Drinks manufacturer Diageo has achieved a 10:1 payback on its
investment in a web-based system for managing the promotional
materials for 200 brands including Guinness, J&B and
Baileys.
The company said the custom-built
brand asset management portal, which took five years to
develop, protects Diageo against the risk of potentially millions
of pounds in costs for accidental copyright infringement.
The portal allows promotional materials to be viewed or
downloaded only by authorised users and provides detailed
information about usage rights in each of the 180 countries where
the company operates.
Diageo decided to develop its own system in partnership with
content-management firm VYRE using its Unify web application
framework.
Nic Lund, brand asset management programme manager, said the
risk analysis of sending out discs containing brand materials with
no way of tracking or controlling their use provided a strong
business case for the programme, but return on investment comes
mainly from the re-use of materials.
The portal allows 4,500 users in marketing teams and creative
agencies access to the library of promotional materials. This means
materials can be created once, used many times, and distributed
around the world faster and at a lower cost than before, without
duplicating work.
This has enabled Diageo to get the most out of its advertising
and promotional budget, with payback accelerating as the number of
items stored in the system, market coverage, site activity, and the
number of downloads have increased.
Diageo achieved a payback rate of £10 for every one pound
invested in developing the system before the end of its financial
year in June, months ahead of target.
The portal has alllowed Diageo to manage its brands consistently
users around the world. It gives users access to four workflow
tools for creating, sharing, developing and approving materials
according to internal and external codes of practice.