Pearl Drums shares images easily with 2000+ dealers using Canto

We live to see creative teams maximize their full potential. Derek Wolfford, Marketing Manager of Integrated Media at Pearl, joined us to show off the Pearl Drums Canto library, which they use to organize and share product and marketing imagery with more than 2000 retailers.

Founded in 1946, Pearl Musical Instrument Company is the premier manufacturer and wholesaler of drums, percussion musical instruments and flutes.

See how Pearl uses Canto to organize their asset library and share images with over 2,000 dealers!

Using Portals to enable self-service

Portals are smaller, separate libraries that are customizable and configured to share content to users with limited privileges. Pearl gives their dealers a professional and clean experience with a customized, beautiful, branded Portal.

“This is the best part for us!” says Derek. The Pearl team never has to worry about accidentally sending unapproved images to dealers because all content uploaded to their Portals is finalized. In addition, the Portals are user-friendly so that dealers are empowered to find the visual content they need on-demand, without having to get technical.

Collaborating with Workspaces

Derek loves using Canto Workspaces to collaborate on works-in-progress privately. Workspaces are private libraries within Canto where users can develop content that is hidden from the main library until it’s ready to be pushed over. This gives Derek peace of mind knowing that only approved content is being used.

At Pearl, the art department will drop photos from a product shoot into a Canto Workspace that is visible only to the art department and Derek. Here, they can choose the final images and Derek can rename them, adding the product name and other metadata before migrating to the main library.

Collecting images with Upload Links

Derek uses Canto Upload Links to collect images from the sales team at trade shows. Upload Links are unique URLs that enable anyone, with or without a Canto account, to upload assets to a gallery separate from the main library. Customers can collect assets from multiple sources and select only the ones they want to add to the main library, keeping everything organized.

Before Canto, the sales team would take photos at events and text them to Derek to post on social media – which took up space on his phone and was difficult to organize. Now he simply creates Upload Links so that reps can upload their images even on mobile. Then, Derek simply reviews the images and shares the ones he wants.

Derek’s pro tips:

• The most important thing to do with any DAM? “Organization is key. Make sure the folder architecture is what you want [in Canto] before you start dragging stuff over,” says Derek.
• Use the unique asset URL in Canto, which stays the same when assets are updated with newer versions. Pearl’s e-commerce site uses these links so that the team doesn’t have to deal with broken links each time an asset is updated.
• Use the related images feature to connect assets to each other so when you find one asset, you can also easily find its related images. Derek uses the Related Images feature to tie images of two related products or components of products together.