Media Asset Management for Companies

Order is half of life – our Media Asset Management

A Media Asset Management system (MAM system) helps you centrally manage your company data on media objects and distribute it wherever you want. dynamicDAM® contributes a significant step towards greater efficiency in daily use.

Media Asset Management – the underestimated work

Digital Asset Management (DAM), Media Asset Management (MAM), or simply put, the image database is not a new phenomenon in the field of content management. There have been various systems before that had image management, video management, or document management as their core tasks. Starting with desktop applications that had to be installed on your own computer, these systems have migrated to the web. Good systems today are all web-enabled.

The features in focus, unfortunately not the core tasks …

Systems of this kind are still compared based on the individual features they have. Excel lists are sent out that are usually predetermined by a provider, and alternatives are evaluated based on whether they have all of this as well. Then the price comes into play, and everything is clear – the decision is made based on who has the most to offer for the least cost.

Unfortunately, what was predetermined often happens again and again. Out of 100 features, 95 are not used, let alone needed, and no one has thought about data quality, resulting in equal assets being uploaded multiple times without end. Moreover, no one can keep track of the system anymore, and everyone is allowed to set something or everything.

Managing the chaos …

Actually, such a system is implemented to have a solution and not to create another problem. Therefore, for us, intensive professional support in structuring and organizing media assets is just as important as a comprehensive explanation of data formats. There is a lot of educational work to be done here, and it's essential to work efficiently and in a structured manner right from the start.

Contents and purpose of the DAM

Why do I actually need the DAM system? It sounds strange, but with the general decision for a DAM, the requirements often only arise afterward. Departments recognize advantages, others only become aware of them, etc. At this point, it is essential to continually keep track of the main thread and to check every requirement and every feature request to see whether it could already be fulfilled with some creativity using existing resources.

Additionally, it is fundamentally about distributing ideal data to partners, retailers, field service, agencies, customers, and of course, your own employees. This already requires a fundamental change in thinking. Storing logos, images, and texts on the desktop and only using/updating them there is the death of any central repository.

Concept, organization, and storage in the Media Asset Management system

A fundamental basis is the structured storage. Many people are used to storing in folder structures. This is primarily because they know it from the computer. Whether Mac or Windows, files are stored in folders. However, this has significant disadvantages for a DAM. If an image is in one folder, it cannot simultaneously be in another folder; this is, however, a core requirement since a relational storage system is essential to assign data to multiple structures without creating duplicates.

You can't imagine how many DAM systems I've seen that have created significant chaos just because of this. Data in a DAM system must be freely assignable via filters, tagging, types, etc., so that they can also be found. This elegantly solves the problem. Online and offline data – what is 300 dpi again? A DAM system and the data within it must generally be usable for both online and offline purposes. An identical image is only stored once in the highest possible resolution and generated by the system in other qualities, sizes, and formats automatically. We call this download formats, including the consideration of color profiles, color space conversion, etc. Thus, GS1-compatible formats are just as possible as, for example, 300 dpi jpgs with clipping paths. But png formats with transparencies and smaller pixel sizes are always feasible. (You can find more about image data resolutions in our related article.)

Maintaining separate formats for online and offline is simply unnecessary. Only if the image/video is content-wise different is it considered a different asset.

The data formats – a mystery for marketing managers

What is a jpg, what is a png? What can a gif do? Why do psd files exist? And how was it again with vector formats? The old world wasn't so bad; many more decision-makers used to know what these were. Unfortunately, this is now very rare.

Data formats must be known, including all their pros and cons and possibilities. Only in this way can a DAM system also play its advantages in a significantly more digitized world. This is the only way to avoid misunderstandings.

A good approach is to establish requirements for image/video and document formats from the start. These should apply not only to a MAM system. Only what meets these standards is accepted; what does not must be improved. This keeps the system "clean" and significantly increases data quality. We create fact sheets for such specifications, and our clients appreciate this, as they provide a reliable basis for excellent data quality. Especially when many agencies supply data, this is essential.

Conclusion: The single point of information

A DAM system, ideally linked with a PIM system (dynamicPIM®), creates an excellent foundation for the data requirements of today. Additionally, Time-to-Market is significantly reduced, and products can be published faster in brick-and-mortar retail or eCommerce.

The prerequisite is that the data quality is top-notch. A feature list won't help; rather, good, clean, and structured procedures are necessary. Clear rules and a reliable system that enables high availability.

We experience daily that well-structured data, whether product information, media data, SEO optimization, texts, etc., are a significant competitive advantage. Those who have it are ahead; those who don't struggle to catch up.