An image library, or corporate asset library is a great resource for companies, both large and small. It is indispensable in my business. When done right, a corporate library provides marketing and communications teams with reliable, on brand images, video and graphics as needed. As a corporate photographer with years of experience working with brands to produce assets for their libraries, I work with companies to create both still images and video clips that can be used for various projects on demand.
A corporate library is only as good as the assets. But even with great photos and videos, the library must be easy to navigate and research. So as it grows, a DAM (digital asset management) system is essential.
I recently worked with a client producing and shooting a video for a particular project. Parts of the script relied on events that took place in the past for historical references. For those spots in the video I was given access to their asset library. The library contains video clips, photos, audio and illustrations, even logos and brand guidelines. All assets were keyworded and easily searchable. The library contains in excess of 100K assets, so keyworking and file structure is essential. Anyone that’s set up a DAM system knows how difficult it can be, but also how indispensable it is in the long run. It’s always best to start a DAM before the first assets are acquired. That way structure and hierarchies can be established and adhered to. Once those parameters are in place it’s time to populate the library. As it continues to grow, it will be easily searchable if the folders make sense and assets are keyworded properly. For this particular client I was able to quickly and efficiently determine if they had the necessary assets for the historical references – they did – which saved me tons of research time and saved the client lots of money on both research and having to acquire stock. The final cut was much more dynamic since we used their own assets.
Here’s a list of what goes into a great Corporate Asset Library:
DAM (Digital Asset Management)
- Cloud based system for easy access.
- Structured hierarchy for assets
- All assets keyworded
Really good assets – photos, video clips, audio clips, documents, logos and brand assets, brand guidelines
- Final Videos
- Hi Res photos in JPEG format
- Video clips in standard format – mp4
- Illustrations, layered files
- Logos, layered files
- Graphics, layered files
Brand Guidelines
- Brand values and voice
- Logo usage
- Fonts and typography use
- Color palettes
- It may also include rules for social media and emails
shot for the Planned Parenthood corporate image library
shot for the BP Biosciences corporate image library
shot for the Safran corporate image library
shot for the Edwards Life Sciences corporate image library
shot for the Hydro corporate image library
shot for the Taylored corporate image library
