“New” is trending in Sacramento. The Sacramento Kings have a new coach, a new owner, a new logo, a new brand look and feel, and in a few months, the team will have a new arena.
To spread the word, the Kings marketing team is using cutting-edge visual storytelling. To launch the new brand, the team played off of its successful “Sacramento Proud” campaign with the hashtag, #NewEraOfProud.
On social media, the Kings engaged thousands of fans with this video celebrating the team’s past and future:
They even launched a 360-degree video to announce the new jerseys, giving fans a behind the scenes experience with their favorite players:
The Kings’ Creative Director, Ryan Brijs, says the content is generating excitement among fans. He says Sacramento locals love one image of the city skyline with the new SAC mark positioned just above the site of the new arena.
“There’s this new sense of pride in the city and this connection between the team and the city,” says Ryan.
Behind the scenes, there is also something new quietly powering the Kings’ visual communications and keeping track of this important time in the team’s history.
“We’re using Libris to capture and archive a lot of the things we’re doing along the way,” says Ryan.
The Kings creative department is using a cloud-based visual media library on Libris to source, store, organize and share visual content. Let’s take a look at how a powerful visual media library helps the team use imagery effectively and efficiently in communications.
Simple Sourcing
The Kings work with one staff photographer who doubles as a graphic designer, one NBA photographer who has been shooting for the franchise since the team moved to Sacramento, and a variety of freelance photographers. Before the team had a cloud-based media library, the team didn’t have a system for getting photos from all of those sources.
“It was just the old school way of having them bring a card over or sending a Dropbox or zip file,” says Ryan, who manages all of the Kings’ visual assets.
Now, Ryan grants each person contributor access to the Kings’ cloud-based media library, and the photographers can upload photos in a way that works for them. Ryan says many of them use the Desktop Uploader feature.
“Our process is much more streamlined using Libris. A freelance photographer can log in and see our file structure and know right where to place the new photos,” says Ryan.
Plus, the photographers can upload photos wherever they are, cutting out extra effort and delivery time. The NBA photographer uploads his photos to the team’s library immediately after the game.
“It’s been nice to have remote access for these guys to upload the shots that we need,” says Ryan. “We can receive and deliver photos so much faster now.”
Storage and Organization
Ryan looked into digital asset management (DAM) systems when he and his team were constantly faced with the challenge of the brand’s servers filling up.
“We were constantly asking IT for more server space,” says Ryan.
With Libris, the Kings creative team no longer has to worry about server space. All of their assets are centralized in one secure location.
The new library is structured like the old servers, with collections for each department. The Kings use the layered permissions settings to grant view and download access to specific departments. If a shoot from a charity event comes in, the people in the Foundation department have the rights to download those photos and use them however they’d like. After a party with current or prospective season ticket holders, photos from the event are immediately made available to the Ticket Sales team. Every department gets access to their own photos quickly and easily, and they don’t have to dig through irrelevant content to find what they need.
“It’s so easy to get in there and see the photos and decide what you want to use,” says Ryan, adding that the intuitive user experience and simple design drew him to Libris. “It helped that it was a clean interface and easy to use, but it’s that combination of functionality and design being one.”
Access and Delivery
Without a visual asset management system, the Kings creative team wasn’t using photography to the fullest because file sharing was so difficult.
“Before, it was photo after photo being taken and not being used, not being used the right way, or just sitting on a server,” he explains. “I would say 80-85% of the photos weren’t being used properly.”
Now, Ryan and the Kings creative team are using photography effectively because they can easily deliver photos to be used for all different purposes, including ticket sales, public relations, charitable outreach, marketing, broadcast, youth camps, partnerships and more.
The new system works well for sharing photos in real time. During the game, the social media team can navigate to the collection for the game and access pictures of fans, players and in-game entertainment.
It also allows the team to capture and share content over time. Check out this screenshot of the “Golden 1 Center” collection, which includes galleries of construction photos over the last three years, drone photos, groundbreaking ceremony highlights, renderings and more. The Kings use the collection to deliver progress reports to partners, share updates with the media and highlight milestones on social media.
“It’s so much easier to know what we have and to be able to share quickly,” says Ryan. “Instead of us just waiting for the time to use the photos, we can share them with the parties who are interested right away.”
The Bottom Line
The Kings’ story mirrors survey results that show the primary benefit for teams using visual asset management is the ability to maximize their visual media libraries. By making the team’s photos available to the people who need them, the Kings are improving visual communications across platforms. Meanwhile, they are making the process easier for every person on the team (and working with the team) who interacts with photography.
As the Kings celebrate a “New Era of Proud,” they will be well prepared to manage the massive amount of content they are generating. Streamlining the image sharing process will help them highlight stories of the new stadium, the new season and the fans’ growing excitement. And as the franchise evolves, a strong visual media library will help them capture and curate important moments in Kings history.
Cover photo courtesy of the Sacramento Kings.
