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A good image is rarely used just once. A campaign photo might appear in a presentation, a brochure or a document shared with colleagues. The same goes for logos, videos and other brand assets. They are used by different people, for different purposes and often in different applications.
How do you make sure everyone can find the right files? That it's clear what an image can be used for? And that the latest versions are available across the organisation?
This is where Digital Asset Management (DAM) plays an important role.
A DAM is more than a central image library. It helps organisations organise, manage and make digital brand assets available for everyday use. From adding new files and checking usage rights to using assets in communication materials.
This makes DAM the beating heart of your brand communications: one central source that different teams and applications can rely on.
Having one central place for images, videos, logos and documents is a good start. But as an image library grows, the way files are managed becomes increasingly important.
Consider an organisation with thousands of photos. Some feature employees, events, locations or campaigns. Some were added recently, while others have been in use for years. Certain images also come with specific agreements about where and how they may be published. In that situation, you need more than the ability to store and download files.
A Digital Asset Management system is designed to manage the information associated with those files too. This includes descriptions, categories, usage rights and asset status. Rather than simply being a collection of files, the image library becomes an environment where colleagues can search for specific assets and use them responsibly.
Imagine you're looking for a photo of an employee talking to a customer, taken during a particular campaign. You don't know the filename or when it was uploaded. If files are organised only by name or folder, finding that photo can take quite some time.
In a DAM, you can add metadata to assets: information that describes what a file contains or what it is intended for. This might include the subject, campaign, location, file type or people featured.
Search filters then allow you to narrow down your search. You don't need to know where a photo is stored, as long as the relevant information has been recorded properly. This makes a real difference for colleagues who regularly work with visual content. A communications professional might search by campaign and subject, while a designer may be more interested in which files are suitable for a particular application.
Good searchability therefore starts not with the search bar, but with how you organise and describe your assets.
Finding a suitable photo is one thing. Knowing whether you're allowed to use it is just as important. Particularly when people are recognisable in an image, there may be agreements about consent and publication. Think of employee portraits, campaign images featuring people or photographs taken at an event.
These agreements can be documented in a model release, a declaration in which someone gives permission for specific uses of their image. Depending on the agreement, that permission may apply to particular channels, purposes or periods of time.
For communications teams, it's important that this information remains connected to the images it relates to.
A DAM can help manage model releases and usage rights information centrally, alongside the relevant assets. This means colleagues can not only find an image, but also check which conditions apply to its use.
This is particularly valuable when multiple teams share the same image library. After all, the person who uploads a photo is not necessarily the person who uses it in a presentation or brochure several months later.
It's worth noting that having a model release on file does not automatically mean an image can be used for any future purpose. The terms of the consent and applicable privacy and image rights still determine what is permitted.
Not every file added to an image library is immediately ready for use.
For example, a photographer delivers a new set of campaign images. These still need to be selected, reviewed and possibly given descriptions or information about usage rights. Only then do you want to make them available to the rest of the organisation.
DAM workflows help bring structure to these processes. Rather than making files available without further checks, you can introduce review and approval steps. This makes it clear who is responsible for checking new assets and when they are ready to use.
This is useful for more than just new content. When a logo is updated, a campaign ends or an image can no longer be used, it's equally important that the status of those files remains clear. A DAM therefore supports not only the storage of brand assets, but also their management throughout their entire lifecycle.
Images, videos and other brand files aren't managed simply to sit in an image library. They are there to be used. A communications professional might be creating a presentation, a designer might be working on a brochure, while another colleague is putting together an event invitation. Although their tasks differ, they all need access to up-to-date brand assets.
A well-organised DAM makes those files available from one central location. But it becomes even more valuable when colleagues can use assets directly in the applications where they create their communication materials.
Within the Cordeo Brand Portal, this is possible through the Studio. Images and other suitable assets from the DAM are directly available in the Studio, where users can create their own communication materials using flexible templates. The brand identity and predefined template settings remain intact.
Not everyone works in the Studio every day, however. Designers might use Adobe InDesign, while other colleagues create documents and presentations in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. That is why we developed Cordeo Integrations. With plugins for Adobe Creative Cloud and add-ins for Microsoft 365, we bring the Cordeo Brand Portal into the applications colleagues already use: designers can access centrally managed assets in InDesign, while Word users can search the image library and insert images directly into their documents.
The DAM remains the central source. Whether someone creates communication materials in the Studio or works in an external application, the organisation can manage its brand assets from one place.
When different teams and external partners work with the same image library, it's important to decide who can access which files and features.
Within Cordeo, you can assign different roles and permissions to users. This allows you to distinguish between colleagues who mainly use assets and those responsible for managing them.
External partners, such as photographers, can also be given access with permissions suited to their work. For example, they can be involved in supplying new images without needing access to every other part of the brand portal.
Combined with workflows for reviewing and making assets available, this helps keep collaboration organised. The DAM remains a central source for the entire organisation, while you retain control over how different users work with it.
The value of a DAM isn't determined by how many files it contains, but by how easily an organisation can find, manage and use those files.
A photo that is easy to find, has clear usage rights and is directly available in a template or design is more valuable than a file sitting somewhere in a folder.
This makes DAM the beating heart of your brand communications: one central source that provides different teams and workflows with up-to-date brand assets.
Want to learn more about Digital Asset Management within Cordeo? Explore our DAM features or discover how Cordeo Integrations connects your brand portal to everyday workflows.
Curious to see what Digital Asset Management can do for your organisation?