Renewal by Andersen Activates Marketing Content With the Widen Collective^®

Challenges 

Before implementing the Widen Collective, Renewal by Andersen needed a central location for marketing and ad partners to access digital assets. They had files stored across local servers, portable hard drives, and an ad builder tool that employees found cumbersome. This made it time consuming to find assets and difficult to maintain brand consistency.

If affiliate retailers couldn't find the images they needed for their local ad flyers, they would take and use their own snapshots!

Objectives


Searchable asset library
Provide easy access to Andersen marketing materials

Show products in action
Get permission to collect and share user-generated content

Segmentation
Create user roles that limit each retailer’s access to photos of what they sell

Solution

An intuitive DAM solution

In 2015, Renewal by Andersen was looking for a digital asset management (DAM) system to become the central location to store and access digital assets. After evaluating a number of vendors, the team selected the Widen Collective based on a comparison of features, benefits, usability, and cost.

The Collective now houses Renewal by Andersen’s product photography, videos for broadcast and internet commercials, user-generated content, logos, illustrations, and other materials that are used to sell their windows. “Our goal is when we put something in the DAM, anybody can take that out and be confident that this is the final product that can go out to the public,” said Katja Amyx, Production Artist and DAM Administrator at Renewal by Andersen.

By placing users into one of six user roles, Katja can control what assets affiliate retailers can access. For example, products only sold in mild climates will not appear for retailers in more extreme climates.

Benefits

Affiliate retailers have self-service access to assets that sell windows

Renewal by Andersen works with affiliate retailers to sell their windows. They use the Collective to provide retailers with promotional materials like video assets for commercials, and photographs for social media and flyers.

A flexible DAM system that makes sharing assets easy

The flexibility of the Collective allows Katja to share assets quickly and easily. “Any client who wants anything, I can send them a collection, it takes a few minutes. It’s very flexible.” Clients benefit from the quick response and Katja gets to spend more time on her other work.

Tint + Widen integration collects user-generated content

Renewal by Andersen customers frequently share how much they love their new windows and patio doors on Instagram. The Collective and Tint integration collects this feedback, including customer photos and usage permission. The marketing team can then share this user-generated content on their website alongside their products. “Beauty photography definitely has its place, but it’s really good for people to know that a regular person in a regular house got our windows and really love them,” emphasized Katja.

Data to prove people are using marketing materials

When Katja is asked to quantify the usage of their marketing materials, she uses data from Widen Insights to confirm exactly how many times assets are viewed, downloaded, and shared. “That means people are using the assets we want them to use, and not taking their own snapshots and putting them on their flyers,” said Katja “If you’ve been in this business long enough, you know that happens.”

“Our goal is when we put something in the DAM, anybody can take that out and be confident that this is the final product that can go out to the public."

– Katja Amyx, Production Designer and Digital Asset Specialist at Renewal by Andersen