset Management

“IT wants our Digital Asset Management solution installed at our location.” … I’m sorry to remind you Marketing but are you sure IT knows what is best for you? Does IT do everything else you want? Do they provide the timeliness in response you need? Have they ever dropped the ball on a project before? Do you ever get the feeling like you’re left on an island? I don’t mean to bring IT down or even make reference that you’re IT department is lacking in support for marketing, but we’ve seen it time and time again… IT has way too many other business critical responsibilities and projects going on to give little ole marketing the attention it needs. Marketing requires immediacy in action and a certain degree of understanding of your processes.

Marketing, remember to consider your DAM needs first. You have the right to work with a team that understands creative and marketing workflows. You have the right to a timely and guided DAM software implementation. You have the right to have your administrators and DAM users receive the proper training they deserve. You have the right to have a help desk with DAM specialists that can help when you and your users have questions. You have the right to receive regular upgrades with new features and innovations in DAM and marketing technology. You have the right to contribute ideas and feature requests. You have the right to have a system that is scalable to grow with your needs. You have the right to have a DAM system that can work with other systems. You have the right to a responsive team that can restore digital assets that are accidentally deleted. You have the right to have the peace of mind to know your digital assets will always be accessible. You have the right to know what you’re paying for and only pay for what you use. You have the right to know that your digital asset management programs will be a success.

The Digital Asset Management system is the hub of the digital asset life cycle. DAM covers the management portion of the life cycle. Widen has developed tools upstream from DAM to support the creative workflow and approval cycles in addition to marketing and sales tools downstream. Watch the video to learn more.

Widen recognizes that digital assets need to be externally distributed, but also need to be internally consumed. Creative workflows demand hi-resolution files be accessible at local speeds. Marketing networks require remote access to the most current assets. Watch the video to learn more about the hybrid approach to digital asset management with the Widen Appliance as the creative workflow extension to the hosted model… entirely under the Software as a Service approach to DAM.

Join Widen at the Premiere of Createasphere Digital Asset Management and Explore the Global Issues of DAM with the Experts

WHEN:    
February 17th & 18th, 2010 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM

WHERE: 
The Universal Hilton
555 Universal Hollywood Dr.
Universal City, CA

WHAT:   
The premiere of Createasphere Digital Asset Management Exposition is specifically designed to bring together technology leaders, entertainment and media organizations and an interdisciplinary group of practitioners to define the future, and current best practices specific to entertainment, broadcast, gaming, advertising and media.

WHO:   

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM

Keynote: Studio Panel - "Vision 2010 and 2020"
Stan Scoggins - Universal, Scott Phelan - Fox Filmed Entertainment, Tim Padilla - Warner Bros., Jamie Voris - NFL, Garrett Smith - Paramount Pictures, Paul Nicholson - ShowTime, Moderated by Dan McGraw - Seven Dials Media

Panels include:

• DAM 101- What is it and what you need to know
• dpBestflow – The Best DAM Resource on the Web
• The 21st Century Career: Digital Librarians, Archivists, Project Management and So Much More
• The Strategic Business Case for DAM: When, Why & ROI
• The DAM Admins Open Source Toolbelt - Free Tools You Need to Know This Year
• Distributing Rich Media: The Competitive Edge Is Knowledge
• Using Social Media in DAM
• Positioning of DAM
• Exploring the Process to Manage, Manipulate & Deliver Video Content

Thursday, February 18th, 2010
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Keynote: "The Evolution of DAM (Digital Asset Management)"
Alex Grossman, Active Storage

Panels include:

• The Role of Taxonomy & Metadata in Digital Asset Management
• Capitalization on Storage
• Metadata - The Message is IN the Media
• Reinventing Everything: The desktop paradigm moves to the web
• Rights Management & Content Protection of Assets
• Managing Worldwide Workflow: Digital Is a Global Initiative
• Order from Disorder: Taming the Digital Chaos
• Powerful Tools & Techniques for Enhancing Searching Capabilities

See Panel Schedule and Speaker Information

In addition to two days of panels and keynotes, the Createasphere DAM conference features lunchtime roundtables, networking opportunities, and other community building events and opportunities for education and connection. 

For Information and Registration, visit: http://www.createasphere.com/damem_february

Almost everyone nowadays has a digital camera, even if it's just on their mobile phone. This means that data and images are no longer stored in file folders and photo albums, but on hard drives and memory cards. While this technology is superb for working with images, it is not without risks. Storage devices can get damaged or stolen and then your precious memories are lost.

Transition that into the business world where there is more digital media and more users requiring access on a daily basis. A memory is to an individual like a brand is to an organization. What does is stand for? How is it perceived? What do people think of when they see a brand’s assets? To consistently market a brand in today’s multichannel environments, digital media and brand assets must be protected and delivered using the most reliable solution.

What options are available to help protect digital media and brand assets?

Many people make multiple back-ups of their computer systems and storage devices. This is great for a while but eventually you end up with back-ups of back-ups with loads of duplicated data. Alternatively, you run the risk of deleting files that you think you have backed up only to discover that you did not. An online Digital Asset Management (DAM) system is therefore something worth considering. It has multiple functionalities, is quite simple to use, cost-effective to purchase, and can help manage all of your digital media very effectively. 

How does a Digital Asset Management system work?

A DAM system is made up of various software functionalities to assist in the creation, management and distribution of digital media. If your organization has multiple internal and external stakeholders, there may be additional applications helpful on both ends of the spectrum—creation and distribution. Here's a brief overview of the various applications that fit the digital asset life cycle.

At the core, a digital asset repository helps you to centralize photos, logos, creative files and other digital media. DAM makes it easy to search for specific media files, convert and distribute them using a web-based platform. You can access your files easily and conveniently—even if the files are very large. A video asset management system is similar in that it allows you to preview, transcode and send video and audio files across the web without much effort. This is particularly useful when working with tight deadlines and you need a convenient delivery method.

If you frequently have to select photographs from portfolios for various creative and advertising projects, then a collaboration application would serve as a versatile feature of a DAM system. Working upstream in the creative workflow from the general DAM repository, web-based workflow and collaboration tools allow photography and creative teams to review and approve the photos that you wish to use. Additionally, when working on specific creative or marketing projects, project owners can coordinate reviews, track comments and approvals on modified versions and keep design teams on track for a streamlined workflow.

Downstream from the general digital asset repository, partners and sales channels can create custom marketing and sales collateral with a dynamic media building tool. Using predefined templates and content options, non-technical or non-creative users can create localized ads, brochures, direct mail and signage. This feature allows sales channels and affiliates to produce brand-approved collateral for campaigns, product launches, events or special promotions at a local level.

What are the benefits of using a Digital Asset Management system?

A big plus of any DAM system is that it helps you manage and search for files in a centralized system for all types of digital media. No more searching for the CD with the photos from last year’s campaign; simply view, organize and retrieve assets online. Web-based DAM systems are designed to be simple and easy to use, and users do not need to be technical experts to get what they need.

An equally important benefit is that a DAM system offers a safe storage facility for your files. Hard drives may fail from time to time, and CDs can get lost or damaged. In that case, you may not be able to retrieve your precious brand assets. A web-based DAM system has necessary back-ups, ensuring that you will always be able to access your photos and videos even if you change your computer hardware.

DAM is a critical technology for organizations with collaborative workflows needing a single storage and access point. Collaboration is particularly useful for staff in the media industry and corporate marketing environments. DAM systems make life much easier in being able to review, approve, search, share and download files that are typically too large for more limiting means of collaboration. The system effectively becomes the virtual meeting point for everyone across different geographic locations, which is both convenient and cost-effective.

Lastly, one of the most critical issues that a DAM system helps to solve is safeguarding an organization’s brand by ensuring only the most current assets are used. An online DAM system provides the easiest access point to approved brand assets. Being able to easily retrieve assets helps to ensure internal and external users turn to the DAM system first as opposed to other unattended sources. Governance features such as roles and permissions help administrators regulate who can see what assets. Assets for future or past due uses can be on hold or archived so the general user doesn’t have access.

Digital Asset Management helps organizations be more efficient, effective and in greater control over the vast amounts of digital media and brand assets at every critical stage of the digital asset life cycle.

Years ago, in the early days of electronic pre press, we lived among spendy Scitex systems and huge drum scanners with 40,000 buttons, switches, dials, levers, foot pedals, pull cords and miles of rainbow-colored SCSI ribbons. We scanned in transparencies, and worked all the images in a CMYK color space (the four colors we print with - cyan, magenta, yellow and black). Although it was possible to scan into RGB (red, green, blue), almost everyone allowed the computer within the scanner to convert the image into CMYK.

Two important technological revolutions changed all that. The Internet and digital photography. The Internet introduced us to e-commerce. There was no longer a need to have all those images converted to CMYK if they were destined for a web site (RGB display) and ultimatley due to reside in a digital asset management system. And the explosion of digital cameras over the last 15 years has made the drum scanner all but obsolete. All of this means we have digital images that begin their journey as RGB (technically RAW RGB, but more on that in a future blog), not CMYK. RGB workflows are much more commonplace. But if an image is eventually going to be reproduced as ink on paper, at some point it must be converted to CMYK. Where, when and how that conversion happens is often the topic for discussion. 

And one place you can find a bunch of color geeks having that conversation is at the PIA Color Management Conference. The 11th annual conference just wrapped up last month in Phoenix. One of the sessions called "Obstacles to RGB Workflows" addressed the issue of RGB and CMYK workflows. Among the speakers on the panel was Tom Collins from Quad Graphics. He went over the pros and cons of an RGB workflow and what they were doing at Quad Graphics.

Collins began by outlining the reasons why RGB is the preferred workflow over CMYK:

• RGB allows for greatest repurposing
• RGB allows more latitude for color manipulation
• RGB allows easier and more consistent gray balance
• RGB gives you the ability to utilize L*a*b* for even greater control
• RGB allows for consistency of separations for press when converted
• Things like GCR and Total Ink are no longer issues at the color correction level

Then Collins outlined some Challenges with RGB workflows:

• Untagged RGB images
  • Forces the arbitrary assignment of an ICC profile
    
    • He referred to this as "shopping" for the right profile
• Issues with some vintage CMYK color technicians adapting
  • Many feel the need to 'move the black' - counters separation consistency
• Color corrections are different, retouching is the same
• Black-only drop shadows require work arounds
• Workflow consistency - Requires automation

Collins discussed his experience with RGB specifically at Quad Graphics

• Quad began full RGB workflows in 2001
• They were forced to create custom automation for workflow consistency - hands off color management
  • Color technicians focus on image manipulation and quality, not color settings, profiles, BPC, and rendering intent
• Quad customers demanded separation consistency, and had higher demands for color quality

Collins talked about the different RGB workflow strategies in regard to when the RGB file is converted to CMYK

• Early-binding
  • Files coming in are converted to CMYK early in the workflow - color correction and retouching is done in CMYK - CEPS model
• Mid-binding
  • Color correction and retouching is completed in RGB - files are converted to CMYK during an automated conversion before page assembly
• Late-binding
  • RGB files are placed in pages and converted to CMYK in the RIP - PDF/X-3 or PDF/X-4 

Collins said that the majority of the workflows at Quad Graphics are a mid-binding, with color corrections completed in RGB, and CMYK being placed in the pages with PDF/X-1a being used. "If there are any color alterations, we go back to the RGB file and reconvert." Collins added.

Collins said that we need to raise the awareness of the concept of color managed pages in a late binding workflow.

• Rips and color engines are improving - behaving more consistently
• They are realizing benefits
  •  More efficient than early or mid-binding  workflows
  •  Improved color reproduction
  •  Offers the ultimate quality and flexibility with repurposing
  •  

Collins said that there are some challenges to late-binding workflows

• There are transparency and overprint issues with PDF/X-4
• Inconsistencies among PDF versions and RIPs
• Most prep suppliers are still learning and may be reluctant

To sum up, Collins said that CMYK has served it's purpose (and in some cases still does), but early-binding workflows are very limiting.
"RGB (and L*a*b*) imaging provides the best quality, and is preferred to CMYK for the benefit of our customers and the end product." Collins stated.


  

New in 2010, Widen is offering free Digital Asset Management system access for up to 90 days to companies and organizations researching DAM or needing a hosted DAM solution.  Try it for a special project, campaign, product launch, trade show or event!  Request VIP Access to the Widen DAM demo system.

Widen has spent over 13 years developing and supporting web-based digital asset management solutions to marketers of all sizes – from Fortune 500 enterprises to small and medium-sized businesses, agencies and non-profits.  In that time, Widen has offered the opportunity for individuals and teams to experiment, test and trial live online digital asset management systems in live production environments, real-time marketing workflows, and sales channel relationships.

Widen is rolling out the red carpet by providing free digital asset management system access to Widen's live online digital asset library for up to 90 days.  You and your users get the same basic functionality as Widen DAM clients within Widen's Digital Asset Management demo site.

Free Digital Asset Management System access includes the following capabilities:

• Setup your own personalized role and permissions 
• Upload your own digital media – hi-res images, videos, audio, PDFs, Word, PowerPoint, InDesign, etc.
• Add your own metadata – descriptions, tags and automatically captured file info
• Download or send media with on-the-fly file conversions to print and web formats
• Create additional users
• Create custom system messages and user announcements

As a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider, Widen DAM solutions are 100% web-based and designed for creative and marketing workflows.  No software downloads or installs, no IT support required, and no specialized skills needed.  Widen SaaS solutions scale to meet the demand for unlimited simultaneous users and unlimited asset uploads and downloads.  Training and support is provided entirely by Widen.  Ownership of Widen DAM SaaS solutions can be afforded with a low monthly subscription.  Widen clients get their own branded web-based DAM solution and personalized URL, plus the ability to administrate their system with custom metadata structures and output types. Contact Us for more information about Widen DAM SaaS products and pricing.

For basic demo access to search and order stock assets, register for the Widen Guest Pass.

Notice:  Widen's Free Digital Asset Management System Access does not provide users with a fixed permanent solution, but is intended to provide those investigating DAM solutions with a no-cost, no-commitment resource for evaluating Digital Asset Management technology and support to answer questions along the way.

We continue with another Top 10 list with the top ten Widen Digital Asset Management blog posts of 2009 in the Widen world of Software as a Service, web based DAM, video asset management, content management and structure and other posts dealing with digital asset workflow.


1. Getting to a Digital Asset Management ROI, posted on Friday, August 7, 2009 by Mark Norris (The Next Big SaaS)

2. The Future of Digital Media Management: Being Prepared for the Video Demand, posted on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 by Matthew Gonnering (Ramblings of a Mad Marketer)

3. Types of Digital Asset Management Systems, posted on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 by Jake Athey (Marketing Digital Asset Management)

4. How Widen Software as a Service Applies Digital Asset Management Best Practices, posted on Monday, June 15, 2009 by Matthew Gonnering (Ramblings of a Mad Marketer)

5. What is the best way to store videos in a Digital Asset Management System?, posted on Thursday, July 30, 2009 by Al Falaschi (The Impact of VAM & DAM)

6. Digital Asset Management Best Practices: Focus on Metadata Part II, posted on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 by Widen Marketing

7. The Marketers Guide to Justifying Investments in Digital Asset Management, posted on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 by Jake Athey (Marketing Digital Asset Management)

8. Understanding the Digital Asset Life Cycle, posted on Friday, March 20, 2009 by Jake Athey (Marketing Digital Asset Management)

9. Level of Risk for Digital Asset Management Implementations, posted on Friday, May 15, 2009 by Matthew Gonnering (Ramblings of a Mad Marketer)

10. Video Asset Management In High Demand As Viewership Climbs and Marketers Use More Online Video, posted on Monday, November 2, 2009 by Jake Athey (Marketing Digital Asset Management)

Widen Enterprises has released Widen Media Collective® Version 5.4 with its winter 2009 update to the flagship Software as a Service product for digital asset management (DAM).

Over 180 technical enhancements were made to improve usability, reliability, scalability and security with the Widen Media Collective.  Nearly forty customer-suggested features were incorporated into the winter update offering improved support across various creative and marketing workflows for creating, managing and distributing digital media and brand assets.

Upgrades to the core Web-based Digital Asset Management application include: asset uploader improvements for faster file processing, additional search functionality for more focused search results and video player enhancements.  Dynamic Media Building, a template-based ad and brochure building application, has been enhanced to include a new layout engine for more flexibility during the initial template design and end user media customization processes.  The upgrade allows for more advanced text handling, including: dynamic text reflow when variable text is used, copy fitting for reducing text size based on specific formatting instructions, block flexing for automatic resizing and repositioning of design elements, and rule-based block control to automatically populate template blocks.

The most significant advancement with Widen’s winter release is the launch of Source Controller version 1.0 for the Widen Appliance.  Advancing from its previous beta state, the Widen Appliance and Source Controller provide a hardware/software combination that enables internal staff to access and modify digital assets on their own network and automatically update these changes in the Widen Collective hosted platform.  Internal designers, marketing staff, and administrators find files in the browser-based Source Controller application and then check these files out into their own local workspace.  When changes are made to a file, it can be checked back in to update the asset in Source Controller and made globally available to the client’s external audiences.      

“Source Controller provides an attractive browser-based user interface and integration direct to the desktop for internal users working within creative applications,” says Edward Chwae, Director of Research and Development at Widen Enterprises.  “Besides providing benefits of streamlining creative workflows and making the benefits of DAM more entrenched with those workflows, the Widen Appliance provides for a fully replicated set of assets at the client’s location to support disaster recovery and business continuity plans.”

The Widen Appliance bridges the gap between hosted and installed software by offering Widen-managed services on the client site with replicated data to seamlessly serve the internal and external demand for assets.  File management and synchronization between the Widen Appliance and Widen Collective hosted service are automatic, which keeps administration to a minimum for improved efficiency and helps clients better manage the obsolescence of assets for improved brand consistency.

For more specific information about the Widen Media Collective and 5.4 release visit: http://www.widencollective.com.

The video asset is a rising star when it comes to improving marketing performance and bringing a brand message to the market. More and more, companies are investing in the creation, management and distribution of video assets.

Watch the video to learn more about our take on video in the enterprise.




Widen wholly embraces the complexities of understanding the make-up and management of video files. To make sure that we understood the video environment, we launched a video studio at Widen to assist with our own marketing initiatives and gain an in depth understanding of video workflows. Our marketing team deployed video production as an element of our marketing strategy not only to get the benefit of driving brand awareness and revenue, but also to help the organization and other customers understand video workflows.

Widen makes moves to embrace marketing's need to distribute video to their target markets now and into the future. Current Widen video asset management functionality includes automatic preview generation, transcoding on-the-fly to different formats, and embed links. There are two distinct advantages to embed links with every asset that is entered into the Widen digital asset management system – (1) the concept of one internet, one file and (2) scalable infrastructure. 

Embed links allow users to simply take an embed code that's preset to a specific size and then embed that in another website or thousands of websites. When a video is expired or you want to change that video out to a more updated version, you change it in one place – the digital asset management system – and every other website using that embed link will automatically inherit the update.

The second benefit to embed links is a scalable infrastructure. Customers use Widen bandwidth, CDNs and scale power from our use of cloud computing resources. When you want to go from 1,000 views to 100,000 views or to one million views, we scale to meet that demand and scale it back down as needed.

Learn more about Widen’s Video Asset Management application.

Watch the interview with Brian Becker, VP of Client Development for Widen Enterprises, as he talks about the prepress production processes performed for a large apparel marketer. Part II focuses on Widen's digital sampling and color retouching services in the life cycle of a digital asset.
 

Intro

Widen recently helped a large apparel company improve quality and streamline creative production processes by utilizing a blend of Widen premedia services and digital asset management technologies. Widen helped the client make the move from showcasing garments currently shot on mannequins to garments shot on live models for a new women's sports licensed apparel campaign. In meeting the goal of going live inside 30 days, Widen created over 500 images with 20-25% of their shots featuring garments on live models versus mannequins.

To get up to speed with the photo shoot and Widen photography workflow management capabilities, check out Widen Premedia Workflow Study Part I - Photography Workflow Management.


Color Production
The image work for the project was done by the Widen Color Production department, which consists of six master graphic artists. They are the ones that go in and clean-up the files… They take the camera raw data and optimize it for the best environment for lighting of the flesh tones, hair color, garment color, detail and sharpness, etc. Widen’s color retouching experts have a knack for understanding the customer expectations, which was very simple and natural for them given the jobs they work on every day.


Digital Sampling
The Digital Sampling department is the group that applies the graphics to the garments shot on the models and mannequins. The color operators take artwork from Illustrator and merge them onto the actual photograph in Photoshop. There challenge and expertise is to make sure the graphics follow the contours, shapes, highlights, shadows and wrinkles in the garments as they apply logos, team names, numbers and names, etc. supplied in the client's technical specs.

Many people don't realize what a huge production process there is that goes on behind the scenes to get garments sent to Widen, put on models, styled, shot correctly, color-optimized, digital-sampled, posted to a database and eventually marketed on a website or print catalog, signage, etc.


Color Management
Consumers only spend a few seconds shopping for garments online, so it’s critical that what they see on the screen is what they’ll get in real life.  We don’t use our eyes to confirm what we “think” we like on a screen, we use technical data that comes from a strong color management umbrella over the top of everything we do in production. From our cameras to our proofing devices, everything is color managed for the desired output – website or printed material.

In the end, Widen created approximately 500 images, which are upload to their digital asset library also hosted by Widen. From there, the images are ordered for placement on any number of websites. Posting images via embed links will help to ensure the most current images are used across all web domains.

The Widen Advantage caters to the life cycle of a digital asset by offering all of the production, management and distribution services under one roof. The blend of Widen premedia services and digital asset management solutions working together help clients in a number of ways, including:

Cost Savings - Increases efficiency in creative/production cycles plus centralization of re-usable assets minimizes efforts re-inventing every process of the creation-production-distribution value chain.

Faster Time to Revenue - Shortens time to market and increases effectiveness of marketing execution by empowering sales channels with on-demand access to use brand-approved digital assets.

Competitive Advantage - Improves brand consistency with quality representation of products and ensures compliance across targeted, multi-channel marketing campaigns.

Better Planning and Strategy - Tracking of usage patterns including reuse and repurposing of assets allows for more effective budgeting, resource allocation and planning of future marketing campaigns.

Check out the Widen Premedia Workflow Study Part I - Photography Workflow Management.

Watch the interview with Brian Becker, VP of Client Development for Widen Enterprises, as he talks about the prepress production processes performed for a large apparel marketer. Part I focuses on Widen's digital photography and photography workflow management capabilities in the life cycle of a digital asset.

Intro
Widen recently helped a large apparel company improve quality and streamline creative production processes by utilizing a blend of Widen premedia services and digital asset management technologies. Widen helped the client make the move from showcasing garments currently shot on mannequins to garments shot on live models for a new women's sports licensed apparel campaign. In meeting the goal of going live inside 30 days, Widen created over 500 images with 20-25% of their shots featuring garments on live models versus mannequins.

This is a case of having a DAM customer, in which Widen provides the technology and service to manage thousands of images, take advantage of Widen’s expertise in premedia services to create their digital assets for this particular campaign.


Models and Apparel – Connecting one DAM Customer with another DAM Customer
Since this apparel customer wanted to use live models for the photo shoot at Widen, we were able to help because we have another DAM software customer that is a model and talent agency. In essence, we were able to connect one DAM client with another DAM client to complete the photo shoot. To get started, the apparel company was able to browse model shots by viewing assets from the Rock Agency online image management system and select the talent for the shoot.


Digital Photography, Review and Approval
When it came time for the shoot in Widen's photo studio, we brought in the models, photographer, and did all the make-up and styling so that we could capture a single garment before it was off to our digital sampling and color retouching departments to create all of the products and get them ready for the customer’s campaign.  (Learn more about Widen digital sampling and color retouching services in Part II.)

Leveraging Widen's online photo approval application, Widen could post the best shots for client approval before the models had even left the studio. Widen’s photo approval system allowed for same-day sign-off by the client who was over a thousand miles away.


Color Retouching, Image Management and Distribution
Once the preferred shots were selected, Widen’s Digital Sampling department created the other variations of the garments by applying logos, team names, numbers and names, etc. supplied in the client’s technical specs with Illustrator files. Widen's Color Retouching department also created the one-of-a-kind pieces by taking a photo of the garment on the mannequin and applying color retouching techniques to create quality digital apparel samples optimized for e-commerce websites. All of the final images were organized and managed in Widen’s online photo asset management system where the client could select the best shots for executing the campaign.


The end result helped the client achieve superior image quality and color consistency for the product images on the web to best represent the real-life garment.


Check out the Widen Premedia Workflow Study Part II - Digital Sampling and Color Retouching.

The CMO Council released information today regarding marketers lagging in optimizing their supply chains.  Digital asset management is mentioned as something that 30.1% of the respondents have already embarked on as part of their online strategy.  The lack of visibility is one element of the challenge where Widen DAM SaaS has provided insight to CMO's.

As part of the relationship with Widen, we are providing customers with visibility into the critical measurements of Digital Asset Management programs.  These critical measurements include the repurposing ratio, a way of monitoring how frequently digital assets are reused in the marketplace.  These statistics provide CMO's with a higher level understanding of their digital media assets and how they can leverage more value from them.

Mike Perez, Vice President of NVISION, also makes a reference to SaaS by stating the following: "Marketers are clearly recognizing that they can gain significant efficiencies and cost-savings, which will allow them to re-direct spend and resources to more gainful programs. But to do this, they need the right information systems, process controls, knowledge, expertise and physical infrastructure to implement process improvements and better handle procurement, warehousing and just-in-time delivery of marketing materials worldwide. Often this is a competency that can be more cost-effectively outsourced."

That quote strings together beautiful words.....gain efficiencies, cost-savings, invest in better programs, need the right I.S., JIT marketing materials worldwide, more cost-effectively outsourced.  It all fits the value of Widen digital asset management with a high-powered service model and 62 years of business operations at the core.


The CMO Council press release, also available below, can be found here: 
Marketers Lag in Optimizing Global Supply Chains; Big Opportunities Exist to Reduce Cost, Improve Yield and Increase Accountability


PALO ALTO, CA -- 11/16/09 -- Nearly two-thirds of senior marketers have never undertaken a comprehensive audit of the costs and processes that contribute to their marketing supply chain and most admit their resources and suppliers are poorly integrated across global networks, reports the Chief Marketing Office (CMO) Council.

The milestone "Define Where to Streamline" study (www.marketingsupplychain.org/report) provides a comprehensive assessment of how well marketers are managing, controlling and introducing sustainability practices across increasingly complex global supply chains. These include hundreds or thousands of printers, exhibit and merchandise suppliers, warehouse and fulfillment operations, communications agencies, media channels, independent contractors, as well as creative and digital service providers.

The online audit of more than 300 senior marketers conducted by the CMO Council found marketers are inadequately positioned to introduce new efficiencies and waste reduction programs into their marketing ecosystems. The study is the first initiative in a sweeping program under the umbrella of a new think tank, the Marketing Supply Chain Institute, which is dedicated to examining the economics of spend in the marketing services sector. The study was conducted with the support of NVISION®, the Marketing Supply Chain Group of North America Corporation.

While only 25.2 percent of respondents have undertaken a comprehensive audit and analysis of costs and process efficiencies in their supply chain, the study found that roughly the same number -- 25.9 percent -- track obsolescence on marketing and event management consumables. However, just over 50 percent of the marketers audited acknowledge that ROI could be the greatest reward from an optimized supply chain as a streamlined process will likely speed time-to-market and time-to-value from marketing spend. These numbers reflect a lack of visibility into marketing supply chain operations and poor tracking and accountability of marketing materials and merchandise inventory, which often involve millions of printed items, including product packaging, corporate brochures, sales literature, premiums and point-of-sale display units.

"Auditing the effectiveness of producing, storing and shipping marketing consumables is the first step towards a more integrated, efficient and streamlined marketing supply chain," said Mike Perez, Vice President of NVISION. "Marketers are clearly recognizing that they can gain significant efficiencies and cost-savings, which will allow them to re-direct spend and resources to more gainful programs. But to do this, they need the right information systems, process controls, knowledge, expertise and physical infrastructure to implement process improvements and better handle procurement, warehousing and just-in-time delivery of marketing materials worldwide. Often this is a competency that can be more cost-effectively outsourced," he added.

Interestingly, the CMO Council study suggests that a trend toward greater sustainability and carbon footprint reductions may lead many marketers onto the right path for gaining a deeper understanding of their supplier network and value chain. More than two-thirds of respondents -- 63.6 percent -- said they are targeting print production, warehousing and delivery of marketing consumables and 37.1 percent said they were targeting transportation and logistics with an eye toward realizing sustainability gain and carbon footprint improvements. Delving into these areas will enable marketers to exact cost-savings and efficiency improvements from many of the greatest areas of spend within their marketing supply chains.

"The marketing supply chain is clearly not a strategic area of focus for many marketers, yet there are significant improvements that can be driven by change-minded executives willing to dig deeply into the operational side of the marketing function," noted Donovan Neale-May, the CMO Council's executive director. "You are going to see a much tighter linkage between the CMO, CFO and CPO (chief procurement officer) going forward and more involvement by the CIO to integrate back-end information from ERP systems to better synchronize marketing supply operations and partners."

Other key findings from the report include:

--  With 89 percent of companies indicating they are not generating real
    economies or efficiencies in their marketing supply chain process,
    marketers are further challenged as one third of respondents indicate they
    have no internal resource of expertise in supply chain management.  In
    fact, 47.8 percent of marketers surveyed indicate that marketing supply
    chain management is an evolving functional area that needs more attention
    or a discipline growing in importance of value.

--  30.4 percent of respondents said they weren't fully realizing the
    value and potential of the Internet and instead are managing partners
    through traditional means while 30.1 percent clearly have adopted an online
    approach, saying they were seeing major improvements in workflow,
    collaboration, content access and digital asset management.

--  Marketers acknowledge that a streamlined supply chain can improve go-
    to-market strategy and speed time-to-value from marketing spend, and play a
    critical role in managing the potential variance in customer experience.
    The delivery of accurate and relevant content, the uniformity of
    communication and consistency of message, and the timely provisioning of up-
    to-date sales and marketing messages and materials are the top three
    critical values an optimized marketing supply chain to go-to-market
    strategy.

--  Creative, once an area often left in the hands of agencies or
    advertising, may come under greater scrutiny as a significant number of
    marketers -- 40.5 percent -- identified creative design and development as
    an area in the marketing supply chain with the greatest potential for
    process, productivity and performance improvements.