Building and maintaining a strong brand identity is essential to a business's success. But managing brand assets can be a complex task, especially when your business is leveraging multiple channels and platforms. 

In this blog post, we'll explore the importance of brand asset management tools and discuss how this type of system can help streamline your branding efforts. We'll also look at how the right platform can help you create, manage, and share brand assets across all of your platforms. 

Importance of brand asset management tool

A brand asset management (BAM) tool refers to a software platform designed to help organizations manage their brand assets (logos, images, social media content, etc.). A BAM tool provides a centralized storage for all brand assets, allowing teams to easily access and distribute them as needed. 

Here are some of the key benefits of using a BAM tool:

• Consistent brand messaging: A BAM tool helps organizations maintain consistency in their brand messaging by providing a centralized repository for all brand assets. This ensures that all teams are using the same logos, colors, fonts, and messaging, regardless of location or department.

• Increased productivity: A BAM tool streamlines accessing and sharing brand assets, saving your team’s time and increasing productivity. This eliminates the need for teams to search through multiple folders or platforms to find the assets they need.

• Cost savings: By managing all brand assets in a single platform, organizations can reduce the need for multiple subscriptions and licenses to different software tools. This can result in significant cost savings.

• Improved collaboration: A BAM tool enables teams to collaborate more effectively by allowing them to share brand assets and work on projects in real time. This improves communication and helps teams work more efficiently together.

• Brand protection: A BAM tool helps organizations protect their brand by ensuring that all brand assets are being used correctly and under brand guidelines. This helps prevent the unauthorized use of brand assets, which can damage a brand's reputation.

Top 5 brand asset management platforms

To elevate your business game in 2023, here are the top five brand asset management tools.

1. Artwork Flow

Artwork Flow is your go-to platform for brand asset management requirements. It is a robust digital asset management and creative collaboration software. It helps you simplify the creative process and launch campaigns faster. 

Pros

• Manage everything brand-related with features like online proofing, workflow management, brand compliance software, and brand asset management in one place.
• Preview and revert to all asset versions in one place.
• Track the entire brand asset lifecycle on the platform.
• Intuitive and easy navigation.
• Free tools such as spell checker, color extractor, and pdf compare to ensure error-free creatives and brand consistency.

Cons

• There is no free version of this product.

Pricing

Artwork Flow's pricing plans are as follows: 

• Small businesses can purchase a Pro plan for $39 per user per month.
• Large organizations can contact the sales team for custom quotes.

Applications

Artwork Flow is a brand asset management tool that is ideal for industries such as pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, and food and beverage. It also helps legal and regulatory teams in consumer goods business comply with regulatory requirements. 

2. Bynder

Bynder is a digital asset management platform that helps your team manage the “chaos of growing content.” It has also recently added a content workflow feature to review and approve content. 

Pros

• Intuitive filter structure making searchability easy.
• Avoids the risk of unauthorized access with access and usage permissions. 
• Helps get started with the platform with educational resources.
• Simplifies complex file structures. 

Cons

• Little tricky to create collections and manage them.

Pricing

Bynder provides pricing quotes on request through their website.

Applications

Bynder is a versatile brand asset management tool that can be used across a range of industries, including advertising, marketing, and e-commerce. It is particularly suited for companies that need to manage a large volume of digital assets, such as images, videos, and marketing collateral.

3. Brandfolder

Brandfolder is a digital asset management tool that simplifies asset distribution, enhances cross-functional workflows, and automates content automation processes to help teams launch campaigns faster. 

Pros

• You can select many assets and share one link with colleagues.
• Strong search functionality helps in finding assets quickly.
• Publish content links publicly or privately.
• Easily upload and download various file formats.  
• Smooth onboarding process for even large enterprises.

Cons

• Unoriginal file formats take a long time to process.
• Difficult to figure out who has access to what on Brandfolder.

Pricing

The website provides a quote upon request.

Applications

Brandfolder is ideal for companies in the creative and design industries, such as advertising agencies, graphic design firms, and video production companies. It provides a range of tools for managing digital assets, including advanced search and tagging functionality, making it easy to find and use assets in a creative workflow.

4. Air Inc.

Air Inc is a creative collaboration and digital asset management tool that helps in smooth team coordination.

Pros

• Flexibility in organizing assets and customizing your workspace.
• Provides dynamic feedback for all assets including videos. 
• Easy search of files using auto tags.
• Collaborate with external stakeholders easily.

Cons

• The free version only has limited features. 
• The software may slow down due to bandwidth issues

Pricing

Pricing plans of Air Inc. are as follows: 

• Free: No CC required. For individual users.
• Plus: $10/month. For small teams and freelance projects.
• Pro: $25/user/month. For growing teams.
• Enterprise: Custom plans for very large organizations.

Applications

Air Inc. is a brand asset management tool that is specifically designed for hospitality and travel companies. It provides a centralized platform for managing brand assets such as images, videos, and marketing collateral, making it easy to ensure brand consistency across all marketing channels.

5. Frontify

Frontify is a digital asset management and creative collaboration tool. It primarily helps organizations centralize their assets, communicate their brand guidelines effectively and maintain brand consistency internally and externally. 

Pros

• Intuitive and user-friendly.
• Ensures brand consistency with templates and image libraries.
• Alerts the user when the right to use a specific asset expires with asset rights management.
• Customer support is well-structured.

Cons

• Restricted customization options for building pages.  

Pricing

No pricing information on the website.

Applications

Frontify is an adaptable brand asset management tool that can be applied across a range of industries, including e-commerce, marketing, and design. It provides a range of features for managing brand assets, including brand guidelines, digital asset management, and collaboration tools, making it a useful platform for any company looking to maintain a strong brand identity.

Final thoughts

Ultimately, the best platform for brand asset management will depend on the specific needs and requirements of your organization. It's important to consider factors such as the size of your organization, the number of assets you need to manage, and the specific features you require before selecting a platform.

Artwork Flow is a suitable platform if you’re looking to organize your brand assets to soothe the creative process. If you’d like to know more about how the platform can fit your marketing needs, start a free 7-day trial today!