Many companies own images, graphics, photos, logos, ads, templates, and other digital assets that get frequent access by multiple users. Digital Asset Management (DAM) keeps digital valuables safe, available, and useful. Users inside and outside a firewall can create, describe, find, retrieve, reuse, and distribute assets for a variety of purposes. But please, don’t call it an image server.

The real value of DAM is based on the premise that digital media have inherent value. For a globally recognized company, brand is a high-value entity to be protected and managed across all the assets that express the corporate image. Therefore, DAM becomes more than a simple search and retrieve.

"The common understanding is that DAM provides an easy-to-browse light-box interface and makes it possible to locate and reuse image files more efficiently," says Scott Seebass, CEO, Xinet, Inc. Graphics files tend to be huge, and without DAM, archiving and retrieving would be difficult—if not impossible. When users measure their storage by the terabyte, burning CDs is not an option. DAM is.

Keeping Track with Metadata
When an asset comes into a DAM system, it needs a name and a home, but it’s not that simple. A photo could be described by topic, photographer, camera type, file format, expiration date, and approval status. Hundreds of Gordian fields could describe a single asset, but metadata is also displayed based on the context of each user. The marketing manager might describe the photo asset by campaign name, theme, or brand group, while a designer might understand it by color, shot type, and orientation. That same photo needs to be searchable by sales by product name, sales region, and promotion name—perhaps to use in a presentation. Proxy viewing lets users preview a file without the native application that created it.

DAM systems offer a rich, intuitive way to describe assets, apply metadata labels, change descriptions, and display metadata based on the user’s role. The key to successful DAM implementation is establishing an enterprise-wide metadata and vocabulary structure to handle all the descriptions and user requirements, according to Julie Mandell, marketing VP, Artesia Digital Media Group. Some companies even invest in a DAM librarian who is fluent in the company’s complex digital dialect.

Different Types of DAM
DAM systems fall into several somewhat overlapping categories. Production DAM entails quick search, archive, and retrieval of files with little labor overhead. Typical use is cataloging jobs or projects in a creative, publishing, or prepress environment, explains MetaCommunications’ EVP Robert Long. The DAM system provides a common workspace and review, approval and version management for creators and contributors working with materials in progress.

Another type is a distribution system. Often administered by marketing, it distributes final art like a PDF to content consumers outside the creative or production workgroup. "An enterprise DAM application allows Web-based distribution of digital assets. Thousands of users around the globe can work with assets from a Web browser and secure log in," explains ClearStory marketing VP Susan Worthy. "Or I can email an asset from the system as a secure link with a set expiration date for a specified number of downloads."

Marketing asset management lets creative services, advertising, and promotions departments control branded content. As marketing material is developed, only approved and properly branded logos, taglines, and imagery make their way into the market. Ad agency TracyLocke selected ClearStory Systems’ ActiveMedia and branded it as TheLibrary@TracyLocke. This centralized marketing asset management solution automatically indexes and organizes creative content for the firm with version control, contract expiration management, tiered download permissions, and other controls.

The system is used by staffers across the agency, strategic partners, and clients to dramatically change the way the firm does business. TheLibrary lets TracyLocke better manage the rights and contracts associated with photography and creative content, reuse and repurpose creative content rather than recreating it, rapidly locate historical projects for use when brainstorming new campaigns, and share creative content across departments and the agency’s extensive network of over 30 field locations.

Significant Benefits, Centralized Control
For some users, benefits of DAM are measured through greater labor efficiencies, reduced distribution costs, reuse of assets, or some combination of these three. Revenue can also be generated by businesses that charge for hosting client assets, converting image file formats, or selling images, notes Seebass.

"Manufacturers, printers, service bureaus, and dealer networks can create an effective revenue stream by allowing end users to access digital content online and create customized marketing and promotional materials with local relevance," says Ndex VP and CMO Ross Chun. Along with archive and retrieval, Ndex ARCmanager offers highly intuitive customization for personalization of content within a controlled online environment.

A single DAM content repository gives centralized control over who can see and download assets and other permissioned functionality. "For example, when my Midwest distributor logs into the system, he can only see the marketing materials approved for use in his region. And I may only allow him to download them in certain formats," says Worthy. Password-protected asset security guards folders and files and ensures original high-resolution files are preserved and only low-resolution copy files are distributed.

Ingesting and Updating Content
What goes out must first come in. When new content arrives, a DAM should automatically assign as much metadata as possible, designate a home within appropriate collections, create proxy thumbnails for browsing, and provide renditions as defined.

"Our system allows assets to come in via upload through the DAM interface, via a drop box in the system that automatically applies metadata and assigns the collection for the asset, via hot folders—a network folder that automatically transfers the content added to it into the DAM—and via layout applications wherein a creative user uploads the file directly from InDesign or Quark," says Worthy.

A DAM system will manage a golden master file and automatically update all renditions of that file if a new version is created. Compound documents refer to the parent-child relationships between a publishing file and its components, like InDesign and Quark files with text, fonts, graphics, and photos. "When I update a photo in the system, all of the publishing files containing that photo need to be updated with settings maintained," Worthy explains.

Putting Assets to Use
Different users put different demands on DAM. Sales may pull assets via an extranet; a consumer may access DAM assets without realizing it on an ecommerce Web site. An Illustrator file is useful to a creative user, but not to a sales rep who wants a low-res jpeg for a presentation. A creative user needs to work with assets directly from a layout application. A distributor wants to search and download assets from a marketing portal; and a marketing manager wants to control review and approval of works in progress.

One image can provide many different views, and image management tools increase asset usability. A client might need the same image for vertical and horizontal versions of a print ad. Saepio’s LiveCrop, AutoCrop, and WebCrop make views of a stored image available for ads, brochures, or other layouts. Rather than creating separate cropped images off the master file and duplicating storage and metadata entries, a user sets crop parameters associated with the layout. The system automatically adjusts the crop to fit. End users never crop the actual image stored within the DAM. They just map to regions of an image, so it renders as a cropped image in a layout.

You Know You Need It When...
"The minute a company starts sharing branded assets with a team of designers, production professionals, clients, or colleagues, it’s time to put in a DAM system," says Seebass. A Xinet system with full bells and whistles runs roughly $70,000 exclusive of server hardware.

Ogilvy & Mather London needed to manage the brands of blue-chip clients such as Ford, Castrol, and Unilever, and to collaborate securely with Ogilvy offices in 106 countries. Working with London integrator, Turning Point Technologies, Ogilvy installed Xinet’s FullPress workflow software and WebNative DAM solution. Using a series of customized Web sites designed for each client and product, art directors approve shots, images, brands, and layouts around the world. Clients then access the images and assets whenever they want through a password-protected Web site. "The ROI on the software was paid off within three months. When you factor in expense of the platform, it was covered within a year," says Bill Lanyon, head of creative systems at Ogilvy & Mather.

Companies might consider moving to DAM when local marketers need access to digital assets held by parent company marketers. The Saepio DAM offering is part of an integrated Marketing Storefront solution. Entry prices vary based on specifications, but typically start at $25,000. Regarding ClearStory DAM solutions, Worthy says, "Small marketing teams use our system for as little as $6,000 per year on a subscription/hosted basis, while large global marketing organizations spend 100 times that on a global brand management solution."

Before considering DAM, Mandell recommends mapping an asset’s lifecycle from creation to review and approval to distribution and archiving. "This will reveal touch points where a DAM system could be introduced to save time, money, and bring greater efficiency. Look at what you want to access and store. Who needs to see it? Who needs to create or change it? How do users identify and describe corporate digital content?"

What Good DAM Looks Like
"The DAM system should be compatible with your current technology platforms and desktop software. Make sure preview formats are compatible with your workflow," says Seebass. Other considerations include version control, search parameters, security protocols, file formats, system requirements, and content requirements.

For remote offices, distributed teams, outside distributors, or agencies, consider a Web-based solution that offers secure, ubiquitous access with nothing more than a Web browser. This allows for easy deployment, little or no train-ing, and minimal administration.

A DAM project will often start small and expand quickly as value and adoption grow. "Look for a solution that offers both a hosted service and installed software," says Worthy. "This gives you the flexibility of pay-as-you-go options and managed services with the ability to transition in-house as the project evolves." But don’t get carried away. Companies can get caught up in features at the expense of the practicality for users.

"Good production DAM systems like Digital Storage Manager, MediaBeacon, and Xinet WebNative have high volume indexing engines to automatically catalog files in real time. Other products are too slow and cumbersome for production DAM and don’t have the capability of cataloging millions of files a year," says Long. "Digital Storage Manager has a unique advantage in its seamless integration with our Virtual Ticket product. Digital Storage Manager not only indexes files, but automatically associates them with metadata from job tickets like customer, order date, and brand."

It’s Everywhere and Growing
DAM is growing among corporate enterprises and their marketing and printing partners. Consumer products companies, automotive manufacturers, fashion retailers, and many other companies are investing in DAM as a foundation for global marketing operations, brand management, self-service marketing portals, cross-channel publishing, and other initiatives that help them go to market faster with a unified customer experience across Web, print, and mobile device.

Any company with considerable investments in digital media content like graphics, photos, collateral, publishing files, presentation, and video should consider DAM to get more value from these assets, put them to use across business communications, achieve brand consistency across publishing channels, and drive cost out of global marketing operations.

Digital asset management may be extremely complex, but for many companies, it is something they simply must have.