Still distributing CD’s?

Centralise brand guidelines.

Enables people across the organisation and within marketing supply chain to access the brand rules; reducing the risk (and cost) of brand dilution. The cost of getting this wrong can be immediate (re–work/ stock destruction) or longer term (brand dilution, client confusion, lost revenue)

Traditional method of communicating brand guidelines and assets has been either printed books or CDs, providing on–line access means, in comparison it is faster and cheaper to update the guidelines and communicate these changes to people.

The need to integrate software with management processes and ways of working illustrated here; a brand site sitting in splendid isolation will not deliver full value. Its existence needs to register in peoples minds, use on–line training tools to build awareness of the importance of the brand, communicate an intolerance getting it wrong.

Provide more than the rules – provide the images, resources collateral that define the brand experience.

Empower people to make the correct creative decisions – provide knowledge and support to select the most appropriate communication method to achieve their objectives.

Changes the relationship between the brand guardians and the organisation from police and confrontation to enabler and supporter.

Manage the lifecycle of assets within the asset store; set expiry and review dates; define asset ownerships. Maintain visibility of the brand archive.

Manage stock levels and re–order quantities alongside the management of the asset lifecycle. Avoid re–ordering 10,000 copies of an item that is due to be reviewed and updated next week. Reduce waste.

Integrate with existing stock management systems to centralize the decision making.

Provide an on–line shopping basket for people to order hard copies of items; could be literature, could be branded widgets.

Introduce eProcurement to your print suppliers. Obtain quotes from approved suppliers while controlling who makes the print decision. Deliver print orders and artwork to printers on–line.

Manage multiple agency relationships on–line. Define agency roles and monitor/ measure their delivery. Separate creative from production/ fulfillment throughout your marketing supply chain. Obtain quotes on–line for routine work. Brief agencies and approve their work in a collaborative workspace.

Providing templates to create print–ready artwork reducing creative expenditure) and empowering people to be on–brand. Create multi–page brochures, fact sheets, sales aids, cards and product sheets as templates for users to localize. Approve for cost/ copy and automatically send to print. Saves a lot of money.

Manage marketing plan/campaign plan approval. Capture anticipated outcomes and budgets. Provide best–practice project types for teams to launch track tasks. Capture costs and results for 360o management information and performance evaluation.

Providing templates to create print–ready artwork reducing creative expenditure) and empowering people to be on–brand. Create multi–page brochures, fact sheets, sales aids, cards and product sheets as templates for users to localize. Approve for cost/ copy and automatically send to print. Saves a lot of money.

Generate electronic press packs by linked press releases to associated content (images, product specifications) and distributing to media targets. Provide targets with a content rich, personalized website containing the press archive, available 24/7. Track and monitor success of specific campaigns. Capture and store press clippings resulting from each campaign.

Communicate with discreet stakeholder groups by generating content rich communications and tracking response rates. Provide stakeholders with a personalized website containing all communications and associated content (video, audio, podcasts, images…).

Align creative expenditure with need to reduce inappropriate creative expense. Manage briefing and approvals online. Reduce re–work and cost–of–error. Track time and project / task status. Replace paper job–bags. Increases speed to market by automating process.

Citrix Systems found that by empowering their agencies to set–up projects within a brand management system whenever they received a brief from anyone in Citrix Systems (Florida, USA); the brand team had visibility of all live activities and thus reduced the number of off–brand items rejected at the final approval stage.

Integrate existing on–line marketing solutions with campaign decision–making and approval. Create and approve on–line creative and content within the projects center and capture anticipated results and actuals.

Capture management information to report on campaigns and provide forward workload visibility. Reduce reliance on excel spreadsheet and minimize duplication of effort in capturing and reporting on performance.

Integrate desktop marketing solutions with campaign decision–making and approval. Create and approve creative and content within the projects center and capture anticipated results and actuals.

Provide a personalized dashboard with to–do lists and workload status for each member of the marketing team. Reduce reliance on e–mail as a work management tool.

Provide management with a dashboard highlighting project status, altering them to potential issues and providing access to management information.

Capture and approve campaign budgets and actuals. Manage and control print expenditure. Improve risk management of marketing processes through defined control frameworks and management information.