Before Bynder Webdam, we lacked a centralized brand portal. We used to have mixed success getting people what they needed and making sure it was coordinated.Austin Holt
Digital Marketing Manager at Santa Cruz Bicycles
Founded in 1994, Santa Cruz Bicycles has been delivering high-quality bikes to true cycling enthusiasts ever since. Headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, they are present worldwide through a network of shops and retailers. Renowned for their innovative frames and wheels, Santa Cruz Bicycles reaches cycling enthusiasts around the world with a vast and varied network of dealerships and retailers. Working closely with the retail marketing team in California, they help Santa Cruz Bicycles to promote their brand and distribute their bikes to daredevils everywhere.
With such a widespread network to oversee, it was vital for the marketing teams at Santa Cruz Bicycles to streamline processes and communication with their 200+ partners. What they needed was a way to empower retailers to promote the brand independently by giving them easy access to the latest assets and guidelines.
The creative and marketing teams lacked a central repository in which to store and distribute approved assets. With hundreds of retailers catering to different regional markets, it was challenging for the marketing team to coordinate phased launches and keep promotion on-brand.
Bynder's DAM solution centralizes all company assets in a single portal and makes them available to authorized internal and external teams everywhere. With Brand Connect (aka Bynder's Brand Guidelines) as an additional module, Santa Cruz Bicycles knows partners are empowered to always stay on-brand.
What were Santa Cruz Bicycles looking to solve with Bynder?
We used a number of different systems before and it wasn’t always easy to get people what they needed.
Santa Cruz Bicycles used to rely on a combination of a different DAM and Dropbox. Without a centralized asset portal to connect the creative and marketing teams directly with retailers, the teams had to create custom sharing environments to provide each partner with the assets and level of support needed.
With such a vast network of retailers across different markets, it was vital for the retail marketing team to find an effective way to coordinate promotion based on the needs and possibilities of individual distributors.
Santa Cruz Bicycles found it difficult to:
Phase new product launches based on geography and retailer size;
Make custom assets readily available to retailers;
Empower partners to independently find and use assets based on their needs;
Report on asset use across retailers, media, and other partners.
Talking practically: How did Bynder help?
Santa Cruz Bicycles needed a way to streamline communication and empower partners by making approved assets easily available to them at any time.
With Bynder Webdam, the creative team easily manages assets to always fit the company branding, while the digital team can set permissions to seamlessly phase retailers into groups based on size and geography to coordinate promotional activities. Retailers now access the assets they need to promote Santa Cruz Bicycles independently; based on their market needs.
Retailers and distributors now use the Bynder Webdam portal to access all approved assets 24/7. They can localize materials and leverage the content they need to promote products and events while safeguarding the brand's identity. The digital marketing and brand teams now simplify communication with journalists by granting them access to their DAM portal and setting permissions. Only the right assets are shared with the right people and Santa Cruz Bicycles has full control over how their brand is communicated.
With smooth asset sharing and streamlined communication, Santa Cruz Bicycles enjoys the peace of mind to scale and move fast knowing they're always on the right trail.
Now we have a portal interface where we can make sure that guidelines and assets are really in front of people. The interface piece might seem small, but it makes a big difference.
What’s next for Santa Cruz Bicycles?
Santa Cruz Bicycles plans to extend access to the DAM Portal to all their partners worldwide and empower them to use the brand assets and imagery beyond planned, coordinated promotions. Easy access to guidelines ensures retailers can use the brand image correctly, consistently, and associate it with local initiatives.
Our creative team spend a significant amount of time making sure the quality of our photography and design matches the quality of our bikes. In the future, we plan to redesign the brand portal, so the experience you have here is a natural extension of the experience on santacruzbicycles.com.
Santa Cruz Bicycles uses an internally developed landing page to communicate their brand guidelines to retailers worldwide. They plan to fully roll out the Brand Connect module, which integrates with the Asset Library and automatically reflects any changes to ensure brand consistency is achieved quickly and maintained easily.
We now have a well-coordinated system to get new content out to our valued partners around the world. It’s a resource you use on a regular basis, and we see its value reflected across our retail marketing and through to our retailers.
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