7 Takeaways from Henry Stewart DAM in Los Angeles 2023
By: Nicole Burgess
If you’ve ever had a professional conversation with me, you know that I’m always ecstatic to talk about Digital Asset Management (DAM). Attending a Henry Stewart conference is like visiting a theme park for metadata nerds…if the rides were conference talks, the carnival games were vendor booths, and lunchtime was networking with old and new connections.
Los Angeles was no exception. As one might expect of the Hollywood location, media and entertainment had a foothold in this year’s topics with talks from Paramount Pictures, NFL Media Group, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A popular topic was going beyond the DAM— from getting started with video assets to the role of a MAM, bringing together multiple data sources to generative AI in the creative process, and whether using an all-in-one solution or integrated tools performed better.
One area of focus that never wanes when you get DAM admins in a room together is the people and process side of our tech world. From garnering executive buy-in to serving up governance, there’s always a story and learning opportunity when it comes to making DAM work for business units.
Here are some of the takeaways from the talks I heard:
DAM is not a one-size fits all journey.
“Is all you want [your users] to do is grab everything off the shelf?” - Kathleen Cameron, Google Marketing Operations
Kathleen paired her presentation with relatable imagery and memes that evoked a communal chuckle and knowing grin of DAM admins in the room. This quote went with a gif of actress Kristen Bell swiping every bag of chips on the eye-level shelf into her shopping cart. Her point is something that all admins should consider when curating the DAM experience – what do you users need to be able to do? Crafting user stories is not just an exercise for vendor selection. Taking the time to understand your users leads to better permissions, metadata, and functionality of the DAM.
“If people don’t like the word governance, use a different word.” - Kyle Hufford, Monster Energy
Kyle describes his approach to governance as less stringent than most. If his users don’t like the word ‘governance’, he doesn’t use it – and gains user compliance as a result. Choosing to be flexible, Kyle said that he considers file naming conventions and user training to be sufficient governance. Despite our natural urge to classify, it doesn’t matter what you call the governance process, if the DAM is governed.
DAM involves everyone.
“If you whisper ‘liability’ 3 times, Legal will show up.” - Molly Barrett-O'Callahan, Big Lots, Inc.
Rights management is a major component of a DAM system when talking about ROI of the system, namely because it has the potential to save the organization a lot of money by preventing assets from being used outside of their contractual agreements. It might not be news to DAM admins in the room, but remember, DAM is still bound to raise eyebrows and questions. You may need to educate other areas of the business on what DAM can do, and one of the best ways is to explain how disaster can be mitigated.
“It’s hard for teams to agree on ‘is this love?’ or ‘is this romance?’.” - Joseph “JD” Henry, Cedars-Sinai
Whether an image can represent “love” or “romance” will depend on how your users are anticipating the search function to work and for that, you need to not just talk to them, but get them to agree. Creating a metadata model in a vacuum is easy. What makes sense to you makes sense to you. But DAMs are communal. They are used and needed by many people across the organization, each one with a different point of view, cultural understanding, and team jargon. JD’s talk focused on the strategy behind weighting search in DAM, but what struck me most was the conversation that ensued over the variable priorities of employees in an enterprise.
DAM is ever-evolving.
“Don't just react, prevent problems.” - Phil Seibel, Aldis
Most, if not all, DAM users have a job that doesn’t revolve around the DAM. It’s instead, a tool that supports their ability to accomplish their tasks. Rather than wait for a problem, DAM admins are hard at work, anticipating the needs of their users with integrations to other systems in their processes, establishing metadata for brand updates, creating easy navigation experiences, to name a few. If you’re new to DAM and wondering what you can do, take Phil’s advice above and look at how your users operate to anticipate future challenges and opportunities. If you haven’t done so lately, give some kudos to a DAM admin. It is often a thankless role. This is, in part, due to their incredible ability to set up a system with users’ needs in mind without the level of input one would count on.
“Don’t put people in the ‘Other’ category.” - John Horodyski, Salt Flats
DEIA is not a new concept, but the representation of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility has had a slow ramp into business conversations. Consider this: “Other” is not descriptive, it represents a failure to describe. John’s point takes this idea further, saying that metadata is not just a data point and description of one’s identity could include or alienate individuals and should be considered as part of your organization’s metadata schema.
“The four areas we were lacking in [metadata, governance, change management, rights management] are now our greatest areas of impact.” - Nina Damavandi, University of Southern California
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by a DAM program. When asked what an admin does, I respond with a deluge of responsibilities that typically raises more questions. Those in charge of a DAM, especially solo admins, are the product owner in charge of the vendor relationship, tech troubleshooters, metadata masters, taxonomy gurus, governance police, user trainers, hand holders, armchair therapists, system integrators, documentation and knowledge management specialists, usage rights analysts, and UX designers. Phew! At any one time, it can feel like one of those responsibilities is failing. And when you’re starting out or planning a migration, there will be a lot of room for improvement. Hearing Nina’s story in such detail reminded me of my own journey and that DAM programs are ever-evolving.
Every conference gives us an intense opportunity to expand our knowledge and learn from others. Meeting the exceptional minds behind the DAMs of a wide range of companies is always a highlight. We are eager to share our expertise and takeaways with your organization to address your selection, migration, metadata, and governance needs. Let’s get the conversation going – contact us today to gain insights into making your business more DAM capable.