“We originally used Dropbox,” said Maria Bee, a Digital Marketing Manager and Designer at PLAE, “but we found it got messy really quickly. The brand team has thousands of photo assets and documents that need to be quickly and easily searchable. Files couldn’t be stored in multiple places without creating copies, and there was no guarantee an item would be updated everywhere it was stored. It was difficult to manage, so we knew we needed something else.”
The majority of PLAE’s brand assets are image files from product and lifestyle photo shoots. These photos highlight the notable details of their kid’s footwear line — bright colors, interchangeable tabs (straps), toe guards in the front, and a specialized sole that contours to growing feet.
These photos aren’t just for the designers who want their work displayed; the marketers, salespeople, social media managers, and just about everyone else within the company use them daily. Their brand photography and marketing materials communicate the unique story of the company and their products.
PLAE started using Canto in 2015 to solve some of their immediate needs. “We were mainly interested in tagging and searching. Those are our favorite features,” Maria said.
They also set up Portals for teams that didn’t need access to the main library, like the sales and PR teams. After uploading all of their assets and establishing approval processes, they found that having a centralized image library was quite useful for working with outside collaborators.
Maria and Jen are responsible for uploading and labeling the assets as they come in. The process is a lot smoother than how it was before. “We’ve really cut down on the number of requests we receive,” Jen said. “If someone needs something or wants to see if a file is approved, they can see for themselves.”
They’re also quite happy with how other teams have utilized the organized assets for their own digital asset management needs. “Our sales reps learned that they could create their own albums with the “Collections” feature, so they have the right photos for their pitches,” Tifani said.
