business proposition - brand management

Media Intelligent

Business Proposition

Global Brand Management

Media Intelligent

ADAM Software

Media Intelligent

Media Intelligent

ADAM Software NV º www.adamsoftware.net º [email protected]

Executive Summary

º The Challenge of increasing complexity Your global brand embodies one key message, but must communicate effectively to many audiences through many channels. Only centralized management of brand assets can guarantee a consistent message whatever the destination - see page 1

º Key requirements for 21st Century global brand managementA strong brand requires clear and controlled communications to stand out in the complexity of today’s diverse, always-on world - see page 3

º The Solution for media intelligent global brand managementADAM delivers a media intelligent way to centralize and control approved materials for brand consistency and impact across the globe - see page 5

º The Proof that ADAM delivers better global brand managementGobal brand management is complex but the key drivers are simple: consistency, time-to-market and cost savings. ADAM Software’s media intelligent platform is proven to deliver on all three - see page 9

Realworld ScenarioRealworld scenarios that illustrate how the ADAM platform is deployed for media intelligent brand management - see page 12

ADAM Software - Related ProductsADAM Software components and related products for Brand Management - see page 15

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ADAM Software Business Proposition: Global Brand Management

1

The Challenge of increasing complexity

Your global brand embodies one key message, but must communicate effectively to many audiences through many channels. Only centralized management of brand assets can guarantee a consistent message whatever the destination

Brand consistency is vital. It makes the difference between marketing impact and communications

confusion. To achieve brand consistency, marketing teams need strong control of the creation

of brand assets, their usage and distribution. Timing is also critical, so global teams have the

brand assets and guidelines they need to launch products and campaigns to local markets.

And simplicity also plays a key part, to avoid time-consuming internal approvals and to ensure

the immediate availability of logos, images and localized information for product launches or

marketing campaigns on the other side of the world.

Marketing professionals who manage global brands are finding their job of creating, controlling

and distributing brand materials ever more complex. The teams involved in creating marketing

collateral for products or product-ranges are often highly diverse, involving marketers, designers,

external agencies, writers, printers and other technicians. Then there are the teams of people

working on localizing brand assets for local markets – translators and marketers who understand

local tastes.

Getting a global team of stakeholders to communicate together is hard enough, but channeling

these different requirements into an intelligent and efficient marketing workflow is a real

challenge. Brand managers need to control many factors including creative briefs, approvals,

external input from agencies and/or clients, localized content, multi-lingual versioning, control of

separate release cycles for products in different regions, device specific content, multi-channel

distribution and more.

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So as brands become global – reaching out to customers through multiple channels in different

languages at different times – you need to rein in the complexity and make it easier for your

teams to take your message to the market. Only a solution that intelligently organizes, controls

and distributes brand assets as they move between people, processes and systems can provide

this.

At ADAM Software we have made it our explicit goal to provide solutions that do just that.

The Challenge of increasing complexity continued

There is a need for localized content, multi-lingual versioning, control of separate release cycles for

products in different regions, device specific content, multi-channel distribution and more.

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Key requirements for 21st Century global brand management

A strong brand requires clear and controlled communications to stand out in the complexity of today’s diverse, always-on world

Typically a brand is personified in a wealth of digital assets – from guidelines, logos, images,

video, existing collateral to content that often needs to be repurposed for different publishing

channels. It’s a complex brand universe that you need to make simple for users to navigate

through. Getting this right is tough even when you’re working with colleagues at the same site.

Add designers, printers or customers on the other side of the world to the mix and you need tools

that make it easy to find, control and distribute your brand assets globally.

Key requirements for global brand management today:

º Creating a centralized library that puts your brand at the heart of the marketing machine

º Intuitive organization of brand assets to simplify how users find and use collateral

º Ensuring the correct users are accessing only the latest, approved materials

º Clarifying varying levels of permissions for different user interactions – creating, validating,

downloading etc. – so you control who does what

ºMaking approval processes fast and efficient, and cutting down on the spider-web of emails

º Integrating marketing and communications workflows for smooth running campaigns

ºMaintaining brand consistency – whatever the language, format, distribution channel or

campaign timing

º Scheduling the global release of brand materials in sync with product releases

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º Linking internal users and external partners and suppliers so everyone is working within the

same brand universe

ºMonitoring usage to track whom is accessing which brand assets and how they are using

them

If your brand needs controlled communication through an intelligent, intuitive and organized

solution to manage and distribute brand assets then read on.

The requirements for Brand Mangement continued

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ADAM Enterprise Edition can be deployed to an unlimited number of users and includes full ADAM functionality.

Corporate and Express Editions also exist for organizations with smaller licensing requirements.



5

The Solution for media intelligent global brand management

ADAM delivers a media intelligent way to centralize and control approved materials for brand consistency and impact across the globe

Moving from a way of working that has

multiple versions of brand assets scattered

across the globe to a simplified, centralized

powerful DAM system needn’t be a logistical

nightmare. ADAM Software provides

solutions that make brand management

easier and more efficient that you thought

possible.

A single source for everything

The best brand management solution

is one built around a centralized library

that contains all brand assets. ADAM

understands that efficient management of such a library requires logical organization of large

volumes of digital assets through taxonomy, metadata, classifications and versions. The ADAM

platform guarantees brand consistency by ensuring that every asset has a single, centralized

source that can be shared in a variety of ways according to user preferences and permissions. This

leads to a well-controlled environment that makes it easier for users to access the files they need.

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The ADAM platform guarantees brand consistency by ensuring that every asset has a single, centralized source

that can be shared in a variety of ways.

The Solution for Global Brand Management continued

Managing brand assets

ADAM’s Asset Studio provides a single view on all brand assets and related digital media, bringing centralized consistency to otherwise disunited areas. It simplifies the classification and inclusion of different file versions and renderings depending on their destination. Combining an intuitive organization of assets with a highly functional search engine ensures that your stakeholders – marketers, designers, writers and printers - can quickly find, access and contribute new brand elements (translations, localized content, web-ready images) to increase the value of your branding library and save critical time and money. The platform is scalable enough to store any additional product-based information in almost any format, such as pictures, 3D drawings, videos,

datasheets, and more.

Controlling usage rights and distribution

ADAM also includes all the tools for comprehensive management of user permissions and

security. Security is integrated right into the heart of key marketing workflows to control processes

throughout the “create, manage and deliver” cycle. This ensures watertight approval cycles for

brand assets created or repurposed elsewhere in dispersed marketing teams. The ADAM platform

is also highly flexible, enabling marketing departments to set rules before assets are shared.

They might, for example, define what content can be accessed by whom, and time-critical rules

to co-ordinate a gradual introduction of a product in different regions at different times. ADAM

can also handle specific user and rights management to limit access to non-relevant content: For

example, providing only those assets relevant to users for their particular market, language or

channel, and thus reducing complexity and saving precious time. This media intelligent security

and adaptability is a unique feature of ADAM, based on best-in-class use of the underlying

Microsoft .NET platform.

Incredible workflow capabilities

Getting assets to flow through your marketing processes just got a whole lot easier. ADAM provides

all the tools you need to manage digital asset workflow processes and with ADAM Workflow

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Studio’s Business Process Management System (BPMS) you take a huge step up from other DAM

systems as it delivers effective management of marketing and communications workflows as well

as digital asset management. With Workflow Studio you can monitor project status and track the

progress of marketing campaigns, and designing your workflows is as simple as creating a visual

version in Microsoft® Visio®. This leads to greater efficiency not just in the way assets are

stored and shared but also in how they are deployed through well managed projects.

Scalability to grow your brand with your enterprise

ADAM is designed to scale with enterprises that are growing rapidly in the global marketplace. As

you enter new markets, ADAM can grow with you, delivering on new brand assets, new tasks and

new volumes of work. This safeguards your technology investment and ensures your marketing

and brand management tools are ready to respond to new trends without lengthy development

cycles. The ADAM platform can also handle any file type and safeguards versioning history –

giving you instant rollback to previous versions any time you need them, so your archive can scale

to infinity but still provide complete ease of use.

Simplifying the user experience through “Comfort Zones”

Brand communications work best

when users are fast and efficient

in their daily working environment.

ADAM’s brand management solution

is designed to support users through

a range of software interfaces. With

ADAM Connectors, designers can work

directly in Adobe® Creative Suite® and

marketing professionals in Microsoft®

Office®. We call it a Comfort Zone -

ADAM’s Business Process Management System (BPMS) based workflows are a huge step up from other DAM systems.

ADAM allows creative to work in a familiar environment while leveraging DAM brand management power.

ADAM Comfort Zone

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whether you’re working on Mac or PC, Creative Suite or Office, ADAM provides easy access to

your brand assets while you continue to work with the tools of your choice. ADAM Connectors

get you up and running fast and mean there’s no need for expensive training programs to start

working with your DAM.

Timely Translations

Collaborating on translations and brand asset localization is traditionally one of the areas where

marketing central offices have had to let go and hope for the best. That’s changed with ADAM

DocMaker: a media-intelligent studio tool for editing, managing and localizing documents,

brochures, catalogs and more that is linked into your marketing workflow to ensure quick and

controlled approval of the use of brand assets. Using a powerful web2print interface that can be

configured for different levels of control, marketing managers can now designate text fields and

visuals to allow translations and modifications for localized materials. It doesn’t matter if your

users are in the next office or halfway across the world, ADAM interconnects and controls the

appropriate access for all stakeholders (internal and external) so everyone is works in the same

brand universe.

At ADAM, we’ve made brand management more centralized, more intuitive and more controlled.

The results for our clients have demonstrated the time and efficiency savings to be gained. But

don’t take it from us: the Proof is in the following pages .

ADAM makes it easy to create multi-lingual versions of documents, brochures, catalogs and more.

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The Proof that ADAM delivers better global brand management

Gobal brand management is complex but the key drivers are simple: consistency, time-to-market and cost savings. ADAM Software’s media intelligent platform is proven to deliver on all three

Aberdeen Group makes the case for managing brand compliance

The 2010 report, Marketing Asset Management: Managing Brand Compliance in Distributed

Marketing Environments by Aberdeen Group’s Peter Ostrow makes a strong case for using DAM

to improve brand management. Recognizing that managing marketing compliance and brand

consistency across business units and geographies are among the top priorities of marketing

managers, the report found that many DAM systems did not excel at providing MAM (DAM

exclusively for marketing functions). Key issues of DAM for marketing and brand management

were stated as:

“[…] many generic DAM products lack robust workflow capabilities, dynamic collateral

development, or the user security required for productive marketing asset management. What

they also do not provide is centralized access to brand assets and marketing materials.”

“Savings in time, efforts and expenses by the introduction of automation, data reuse and self- service web interfaces

will easily pay the project costs back in year one.”-Sam Van Ongeval, Project Manager at Stanley Works on installing ADAM

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Recognition of these issues by industry experts is also vindication of ADAM Software’s long-standing approach

to providing DAM that centralizes, delivers Business Process Management System based workflows, and has the

strongest security in the industry. By deploying ADAM, you don’t just install a DAM system, you integrate a fully-

fledged Marketing Execution Platform (MEP) at the heart of your brand management.

Observing best-in-class companies who understood and acted on the importance of marketing specific DAM,

Aberdeen Group observed these companies were seeing:

º 32% improvement on return on marketing investment

º 18% improvement in brand consistency

º 1% reduction (improvement) in marketing campaign time-to-market

The case couldn’t be clearer: companies deploying software systems that act as fully-blown MEPs will see dramatic

improvement in quality of marketing collateral and strong return on marketing investment. And for companies that

want best-in-class asset management, workflows and security, the ADAM platform is the number one choice.

Further evidence: brands run on ADAM

The companies and organizations that run on ADAM are some of the best proof of ADAM Software’s leadership in

producing cutting edge brand management software. ADAM customers include:

Microsoft, RAPP Omnicon, AB InBev, Stanley Black & Decker, LEGO, Sanoma, Staples Europe, European Parliament,

Royal DSM N.V., Adidas, Astra Zeneca, Britvic, Corporate Express, Elopak, IKEA, Kraft Foods, Mistra, Tetrapak,

Unilever, Warner Bros and many more.

ADAM is so flexible that every enterprise can tailor the platform to their specific needs through an open API and

our global network of expert Partners. And with scalability a key feature of ADAM, your enterprise investment in

marketing technology will continue to deliver strong ROI as your enterprise grows.

Case Study – Royal DSM N.V. Rebranding

Royal DSM N.V. is a $9 billion global science-based organization active in health, nutrition and life-science

materials, with 22,000 employees working in over 52 countries. In 2009, DSM began to put in place a new brand

The Proof of Brand Management continued

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strategy, putting sustainability at the heart of its corporate vision and company activities. DSM looked to ADAM

Software to provide a brand management solution to ensure consistent communications to its global stakeholders

and a controlled and successful implementation by staff and external suppliers.

Jos Van Laastrecht, Brand Manager at DSM, explains the choice of ADAM: “From the technical perspective,

ADAM’s technology offered the most advanced performance – versatile, scalable and integrated into an overall

company-wide solution. Also, the impressive list of enterprise level clients with whom ADAM has worked for

many years was a key factor in our decision. Our technical consultants were confident that ADAM’s API would

make application development simple and quick to implement.”

DSM launched its new branding internally and externally in February 2010. Now the DSM Brand Center is used

globally as the sole central repository, knowledge center and distribution platform for all brand materials. ADAM

has been instrumental in conveying the brand essence across the company in a standardized and consistent way,

and supported a fully compliant and controlled roll-out.

The Proof of Brand Management continued

Global brands need a fully-fledged Marketing Execution Platform (MEP) to manage their brand complexity.

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Realworld ScenarioRealworld scenarios that illustrate how the ADAM platform is deployed for media intelligent brand management

Scenario - Brand Management in a multi-player workflow – from collateral creation to timed distribution

A US-based kitchenware producer is launching a new

range of utensils and requires printed marketing collateral

for the products.

First, the products need to be photographed. The

company’s preferred photographer has his studio in

Europe, so the utensils are shipped to him along with a

brief from the Marketing Department. The photographer

shoots the products and uses FTP – the transfer method

he is most familiar with – to upload his picks easily to

ADAM.

A Familiar Design Environment

A Designer, based in New York and designated by the Marketing Department to create the materials, can now

start the creation process. Maintaining a streamlined and manageable production setup is key, and getting started

on the project couldn’t be easier. The Designer is able to work directly from within her “Comfort Zone” – Adobe®

Creative Suite® with Adobe® Drive. She drags the product photos and an InDesign® template to her working

folder and, as she works, her InDesign file is automatically checked out. Her working environment is no different

to a conventional Adobe Creative Suite desktop environment, so it’s an efficient way for a skilled designer to work

as it requires no training in new, complex software systems.

ADAM Asset Studio centralizes and simplifies workflow management for any number of digital assets

ADAM Asset Studio

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Realworld scenario continued

On completing her design, the Designer closes the file and it is checked back in to ADAM where

she can add notes or questions for the Marketing Department. To trigger this Approval Cycle

workflow is easy: she simply drops the file into the Latest Files Folder. Marketing will now receive

an email saying that there is a file to review and approve – all interactions pass right through

ADAM, eliminating unwieldy email exchanges.

On receiving the notification email, the Marketing Department manager uses the browser-based

ADAM Workflow Studio to access the new design. They click on the file thumbnail and get a clear

preview of the artwork right inside their web browser. This centralized, browser-based approach

is simple to use, saves time and reduces software costs.

Centralized Collaboration and Approval Workflows

The Marketing person then adds a few notes to the file (replace an image, delete a typo, etc.),

finishes the task and the Designer immediately receives a notification that there are changes

to make. Even though the Designer has not left her Adobe Creative Suite Comfort Zone, she is

integrated in the centralized workflow process and has seamless, efficient interaction with the

rest of the project team.

The Designer makes the edits, checks the file back in, and Marketing get a new notification saying

the modifications have been made. Marketing now approve the English language copy of the

assets and Translators in different markets are notified that translated copy is required.

Powerful, intuitive and targeted access rights...

The ready-to-publish, English language assets are now in the ADAM download center. Through an

easy-to-use, web browser-based interface, a user can scan all the assets related to the InDesign

document and can also review all the versions of the file.

Some users, like translators however, don’t need access to all the resources associated with

the content. For example, a Translator working on a German version of the marketing material

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Realworld scenario continued

only needs access to translation text fields in which they can provide their alternate copy when

required in the brand material creation cycle. The Translator is therefore restricted from accessing

other resources in the DAM and can only access the translation fields once the original copy

is approved. This provides advanced and adaptable security at a record-based level and also

means, in this case, that the translator is focused only on their designated task. Multilingualism

and localization are therefore no different from other steps in the creation process – they have a

designated time and operator who sees only the assets they require.

…and timed rollout of marketing materials for staged product introductions

Once the marketing materials are ready, translated and approved, the marketing campaign is

coordinated to sync perfectly with the global product release cycles through ADAM’s ability to

provide sunrise/sunset release dates. For example, the kitchen utensils will be released a month

later in Germany than they are in the USA, so a Marketing Manager sets dates that restrict when

and where German campaign materials will be accessible to their markets and can even set a

date after which the materials will no longer be available.

One-to-Many Delivery

Once the materials are released to local markets, a German user might, for example, use ADAM

to send the file to a local printer with specific instructions attached. A storeowner with restricted

access to the DAM might also download a PDF version of the materials and print them for in-store

distribution. The advantage of this centralized model is that everyone (suppliers, printers, vendors,

etc.) all source their materials from a single version of the truth stored centrally in ADAM. It’s an

intuitive, intelligent and organized workflow that integrates everyone from users one desk away

to vendors on the other side of the planet – ensuring absolute consistency in branding and greatly

improved efficiency.

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ADAM Software ArchitectureComponents of the ADAM Platform

Engine

Product Content & Digital Asset Mgmt.

Modules

Comfort Zones

Core

API

Catalogs

Collaboration

Localization

Videos

Custom Studios

Creative Suite Sync

SharePoint Sync

Custom Comfort Zones

Sales Shelf

ADAM Box

Assets

System

Products

Workflow

BPMS

Database File Server



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About ADAM Software

ADAM Software is a global provider of media workflow and marketing technology software. We

offer enterprises the ability to manage, structure and deliver media between people, processes

and systems. Working with our partners enables us to implement our software globally while

providing workflow solutions to all types of enterprises. What drives us is a passion to organize

media intelligently, making it easier and more accessible to everyone.

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Contact ADAM Software

ADAM Software

Kortrijksesteenweg 1108a

BE-9051 Gent

Belgium

Phone: +32 9 381 63 36

Fax: +32 9 381 63 46

ADAM Software US Inc

1515 Broadway

New York, NY 10036

United States

Phone: +1 212 520 1028

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.adamsoftware.net

Related DocumentsOther ADAM Software documents that you might find interesting available online and in the ADAM Download Center at www.adamsoftware.net

º Enterprise E-Library

º Product Information Management (PIM)

º Automatic Catalog Publishing

º Online Approvals Workflow

º Enterprise Workflow Design

º Comfort Zone Connectors

º Packaging Workflow Automation

º Enterprise Marketing Collateral Localization