United Way of King County

About United Way

United Way of King County is a Seattle, Washington-based nonprofit organization that works side by side with communities to ensure everyone has access to resources, quality education, enough to eat, and a safe place to call home.

The Challenges

United Way had been working from a DAM platform with very little guardrails to ensure easy, cohesive organization. Storing and locating assets was proving difficult due to lack of keyword or attribute requirements during the upload process. In the end, the DAM was rarely being used by the team and had become redundant.

The Results

Since moving to a MediaValet DAM, AudioVideo Intelligence (AVI) has allowed the team to use invaluable video footage to build stories about the positive impact that donors have had on their community through United Way, further spreading their messaging. United Way has also found that the ability to set compulsory keyword inclusion for uploaders and pre-set categories for each project has massively increased asset discovery, even helping to uncover assets they weren’t previously aware of.

The Challenges

A Platform that No Longer Served

Jannette and her team at United Way were finding themselves incredibly limited by their old DAM system. Both uploading and organizing assets was proving so difficult that her team had stopped using the platform altogether resulting in an even more scattered library.

“Our previous DAM was difficult to navigate and rarely used . . . it was impossible to find anything.”

Jannette Whippy

The team desperately needed a central repository for their growing asset library but the option in place was just not up to scratch.

Jannette knew it was time for a new DAM platform, and excited to start her search, she set out to find the best option for her team.

Searching for a Solution

A Major Overhaul in the Works

Based on a recommendation from her predecessor, Jannette had MediaValet at the top of her list of possible vendors, but she wanted to do her due diligence.

Jannette compiled a list of requirements for the new United Way DAM system, and she wanted to make sure the platform she chose could accommodate these and more!

When she compared her wants to what MediaValet could offer, it was an easy decision to make!

Simple, but comprehensive uploading – For her team to use the DAM, Jannette knew that they needed minimal effort to upload assets. They wanted a “busy-person proof” solution.

Uploading to a MediaValet DAM is simple. Using AI, uploaders can opt to automatically tag content with relevant keywords, as well as do so manually. Object and text detection, as well as colour recognition streamline the uploading process and significantly reduce time spent populating the asset library.

Enhanced search capabilities – United Way was struggling to find assets within their existing system and wanted to find a solution that could comprehensively comb through their assets and find relevant content.

MediaValet’s Advanced Search, unlimited categories, and cognitive metadata offer an optimal user experience that makes finding assets a breeze. With the addition of Face Recognition, Jannette saw an opportunity to tag the faces within their community and easily find them later on.

Optimized distribution options – the existing solution at United Way was only accessible within the brand team, making asset sharing and distribution excessively difficult. They needed an upgrade that could securely enable access to select assets for other stakeholders.

MediaValet’s unlimited users and permission controls allow teams to fine tune and control how many people can access the asset library while Branded Portals open up the ability to share outside of the organization with ease.

The Results

The Difference a Good DAM can Make!

Since migrating DAMs to MediaValet, Jannette has done her utmost to ensure her team are maximizing the value of the DAM system.

Running regular training sessions, and 10-minute tips and tricks discussions, she has slowly but surely managed to get her team, and her organization using the DAM to the fullest of its capabilities!

“My goal was to have everyone on my team comfortable using our DAM to upload, search, download, and share images. I see progress every day and love hearing how excited they get when they find what they need.”

How has MediaValet helped drive results at United Way?

Jannette has been making the most of MediaValet’s AudioVisual Intelligence (AVI) to show how people who have used their programs have been progressing with the organization’s help, and how donors are making an impact.

Her team has identified older editorial video shoots and used AVI to isolate footage of a specific person, location, or topic to build new videos that showcase the success of their programs and their users.

The United Way team is also a big fan of Branded Portals and has been using them to great success!

“I LOVE Branded Portals! I can just quickly throw together a portal and share some amazing content. It’s so easy to update a portal quarterly to share current photo assets of staff volunteering and working events with HR to use in their recruitment efforts.”

What’s next for United Way and their MediaValet DAM? Jannette anticipates AI enhancing their library and their DAM journey even further in the future!

Is MediaValet a Good Fit for you?

MediaValet's DAM platform enabled United Way to truly uncover, use, and do more with their asset library and has helped them showcase the incredible work the organization does to help those in need.

With MediaValet as a trusted partner, United Way can concentrate their efforts on building programs and inspiring donors, not on finding assets.

If you’d like to learn more about how MediaValet can help your business, reach out to a rep today!