5 collaboration inhibitors at agencies and marketing departments

Annoying factor 1: The familiar program confusion

The problems often start with the operating system: the graphics professionals in the agency naturally work with Apple, the marketing department - like the entire company - with Windows. With every attempt at conversion, interesting new errors occur in the file, often involving umlauts and special characters. From the customer's perspective, some media files only exist in printed form - because nobody in the entire company can open the Photoshop document or the InDesign file - and it remains the exception that both sides talk about exactly the same thing in approval processes. The challenge here is to organize the zoo of file formats and provide a key to each cage.

Annoying factor 2: The duplicate chaos

"If the customer can't open a PSD photo, we'll just send them a JPG." And instead of the InDesign file, there's a PDF. Which version was the last one - asks the marketing department. This leads to a miraculous proliferation of media files. There is an (original) version at the graphics agency, a JPG copy in the customer's inbox, another JPG on the server. After the change requests, which the customer of course sends to the agency by e-mail, a new version of the original PSD file is created there, and this makes its way back as a JPG and by e-mail to the customer, who saves the file on the server again - only this time perhaps in a different location than the colleague did in the first round.the inevitable result: pure duplicate chaos. Sometimes you get the impression that the number of media files that are converted, sent back and forth, filed here, filed there, is already higher than the print run of the advertising flyer that is to be created from them. With a DAM system, however, all versions can be tracked in the same place.

Annoying factor 3: The anarchy of voting

In line with the duplicate chaos, many marketing departments and agencies also have a certain degree of reconciliation anarchy. In other words, it is not really possible to trace which media file was released how, when, by whom and with which authorization. Accordingly, older versions of a photo are also often used - simply because marketers or graphic designers are happy to have found it on some server directory (or in some inbox) at all - whether this photo has already been color-corrected for the intended use or what the copyright situation is - the JPG file often no longer provides any information about this. A DAM system, on the other hand, always makes it transparent how far the processing of a media asset has progressed, whether it has been finally approved, for which application contexts it is suitable and what the current copyright situation is.

Annoyance factor 4: Purely manual workflows

The fourth annoying factor arises when all coordination processes have to be initiated manually - in case of doubt again by sending the new file version to the world by email. In a DAM system, on the other hand, workflows can be stored in which the server automatically performs tasks instead of time-consuming manual work with many possible errors. Authorized approvers then immediately receive a message when the new version of the image file, advertisement or PowerPoint presentation is ready, and ideally the authorized approver can leave change requests and comments directly in the file to be checked using the DAM system's note tool. This increases transparency and efficiency enormously, especially in advertising material production. Even highly complex workflows - including the automated rendering and playout of videos for placement on various TV stations with a wide range of technical specifications - can be supported.

Nerve factor 5: Data insecurity

Collaboration with external parties can easily lead to a loss of overview of which asset belongs to which job or project - and who is allowed to see what. Some DAM systems allow very differentiated rights management and ensure that company secrets remain secret. For example, suppliers can exchange images of their new products directly with the retail company - the retail company has no access to any other areas or functions, and an agency can ensure that its customers' access is strictly limited to exactly those areas and media assets that are relevant - the competitor's spring collection remains invisible. Last but not least: this also makes it possible to comply with new, stricter data protection regulations. And if you want, you can also increase data security by operating the DAM system yourself rather than in the cloud somewhere in the world. On their own servers or in a data center that does not raise data protection concerns.*Gunter Leonhardt is the Managing Director of PEAK-14 GmbH.