Branding Automation is now a thing

You probably didn’t read or notice (some time ago) that Bynder, a Dutch Digital Asset Management software vendor just scored a big Silicon Valley investment.

Cloud Branding Automation startup Bynder scores a US$22.3 million investment from Insight Venture Partners

That’s probably because no one is watching or cares much about Digital Asset Management software (aka DAM), other then DAM vendors. Indeed Digital Asset Management has a bit of an identity crisis.

Looks like Bynder worked that out and have coined the term Branding Automation.

We like it.

Partly because we always saw ourselves as Brand Management System vendor rather than just another a DAM vendor.

In our view DAM has always been a subset of a Brand Management System, and now a subset of Branding Automation.

First, exactly what is Branding Automation? and second, what does this mean for DAM? 

So what is Branding Automation?

Branding Automation refers to software platforms and technologies designed for brand managers and marketing departments and organizations to automate repetitive tasks and more effectively distribute brand messaging.

Branding Automation is fresh, modern and it fits perfectly with it’s contemporary’s, Marketing Automation and Marketing Technology Stack.

Read Brandkit’s definition of Branding Automation here.

DAM is still getting its time in the sun

While DAM or Digital Asset Management has an identity crisis, it’s also in a pretty good place at the moment.

The rise of Content Marketing and the growing demand by Marketing teams for more visual and rich media content is driving more interest in DAM. Moreover, the growth of the DAM market is also expected to be driven by the cost-effective solutions being offered by cloud-based DAM vendors.

Growth in awareness about the benefits of DAM solutions over conventional content management solutions among organizations is expected to increase the rate of adoption of DAM solutions among SMEs in the coming years.

The DAM market is predicted to be a US$7.5 Billion industry by 2024.

Where have you been DAM?

DAM has been around since the mid 90’s. However, DAM vendors have struggled for years to gain attention from Marketers or establish DAM as a widely used category of software.

Recently, many vendors have rallied behind a global but US centered DAM industry which has tried but struggled to successfully get sufficient attention.

Many brands simply don’t have a DAM and aren’t looking.

In our view every company on the planet should be carefully managing every aspect of their brand, should have some sort of Brand Management System or Branding Automation software in place, including the smallest companies - who have been mostly priced out of the market.

At Brandkit we are hoping to change this with affordable pricing and easy setup.

The future is Branding Automation in the cloud

Cloud Software as a Service  is how Marketers want to buy software today.

Branding Automation software as a service in the cloud is already available today (from several vendors) meaning, that Branding Automation is accessible, generally fast to deploy and affordable even for the smallest companies.

“Branding Automation software should be in every modern marketers Marketing Stack.”

What CRM  and Marketing Automation did for sales, Branding Automation can do for brands.

The cloud is allowing Branding Automation vendors to deliver solutions and marketers to work faster and smarter, freeing up time for creative and strategic initiatives instead of repetitive administrative tasks. Branding Automation lets marketers respond to real-time issues because there is a foundation for brand content, which is accessible and consistent across the business.

BA (and DAM) Vendor Valuations

While we’re not overly concerned with valuations. This is the first big Silicon Valley investment in the Branding Automation sector. It immediately increases the valuations of other Branding Automation (and to some extent also Cloud DAM) vendors across the entire industry overnight.

We think that’s pretty awesome :)

We’ve been doing Brand Management Systems (aka Branding Automation) software as a service since 1997. Longer than most. At Brandkit we focus on core features that are important to branding. We don’t try and do everything and that’s important (See Marketing Stack vs All In One Software).

The number one thing, is that a Brand must remain consistent in all communications across the team, markets and across the globe. So managing, collaborating and distributing a brand’s Brand Story, Brand Standards, approved Brand Assets and Marketing Content and doing it well, is 99% of what a good Branding Automation solution should do.

It’s job number one and our focus at Brandkit.

We hope you agree you should have Branding Automation in your life and we hope you come and check us out at Brandkit.

Happy Branding :)