Speed is critical in the racing industry, both on the track and when it comes to managing digital content. The hectic Formula E race schedule often features back-to-back races in different parts of the world. Jules described how their website and social media content needs constant updates in real-time.
Since MSG’s marketing department receives partner and media requests for digital assets daily, they also needed a system to keep them organized and allow quick and easy access to time-sensitive content.
“With how quickly we move through a season, content becomes repetitive or kind of old quickly,” Jules observed. “The faster we can get all of it uploaded, edited, and shared, the faster we can move on to the next race or content opportunity.”
Without a central library where partners could search for assets, the team had difficulty fulfilling content requests quickly. When they did receive requests, they frequently corresponded with partners over email, which led to further miscommunication and delays.
“We had a general media site where people could log in and download photos and videos, but there weren’t any specific platforms or portals for individual partners,” Jules said. “We needed something that could organize content efficiently and straightforwardly. The solution would allow people in our organization, and everyone on our partner side, to view and use materials that are always on-brand.”
Many Formula E followers cannot attend races in person or meet the racing teams. So MSG’s marketers and partners prioritize generating and promoting engaging and captivating content for their audiences.
“How we communicate on social media, through press releases, through our website, and our key personnel is crucial,” Jules explained. “Everything needs to be consistent and on-brand. That’s why managing content effectively is so important to our partners and us.”
After evaluating various digital asset management solutions, the team dashed to Canto to solve its content challenges. In Jules’ words, “Canto had all the features we were looking for and great customer service. We felt like we had everything we needed to make the platform work for us.”
The implementation process proved quite simple, even though the team needed to transfer content from the past seven seasons into the Canto library. After migrating existing assets, Jules created a new organizational structure using folders, tags, and metadata. Now, her team can easily find specific photos to fulfill media requests, promote races on social media, and highlight the race team’s accomplishments on the company website.
“It cuts down on the time it takes us to search through photos,” Jules explained. “On average, we have over a thousand photos per race weekend, so being able to filter them by specific sessions, days, or keyword tags is very helpful.”
Race photographers can quickly upload images into the Canto Connect app, which automatically tags and categorizes them according to metadata. Once the content is in the main Canto library, Jules reviews it to determine what she needs to make available to partners.
“It’s pretty seamless,” Jules said. “And it’s easier on photographers because they don’t have to worry about tagging photos or organizing them manually.”
Putting Maserati MSG Racing’s partners in the fast lane
Jules’ team also needed to better field content requests from MSG’s partners. They use Canto Portals as dedicated, unique spaces for each partner to access their content. Each Portal is a one-stop-shop for all media-related aspects of the partnership, including content like press releases, race day photos, images of race attendees, and branding packs.
“We wanted the Portals to showcase the value our partners are getting from working with us,” Jules described. “One of the best things about Portals is that we can easily make any tweaks our partners request. They’ve given us feedback that the experience is very user-friendly, accessible, and bespoke.”
Jules explained that the portals also streamline media relations. Journalists, PR teams, and talent managers can submit a request on MSG’s website to access its general media portal. The request is routed directly to Jules for approval.
“Now, it’s really easy for those teams to go in and access pre-approved assets like imagery, press releases, and news articles,” Jules said. “We don’t need to handle those requests over email anymore.”
Setting the pace with facial recognition and global access
Jules’s team uses Canto’s facial recognition capabilities to organize content featuring MSG’s drivers and key personnel. By filtering content with AI-driven tags, her users can quickly review and retrieve photos relating to a particular person.
“Our drivers are the subject of a lot of our content, and we also have a team principal who is very recognizable, so we receive a lot of requests for headshots,” Jules pointed out. “Using Canto’s robust facial recognition powered by AI, we can find the best headshots faster than ever and screen out shots that their faces aren’t clearly displayed, even if they are tagged.”
The team can also use Canto to access its content library from anywhere in the world. That’s proved especially important given that Formula E races occur in countries across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
“We’ve never had problems with access in any of the places we’ve raced in,” Jules said. “Being able to upload and access assets so we can share them with global partners is very important to our day-to-day operations.”
