We teamed up with Kate Bennewitz, Creative Project Manager at Life Fitness, to speak at HOW Design Live in Chicago in May.
Kate’s story is nothing less of exceptional in how they’ve taken digital asset management “beyond the library” to be an integral system with how they build brands, sell more products and work more creatively. We’re honored to share it with you here.
For those who skipped the gym during your last hotel stay, Life Fitness is a global leader in manufacturing state-of-the-art fitness equipment for both commercial facilities and the home. They have marketing teams in nine countries, translate communications across 12 languages, launch six to 10 new products each year, execute over 365 jobs, shoot 5,000 images and capture 250 videos per year. Through it all, the creatives and marketers operate as a cohesive unit to power the content that builds the Life Fitness brand. DAM provides a method to the madness!
Here are some of the ways DAM has earned its role at the center of creative and marketing operations and brand management efforts at Life Fitness.
Brand Development
For over 45 years, Life Fitness has been creating fitness products that get the world moving.
Their brand heritage is a story that has an immense history that has to be reflected in all global marketing tools. Like most brands, they are constantly evolving their story, and the variety of imagery, video and web content evolves with it.
Rebranding Efforts
Life Fitness has become more agile with the huge undertaking that is required with a complete brand overhaul. When making a huge change that affects all brand assets, communication around what’s changing and why is important for all teams to know what’s expired, what’s new and how assets should be used.
Brand Guidelines
Like many companies, Life Fitness brand guidelines were presented in a very long, printed PDF before the shift to digital. Now they have a more comprehensive way to communicate brand standards, where assets can be found, and how they should be used. Everything that makes the Life Fitness brand tick is included in the digital platform that is distributed to global marketing, sales, outside vendors and partners. It equates to less email, fewer questions and automatic updates to assets, which offers a better experience for everyone involved.
Marketing Tool Translations
Life Fitness is a global organization that translates 86% of their marketing tools. Communication with global marketing teams is a necessary function. It’s made easier with the help of digital asset collection share links and Salesforce Chatter, allowing them to quickly distribute translated marketing tools with global teams to share locally.
Product Launches
Life Fitness launches six to 10 new products a year. With an ever-growing and changing product portfolio, marketing has a clear, insightful look at all of the available assets for market-specific campaigns. Global collections serve up a comprehensive, searchable bundle of the assets and marketing tools they create. Collections are tied into consumer and commercial dealer sales support and resource pages, sales emails and more.
Brand Experiences
Like all brands, the Life Fitness brand must not only be communicated internally, but to all global marketers and distributors to ensure they are telling their brand story consistently across all channels and mediums. Life Fitness exhibits at 120 trade shows around the world, and DAM allows them to efficiently share all of the important assets that create enjoyable, immersive brand experiences.
One Stop Brand Shop
Additionally, DAM serves as a one-stop model shop for all architect and gym planner partnerships. Campaign assets are packaged up and served to global teams for all sectors of the business, including training, PR and social media, 2D & 3D, video, trade show and digital marketing teams.
Brand’s don’t rest and neither does Life Fitness. Through it all, Widen is here to help Life Fitness adapt with present and future needs as the brand evolves.
“We are a small but mighty team of 6 who are the sole owners and communicators of our evolving brand. Because of Widen, our team of 6 misfits is able to manage a global marketing team for the world leaders of fitness!”
- Kate Bennewitz, Creative Project Manager
DAM frees up Kate to have more time for the good stuff that fulfills her purpose, including strategy, collaboration, analysis, forward thinking and process changes that keep the Life Fitness team ahead of the game. Watch the full presentation to learn more.
Request a demo to see how Widen takes DAM beyond the library as a mission critical system to your marketing operations.