The Challenge
“Before Xinet, the way we used to search for a file was akin to an ‘X Files/Indiana Jones’ scene. Remember that room at the end of ‘Raiders’? That was our DAM system.”
Jd Michaels, SVP Director of Creative Engineering / Production at BBDO New York
The first thing Michaels did when he arrived at the agency was install two enormous blackboards in his office.
“The best DAM systems are visual. Art directors think in a visual way. If you try to explain something to them and talk about numbers or concepts, all you get are puzzled expressions. But if you go to the blackboard and show them, the light bulbs go on. The light bulb DAM solution is the one that shows me, it doesn’t tell me. That’s WebNative Suite,” Michaels said.
The Solution
“When our creatives came in to review them, we said: ‘Click here. These are all your pictures.’ When the client came in, they were expecting reams of paper photos taped up on the wall, but instead we used WebNative to project them as a medium. Then we gave them a web address so they could review it at home if they wanted to.”
Jd Michaels, SVP Director of Creative Engineering / Production at BBDO New York
Not long after the agency implemented WebNative Suite, BBDO used it to solve a colossal problem: A large client had a worldwide shoot scheduled for 5000+ final photos from eight countries with eight different languages, and wanted every image processed through the New York office.
“It worked perfectly. The photographers shot digitally. We gave each of them an Uploader for their desktops with their names on them so they could drag and drop their images 24 hours a day. When the New York office woke up, there were 5,500 final shots awaiting them that were uploaded while we slept."
This underscores the central misconception of asset management, Michaels says.
“It’s not a library function. It’s a dynamic active database tool designed for problems like this.”
To ensure a cultural buy-in so his agency would feel comfortable using WebNative Suite, Michaels brought in Apple Computer so that his colleagues—some whom were in their mid-60s—would first get familiar with programs like iPhoto, iMovie and iTunes.
The Benefits
More work
with fewer people.
The business model that WebNative Suite presented boiled down to more work with fewer people.
“In terms of the business model, we were working faster and smarter. We were able to handle more work, and I didn’t need to ask for more employees,” said Michaels. “Xinet is the next generation of time management and money management.”
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