Do you hoard files to keep them safe? Save for future use? You could be a rich media hoarder. Learn how to speed up your workflow and save money with digital asset management.
4. What’s an Asset?
“Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or
controlled to produce value…” (Wikipedia)
“They’re only assets if you can find them”
A rich media file plus metadata
5. Mo Assets, Mo Problems
“Now where did I save that graphic?”
“Yes, please bother me every time you
need a logo.”
“Why are there so many copies of the
same photo?”
“Your PowerPoint presentation is so
big, it has it’s own gravitational pull!”
“Why is my face on that billboard?”
6. What is the Solution?
Digital Asset Management!
?
DAM helps you quickly find, organize, and
convert media files.
(Also, an endless source of unfunny puns)
8. Comedy Central
Life Before DAM:
• Accessing offline archived projects was time consuming
• Constant requests for logos
• No system for tracking and distributing graphics for DTO
content
• Constant interruptions for image requests
12. Comedy Central
Results and Successes:
• Self service
• Instant gratification
• Less interruption and annoyance
• Collaboration
13. 1800Flowers.com
DesignPac
• Member of 1800Flowers Enterprise
• Creative force behind 1800Baskets
• Creator of wholesale retail gift items
• 1,600 employees
• 60 employees in Melrose Park
14. 1800Flowers.com
Life Before DAM:
• Disorganized folder structures
• Inconsistent filenames
• Dependent on senior staff for file location & info
• Uncertain copyright and usage rights information
• Inefficient analog cataloging system
17. 1800Flowers.com
Results and Successes:
• Organized image catalog
• Time and money savings
• Less headache
“If I am doing a project that requires image research it
cuts the time in a third.”
22. Nickelodeon
Results and Successes:
• Searching can be visual or based on keywords
• Retrieving files is extremely fast and easy
• Catalog is available to the entire crew
• Users around the studio can see each others work
23. Are You a Rich Media Hoarder?
If so, DAM can help!
• Save time
• Save money
• Increase revenue
• Make life easier!
24. Learn More & Questions
Get started with DAM:
www.damlearningcenter.com
Learn more about Portfolio Server:
www.extensis.com/portfolio
Hinweis der Redaktion
Are you a rich media hoarder? Do you hoard digital media files like pictures, videos, and graphics? In this presnetation we’ll take a look at how Comedy Central, 1-800-Flowers, and Nickelodeon are all saving time and money by using digital asset management to efficiently find, organize, and convert their hoards of rich media files. I’m going to show you how easy it is to get organized and stop wasting time trying to find the files you and your coworkers need.
So, what is a rich media hoard?According to dictionary.com, a hoard is defined as “a supply or accumulation that is hidden or carefully guarded for preservation, future use, etc.” This definition also applies to rich media collections in several ways:First, rich media files accumulate over time, from many places, and in many formats.Second, the rich media hoard is often hidden in various locations — across computer workstations, file servers, CDs, removable drives and other data stores.Third, the hoard is carefully guarded — you don’t want anyone mucking up your hoard, deleting files, taking what they want, or ignoring brand or licensing guidelines. Finally, preservation is important — you’re keeping this stuff around because it’s valuable and you plan on using it again in the future (hopefully).Being a rich media hoarder isn’t a bad thing. Somebody needs to roll up their sleeves, take a trip to the digital container store, and get the house in order. However, the first step in correcting a dysfunctional hoarding situation is recognizing [next slide] that there’s a problem.
We’re seeing an explosion of assets, and it’s only getting worse. Social networking means that people are consuming and creating more and more videos and graphicsUbiquitous smartphones, tablets, and other devices with the ability to create and capture on the go means even more videos and graphicsAnd devices are getting better in terms of size and quality—more and more media to manage, and in greater size.According to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, humans create more data in just two days than was created in all of history up until the year 2003. (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_ceo_schmidt_people_arent_ready_for_the_tech.php)
1. Wikipedia defines an asset as “Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value…” which I think is interesting because rich media files are intangible, capable of being owned (copyright, licensees), and when controlled correctly can produce value.2. A common remark from attendees is that rich media files are “only assets if you can find them”3. In the realm of digital asset management, an asset is defined as a “rich media file plus metadata”. This means that if you take an ordinary file, add some metadata like keywords and descriptions, that it truly becomes an asset.
So we have all these valuable assets, and that’s great, but what’s the problem?1. The OS search sucks when multiple people or servers/computers are involved. You know you have a particular file, you just can’t find it. You may recall certain details like what it looked like, when it was created, the project it was created for or maybe even the file name. However, you look everywhere but you still can’t find it.2. You closely guard your hoard of rich media files and rarely let mere mortals near it. While the hoard exists for other people to use and create value for your company, you are diligent in protecting “your” files from misuse and abuse.3. You store multiple variations of a single image in multiple formats instead of managing one master file. For example, instead of just keeping the high resolution TIFF or Camera raw file you also manage JPEG, PSD and PDF versions in case someone needs them in that format in the future4. When people end up using files from your hoard, sometimes they use a version that’s not the correct size, format or dimension for the intended use. This problem often manifests as a stretched or skewed image, a pixelated graphic, or a turgid PowerPoint file that swells due to the placement of several 100 MB+ print-quality graphics in its belly. If you or your colleagues ever use rich media files in the wrong format, you might be a rich media hoarder.5. There’s also incorrect use of expired assets, old branding being used, and not licensed/released assets…people need information about assets, and hoarders need ways to control access.
So what’s the solution? 1. Digital asset management!2. DAM can helpyou quickly find, organize, and convert media files.3. It’s also a source of puns on the word DAM!Let’s take a look at three companies that are using digital asset management to rein in their rich media hoard.
Comedy Central is the funny member of the family – one of a dozen-plus channels belonging to Viacom.The family includes MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Logo, Comedy Central, Spike, CMT, BET. Too many logos to fit on this slide.Their off-air studio is responsible for managing tons of Logos, Photos, PDF’s/Archives, and graphics for “download to own” content for iTunes, amazon, and other services.
1. Before DAM, all their archives were offline: All on DVD, so if the art director needed a printout of last year’s ad, they had to drop whatever they were doing, locate the archive disk, pop it in, load the fonts2. Logos were a Mess: Constant requests from around the company for a variety of logos3. DTO’s (Download To Own) were Chaos: No systematic way to keep track of, or distribute, their ballooning catalog of graphics for iTunes, Xbox, Amazon, etc4. Photos were also Chaos: Constant interruptions to pull images from the archives for a wide range of in-house constituents. No central place to find all the approved photos.Solving these four issues would let them get back to the real work.
1.They realized they needed something user friendly,built for visually oriented creative.2. The learning curve couldn’t be too steep.3. It needed to be budget-friendly as opposed to an investment in a huge back-end system.4. They also needed control. They didn’t want to hand over control to some third-party group and become victim to their black-box process.
Here’s a screenshot of part of the solution in place at comedy central -- Logo Central is a web portal for employees to quickly access logos. The next tab across the top is Photo Central, Archive Central and so forth.
The solution at Comedy Central was such a success that sister channel TV Land wanted in on the action.Here’s a look at the TV Land Brand site, where employees can quickly find graphics related to programming.
In the end comedy central implemented a solution that enabled self service, provided instant gratification for those looking for assets, reduced interruption andannoyance, and improved collaboration.
Next up we have DesignPac:DesignPac is a member of the 1800Flowers Enterprise and is the creative force behind the leading online retailer 1800Baskets. DesignPac also creates wholesale retail gift items. They have 60 Employees at their location in Melrose Park, IL and over 1,600 employees in the total organization.
DesignPac was strugglingto organize and file digital art. - 1. Making internal folders with long descriptions just wasn’t working for them.2. Files were not consistently named3. They had to rely on people who had worked there a long time to find artwork, and those people had to remember what and when those files were. This was a waste of time for everyone involved – the person looking for the file, and the person that knew about the file.4.They didn’t know which graphics had been purchased and could be used, and which graphics hadn’t been purchased and couldn’t be used. 5. They used an analog system of clipart books that was not easily accessible. These clipart catalogs may or may not had discs that contained the actual clip art. Some of the clipart catalogs were old and were scan only.
After research and assessment, they came to the conclusion that the most cost-efficient and user friendly solution would be Portfolio Server.1. It was affordable--Many commercial products were either not exactly what we needed or far too overpriced for their needs2. It enabled effective keywording--Adobe Bridge worked for folders but keywording was not effective enough.3. It was User friendly…4. …easy to setup…5. …and easy to maintain—unlike the “free” open source options that can be too difficult to setup and maintain.
In the end, DAMhelped DesignPac achieve their goals by 1. allowing designersto organize images in multiple categories using tagging and folder naming.2. make searching very user friendly, which saves time and money3. Most of all, it made their jobs easier
Nickelodeon Animation Studio produces the animated series you’ve seen on TV: SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, The Penguins of Madagascar and many more. With a a staff of about 550 people, 9 different animated series, and a newly produced episode about once every week, it’s no wonder that digital asset management was a much needed solution.
1. Before DAM the studio was primarily using paper and pencil, and the only real “Asset Management” came at the end of a production’s run or season. 2. Productions needed to physically archive all artwork and documents into an off-site facility. The teams would enter information in a hand written log to document what was being placed in the storage boxes. 3. While they knew how many boxes were stored, they didn’t have the details about what is inside each box.
Nickelodeon Animation Studio chose Portfolio Server because it answered many of their challenges and requirements right out of the box.The ease of use, the visual feedback and automated tagging were all features that were included. Portfolio Server offered a solid solution that was very quick to set up, while also being very user friendly for artists and production teams alike. They can also easily create a new catalog and allow the production to begin to add new assets within just a few minutes.Since it is cross-platform, Portfolio Server easily integrates into any production model at the studio – our CG productions are all PC-based, while many of our traditional artists are Mac users. Finally, the Web Client in Portfolio Server allow users at the company, who might not be at our physical location, access to the catalogs without any software installations required, which can be especially helpful with executives and other users based in New York.
1. One of the key benefits for Nickelodeon is that they can now have an extremely user-friendly library for everyone on a production to be able to see their work. 2. Artists can browsing the thumbnails or search based on any of the keywords generated. 3. And, once they find the image they want, they can just drag-and-drop to save a copy of their own-- a big savings of time and money especially for the shows that need to re-use existing materials4. The other great benefit is that the archive is now open to everyone on a production, and to the entire studio, so knowing what’s been designed and archived is no longer something that only the production teams have access to.
In summary, if you a rich media hoarder, DAM can help. DAM can help you:- 1. save time2. Save money3. Increase revenue4. And most importantly, make your job easier!
So, if you’re ready to take the next steps with DAM, head to the DAM Learning center where you can learn practical tips, tricks, and best practices about DAM. It’s a great place to learn about digital asset management in general.If you’d like more information about Extensis’s DAM, visit extensis.com/portfolioAnd finally, you can visit the URL below to download a copy of this presentation.