According to research from Adobe, 88% of customer experience and marketing professionals reported content demand doubled over the last two years. Two-thirds of that audience predicts demand will grow between 5x and 20x over the next two years.
That’s why it’s more important now than ever for marketers and creatives to establish a process that streamlines their workflows to increase productivity, turn around marketing campaigns faster, and drive results.
A digital asset management system solves this challenge. Here’s how innovative marketing and creative teams are using a DAM system to grow their brand.
Maximize Brand Engagement with AI: Premier Lacrosse League
The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) leveraged PhotoShelter AI to power a real-time social media workflow during their Championship Series. This cutting-edge artificial intelligence solution is helping the PLL team work faster and maximize fan engagement.
Since the start of Training Camp:
PLL has performed 2.65M interactions on Instagram, topping the MLS (1.81M), NWSL (2.18M), PBR (1.04M), and NASCAR (856k)
20,000 images have been added to PhotoShelter and tagged automatically
PhotoShelter AI has identified 40,666 players, averaging 2.7 players per photo
PhotoShelter AI has tagged 18,085 brand marks
Automated photo delivery to athletes has led to a 200% increase in posting by players week over week, and on average, players now have a 12.2% engagement rate on Instagram
“The AI recognition of our photos will help us save hundreds of hours tagging and organizing photos, enabling us to share content with our partners, players, and fans faster than ever before.”
– Tyler Steinhardt, Director of Marketing, Premier Lacrosse League.
Save Time With Auto-Tagging: Ladies Professional Golf Association
At the average Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tournament, there are 144 players competing.
They use DAM tools like PhotoShelter’s auto-tagging feature, PeopleID, to quickly identify those player images. Within seconds of uploading large batches of photos, PeopleID tags them, and the LPGA team is able to sort and distribute to various stakeholders and to fans on social media in nearly real-time.
“[People ID] has been a huge time-saver for us. Since golf is an outdoor sport most of our athletes are wearing sunglasses and hats, and we’ve been pleasantly surprised at the accuracy PeopleID provides when auto-tagging.”
– Brianne (Wigley) Blake, Senior Manager of Integrated Content, LPGA
The University of Florida communications team needed a quick and easy workflow to distribute their digital content to their stakeholders across the university.
Art/Creative Director, Bernard Brzezinski, uses PhotoShelter digital asset management solution as their single source of truth to organize and share their media files. Now, file sharing at the university is self-service. Internal and external stakeholders across the university can browse and search for marketing assets on their own, rather than asking Bernard and his team members to find the right assets for them.
“One of the challenges we faced from having so much imagery was constantly getting emails from people wanting us to find specific images for them, and we could spend an hour looking for a small handful of images and then come to find out that’s not exactly what they were looking for. One of the biggest benefits of having [an asset management tool like PhotoShelter] is we’re able to create large galleries of images that people can pull from on their own. The more time that we can spend creating stories instead of working on edits or transferring files to people, the more stories we can tell.”
– Bernard Brzezinski, Art/Creative Director, University of Florida Communications
Control Access to Your Assets: Hartford Healthcare
Hartford HealthCare (HHC) is a network of hospitals, ambulatory sites, and care facilities with over 37,000 employees at 500 locations serving 185 towns and cities across Connecticut.
HHC uses PhotoShelter’s single sign-on (SSO) feature to streamline access and permissions, and ensure security without having to send individual user invites. With the added benefit of unlimited invited users, any of HHC colleagues across their network can access its vast asset library and HHC can ensure everyone is using consistent brand assets.
With PhotoShelter’s cloud-based, secure, reliable, owned network, the HHC team can also quickly log on from anywhere. That means HHC’s staff photographers can easily upload images to PhotoShelter’s DAM solution and designers can quickly access the creative files they need to complete their work.
“When we adopted [PhotoShelter’s digital asset management software] it was a huge difference. The photographers started spending less time answering email requests for specific images; it became much more of a self-service model.”
– Chris Rakoczy, Staff Photographer, Hartford Healthcare
Senior Digital Marketing Specialist Maggie Gala and her small team are responsible for serving American Leather’s 700+ retailers across North America, from mom-and-pops to major department stores like Bloomingdales and Macy’s. They provide fresh, sleek imagery of American Leather’s furniture for content marketing, PR, social, websites and more on a regular basis.
With an extensive approval process for marketing materials to ensure brand consistency, they use PhotoShelter’s Workspaces – a collaboration tool perfect for remote teams – to vet each image. Once the images were approved, they were moved to easily accessible galleries where external partners can search and find the media assets they need.
“[Workspaces] really was able to take a very long collaborative process and turn it around and make it much easier.”
– Maggie Gala, Senior Digital Marketing Specialist, American Leather
Drive Performance with Analytics: Texas A&M Agrilife
Texas A&M AgriLife is the largest comprehensive agriculture program in the U.S., bringing together Texas A&M University and several state agencies focused on agriculture and life sciences. The organization’s multimedia department leverages engaging visual content to aid Texas A&M AgriLife’s mission to restore connections among people, agriculture, food, science and the economy.
Sam Craft, Assistant Director of Visuals and Multimedia, checks the top 10 search terms in PhotoShelter Analytics at least once a week to determine what branded content is trending. Knowing those trends helps him plan potential new shoots and stay on top of what people need. Plus, a digital asset management platform with key metrics like monthly downloads help the department prove the value of their content creation, which can help them obtain additional resources.
“For my bosses, it’s analytics [how my success is measured]. It’s numbers. So y’all putting that in [PhotoShelter for Brands] has been wonderful for me. I literally just sent those stats over 2 days ago for a meeting today.”
– Sam Craft, Assistant Director of Visuals and Multimedia, Texas A&M AgriLife
Learn More About the Benefits of Digital Asset Management
Do you want to streamline your workflow, work better together, improve brand management, and drive campaign results like the innovative marketing teams on this list? Book a call with us today to learn more about how a DAM software can help your brand grow.
The global community of sports marketers and creatives is a passionate group of talented professionals. We’re consistently inspired by this community’s supportive spirit, their willingness to lift each other up, and their enthusiasm to share what they’ve learned with each other.
It’s 2024, and we’re continuing our tradition of sharing tips and advice from this incredible group. Meant for fellow peers and newcomers alike, these insights will motivate you to move forward in your career.
Want to share your favorite tip? Tag us on Twitter/X or Instagram (@psforbrands) and share your words of wisdom!
Abigail’s advice: “My biggest piece of advice is to always be conscious of how you treat the people around you. The way you communicate and interact with the people you cross paths with is so important. It is such a privilege to capture photos and tell stories, never underestimate the importance of your character. Being a kind person and creating meaningful connections is an instrumental part of working in sports and furthering your career. It has been one of my favorite parts of being a part of this industry!”
Alex Grant– Digital Video Manager, Carolina Panthers
Alex’s advice: “The biggest piece of advice I can give younger creatives is that your name always walks in a room before you do. The tangible skills of content creation are important, no doubt. However, just as important is how you handle yourself as a professional. Do you get things done when you say they’ll be done? What is the quality of the work you produce? Are people generally satisfied or even impressed with the work you do? Your reputation is just as important as your skill set in this industry. It’s important to nurture both and not neglect one or the other.”
Alina Rogers – Creative Content Manager, Coastal FC
Creative work by Alina Rogers
Alina’s advice: “Networking is a powerful tool that should not be underestimated. It is not about asking for favors but sharing ideas and supporting one another. Developing a genuine professional network can be beneficial in the long run, as you never know when you may require help from another sports creative or when they may need your help.”
Asher Greene – Freelance photographer (WNBA, Atlanta United)
Asher’s advice: “The one piece of advice that I have for any aspiring creative is to bet on yourself. Once you discover your gift and passion make sure to nurture it. Art is one of the purest forms of self-expression and if you’ve been gifted with that creativity share it with the world!”
Ben’s advice: “Be intentional! Make sure you put time and thought into your camera and lens choices, using the right gear for the moment. Be intentional in getting that exposure triangle dialed in, choosing the aperture and shutter speeds that best fit the images you want to create. Auto white balance is an amazing tool, but you’ll find consistency when you learn to manually white balance. Place an emphasis on composition and timing, creating an image takes far more time and energy than simply taking an image. The more intention you put behind your decisions, the better and more consistent your photos will be!”
Breanna’s advice: “Don’t be afraid to push the boundaries. Being open to pulling inspiration from outside sources (magazines, commercial work, movies, etc) helps to find your personal style. Also always be willing to meet new people on assignment and learn something new from everyone you meet!“
Brevin’s advice: “Go out and try to build genuine relationships with folks in the space, don’t just reach out to folks to ask about opportunities or just to throw your portfolio at them. Photography is an art business but also a people business and learning how to build those lasting connections with peers, subjects, and colleagues can help more than you know. As well as being willing to work on your craft in any kind of space or environment from youth to pro, community, and everything in between.”
Brooklyn Fehr – Social Media Manager/Photographer, Utah Tech University
Brooklyn’s advice: “Make connections! I have made so many connections and friendships through photography and social media. The connections you make can help you in the future and if you admire someone, ask them to connect and ask them questions! Some of the techniques I use I have learned by admiring someone else’s skills and asking how they did it and practicing those skills to better my craft.”
Bryan’s advice: “Biggest piece of advice would be to learn more than one skill if you’re entering the sports industry. The more versatile you are, the more opportunities will present themselves.“
Callena’s advice: “Your post game workflow is just as important as what you do in game!Learn the technical side beyond just exporting to lightroom and editing. Learn keywords, captions, ftp transfer, file naming conventions etc. that stuff is so important because it’ll help optimize your workflow. It’s especially important on the team side because your pictures will be used by almost everyone and they need to be easily found!
Come up with different challenges for gameday, more specifically pregame, to keep things interesting. Shooting the same thing week to week can get pretty boring. Challenge yourself to only using a specific focal length for pregame. Bring a prop or use a cool lens filter! Don’t be afraid to look outside the sports creative world for inspiration. A lot of my ideas have came from the music industry!”
Charles Davis – Freelance Designer (XFL, University of Texas, San Antonio)
Creative work by charles Davis
Charles’ advice: “Network. Meet as many people as you can in your field. Every connection is an opportunity to learn from someone you aspire to become, experience how business interactions go or collaborate and learn new skill sets from people. You never know when one of those connections will turn into an opportunity.”
Christian’s advice: “I would say the best piece of advice I can give is to get out of your comfort zone. Whether that’s meeting someone new in the creative space or even just trying to get a picture that you wouldn’t normally get.
This has helped me so much. I’ve been able to get photographs that tell so much more of a story because I’m not afraid to get out of my comfort zone.”
Conor’s advice: “Never be scared and always find time to take pride in your achievements and growth. No matter how big or small it may be. Growth is a sign of progress that you should always be proud of.
It’s really easy to fall into a trap of worrying where you are in your journey, but instead I think everyone needs to just slow down and appreciate how far they’ve come to get where they’re at, so long as they understand the journey is never truly over!”
Emma Sharon – Freelance Photographer (MLB, NBA, Bud Light)
Emma’s advice: “Shoot EVERYTHING. Little league, high school, college, etc. I’ve learned so much about lighting and settings from experimenting at (very low pressure) t-ball games! Photographing lots of things is also paramount for creating a diverse portfolio, which I think is really helpful for getting hired.
Another thing is how much kindness and being personable matters. Photography (I think) is deeply relational work, and those relationships I believe can translate into beautiful images.”
Hassan’s advice: “Consistency is key! When you’re first starting out I believe that constantly making the effort to improve and practice what you wanna get better at is very important to continuously progress your work and get better.”
Howard Lao – Freelance Photographer (Olympic trials, World Athletics, NCAA, XFL, NBA)
Howard’s advice: “When you arrive at a photo location, or before the game starts; Plan to take a minute to look around (put that camera down) for two reasons.
One: When you go straight into your camera to start shooting you put yourself into a box / that focal length of the camera, which might make you miss some interesting backgrounds, or angles.
Two: Look around to make sure you’re not blocking anyone else as a professional courtesy.”
Jacob Isaacson – Assistant Director of Graphic Design, Boise State Basketball
Jacob’s advice: “The best piece of advice I have is to be authentically you. When you stay true to yourself the opportunities will be limitless.”
Jacob S. Orr – Video Production Assistant, University of Maryland Athletics
Jacob’s advice: “Don’t be afraid to take opportunities presented in front of you. Make sure it benefits you properly and don’t overwork yourself, but some of those opportunities can lead to future connections/jobs down the road. I know I always will have room to grow, so the more opportunities I can take to get reps in I’ll do it. Practice makes permanent.
Also, have fun. Enjoy the moments and take in those memories.”
Jaden Powell – Assistant Director of Photography, Mississippi State Athletics
Photo by Connor Waltz
Jaden’s advice: “The best advice I can give is to always be a good person first. The sports photography world is very small, and full of incredible people, knowledge, experiences and most importantly passion. It’s important to be able to take direction and listen in order to grow. The beautiful thing about creativity is that it is ever changing. Making your foundation so important, so stay eager to learn. Complacency is not an option. Listen, learn, execute, and grow!“
Jake’s advice: “Stay inspired and motivated. This industry is expanding super fast and is always scouting for talent. Be proud of what you create because someone else thinks it’s cool.”
Kayla (KK) Bush – Freelance Graphic Designer (UNCW Women’s Basketball, Charlotte Sports Foundation)
Creative Work by Kayla (KK) Bush
Kayla’s advice: “The biggest piece of advice I always tell people is to never be afraid. Such as networking, reaching out to clients, becoming friends with new creators, and just asking for help! That next opportunity could be just a message away. You cannot be afraid to put yourself out there and send LinkedIn messages or Twitter DMs because you never know the doors it may open. These things are crucial in being successful. I fully believe closed mouths do not get fed. There are so many helping hands in this industry!
Some people like to tell people this industry is saturated, however I personally believe there is so much room and space for everyone. At the end of the day we are getting paid to create content and do something we really love. Not many people get to say that.”
Kylie’s advice: “Fall in love with leaving your comfort zone. The scariest opportunities usually result in the happiest memories, and the best shots.”
Lakeyia Brown – Senior Manager of Digital Content, New York Knicks
Lakeyia’s advice: “At times in your career, especially at the beginning, you may not know what path you want to take in sports marketing. Be willing to say yes to opportunities. This eliminates complacency and exposes you to novelty. Previous freelance opportunities really changed my perspective and made me a more well rounded professional in the sports marketing industry.”
Lauren’s advice: “The biggest piece of advice I would give is to not only make your own opportunities, but to make the most of every opportunity you are given. Create the content that only you can create! Try different things, explore different angles and lighting, reference photographers that inspire you, and be present in the moment.
Photography, especially sports photography, is a competitive industry. A word of encouragement would be to remain focused in the face of adversity, never sell yourself short or undervalue your work, and to remain grateful for the people and opportunities you receive.”
Marc-Grégor Campredon – Freelance Photographer (Duke University, University of Michigan)
Marc-Grégor’s advice: “There is no point in succeeding alone: be kind, positive, supportive and collaborative. This is how you grow: The better person you are, the better photographer you will be.
Focus on what is ahead and only look back to learn and prepare for the future; failing is part of the process.”
Morgan Tencza – Freelance Sports Photographer (NFL, NHL, MLS, NWSL)
Morgan’s advice: “Don’t be afraid to network. Comment on people’s work you are inspired by, and make you known to them. Ask questions and put yourself out there. Your work may be the best in the world, but if your name is unknown in the industry, you may not get that opportunity to shine.”
Robbie Poulain – Senior Graphic Designer, Kansas City Royals
Creative work by Robbie PouLain
Robbie’s advice: “One piece of advice I’d give for anyone aspiring to get into design is to find someone with experience in that field to get constructive feedback from. Find a feature or two from a graphic that you like, and ask an expert what steps they would take to get there. There’s usually more than one way to get the same result, it’s all about finding a method that works for you.
I follow many different social channels for inspiration. I find teams whose work I like, add them to a list within Twitter, and go through that list when I need inspiration.”
You’re Up!
Sports creatives – what’s your best advice as we look ahead at 2024 and beyond? Tag us on Twitter/X or Instagram (@psforbrands) and let us know!
We had a great time chatting with Ben Liebenberg (@ben_liebenberg), Director of Photography for the NFL, live on our Instagram @psforbrands. Here’s a recap of what we covered, in case you missed it:
How the NFL’s photographers prep for the season
An inside look into a successful workflow with his team
The ROI of sharing content with fans in real-time, especially on game days
Trends Ben is seeing in AI and sports photography
Advice for aspiring photographers and so much more
Check out the full recording including questions from the audience and follow Ben and his team’s work throughout the season on the NFL Photo Teams’s Instagram page: @NFLfocus
OVERVIEW
At Purdue University, a renowned institution known for its top-tier academic and athletic programs, imagery has become central to its marketing and communication strategy. A student body of over 50,000 (including 17 NCAA Division I sports teams alongside 13 colleges and schools) on a campus spread across 2,600 acres provides the marketing team with an inexhaustible supply of visual stories ripe for the telling.
CHALLENGE
While the marketing team originally focused on building and maintaining a photographic library to document and promote university life in West Lafayette, their purview has grown to include the online Purdue Global and Purdue University in Indianapolis. And with all the content produced by a mix of full-time staff and freelancers, the team has witnessed a huge increase in requests from various campus partners to generate and distribute imagery for everything from social media to online marketing to traditional print publications.
“Most creative projects we complete have a photo and video asset involved [with it] now. We want authentic images so we are consistently on campus capturing photos,” explains Christi Perry, Sr. Marketing Production Manager. “We are the main drivers of the university’s brand and everyone relies on us providing fresh assets constantly. PhotoShelter allows us to do that.”
RESULTS
With an increasing demand for visual storytelling, the team needed to provide a simplified collection, folder and gallery structure, strategic keywording and an easy-to-use in-brand comprehensive photo library. PhotoShelter provided the solution they needed. A revamp a few years ago saw the launch of Purdue’s MarComm photo library, Campus Partner Photo Library, Campus Partner Video Library and Purdue University Global Library, powered by PhotoShelter.
But the marketing department isn’t the only game in town. Purdue Athletics and several of the colleges have their own PhotoShelter for Brands digital asset libraries that are connected with the marketing department’s library via PhotoShelter’s Integrated Accounts to create a unified content ecosystem. This allows, for example, Purdue Athletics to independently manage their own stable of contributors with sports-specific metadata, while still contributing selected content to the University marketing department for broader distribution.
Purdue President Mung Chiang recently announced the “Purdue Computes” initiative, a 5-year, multi-million dollar investment to establish the University as a leader in computer science, AI, and microchip research. This has led to a lot of interest from across the University as well as from external parties, who need access to photographs from the clean room labs. With the announcement, the Purdue Marketing and Communications team was tasked with capturing images from the University’s semiconductor lab, which they shared with the Purdue Research Foundation’s PhotoShelter digital asset library via Integrated Accounts. The Foundation exists to advance the University’s mission, so timely access to the images allows its staff to support the President’s vision.
In another instance, the University’s former president was about to announce to the board of directors he was going to retire. The board asked the Purdue Marketing and Communications photo team to send a photographer to capture this historic moment. However, all of their photographers were on assignment too far away to make it in time. They worked with the Athletics Department who sent one of its photographers to capture this moment. The marketing department was able to get instant access to the photos through PhotoShelter’s Integrated Accounts and use them immediately for this important milestone.
The Campus Partner Photo Library website, a collection inside PhotoShelter providing all campus partners with access, acts as a clearinghouse for curated and approved imagery produced around campus from a variety of sources. Perry aims to maintain 2 – 2.5 years worth of up-to-date photos to prevent the collection from becoming stale and dated. And while the library is searchable, the marketing team has started using PhotoShelter Workspaces to collect the best images and serve them up in a collaborative environment.
Images of the campus throughout the four seasons are particularly popular with various campus partners, and Perry regularly assigns photographers to capture that content. Each photographer might submit 100+ high quality images into the library, then the photographer selects their top 15-20 images for inclusion into a Workspace that is shared with the Strategic Communications team. This provides a more manageable collection of images, then the news team assembles a News Exposure gallery that is emailed to every purdue.edu address as a visual representation of the picturesque campus and its student body. The university also follows the same process for big events, like commencements.
Perry’s team used to get inundated with requests across multiple departments to share university images. “With PhotoShelter, we can provide campus partners, our campus marketers and communicators, with current, in-brand photography they can use for their marketing,” says Perry. “This creates a culture of campus partners being able to fish for themselves from our photo collections and galleries.”
KEY STATS
• 10 different PhotoShelter instances managed under Integrated Accounts • 200K+ assets managed through PhotoShelter • Up to 700+ downloads of assets per day automated with PhotoShelter
At PhotoShelter, we have a special place in our hearts for university photographers. These talented folks tirelessly produce breathtaking images day in and day out, often working under intense pressure to deliver top-notch visuals. That’s because on a college campus, there’s a constant drive to learn new things and come up with fresh ideas.
Each year, the University Photographers’ Association of America (UPAA) Symposium brings together university photographers from around the world, giving them a platform to share their experiences and learn from one another. A highlight of the event is the PhotoShelter grant, which is just one way we show our support to this incredible community. In 2022, we recognized Jeff Fitlow, accomplished Senior University Photographer for Rice University known for his love of documenting the Houston blues community. Below, we delve into Jeff’s journey, his plans for the grant money and the impact the grant has had on his life.
What does the UPAA Symposium and community mean to you as a university photographer?
Having these conferences every summer is great. It refreshes you for the year and gives you something to look forward to all year long. With the conference being a full week long, you network and build relationships with creative people all over the country.
The Facebook page is also a great way for everyone to stay in touch throughout the school year. Members talk about a wide variety of topics. For example, when I needed advice on a macro photo for the cover of Science magazine, colleagues jumped in to give ideas and hands-on experience. There are also great discussions about equipment, lighting and new advances in our field. This is such a collaborative group. We all develop such close relationships that we feel like we’re talking to friends on the Facebook page.
Could you elaborate on the value and impact of the PhotoShelter grant?
First, I’m so thankful that I won. It helped me see that others value my blues music project as much as I do. Receiving this grant gave me the confidence to take the project further than I originally planned. I have been making some great contacts in the Houston music scene as well as with historians in Houston and in the communities where the photos were taken.
What did you submit for the grant application, and did you know you were going to win?
I spent a lot of time at local blues clubs in Houston during the 90’s, and now I want to share these images as a way to remember all these Houston legends. For the grant application, I submitted a project proposal centered around my collection of Houston blues community photographs. My goal is to organize, digitize and donate these images to the Houston Blues Archives, preserving their historical value.
Photo by Jeff FitlowPhoto by Jeff Fitlow
I did not think I would win but submitted the proposal anyway. I was happy the judges were more interested in my project than my grammar.
How do you plan to utilize the grant money?
My original goal was to make large prints of select images. I have now decided to make a portfolio or book. From there I would love to find ways to share these memories with the art, music and historical communities of Houston.
Can you share more about your passion for documenting the Houston blues community?
During my early years as a photographer in Houston, I loved going out to tiny clubs and listening to the blues. I wanted to give something back and enjoyed the challenge of shooting black and white film with available light. I always returned with prints for the musicians. The Houston blues community was very welcoming and I have made some lifelong friends.
Photo by Jeff FitlowPhoto by Jeff Fitlow
A few years later I went to a talk by Jazz photographer Herman Leonard. I always loved his Jazz photos from New York in the 40’s and 50’s. He talked about how he had all those negatives put away for many years before he started really doing anything with them. I decided to do the same and now I am ready to print and share my unseen work.
What are your plans for the Houston blues project?
We have an archivist on campus, Norie Guthrie. Guthrie started the Houston Blues Archive housing all things Houston Blues here on campus. They have had many donations of photos, books, recordings, etc. All of my negatives are locked up in a vault there. I go over whenever I have free time and look through one box at a time on their lightables. When I have finished selecting negatives they will scan them for me. I would like to create a really nice portfolio with the PhotoShelter grant money. I can then take the portfolio around to come up with other ways to share and use these images.
How do you envision your project benefiting the Houston blues community and preserving its legacy?
By digitizing and donating my collection to the Houston Blues Archives, I’m really excited to create a resource for researchers, historians and anyone who’s into the Houston blues scene. It’s all about preserving the legacy of this community and making sure we truly understand the cultural impact of the blues on Houston’s history. We’re talking about honoring these incredible musicians, their contributions and the profound influence they’ve had on the city’s cultural fabric.
Photo by Jeff FitlowPhoto by Jeff Fitlow
Jeff has truly captured the essence of the Houston blues community, and with the PhotoShelter UPAA grant, he’s making sure their legacy lives on. It’s not just about making beautiful images, but also preserving the impact these musicians had on Houston. Jeff’s story is a kick of inspiration for photographers and artists everywhere, reminding us how important it is to celebrate and protect our cultural heritage.
The fast-paced sports industry has seen a transformation in the last few years thanks partly to new innovations in technology. Whether these technological advancements are applied at the stadium, such as the use of virtual reality and AI-powered immersive experiences, or off the pitch like advancements in streaming services, sports brands and organisations are tapping into these trends and tools to accelerate fan engagement.
In the UK and Europe, technology is disrupting the sports industry and changing the way fans experience their favourite sporting events. In fact, according to a survey by Mastercard Sport Economy Index 2023, two-thirds of European sports fans say tech is crucial to their match experience.
For a deeper dive into the world of sports and technology, and to learn more about the emerging trends in Europe, Andrew Fingerman, CEO of PhotoShelter, recently spoke with Samuel Westberg, CEO of LaSource, at The PhotoShelter Summit.
Samuel has been in the Sports industry for the last 12 years, moving from his work at a professional club to the Tech Startup side for the last 10+ years. LaSource is a B2B agency based in Paris, focused on sport, digital and technology, which was created four years ago to accompany the best startups in their European growth, bridging the gap between sports governing bodies and sports tech startups. It enables organisations to create new formats of content and better experiences for fans.
According to Samuel, sports organisations are going through a major digital transformation, which the pandemic has accelerated. He said that LaSource has created a model that gives them access to new innovative and digital solutions to meet their strategic objectives.
Let’s dive into the conversation to find out more!
In conversation On How Sports and Tech Are Drive Fan Engagement
Andrew: Sports and tech have evolved so much over the years. Are there any trends you’re seeing among your clients and what their needs are now vs 5 years ago?
Sam: Yeah, absolutely. Just at a high level, I think that for people of our generation and older, the idea was that we used to receive a lot of information. We used to watch sports events and consume content in a passive manner. I think that with the current generation, this has completely shifted.
Digital is now used at its full potential to create more interactivity and participation. And I think that everything that is related to that, people being part of the story they’re watching is fundamental. So I think that elements like user-generated content have become prominent and are fundamental for the way organisations should look at capturing content and acquiring content.
I think that interactivity is also fundamental, we need to understand what people are expecting, and how they are reacting to each piece of content. And for them to be able to have a voice and a say in terms of what type of content they’re looking to consume. This, for me, is the major shift. Passive audiences are becoming very active ones. They want to interact extensively and I think that fan engagement is at the forefront of all the digital strategies of all the sports organisations currently because they understand that they can not only leave that engagement layer to social media platforms but also understand they have to know how to capture some of that value on their side as well.
Andrew: I was at an event last year where the NBA head of interactive spoke and he shared an incredible stat which was that ‘99% of NBA fans across the world will never set foot in a stadium or an arena where a live game is taking place.’ So you can imagine the ways that technology can be leveraged to bring the game to those 99% of NBA fans in new ways to build deeper relationships with them. What are your thoughts about opportunities like this?
Sam: Yes they have embraced content creation. They let fans be the ambassadors of the brand. And with the NBA app they put forward so much content, including behind-the-scenes. International fans can feel that proximity to the actual league, the brand and the actual sport. They are definitely at the forefront of next-generation fan engagement.
Andrew: From your experience working with sports organisations and tech companies, how are they working together to foster quality relationships with the new generation?
Sam: They have been doing a good job of leveraging social media platforms to reach this audience. However, one of the limits is how they have transformed that engagement on their proprietary platforms, which is where they will be able to grow their business and leverage those fans.
I think there is a lot that can be done on proprietary platforms that haven’t been leveraged yet and that is what organisations are starting to realise. When you think of the NBA, for example, I think that they definitely are doing a great job at understanding what their fans want. They have the NBA app and they are building a huge team internally to actually be in control of what their tech stack looks like. There is a big untapped potential for sports organisations to leverage the fandom of fans.
Andrew: What differences do you see in how sports organisations and tech companies in Europe are tackling fan engagement, compared to those in the US or other parts of the world?
Sam: So a couple of elements on the major differences between the US market and the European one, first of all, is the balance of power. In the US, the leagues have all the power. In Europe, broadcasters have more power than the leagues because the leagues don’t own the clubs and because the majority of the revenue comes from the actual rights. Whereas the NBA, for example, they control the money, they control the clubs and they are not dependent on one broadcast or another and know very well how to break up their rights to optimise and get the most value out of it.
I think that’s one fundamental difference and this is why you can’t approach those markets in a similar way. The second thing that is very true is that the US market is so focused on revenue and the governing bodies are pure businesses. Versus you have to always remember that in Europe, most of those organisations are under, for example, UEFA which is not a private organisation. It is an organisation whose aim is to redistribute the content to all the national associations and leagues in an equal way. So the appetite to innovate in the US is much faster. I think that Europeans are still following the lead in terms of innovation coming from the US, which they then adapt to Europe.
Andrew: What main challenges do you see sports organisations have when capturing and producing live content?
Sam: The main challenge is how to move away from what is considered fundamentals in sports organisations and then leverage new technologies to adapt to the needs. Another one is how to have a global content approach vs a content for linear vs a content for digital approach.
Andrew: What are some of your predictions for the year ahead? What’s next for LaSource?
Sam: Audience participation is going to be key and how you bring that into the narrative.
“People don’t want to see stories only, they want to be part of it.”
Sam Westberg, LaSource
Interconnecting various systems and automating a lot of the output will also be key and then the tech that allows you to analyse, segment, and target more extensively will be key.
Collaborative approaches between organisations will be key to consolidating sports market share and its growth.
For LaSource, we want to keep choosing the best technologies to put at the forefront of that digital transformation and want to help more rights holders and governing bodies leverage those by helping not only with their choice of tech but also in their strategy to deploy those.
Watch this clip where Sam explains what lies ahead for the sports tech industry and LaSource in 2023 and beyond.
If you’d like to learn more about how professional sports brands and other organisations use digital asset management tools to organise their media and share content in real-time, we’d love to hear from you!
“Winning is not a strategy,” declares Deandra Duggans, Las Vegas Aces’ Vice President of Brand Marketing, capturing the live, virtual webinar audience instantly with her first sentence. And she’s not wrong (but it sure feels good!)
As a league-reigning brand marketer with 10+ years of sports marketing experience, Deandra is a strategic, all-in leader among equals. She advocates for tech tools to help her organizational partners get work done more efficiently. She collaborates with interdepartmental teams and external partners to share The Aces’ wins far and wide. And, the entire creative marketing team constantly pushes the boundaries to create imaginative, iconic visual content that keeps The Aces ahead of the competition. Simply put, they Raise The Stakes for what strategic sports content marketing should look like.
Marketing frameworks compartmentalize the essential elements of businesses into strategic and tactical plans to help sell a product or service. One of the most reliable and popular marketing frameworks is The 5 P’s of Marketing. It breaks down the foundational elements of a business: product, place, price, promotion, and people–into pillars that marketers can build successful strategies and tactics around. Side note: This framework dates back to the 1940s and is still being used by successful professionals today!
In this article, we’ll explain how Deandra Duggans used The 5 P’s of Marketing to level up The Las Vegas Aces creative brand marketing strategy from 2021 to 2022 to sell more tickets, spark more joy, and solidify their team’s presence with fans and the media.
Watch the live-recorded session on demand below, then keep reading to learn how The Aces’ Marketing Team leveled up and won the 2022 WNBA championship title!
How The Las Vegas Aces Use The 5 P’s of Marketing To Create A Winning Brand Strategy
Deandra framed up The Aces’ marketing team’s mission perfectly to start, “Our job as marketing creatives is to drive business results–and the fundamental challenges never change. They are: selling tickets, selling merchandise, increasing our tune-in numbers, and driving up social engagement. In the age of the attention economy, there are so many distractions and we’re trying to catch attention and hold it–and that’s our most valuable asset.” Precisely.
Now, let’s review how The Las Vegas Aces used the 5 P’s of Marketing framework (and optimized along the way!) to build a brand of champions.
1. Product
The product or service your organization offers is the first foundational element to outline in this marketing framework. To keep all employees aligned with one, clear creative point of view and to keep messaging consistent across outgoing communications, all successful businesses develop an accessible brand style guide.
What about the Product goes in your brand style guide?
Definition: Exactly what your product or service is. Doing keyword research before you commit to one to two phrases is crucial for making sure you’re aligning your product or service with the customers who are looking for it and need it.
Function: A technical outline and thorough descriptions of your product or service(s) features and benefits
Purpose: The problems it will solve for your target customers, and what differentiates it from other competitors—your value proposition. This brand guide should also outline and define your brand’s identity visually, including brand logos, photographic style, and packaging or merchandise, if applicable, and verbally with a voice and tone guide.
For The Las Vegas Aces, basketball is, and will always be, their star product. So, what’s the most vital metric for measuring marketing success? If you guessed ‘tickets,’ s-w-i-s-h—you got it! Growing digital audiences across platforms and increasing merchandise sales are also important objectives for the marketing team to meet, but ticket sales are the most important metric for measuring the ROI of their content marketing investments.
In Deandra’s first month with The Aces, she audited the existing creative marketing strategies, tactics, and processes thoroughly. Where they lacked structure and creativity, she developed workflow efficiencies to help all of her organizational partners work smarter and more imaginatively, not harder.
From February 2022 until the start of the season in April, Deandra explained how she and the rest of the marketing team focused on two strategic shifts to set their product up for a best-selling upcoming championship season: 1) refreshing creative assets and 2) investing in new tools to help everyone at the organization around in anticipation of the upcoming championship season. Deandra explained, “In our audit, we found that we were in need of a refresh creatively and given the lack of time, we couldn’t do a complete rebrand…Our photography drives our strategy, so we gathered media and analyzed the data to optimize our content strategy for the 2022 season.” The arena experience, the superstar athletic performances, and the team wins are also ‘products’ the marketing team highlights in content marketing to keep the sport front and center.
She continued, “We changed the angles of our portraits. We positioned our players to show off their strength, their prowess, their size–and we made sure the lighting highlighted their muscles and silhouettes. But we also gave space for them to show the duality of being human–and to show off their personalities, whether it’s a signature move or pose—and having new and diverse visuals to choose from allowed our visual storytelling to have more impact with our fans moving forward. We also noticed that there was just a lack of use for action photos and cutouts. And we wanted to make sure that you know those were prioritized because they are basketball players, so we didn’t want every image or ad we have of them to just be a posed portrait with a basketball. We wanted to show them in their natural element because they are world-class basketball players! That’s a very simple and obvious pivot, but it was necessary… We brought in more ‘Vegas’-style elements and this look took on a more sophisticated shape as the season continued, and it was used across all platforms. These images were used in out-of-home ads, digital ads, in email, on social media, and so forth–and it really gave us a consistent brand look throughout the season.”
The audit also highlighted the workflow optimizations they needed to make in order to see a higher ROI (or ROA) on their content marketing efforts.
Centralizing The Aces’ content archive–over 18,000 assets and counting!–in a DAM like PhotoShelter allows The Aces’ internal and external partners to access and use the newest, on-brand content and unlock the brand’s promotional potential at any given moment.
What was their DAM strategy before Deandra joined the team? They had a one-person, human-Rolodex, Kris Lumague, and they relied on his memory to recall and fulfill any visual request. They lacked the necessary infrastructure and tools to carry out an elevated marketing strategy, and the audit brought all of the key workflow inefficiencies to light. “While those things don’t seem like they have anything to do with creative strategy, they really do because we were wasting key resources like time and staff. We found that spending those valuable resources on small tactical things meant we had less time to be creative and strategic, and that just didn’t work in our favor,” she said.
Deandra was familiar with the PhotoShelter platform after having used it for years at The Baltimore Ravens, “I understood how it worked and how it allowed us to collaborate as an organization, so we were able to immediately provide access to all The Aces’ content to everyone who needed it for their use, whether it was for partnerships proposals, advertising, sharing with the press or anything,” she said.
Watch Deandra walk through the content production workflow that took the brand marketing strategy to new heights in this 3-minute clip:
Digital asset management (DAM) plays a crucial role in product marketing, ensuring that all product-related digital assets are up-to-date, easily accessible, and consistent across all marketing channels. The PhotoShelter for Brands DAM is also equipped with advanced artificial intelligence tools that scan, recognize, and automatically tag images with SKU codes, brand logos, and textual information on product images. With a centralized DAM system, businesses can ensure that their product images, videos, and other digital assets are instantly available for everyone in their organization to use to market the product effectively.
2. Price
Creating and defining ideal customer personas help businesses establish the right way to price their product for the market. Think of it this way: If you want a higher return on your brand’s marketing investments, it’s crucial to set the right price for your product or services so your brand marketing materials attract and retain the right customers—the customers who need and can afford your product.
During the brand audit, one recurring sentiment The Aces received from fan surveys critiqued their inconsistent email communication. With this feedback in mind, Deandra developed a robust, consistent email marketing campaign strategy to keep fans informed, involved—and ultimately, to sell more tickets at an affordable price.
Deandra invested in Adobe Marketo Engage, a central marketing automation software tool to build, set up, send, and analyze the performance of all The Aces’ emails. Then, she scrubbed, pooled, and filtered audience data stored in their CRM tool–and built out all the audience segments to send targeted pre-and-post-game emails to maximize the time they have fans’ attention. After seeing positive results from this strategic pivot and Marketo implementation, she set up additional surveys to ask fans where and how they preferred to receive communications. This allowed them to more precisely target fans on the right platform, at the right time to inspire them to transact. Plus, asking fans to share optional information about their annual earnings helped The Aces price tickets more effectively to reach their sales goals while also keeping the fan experience accessible and budget-friendly.
DAM can help businesses make their products cost-accessible by enabling them to analyze their competitors’ pricing strategies and identify pricing trends in the market. With a DAM system, businesses can access pricing-related data, including product images, competitor pricing information, and other relevant data.
3. Promotion
The third ‘P’ is Promotion—and it refers to the tactics marketing teams use to build awareness and attract audiences to buy their product or invest in their service(s). However, while promotion is one of the marketing team’s main responsibilities, it’s a shared strategic goal for advertising, sales, public relations, fundraising, and partnerships teams too.
If brands want to be first to go viral in the attention economy (as Deandra called it), giving everyone in your organization instant access to an easily searchable DAM Library of your brand’s best content is crucial to unlocking the potential of brand promotion.
Deandra previously mentioned that audience attention was The Aces’ best asset, so measuring audience engagement is another great way to gauge their success of product marketing. How do they capture audience attention and turn fans into promoters? By consistently sharing all angles of what makes a star athlete a winning, team player which inspires fans to buy into the team dream The Aces are selling.
Deandra expressed disappointment about how the limited broadcast and streaming coverage of WNBA games, and specifically their team’s EPIC game introductions, makes the Sin City experience inaccessible to fans and potential fans that can’t get to a live game. She said, “Some awesome moments aren’t always picked up on broadcast, and our game introductions are really amazing! We blow it off the water and make everything kind of really Vegas-centric, because that’s how you really sell a ticket! That’s how you sell the full experience. If people can actually see what that looks like and feel like, they’ll want to experience it in person. Sometimes the only way to really do that is through our own channels.”
All of The Las Vegas Aces’ promotional content lives in the PhotoShelter for Brands digital asset management platform–over 18,000 assets and counting! And since they’ve started building their archive, Deandra said interdepartmental access to content for uploading, downloading, editing, or sharing content has never been easier. PhotoShelter for Brands is critical to unlocking the potential of The Aces’ new and powerful creative promotional assets.
Wonder how they choose the best visuals to highlight their brand from an archive of nearly 20,000 assets?
Deandra explains:
“Photography drives a lot of our content and our creative, so it’s our second biggest asset. The third biggest asset is the permission we’re giving ourselves to just be ourselves, which allows our players to show up as themselves and play better. That permission has been really helpful in redirecting the way we develop creative…It allows us to create content to capture people’s attention, spark joy, and inspire them to transact without it being forced. That can be encouraging them to purchase a ticket, encouraging them to purchase a piece of merchandise, or just simply encouraging them to like, share, or comment on a post. We try to strategically make sure that our content is captivating and encourages fans to transact.”
Then, she shared exactly how they use their leveled-up brand imagery to keep basketball at the forefront of the content posted across all of their digital platforms:
“Basketball is our priority, so if you look at our feeds–it’s the main focus. We make sure that we show the game in creative ways, but we also focus on frequency and consistency. It’s all about habit stacking. If you look at our grid or the cadence of our digital ads, there’s consistency and frequency. We believe in saying: ‘Do the boring things consistently,’ because they create habits and then those habits become easy to manage. Our social grids follow a structure leading up to game day, through game day, and after each game. Habit stacking helps with organization and time management, but it also helps keep our fans engaged. Usually, we’ll start with shots from our daily practice, then we’ll share images from the game day shoot. The players love fashion, so we’ll shoot some outfits during the players’ arrivals and get a few clips from the pregame practice. After that, we share in-game content and post-game content, which includes photos and video highlights, then it’s the ‘Up Next’ game posts. Then we go right back to the beginning and start with sharing the next day’s practice photos. The team got in the habit of posting according to this format, so they don’t have to think about the types of assets they need to market key moments when game day comes around.”
Want to see the images The Aces are adding to their archive every day?
‘Place,’ in the 5 P’s framework we are covering here, refers to the digital distribution channels brands use to market their product or service to customers. With a DAM like PhotoShelter that integrates into digital content creation tools like Adobe Creative Cloud products, Canva, or Slate, and social posting platforms like Hootsuite, businesses can upload, crop, and organize assets by the distribution channels they’re optimized to be posted on. Plus, brands that work in the live event space like The Aces, can instantly share content with key internal and external partners and post content in real time, with PhotoShelter’s martech integrations.
In general, centralizing The Aces branded content library in PhotoShelter’s secure digital asset management platform helps them stay organized, so they can manage their organization’s robust content distribution strategy.
How do they manage content on game day? Deandra broke down how visuals go from their photographer’s camera to PhotoShelter and into fans’ social media feeds in seconds.
“On any given game day, we have ~3 creatives that are capturing content specifically for us…They get thousands of pieces of content for game day and 20% of what they capture is actually used on game day and in post-game day content. The rest of that content is sent to PhotoShelter to be used throughout the season and it’s been it’s great for us. Having everything saved on external hard drives wasn’t the safest method, so bringing PhotoShelter in as a central hub really helped us.”
Another way The Aces creatively think about ‘Place’ as a marketing team is by using their physical location to their advantage. Deandra said they lean into the Vegas city aspect to drive their messaging, creative, and in-game experience.
She said, “First off, Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world. That’s a positive. It’s a growing sports town—with the WNBA, the NFL, the NHL, minor league baseball and there are reports of Major League Baseball and the NBA coming here. Plus, the city also hosts several national sporting events like The Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, and Pro Bowl. Basically, everything is coming to Vegas if it’s not already here. It’s also seen as a party town, which is a positive and negative because it means that there are several options for visitors to experience. When they come to town, we want to make sure that we are seen as one of the top options for them, and for people who are already here. People actually do live here. While Vegas is a tourist attraction, people are born and raised in this city (and in Nevada) who like sports and are looking for new things to do…Lastly, another positive that can also be a negative is that The Aces play during a season when no other major league team competes. We have the attention of people who have an appetite for sports because there are no other sporting events going on in town beyond boxing events.”
Organizing their assets in their artificial-intelligence-enabled DAM by event, moment, or campaign helps The Aces seamlessly search and select the perfect visual content to showcase their city pride.
5. People
Lastly, and most importantly, the most recently added ‘P’ stands for ‘People’! This refers to the team members who sell your business—your sales representatives, customer success managers, and marketing team members.
How does digital asset management relate to this last part of The 5 P’s of Marketing?
With a robust DAM platform like PhotoShelter, businesses can analyze user behavior to find out what the most popular search queries are, what the most downloaded content is in a specific time period and other relevant data that can help marketers develop stronger strategies to increase the value and impact of their assets. Calculating the return on the investment of your brand’s creative marketing assets will determine the strengths and weaknesses of your organization’s selling teams.
Three essential qualities your customer-facing teams (sales, marketing, and customer service) must exude to ensure a positive customer experience: proactivity, compassion, and inquisitiveness. The teams that sell the product to customers should also be knowledgeable about the product’s functionality and benefit to the customer.
For The Aces, their superstar athletes are the top-selling spokespeople for the brand—since their performance is the product they market to sell tickets. So, showcasing the full spectrum of who the players are as people in their content creates a deeper story for fans to connect with. Deandra said, “We want to make sure we tell the stories of our players on and off the court…Everyone has a story of growing up, everyone has things that drive them, so we really wanted to search deep and find those stories within our players.”
However, the creative team members are really the MVPs who document and elevate the brand through striking visual storytelling every day.
Deandra praised the way The Aces’ Social Media and Content Director, Kris Lumague, dynamically frames the players and the game. “He just captures things amazingly. Here’s an example of two images from the same game and they both have a purpose. One shows Kelsey driving the ball around an opponent, and the other shows Kelsey watching the play develop because she’s a guard and she’s waiting for her movement–communicating with her eyes,” she said.
Making Sense of Marketing Strategies: More Art or Science?
A divisive question to ask any marketer: Is marketing an art or a science?
The real answer is complex and nuanced, but the short answer is: marketing is both an art and a science!
Since the 1940s, marketing has evolved from a utilitarian business function in service of post-war consumerism into a professional industry and field of practice that’s been refined by the scientific process over time. Creative thinkers hypothesize and create visual and physical experiences for audiences to interact with. Then marketers use the scientific process to test whether creative production is worth the effort–conducting split tests to gather data and deduce insights on audience behavior.
By providing a centralized location for all digital assets, businesses can ensure that their marketing campaigns are consistent, up-to-date, and effective in reaching their target market. DAM enables businesses to analyze their competitors’ pricing strategies, identify pricing trends in the market, and create digital assets that are specific to each distribution channel. With a DAM system, businesses can take their marketing strategies to the next level and achieve greater success in today’s digital world.
As a company that empowers visual storytellers to create and share effective, engaging content marketing experiences, we understand the struggle to measure your creative return on investment, but it’s actually part science, part art, and part philosophy. We hope that by sharing real-life advice, best practices, and insider anecdotes from your creative brand peers and idols, you’ll test new strategies along the way and learn how to optimize your team’s creative output by investing in the tools you need to succeed!
Tell us more about your brand’s visual content strategy and let’s unlock its full potential together.
PhotoShelter for Brands has been recognized by G2 as a high performer in over 15 Spring 2023 reports, including the Momentum Grid for Digital Asset Management (DAM), Creative Portfolio Management, User-Generated Content, and more.
Most importantly, we’re proud to announce that our customers have ranked PhotoShelter as a Category Leader in Digital Asset Management!
“Rankings on G2 reports are based on data provided to us by real software buyers,” said Sara Rossio, Chief Product Officer at G2. “Potential buyers know they can trust these insights when researching and selecting software because they’re rooted in vetted, verified, and authentic reviews.”
G2, the world’s largest and most trusted software marketplace, is visited by over 80 million software buyers each year. Its annual Best Software Awards rank the world’s best software companies and products based on authentic, timely reviews from real users.
The top 100 companies are rated based on a combination of Satisfaction and Market Presence scores for each vendor, and the top 100 products are ranked based on reviews across all categories they are a part of. To be recognized as a Best Software Award winner, a software company or product must receive at least 50 approved and published reviews during the 2022 calendar year. Scores reflect only data from reviews submitted during this evaluation period.
We feel lucky to be able to receive and review this real-time feedback so we can strategically innovate and build practical tools and features to improve every user’s experience.
Over the past 18 years, the PhotoShelter DAM platform has provided over 2,000 world-class visual-media-focused brands with a secure, reliable, dynamic, and user-friendly platform to store, manage, and share their brand’s most powerful moments. We recently celebrated hitting 1 BILLION assets stored securely on our platform for brands, sports teams, colleges, universities, travel, healthcare, non-profit organizations, and over 80,000 professional photographers—and we’re growing every day with our community’s help.
Through our employee’s consistent commitment to platform innovation and reliability, data security, and positive customer experience, they consistently empower creatives in marketing and communications to unlock their brand’s storytelling potential.
“The G2 awards are a source of great pride for all of us at PhotoShelter since they’re 100% based on reviews from our customers,” said Andrew Fingerman, CEO of PhotoShelter.
“As brands increase the production and distribution of visual content at an astounding pace, the PhotoShelter team is committed to delivering constant innovation with unmatched speed and performance every single day. We thank our customers for providing such positive feedback to their peers who are considering investing in a Digital Asset Management product for their brand.”
Andrew Fingerman, Photoshelter CEO
“While G2 publishes the Best Software Awards each year, they’re really awards from customers,” said Sara Rossio, Chief Product Officer at G2.
“Representing a vote of confidence from real software users, these awards also spotlight those that have risen to the top among thousands of companies. With 2 million+ verified software reviews, the most in a single destination, our marketplace features more than 145,000 products and services across 2,100 different categories. Congratulations to all those named, as buyers will continue to lean on these awards as a trusted source to inform their software decisions in the year ahead.”
Click here to learn about G2’s reporting methodology, or keep reading real-user reviews on G2 to learn more about how the PhotoShelter DAM platform positively impacts organizations and creatives like you.
Over the past year, 20+ new, innovative features and tools have been added to the PhotoShelter for Brands DAM platform to help creative visual storytellers unlock their brand’s potential.
Whether you’re a photographer, graphic designer, or content marketer, these new optimizations will save you and your teammates time by speeding up your everyday workflows–making creative collaboration fun again.
Press play below to watch our brand new webinar series, What’s New and Next at PhotoShelter for Brands to see Jelan Coley, PhotoShelter’s Product Specialist highlight and demonstrate how the PhotoShelter platform user experience has evolved with the new and improved DAM features!
(P.S. Watch through the end for a sneak peek at the future of what’s to come on the platform and hear answers to questions viewers had during the live session.)
What’s New at PhotoShelter for Brands: New Platform Features to Try
From our most innovative platform solutions like Artificial Intelligence and Custom Design Templates to new, enhanced features like optimized search capabilities and WCAG accessibility features, let’s break down everything users can access right now to speed up their everyday workflows instantly.
ObjectID
ObjectID is one of PhotoShelter’s most advanced platform solutions. It’s an artificial intelligence tool that can automatically and accurately identify objects, events, spaces, or activities in your images and tag them as metadata to make your brand’s most relevant visuals faster and easier to find.
PeopleID is another one of PhotoShelter’s advanced AI solutions. PeopleID will save your team the time it takes to manually search and find images of your brand’s most important people. Upload a roster of your brand’s VIPs–Executives, Board Members, Influencers, and Star Athletes–and watch PeopleID automatically identify and tag those people across thousands of assets in your DAM Library. Finding old and new images of your brand’s key stakeholders has never been so fast or simple.
Watch the clip below to learn more about how any organization might use PeopleID to speed up image research and retrieval
When you knit our AI capabilities together, you can search and find accurate, relevant results for any asset you need faster and easier than ever before.
Find your most valuable brand assets with Smart Galleries, a new enhanced feature that enables all PhotoShelter for Brands users with Library access to create galleries that automatically update with relevant content. How? It’s not magic–well, maybe a little.
We’ve expanded your ability to search by specific IPTC fields to help you further fine-tune image search results to only show the assets you need. In conjunction with Smart Galleries, new IPTC search fields allow you to save exact searches that will automatically populate with new and existing images you’re searching for and using most often to tell brand stories.
Here’s a peek at the new, expanded search field options available to all Library users:
Speed Up Manual Metadata Entry with New Batch Editor Panel in PhotoShelter for Brands
All PhotoShelter users can now find and use our new, built-in metadata editing panel in the right hand pane of the Library to add and edit IPTC, Custom, and Image License Expiration metadata.
With PhotoShelter’s new Drupal Integration, your creative team can now browse, search for, and use files from your PhotoShelter DAM Library within the Drupal CMS to update website pages and content. By connecting your DAM Library to your Drupal account, you can seamlessly access all of your brand’s assets to both create and share new visual stories faster and easier.
True to one of our core company values to help creatives thrive, PhotoShelter now integrates with Canva so you can access your brand’s best assets without ever leaving your creative project workspace in Canva. This integration will no doubt enable faster creative collaboration and original content creation, but it’ll also help you share those on-brand graphic masterpieces in seconds, not minutes.
Custom Design Templates: *New* Save ALL of Your Work!
Creating templates for brand graphics that marketing, communications, sales, or customer success team members use every day will lighten the load on your design team (or solo graphic designers for some small organizations) and keep brand visuals elevated and consistent.
Now available on the PhotoShelter for Brands Portal, Custom Design Templates is an advanced, built-in platform solution that allows brand marketers to move striking visuals to market at scale faster, while also maintaining brand consistency.
How does it work? First, your graphic designers would create an on-brand template in Adobe InDesign, keeping the elements that can be ‘unlocked’ and edited, then they would upload that template file to the Templates section in their PhotoShelter for Brands Portal.
PhotoShelter for Brands for ALL: Web Accessibility
PhotoShelter for Brands has partnered with UsableNet, the leading web accessibility provider, to make PhotoShelter Portals fully compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA.
What does this mean for your employees or audience members with disabilities? Anyone with access to a PhotoShelter for Brands Portal now can use a screen reader and/or full keyboard tabulation and selection functions to navigate around our DAM comfortably. Say it with us: PhotoShelter for ALL!
What’s Next at PhotoShelter for Brands: DAM Innovation Coming Soon!
Pssst! We don’t want to spoil the surprise, but we gave the live webinar audience a preview of a few exciting platform updates, so we’ll give you a sneak peek too.
If most of your day-to-day content workflow involves using a mobile device or a tablet, you’ll LOVE this: You’ll soon be able to upload assets using FileFlow, our mobile app.
All PhotoShelter users will soon be able to batch edit metadata, which will give a speed boost to content archival and organization workflows.
And most importantly, all Admins and Editors of a PhotoShelter for Brands DAM account will soon be able to visualize data about the true value and ROI of all the assets in their DAM Library. Reach out to your customer success manager if you want to be alerted as soon as access to the deep data insights and reporting dashboard tools are available in your DAM.
Want to time travel to the future real quick? Start watching the What’s Next section of the webinar here:
PhotoShelter Powers Creative Marketing Operations
PhotoShelter for Brands sits at the beginning of the entire creative workflow process–centralizing your brand’s most valuable visual assets. To help creatives like you and your teammates move with greater ease in the moments that matter, our product and engineering teams’ main priority is platform innovation.
So, keep the positive and constructive feedback coming so we can help build platform features and solutions to help you thrive! Follow us on social media (@psforbrands on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, @PhotoShelter on LinkedIn!) and shout us out when you have feedback to share.
If your organization hasn’t invested in digital asset management yet, it’s not too late! Let us show you how to refine your workflow to save time and money.
