Everyone loves a throwback photo. It’s a chance to walk down memory lane and get a window into history. Your prints, slides, negatives, movie film and video tapes are extremely valuable – and if they’re sitting in a box in your office, you’re missing incredible opportunities to share your brand’s story.
We’ve partnered with FotoBridge so you can digitize your archive and make your historical photos and videos easily accessible in the cloud.
Now, you can send your prints, 35mm slides, negatives, movie film and video tapes to FotoBridge, and they will digitize and upload your assets straight to PhotoShelter for Brands (formerly Libris).
“Bringing together our large-scale photo and film digitizing service with the capabilities of PhotoShelter through this partnership is very exciting,” says FotoBridge Founder Ed O’Boyle. “It enables us to not only ensure our clients are getting the highest quality newly digitized assets, but that they have one of the best platforms to store, access and manage those assets, alongside their ‘born-digital’ assets for maximum productivity and value.”
Making your digitized photo and video collections easily accessible and searchable in PhotoShelter opens doors for sharing one-of-a-kind, highly relevant visual content with your audience.
“Unlocking archives by digitizing benefits the entire organization by first preserving its legacy and then creating and making accessible unique digital assets for marketing, sales, monetization, brand management, social media campaigns, public relations, community building, partnerships, and licensing opportunities,” says Ed.
Let’s take a look at three examples that highlight why digitization and digital asset management are a winning combination.
The Benefits of Digitization + Digital Asset Management
Preserving Your Brand’s Memories
Digitizing your historical photo and video collection helps protect your brand’s memories. When FotoBridge uploads your assets to PhotoShelter, they are automatically backed up four different times.
The Indianapolis Colts used FotoBridge to digitize thousands of 35mm slides and negatives. Now, the team’s archive is backed up and easily accessible in the Colts’ PhotoShelter library, so the team can preserve photos of Colts legends and iconic moments.
Sharing History
Once your archives are digitized and added to your visual media library, you can use them to engage your audience. PhotoShelter not only allows you to store your assets in the cloud, but also allows you to make your images searchable with metadata.
The Cradle of Aviation Museum has a robust archive of historical photos that’s easily searchable thanks to rich metadata. Check out the image below. The metadata offers valuable context and shows this photo was taken in 1932. Then, if you’re curious to see more photos from this time period, you can search “1932” in the Cradle of Aviation Museum’s PhotoShelter library, and return nearly 100 results. Making these images easy to find opens up a world of possibilities for sharing the stories behind them.
Making Something New of the Old
One of the best ways to engage your audience is to put a new spin on something old. Think about current events, whether it’s a big game against your sports team’s historic rival or your nonprofits 50th anniversary, and how you can add to your story by sharing a bit of the past.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has chronicled Pittsburgh’s rich history since 1786. As the first newspaper west of the Allegheny Mountains, the Post-Gazette has an unmatched collection of the region’s stories, including a massive archive of historical photos. Every week, the team digs into the archive for a feature fittingly called, “The Digs.” They publish the photos, alongside a new article remembering these moments from the past and comparing them to the people and places of the present.
The Takeaway
Digitizing your historical photo and video collections and making them easily accessible creates powerful possibilities for sharing your brand’s message. In the end, we all love stories, and we’re much more likely to connect with a brand that draws us in with a compelling backstory.
Learn about all of our partners and reach out to us at squad@photoshelter.com if you want to learn more about our partnership with FotoBridge.
Cover photo courtesy of FotoBridge.
