A brand is only as good as the system that manages it.
With the vast amount of data associated with a brand, it can be challenging to get everyone on the same page. A Digital Asset Management (DAM) System helps mitigate brand alignment problems by providing a single source of truth for sharing and maintaining brand assets. Unfortunately, the cost of a basic DAM Saas can be prohibitively high, particularly for a 4-year-old Japanese startup, with prices often exceeding $10,000 per month.

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Getting people excited about asset management is a task in and of itself. However, as part of the next phase of the Bitkey Brand project, brand alignment was crucial to the corporate branding team, so rather than settling for a less-than-ideal solution, we chose to develop a custom solution in just one quarter and at a fraction of the cost of off-the-shelf solutions.
Our primary objective for the Creative Hub's initial version was to create a user-friendly filtering system housed in a sexy interface. We also wanted to digitize any brand guidelines from the Bitkey Brand project, which were previously distributed in PDF format and difficult to update.

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The Creative Hub was built using Webflow, a straightforward and collaborative platform, in conjunction with a filtering solution provided by {Finsweet. Given Bitkey's reliance on Google Workspace, we simplified the authentication process using Google SSO and a custom script to communicate between Firebase and Webflow. Consequently, we selected Google Drive as the storage solution, which provides limitless storage space at no additional cost. The asset management process automatically transfers changes to an Airtable database to the Webflow CMS. Multiple workflows handle bug reports, uploads, and sensitive asset download requests, based on specific logic, through different Slack channels.

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In early July 2022, the Creative Hub launched to great acclaim from leadership and has since had a noticeable impact on maintaining brand consistency. Teams quickly began using updated slide templates and paying closer attention to on-brand colors and logos. Now, the entire organization relies on the Creative Hub, making communication between the Creative Team and other teams smoother and more efficient. The Creative Hub has proven to be an essential tool for promoting brand alignment, cost-effectively and scalable.