DAM Knowledge

DAM vs CMS: How Are They Different?

In this post, we share the key differences between a DAM and a CMS, and how the two systems can be integrated to boost productivity.

May 14, 2025

Nuala Cronin

Content Manager

6 min read

Woman showing her male colleague her laptop screen.

As the digital asset management industry has matured, the terms “digital assets” and “content” have begun to be used interchangeably. While this change emerged as a way to resonate more with marketing teams and the increasing surge in content marketing, the use of the word “content” within the DAM space has created the illusion that a DAM and a CMS perform the same function. What does CMS stand for? A CMS is a Content Management System like WordPress or Contentful.

A DAM and a CMS act as two completely separate systems, performing very different functions for a marketing team. In a nutshell, a CMS helps manage content for your website, while a DAM helps manage content for your entire organization across multiple channels.

Here, we’ll highlight the differences between the two systems and answer the frequent question: If I already have a CMS, then why do I need a DAM?

What is The Difference Between DAM and CMS?

The definition of a DAM and a CMS,
The key features of each solution, and
What use cases each solution is best for.

To understand the difference between DAM and CMS, a good starting point is to look at the definition of each:

WPBeginner describes a CMS as: “A platform that facilitates the creation, editing, organization, and publishing of content.”

Primarily, a CMS is designed for website and related web content management. It allows users to craft and manage textual and media content on websites. Typically, access to a CMS is reserved for specialized members of the marketing team, such as web developers and content marketers. Its media library generally hosts assets explicitly intended for webpage creation.

On the other hand, TechTarget defines DAM as: “A tool for organizing, storing, and retrieving rich media, and managing digital rights and permissions.”

DAM serves as a hub for organizing and disseminating media, visuals, and content throughout an entire organization. While primarily managed by the marketing team, DAM can be accessed by various departments like sales, product management, PR, communications, and even external entities like contractors, agencies, and partners.

Let’s explore each in further detail:

Digital Asset Management (DAM)

A digital asset management system is pivotal to the media and content creation landscape. It is a centralized hub, enabling companies to seamlessly organize, collaborate, and distribute their visual content and digital files. By establishing a unified repository for all essential visuals, a DAM streamlines operations, mitigates bottlenecks, and fortifies brand consistency across diverse channels.

Within the DAM environment, users are equipped to manage an extensive range of digital files. They can effortlessly resize, reformat, monitor usage histories, and share hefty files with external collaborators. Moreover, DAM ensures robust media security through features like user permissions, compliance adherence, data recovery, and geo-replication.

However, it’s vital to recognize the limits of DAM in publishing. While DAM excels in handling visuals and offers select features like web publishing and embedding, it can’t create well-designed, highly specific web pages like a CMS can.

Interested in seeing a DAM in action? Check out our free guided tour right here!

Key Features of a DAM

Storing and managing brand and marketing material (photos, videos, etc.)
Finding and retrieving media assets, using advanced searches
Enriching assets with custom metadata, such as keywords
Version control, history tracking, and reporting for all media assets
Manipulating assets into other forms, such as file type or size
Access permissions for internal and external users
Templating and Proofing capabilities for seamless collaboration on digital assets

The Bottom Line

A DAM is best for companies that need a better way to produce, store, collaborate on, share and distribute large amounts of marketing content (photos, videos, audio, etc.)

Content Management Systems (CMS)

A content management system essentially acts as the foundation for your website (blog, news, eCommerce, etc). With a CMS, you’re able to publish, change and remove content from your website, making it a strong solution for teams across the globe.

A CMS is usually home to web designers, editors, and administrators. It hosts easy-to-use templates and comprehensive WYSIWYG building blocks to allow users to easily and quickly build beautiful, impactful websites. It has strong capabilities when managing text-based content, with version tracking, SEO add-ons, and robust search capabilities.

Where a CMS is lacking, however, is in its media abilities. The media library within a CMS is built to function as a repository for content being shared on your website. While it can store videos, images, documents, audio, and more, its searching, sharing and permission capabilities are limited. With this in mind, media and content that are not part of your website should not be stored in your CMS.

Examples of Content Management Systems

Key Features of a CMS

Storing and indexing web pages and web copy
Searching for and retrieving relevant content
Format management for brand consistency
Revision control for past versions of web content
Basic access permissions to edit and view
Publishing and reporting on web content

The Bottom Line

A CMS is best for companies looking to streamline the way they build visual, informative, and user-friendly websites.

Integrating DAM and CMS

When you understand the difference between a DAM and CMS, it becomes clear that the two systems are actually complementary to each other (rather than alternatives). With a DAM, users are able to use advanced library capabilities to feed their web team the media content they need to confidently build on-brand, visual web content. This benefit only improves with an integration between the two, as users will be able to access the DAM without having to leave the CMS.

Benefits of a DAM and CMS Integration

When you’re able to access your DAM within your CMS, it allows your users to:

Easily access on-brand and approved media assets from within your CMS
Automatically upload and create links within your CMS library
Use advanced search capabilities to find the assets they need
Improve brand consistency across all web properties
Effectively re-use media content across your website

Example of a DAM and CMS Integration

Without a DAM
You’re the web developer for a furniture retailer and you’re working on a web page to promote one of your partner brands and their upcoming sale. You go into your CMS library to find their logo, but there are 3 different variations. You know you should send a message to the marketing team to clarify which one to use, but this page needs to go live today. You ultimately decide to use the most recently uploaded logo and pray that it’s the right one.

With a DAM
You’re the same web developer, working on the same web page, but instead of searching for the logo within your CMS library, you open your DAM library plugin. From there, you can instantly see a category that your marketing team created specifically for this campaign. Within this category, you find a logo that was hand-picked by the marketing team and confidently add to the page to be published.

Learn more about DAM and CMS Integrations

MediaValet has countless integrations available out-of-the-box and an open API to enable your team to customize any of your tech stack needs.

Some of MediaValet’s CMS integrations include:

Contentful: MediaValet’s Contentful integration speeds up your content creation process by enabling users to find and embed MediaValet assets directly into Contentful entries, saving time and effort.

This DAM CMS integration enables teams to focus on creating compelling content without worrying about asset sourcing and management.

WordPress: MediaValet’s WordPress integration enhances your website creation process by enabling teams to easily search and insert on-brand assets from your MediaValet library directly within the WordPress platform.

The DAM CMS integration ensures that only approved and current assets are published. This guarantees that your website always showcases the most up-to-date and on-brand corporate visuals, protecting it from outdated or unauthorized content.

Drupal: The Drupal integration allows teams to easily insert images and videos from MediaValet into Drupal’s content editor, simplifying the process of adding assets to your webpages.

Whether you need images for website banners, social media posts, or print materials, this DAM CMS integration has you covered.

DAM and CMS: Better Together

With integrations into leading CMS platforms, DAM is equipped to bring your web development to the next level. See how MediaValet can be integrated into your Drupal 8 or WordPress platform.

MediaValet is a leader in cloud-based digital asset management that helps organizations manage, organize and share their digital assets, improving productivity and increasing ROI.

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Shopping For a DAM

The Best Digital Asset Management Platform for your Organization

Compare the top digital asset management platforms of 2025. Discover features, benefits, and the best DAM tools for video, brand, and creative teams.

May 9, 2025

Nuala Cronin

Content Manager

4 min read

group of three people, one in a white shirt, another in a peach coloured jacket, and the third wearing glasses, gathered around a desk looking at a notebook. Blue shapes are overlayed on the image.

If you’re overwhelmed by scattered files, endless asset requests, or inconsistent branding, you’re not alone. In today’s fast-paced digital world, teams are producing more content than ever—and struggling to keep it all organized. That’s where digital asset management platforms come in.

In this guide, we’ll break down what digital asset management (DAM) is, explore why it’s critical for growing businesses, and compare the top DAM platforms of 2025 to help you choose the right solution for your team.

What is a Digital Asset Management Platform?

A digital asset management platform (DAM) is software that stores, organizes, manages, and distributes digital files like images, videos, documents, templates, and more. Think of it as your team’s centralized library and control center for every branded or approved asset.

Instead of digging through folders or sending files over email, teams can easily search, access, and share content—all from one secure, scalable platform.

MediaValet Smart Image Search of graduates throwing their graduation caps

Why Use a DAM? Key Benefits for Modern Teams

DAM platforms aren’t just a nice-to-have—they’re a must-have for organizations managing large volumes of content across departments and channels.

Here’s why:

1. Faster Asset Discovery	Search by keyword, metadata, tags, or even visual AI tools to find assets in seconds—not hours.
2. Brand Consistency at Scale	Ensure everyone—internally or externally—is using the most current, approved version of every file.
3. Improved Collaboration	Enable marketing, creative, sales, and external partners to work from the same source of truth.
4. Time and Cost Savings	Eliminate redundant work, reduce asset recreation, and speed up content production workflows.
5. Secure Access and Governance	Role-based permissions, audit trails, and version control help you manage risk and compliance.

Key Features to Look For in a DAM Platform

Not all DAM platforms are created equal. Here are the core features to evaluate:

Advanced Search & Tagging	AI-powered metadata and smart tagging help you locate files by content, context, or visual attributes.
User Roles & Permissions	Control who can view, upload, edit, or share assets with customized access levels.
Integrations	Connect your DAM to tools like Microsoft 365, Marq, or project management systems like Wrike.
Automation & AI	From auto-tagging and Face Recognition to automated workflows, AI can dramatically speed up asset handling.
Portals & Sharing	Easily build Brand Portals or share curated collections with partners, media, or regional teams.
Audit Logs & Version Control	Keep track of file usage, edits, and user activity to maintain compliance and oversight.

The Best Digital Asset Management Platforms in 2025

Here’s a closer look at some of the top-rated DAM platforms, based on industry reviews, capabilities, and user feedback:

1. MediaValet

Best For: Enterprise, mid-size, and small teams, higher education, manufacturing, and nonprofit organizations with video-heavy creative workflows, growing or large asset libraries, and complex approval processes

Highlights: AI-powered search and tagging, native video management tools, secure CDN delivery, accessibility compliance, Templating, Proofing, and unlimited users

Why It Stands Out:

Scalability: MediaValet is purpose-built for scaling digital content operations, especially for teams working with large volumes of video, branded content, and visual media.
Proudly Canadian: As a Canadian-based company, MediaValet is known for its robust data security, privacy compliance (including support for Canadian and international regulations), and enterprise-grade cloud architecture.
Artificial Intelligence: With AI capabilities like auto-tagging, facial recognition, and duplicate detection, MediaValet speeds up content discovery while reducing human error.
Support and Service: MediaValet also stands apart for its white-glove onboarding, dedicated customer success managers, and ongoing 1:1 training and support—at no extra cost.

2. Bynder

Best For: Global brands focused on brand consistency
Highlights: Brand portals, creative automation, version control
Why It Stands Out: Strong in brand management and creative workflow integrations

3. Brandfolder

Best For: Marketing teams that need intuitive UI and powerful sharing tools
Highlights: Smart CDN links, analytics, user-friendly UX
Why It Stands Out: Emphasis on usability and real-time brand insights

4. Acquia DAM (Widen)

Best For: Organizations with complex metadata and taxonomy needs
Highlights: Metadata management, analytics, DAM + PIM capabilities
Why It Stands Out: Ideal for large-scale digital ecosystems

5. Canto

Best For: Small to mid-sized teams looking for quick setup
Highlights: Easy interface, image-centric libraries, simple sharing
Why It Stands Out: Great for marketing teams that want a light DAM without heavy customization

6. PhotoShelter

Best For: Media-heavy organizations, sports teams, higher ed, and nonprofits
Highlights: Lightning-fast visual search, branded portals, live photo workflows
Why It Stands Out: Built specifically for rich media teams that need to capture, distribute, and publish visual content in real-time

How to Choose the Right DAM Platform for Your Business

Selecting the right digital asset management platform depends on your team’s structure, content output, and future goals. Ask yourself:

How many users and departments will access the DAM?
Do we need advanced integrations (e.g., with CMS, design tools, project managers)?
Is speed, security, or branding our top priority?
Do we require partner or external access (portals, CDN, etc.)?

💡 Pro Tip: Start with a platform that allows you to “crawl, walk, run.” A scalable DAM will support your current needs and future growth without over-complicating the setup.

Interested in learning more about how DAM Platforms compare to one another?

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DAM Knowledge

What Does a Digital Asset Manager Do?

A digital asset manager is an important role to consider hiring for optimal digital asset management. Learn if you need one!

May 8, 2025

Nuala Cronin

Content Manager

3 min read

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A digital asset manager is essential in today’s content-driven organizations.

As digital content production accelerates across industries, organizations are turning to Digital Asset Management (DAM) software to bring order and efficiency to their content operations. But while software provides the infrastructure, it’s the Digital Asset Manager—the person—who ensures the system delivers lasting value.

What is digital asset management?

A DAM solution enables an organization to better organize, store, and distribute digital assets, such as images, videos, audio files, documents, and other content.

DAM software is becoming more widely used throughout a variety of industries and organizations. Some organizations employ a full-time digital asset manager due to the enormous amount of digital assets being created and used daily by businesses.

What is a Digital Asset Manager?

A digital asset manager is a team member who oversees, implements and maintains the DAM; they are not the software itself (more on that here). The responsibilities of a digital asset manager include acquiring, organizing and cataloguing digital assets. They also oversee the security of digital assets, such as:

Photos,
Videos,
Graphics,
PDFs,
Presentations,
And more.

What Does a Digital Asset Manager Do?

Since digital asset managers are essentially the administrators of DAM systems, you’ll often see their roles include governance – overseeing the guidance of the rest of the team, enforcement of DAM best practices, and even research and development. The day-to-day role of a digital asset manager includes managing all digital asset management tasks, including but not limited to:

Managing asset access (setting up user groups and permissions)
Encouraging user adoption
Proving DAM training and retraining users
Implementing and enforcing metadata strategies
Organizing and cataloguing assets
File naming and maintenance
Optimization of asset metadata
Approving (or denying) asset usage or changes
Ensuring alignment with security and compliance
Testing, updating and auditing policies

A digital asset manager typically works in the IT department under a senior director or manager; working closely with legal, creative, marketing and sales departments.

How To Become a Digital Asset Manager

The core skills needed to become a digital asset manager include:

Project Management Skills: The role intersects with many different departments, often with various projects happening simultaneously. Excellent organizational and time management skills are a must.
Technical Skills: Familiarity with certain software and systems (such as CMS, PIM, ERP and project management tools) and markup and programming languages will often be needed to administer the DAM and set up certain integrations.
Interpersonal Skills: Because they will work with various departments across an organization, and also trains those who will use the DAM. They must have excellent people and communication skills.
Analytical Skills: As the individual in charge of file naming, organizational structure, maintenance and cataloguing, an analytical way of thinking is crucial to this position.

Role requirements include formal education and experience. Typically, a degree in information science, computer science or a related field is preferred, along with one to three years of related experience in an entry-level role.

Entry-level roles could include IT support, digital asset coordinator or product management. According to PayScale, the typical career path could include moving on to web development, then to software engineering, front-end development or senior web development.

Real-World Impact: Why Companies Hire DAM Managers

Any kind or sized company using a DAM could benefit from a full-time digital asset manager in the role. However, larger companies with more sizable creative departments typically have the most to benefit from hiring a dedicated person to manage the system, as a high volume of assets are being made and distributed every day.

They bring structure to content chaos, ensuring that:

Teams find the right asset, the first time
Content workflows move faster, with fewer bottlenecks
Branding and compliance stay intact across regions and teams
Assets are reused and repurposed strategically, reducing content costs

Even smaller teams can benefit from having a dedicated DAM administrator, especially as content volume grows or remote collaboration increases.

Is Now the Time for a Full Time DAM Admin?

The landscape of digital asset management has changed. It’s not enough for enterprise organizations with various departments using a DAM to try and organize themselves and the system.

The digital asset manager acts as the system’s administrator, overseeing, implementing, training and retraining everyone using the DAM. The right person in this role can help an organization get the most from their DAM across all departments, by implementing effective governance, improving productivity and speeding up workflow

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Project Management and Workflows

Integrating Your Project Management Ecosystem: A Comprehensive Guide

Learn how to connect your project management ecosystem; tools, teams, and workflows into a unified ecosystem that drives collaboration, visibility, and success.

May 7, 2025

Nuala Cronin

Content Manager

5 min read

Business woman in an orange shirt leaning back in her desk chair with her arms behind her head with a laptop.

Managing projects across disconnected tools, processes, and teams isn’t just inefficient—it’s risky. In today’s fast-paced digital workplace, teams need to work as one, no matter where they sit or which tool they use. That’s where an integrated project management ecosystem comes in.

Rather than operating in silos, organizations that connect their project workflows, systems, and stakeholders gain a significant advantage. From increased collaboration to better decision-making, integration is no longer a nice-to-have—it’s a business imperative.

In this guide, we’ll explore what makes up a project management ecosystem, why integration is essential, and how to build one that works for your organization.

What Is a Project Management Ecosystem?

A project management ecosystem is the interconnected network of tools, people, processes, and technologies used to plan, execute, and oversee projects. It goes beyond just software—it includes communication channels, documentation systems, approval workflows, and even company culture.

Key Components of a Project Management Ecosystem:

People: Project managers, cross-functional teams, external partners, and stakeholders
Processes: Methodologies like Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, Kanban, or hybrid models
Tools: PM software (Asana, Wrike, Jira), communication platforms (Slack, Teams), and supporting systems (DAM, CRM, ERP)
Technology: APIs, integrations, cloud infrastructure, automation tools

When these elements work together seamlessly, projects run smoother, data flows more freely, and everyone has access to the information they need—when they need it.

Why Integrating Your PM Ecosystem Is Critical

Most organizations already use dozens of tools—but very few use them together effectively. Without integration, teams juggle duplicate data, disconnected timelines, and inconsistent workflows.

Key Benefits of Integration:

Fewer Silos: Unite marketing, creative, operations, and IT into a single source of truth
Real-Time Visibility: Get a 360° view of tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities
Improved Efficiency: Reduce repetitive manual work and wasted time
Data Consistency: Ensure metadata, documents, and updates stay synchronized
Faster Decision-Making: Eliminate bottlenecks with real-time collaboration

According to Wrike’s 2024 Impactful Work Report, employees say work is often duplicated across teams, or not recorded properly, due to disconnected systems, and hours are being lost.

A unified project management ecosystem solves that problem.

How to Integrate Your Project Management Ecosystem

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you move from tool sprawl to streamlined success.

1. Audit Your Current Tools and Processes

Start by mapping your existing software stack and processes. Which teams use what tools? Where are the pain points or overlaps?

Create an inventory of:

PM tools (e.g., Wrike, Asana)
Communication platforms (e.g., Slack, Teams)
File storage (e.g., DAM, SharePoint)
Creative and asset management (e.g., Adobe)
Collaboration and proofing tools (Marq, Canva)

2. Define Your Integration Goals

Clarify what success looks like:

Is it faster asset approval cycles?
Fewer missed deadlines?
One place to see all project updates?

Align your goals with business outcomes like ROI, reduced rework, or faster go-to-market.

3. Choose the Right Tools (and Ditch the Wrong Ones)

Opt for platforms that offer robust integration options out of the box—like Asana’s integrations with Google Workspace, or MediaValet’s built-in connections with Wrike and Adobe Creative Cloud.

Prioritize tools that support:

API access
Webhooks or Zapier connectors
SSO and permissions syncing

4. Create Standardized Workflows Across Teams

Even the best tools fail without alignment. Ensure teams follow a consistent process for:

Kicking off projects
Assigning roles and tasks
Approving assets
Archiving completed work

5. Implement Integration Layer(s)

Use native integrations, middleware (like Make.com or Zapier), or enterprise integration platforms to connect your systems.

Examples:

Sync your DAM with your PM tool so designers never upload the wrong version.
Automate task creation in Jira when a new creative brief is submitted through a form.

6. Train and Onboard Your Teams

Run training sessions and create documentation that walks users through the new workflows. Make sure each team understands how their tools now fit into the broader ecosystem.

7. Monitor, Optimize, Repeat

Integration isn’t a one-and-done process. Regularly assess usage, gather feedback, and update tools or workflows based on business changes.

Why DAM Belongs in Your Project Management Ecosystem

While project management tools help teams plan and track work, Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems play a critical role in executing that work—especially in marketing, creative, and content-heavy environments.

DAM acts as the single source of truth for your brand’s digital assets. When DAM is integrated into your project management ecosystem, it ensures that every file, image, video, and document is not only organized—but instantly accessible where and when teams need it.

Here’s how DAM strengthens your ecosystem:

Reduces version confusion
Integrated DAM ensures only approved, up-to-date assets are used—no more digging through old folders or using outdated branding.
Accelerates review and approval cycles
Tools like MediaValet Proofing bring feedback, annotations, and sign-offs directly into your creative workflows—reducing time to market.
Improves visibility across teams
From designers to marketers to external partners, everyone can access and share assets securely, without switching platforms.
Connects to your existing tools
MediaValet integrates with Wrike, Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft Teams, and more—allowing teams to work within their preferred environments while keeping assets centralized.
Enables content reuse and repurposing
With metadata-rich search and AI-powered tagging, teams can quickly find and repurpose existing content, saving time and increasing ROI.

Real-World Example: Monumental Sports & Entertainment Connects Creative and Project Workflows

Company: Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE)
Challenge: Managing creative requests and digital assets across 12 sports teams and 250 users created bottlenecks and inconsistencies. Disconnected cloud drives and storage systems made it difficult to find and share approved content—slowing collaboration and delaying time-sensitive campaigns.

Solution: MSE implemented MediaValet to centralize their asset library and connected it with their project management system, Wrike to create a seamless end-to-end workflow. Now, when a marketing or internal team submits a creative request in Wrike, the design team creates the asset and publishes it directly to MediaValet—ensuring brand-approved materials are always easy to access and share.

Outcome:

Reduced turnaround times and admin work for the design team
Streamlined campaign management with 60+ branded portals for internal and external use
Increased adoption of the creative request system by integrating it into users’ existing workflows
Improved asset searchability using AI-powered features like facial recognition to quickly find content during time-sensitive events

“We haven’t been able to put a dollar amount on it, but implementing MediaValet and Wrike together has most certainly saved us time and money.”
– Lori Meyers, Manager of Digital Assets, MSE

MSE now manages 12 properties from one centralized library, ensuring consistent branding, simplified collaboration, and faster project delivery—proving how transformative DAM can be when integrated into a modern project management ecosystem.

Read the full Monumental Sports & Entertainment story here.

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DAM Knowledge

Exploring the Core AI Features of a Powerful DAM System

Explore how AI is transforming DAM systems through automated tagging, intelligent search, and more. Discover and compare key DAM AI features.

April 30, 2025

Nuala Cronin

Content Manager

4 min read

hands typing on a laptop placed on a desk. The laptop is surrounded by papers on the desk and a coffee cup in the back. There is a green overlay on the image.

Digital Asset Management or DAM systems are no longer just storage vaults for brand files and media—they’ve evolved into intelligent content hubs that can be used across entire organizations.

With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), modern DAM solutions are automating time-consuming tasks, personalizing user experiences, and unlocking deeper content insights. In this post, we explore the core AI features that are turning traditional DAM systems into powerful engines for productivity, brand control, and creative acceleration.

Understanding DAM Systems

At their core, DAM systems help organizations store, organize, retrieve, and share digital assets—from images and videos to documents and brand templates. But traditional DAM systems, while essential, often required significant manual effort for metadata tagging, content discovery, and asset governance.

Challenges of Traditional DAM:

Time-consuming asset tagging and categorization

Difficulty locating the right content quickly

Inconsistent metadata and file naming

Lack of insights into asset performance or usage

That’s where AI steps in.

How AI Transforms DAM Systems

Artificial Intelligence enhances a DAM by automating and augmenting how assets are managed and used. Rather than just storing files, AI-powered DAMs understand them—making it easier to find, organize, and activate content at scale.

Benefits of AI in DAM:

Reduces manual work through automation

Improves discoverability with intelligent tagging

Enhances governance with auto-detection of duplicates or outdated assets

Increases ROI by surfacing high-performing, reusable content

Core AI Features in Modern DAM Systems

Here are the most impactful AI capabilities to look for in a DAM:

1. Automated Metadata Tagging

AI can scan and analyze image, video, and document files to generate metadata tags—automatically. This includes recognizing objects, faces, text, or even context within assets.

Example: Upload a video, and the DAM suggests tags like “interview,” “indoor,” “branding,” or “CEO” without any manual input.

2. Intelligent Search and Natural Language Processing (NLP)

AI improves search accuracy through semantic understanding. Users can type “CEO photos in last campaign” and get relevant results—even if the filenames are vague.

3. Content Recommendations

AI tracks usage patterns and suggests related or high-performing assets for similar projects—ensuring the best content is reused, not remade.

4. Auto-Detection of Duplicates and Near-Duplicates

Using AI algorithms, DAMs can identify visually similar assets to reduce clutter and prevent outdated versions from being reused.

5. Transcription and Language-Aware Capabilities

AI can transcribe video/audio files and auto-generate subtitles. It can also detect language, helping global teams filter content by region or language spoken.

6. AI-Powered Governance

Set rules and let AI detect policy violations—like expired logos or old disclaimers—before assets are downloaded or published.

Comparing Leading AI-Powered DAM Systems

Feature	MediaValet	Adobe Experience Manager	Aprimo	Bynder	Canto
Auto Metadata Tagging	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Visual/Facial Recognition	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	🚫 No	🚫 No
Natural Language Search	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	🚫 Limited	✅ Yes	🚫 No
Duplicate Detection	✅ Yes	🚫 No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
AI-Driven Recommendations	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	🚫 No	🚫 No
AI Video Transcription/Subtitles	✅ Yes	🚫 No	🚫 No	🚫 No	🚫 No

Data based on publicly available information as of April 2025.

While all platforms offer these features, the depth and implementation may vary. It’s advisable to consult each provider for specific capabilities and integrations.

Interested in learning more about how MediaValet compares to other DAM platforms?

Real-World Use Cases of AI Powered DAM

🎬 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) manages an extensive archive of digital assets, including photographs, videos, and promotional materials from decades of events. To efficiently organize and retrieve these assets, TIFF adopted MediaValet’s AI-powered DAM system.

Key Outcomes:

AI-Powered Metadata Tagging: MediaValet’s AI capabilities automatically generate descriptive tags for assets, capturing critical details such as context, people, and keywords. This automation has significantly improved searchability and reduced manual tagging efforts.
Facial Recognition Technology: With thousands of celebrity and event images, TIFF utilizes MediaValet’s facial recognition feature to tag and retrieve photos effortlessly. The system has identified over 10,000 faces, with more than 3,500 successfully tagged, streamlining the process of locating specific images.
Duplicate Asset Reduction: By identifying and eliminating nearly 500,000 duplicate assets, TIFF reduced its digital library size by 25%. This cleanup not only saved storage space but also established a single source of truth for their assets, enhancing accuracy and usability.
Improved Rights Management: The integration of AI-generated metadata has enabled TIFF to tie licenses and restrictions directly to assets. This advancement ensures compliance, reduces errors, and empowers teams to confidently utilize their digital assets.

Through the implementation of MediaValet’s AI-driven DAM system, TIFF has achieved significant improvements in asset management efficiency, searchability, and compliance, ensuring that their rich history of film and culture is preserved and accessible for years to come

Read their full story here.

Checklist: Evaluating AI Features in Your DAM

Here’s what to consider when choosing an AI-powered DAM system:

✅ Does it support AI auto-tagging for all media types?
✅ Can it detect and suggest near-duplicates?
✅ Does it offer AI-driven content recommendations?
✅ Are there features like transcription or facial recognition?
✅ Does the AI adapt based on your usage data?
✅ Are AI features customizable for your brand’s taxonomy?

AI is no longer a futuristic add-on to DAM systems—it’s the foundation of modern content operations. From saving time to improving asset discoverability and governance, the right AI-powered DAM transforms how teams collaborate and scale their content strategy.

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The Best DAM Frontify Alternatives

Discover the best DAM Frontify alternatives for 2025.

April 24, 2025

Nuala Cronin

Content Manager

6 min read

Man smiling, wearing orange shirt and glasses with overhead headphones on typing on a laptop atop a table.

When it comes to investing in or migrating to a new DAM solution, it can be difficult to decide which platform is right for your organization. There are so many DAM platforms available that it can become overwhelming. So, to help you make an easier choice, this post will break down the most important features and functionalities to look for in a DAM system and detail Frontify alternatives.

We’ll cover:

MediaValet vs. Frontify
Frontify’s Pros and Cons
The Top Frontify Alternatives
How to Choose the Right DAM

MediaValet vs. Frontify

G2 is the largest and most trusted third-party software and professional services review site and according to their reports, MediaValet has been ranked as a “Market Leader” in the DAM space, based on high customer satisfaction ratings and an impressive market presence.

Market Leader is the top level in the ranking system. Products in the Market Leader level are rated highly by G2 users and have considerable market presence.

Who is MediaValet?

Voted as a leader in the Digital Asset Management space in 2025 by G2 Crowd, MediaValet makes assets instantly more searchable, discoverable and sharable.

With a roster of customers across higher education, nonprofit, manufacturing and countless other industries, MediaValet stands at the forefront of the enterprise, cloud-native, software-as-a-service digital asset management and creative operations industries.

Built exclusively on Microsoft Azure and available across 61 Microsoft data center regions in 140 countries around the world, MediaValet delivers unparalleled enterprise-class security, reliability, redundancy, compliance, and scalability; while offering the largest global footprint of any cloud DAM solution.

MediaValet is the #1 DAM on the market for security. SecurityScorecard rates MediaValet 98/100.

Based on the 2025 DAM Trends Report, MediaValet customers report incredible achievements with their DAM:

82% achieve ROI in just 1 year

save an average of 13.5 hours per week on asset-related tasks

89% are highly satisfied with their DAM

Take a self-guided tour of MediaValet here!

How Does MediaValet Compare to Frontify?

MediaValet vs Frontify: Fast ROI

Based on G2 reviews, MediaValet users achieve ROI 9 months faster than Frontify customers.

These time savings have in turn led to exceptional business outcomes including stronger brand consistency, improved productivity, and better team collaboration and 78% of our customers can reallocate resources to more impactful tasks.

MediaValet vs. Frontify: Support

Every MediaValet customer is partnered with a dedicated onboarding manager from the start—someone who understands your goals and ensures you’re set up for long-term success.

Once implementation is complete, your journey continues with a dedicated customer success manager who provides tailored training and best practices to drive adoption and ROI.

Support is unlimited and included with your subscription. Whether you prefer phone or email, our North America-based support team is ready to help—no extra cost, no ticketing tiers.

“The quality of support has been game changing.” – Emily Hegranes, US Naval Institute

By contrast, while Frontify also offers onboarding, G2 reviewers give MediaValet a higher rating for Quality of Support (9.4 vs. Frontify’s 8.8).

MediaValet vs. Frontify: Product Direction

At MediaValet, we believe product development should be a two-way street. Our customers get full visibility into our roadmap and have direct input into what we build next.

We don’t just listen—we act. Recent feature releases like MediaValet Templating, powered by Marq, and our new, more intuitive UI are the result of customer feedback and evolving industry needs.

“It’s great to have a DAM that is constantly evolving into a better platform.” – James Langan, ACAMS

Frontify focuses heavily on brand guideline features, but MediaValet’s commitment to continuous innovation and customer-driven updates is reflected in our higher Product Direction score on G2 (9.1 vs. 8.7).

MediaValet vs. Frontify: Video Management

Video content is one of the most powerful tools for marketing, education, and communication—but only if your DAM can handle it.

MediaValet is built for video. With support for high-resolution video formats, AI-powered transcription and speech-to-text capabilities, and built-in tools for video previewing, clipping, and sharing, MediaValet helps you manage, distribute, and get more value from every frame.

Users can generate closed captions automatically, search for spoken words across their video library, and clip highlight reels—all from within the DAM.

“Our video production workflow has never been smoother. MediaValet lets us centralize and organize hundreds of hours of footage for quick access and reuse.” – Columbia Business School Executive Education

Based on G2 reviews, users note that Frontify lacks the depth of native video functionality MediaValet provides. MediaValet scores 89% on video management vs Frontify’s 80%.

MediaValet vs. Frontify: Analytics

MediaValet’s built-in analytics go far beyond surface-level metrics. Visual dashboards and exportable reports provide deep insight into asset usage, adoption, and engagement—helping you optimize your content strategy.

From tracking top-performing assets to monitoring portal engagement, MediaValet turns data into action.

“We’re still seeing the payoff from MediaValet and we’ll continue to see more as we learn new ways to use it.” – Cori Canady, Community Associations Institute

While Frontify offers basic analytics, MediaValet scores higher with 82% vs Frontify 79%, ensuring you’re not only tracking performance—but actively improving it.

MediaValet vs. Frontify: Ease of Doing Business

MediaValet isn’t just a vendor—we’re a partner. We believe a DAM should be easy to buy, easy to launch, and even easier to use.

That’s why we provide unlimited training sessions, user-friendly administration, and responsive support to ensure your team is always set up for success—without the red tape.

“MediaValet was an easy sell – it costs way less, does way more, everybody can access it, and it’s easy to use.” – Cori Canady, Community Associations Institute (CAI)

On G2, MediaValet earns a 9.3 for Ease of Doing Business With, outperforming Frontify’s 8.9—proof that the right DAM partner makes all the difference.

When evaluating Frontify and MediaValet, both platforms offer distinct advantages tailored to different organizational needs.

Frontify Pros and Cons

Pro—Brand Management and Guidelines

Frontify excels in providing comprehensive brand management tools, making it ideal for organizations focused on maintaining brand consistency.

Brand Guidelines: Frontify offers robust brand guideline features, scoring 9.3 on G2.

User-Friendly Interface: Users appreciate Frontify’s intuitive and user-friendly interface, facilitating ease of use.

Con— Less Powerful for Large Libraries and Complex Needs

While Frontify is a solid tool for managing brand guidelines, users managing large volumes of content or more complex asset libraries may find its capabilities limiting.

Search Functionality: Some users report that Frontify’s search functionality can be clunky, returning all text around the search term.

Versioning Capabilities: Frontify’s versioning capabilities are rated at 8.0, which is lower compared to MediaValet’s 8.7.

Other Available Frontify Alternatives

Canto

Canto has been in business for more than 30 years and is a good Frontify alternative for smaller organizations with a tighter budget.

Based on Gartner reports, easy integration and deployment are some of Canto’s top-rated features.

Interested in more information? You can learn more about Canto alternatives here.

Bynder

When considering Frontiffy alternatives, Bynder will always show up as a competitor. As one of the more established DAMs on the market, Bynder works with some huge brands and organizations.

Where do they win against Frontify? According to Gartner, Bynder wins when it comes to scalability and ease of deployment.

You can read more information on Bynder alternatives here.

Acquia DAM (Widen)

With more than 20 decades on the market, Acquia DAM (Widen) is a strong Frontify alternative.

When compared by Gartner reviews, Acquia comes out on top with ease of deployment and integration.

Brandfolder

When considering Frontify alternatives, Brandfolder will always show up as a solid DAM competitor. Boasting an incredible strong market presence, and massive client logos, Brandfolder is usually better suited to larger organizations.

Where do they win against Frontify? According to Gartner, Brandfolder wins when it comes to scalability and pricing flexibility.

Learn more about Brandfolder alternatives here.

What Should you Look for in a Digital Asset Management System?

When choosing a digital asset management solution, it’s crucial to consider your organization’s unique needs.

How much content will the DAM need to store?

Are there systems that will become redundant when we implement a DAM?

We have multiple internal and external users – how will we support and manage them all?

Your buying team needs to define your requirements and identify non-negotiable features. But as a rule of thumb, there are several key factors that will ensure a DAM can meet your more general organizational needs effectively:

Security Features: Protecting your digital assets from unauthorized access and data breaches is paramount. Look for a system that offers strong security measures such as encrypted data transfer, secure access controls, and regular backups. These features help safeguard your assets and ensure compliance with data protection regulations.

Ease of Use: The DAM system should have an intuitive interface that allows users of all technical levels to access and manage assets efficiently. This includes easy navigation, quick access to files, and simple tools for uploading, tagging, and organizing content. A user-friendly interface reduces the learning curve and helps in achieving higher adoption rates across the organization.

Advanced Search Capabilities: With the vast amount of digital assets that organizations accumulate, the ability to quickly find an exact file is crucial. Look for a DAM system that offers robust search functions including metadata tagging, keyword searches, and advanced filtering options. This ensures that users can retrieve assets efficiently without having to sift through irrelevant files.

Integration Capabilities: The DAM system should seamlessly integrate with other tools and systems used by your organization, such as content management systems (CMS), marketing automation tools, and creative software. Integration facilitates a more streamlined workflow and ensures that assets are easily accessible across different platforms and departments.

Scalability: As your organization grows, so will your digital asset needs. A good DAM system should be scalable, accommodating increased storage needs and additional users without performance issues. This includes having flexible cloud storage options and the ability to handle various file types and sizes.

Support and Maintenance: Reliable technical support and regular updates are vital to maintaining a DAM system’s efficiency and security. Choose a provider that offers excellent customer support, training resources, and proactive maintenance to ensure that the system continues to meet your needs over time.

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Shopping For a DAM

The Best DAM Brandfolder Alternatives

Finding the right DAM for your organization doesn't need to be complicated. We've broken down the best DAM Brandfolder alternatives to help you navigate the market.

April 17, 2025

Nuala Cronin

Content Manager

7 min read

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Did you know that more than 1 in 3 organizations are using DAM across the entire business? According to the 2025 DAM Trends Report, the number of organizations using a DAM system as the heart of their tech stack is only trending upwards. As digital asset management systems become more ingrained within digital ecosystems, more organizations are on the lookout for the right DAM vendor.

When it comes to investing in or migrating to a new DAM solution, it can be difficult to decide which platform is right for your organization.

There are many DAM systems out there to choose from, so to help you make an easier choice, we’ll break down the most important features and functionalities to look for in a DAM system and detail Brandfolder alternatives.

We’ll cover:

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder
Brandfolder’s Pros and Cons
The Top Brandfolder Alternatives
How to Choose the Right DAM

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder

Market Leader is the top level in the ranking system. Products in the Market Leader level are rated highly by G2 users and have considerable market presence.

Who is MediaValet?

Voted as a leader in the Digital Asset Management space in 2025 by G2 Crowd, MediaValet makes assets instantly more searchable, discoverable and sharable.

MediaValet is the #1 DAM on the market for security. SecurityScorecard rates MediaValet 98/100.

Based on the 2025 DAM Trends Report, MediaValet customers report incredible achievements with their DAM:

82% achieve ROI in just 1 year
save an average of 13.5 hours per week on asset-related tasks
89% are highly satisfied with their DAM

The MediaValet Difference: Fast ROI

Based on G2 reviews, MediaValet users achieve ROI faster than Brandfolder customers.

These time savings have in turn led to exceptional business outcomes including stronger brand consistency, improved productivity, and better team collaboration and 78% of our customers are able to reallocate resources to more impactful tasks.

How does MediaValet Compare to Brandfolder?

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder: Support

Each and every MediaValet customer gets assigned a dedicated onboarding manager that ensures they’re set up for success from day one.

Once you’re confident and ready to go, a dedicated customer success manager takes over to provide ongoing coaching and training to ensure both ROI and high adoption rates.

MediaValet support is available via phone or email. Unlimited support is included in your DAM subscription to ensure you can make the most of your DAM.

The quality of support at MediaValet “has been game changing.” – Emily Hegranes, US Naval Institute

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder: Product Direction

MediaValet’s product roadmap and feature releases are always open to customers, and we encourage users to provide valued input on what to prioritize, specific functionality and more.

We are continually listening to emerging market needs, as well as product feedback, to deliver newer, smarter features like our newest release MediaValet Templating, powered by Marq!

“It’s great to have a DAM that is constantly evolving into a better platform and to know the software is not intended to be a one size fits all for every company.” – James Langan, ACAMs

Want to see MediaValet in action? Take our self-guided tour now!

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder: Brand Guidelines

MediaValet is the premier DAM in the enterprise space for Brand Guidelines.

Branded Portals, Advanced Search, and AI-powered tagging help to streamline the management and distribution of the most current brand assets, enabling organizations to maintain a consistent brand image across all channels and touchpoints.

“We’re an international company . . . MediaValet is effectively empowering our employees and reps to confidently grab-and-go for current assets.” – Jon Grusky, HYTORC

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder: Analytics

MediaValet’s reporting and analytics functionality is one of the best on the market.

Built-in reports and dashboards help organizations make smarter, data-backed decisions. Customers can view high-level snapshots or dive deep into data to gain powerful performance and activity insights and ultimately, do more with their DAM.

“We’re still seeing the payoff from MediaValet and we’ll continue to see more as we learn new ways to use it.” – Cori Canady, Community Associations Institute

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder: Ease of Doing Business

MediaValet excels when it comes to partnering in business.

Offering unlimited, interactive training sessions, MediaValet enables administrators and users alike to maximize the value of the DAM without compromising on access management.

“MediaValet was an easy sell – it costs way less, does way more, everybody can access it, and it’s easy to use.” Cori Candi, Community Associations Institute (CAI)

Brandfolder Pros and Cons

Simply put, Brandfolder is massive. Boasting megalith clients like Zoom and Slack, new clients will be in good company if they choose Brandfolder.

And as with any large company, comes a large slew of resources. Which is why, the number one pro of Brandfolder, is their range of features.

Pro – Impressive Feature List

Jammed with a list of available features, Brandfolder can do anything from storing your assets to applying rights management to reporting and analyzing how they perform.

There are about 100 features listed on their website – ideal for organizations who have giant libraries and massive user numbers.

Con – Pricing is High

With a ton of features however, comes a big price tag – and with Brandfolder geared so heavily towards enterprise organizations their pricing can leave some smaller businesses or smaller budgets out in the cold.

Pricing is only available on request but generally starts low year one and increases significantly in year two.

“I’d like their pricing to be more transparent – I don’t like having to ask a sales rep for every tiny detail if we want to add a collection or an admin.” SMB Financial User, G2

If you’re interested in understanding more about digital asset management pricing, we detail it here.

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Other Available Brandfolder Alternatives

Canto

Canto has been in business for more than 30 years and is a good Brandfolder alternative for smaller organizations with a tighter budget.

Based on Gartner reports, easy integration and deployment are some of Canto’s top-rated features.

Want to read more about Canto alternatives? Read this blog post.

Bynder

When considering Brandfolder alternatives, Bynder will always show up as a competitor. As one of the more established DAMs on the market, Bynder works with some huge brands and organizations.

Where do they win against Brandfolder? According to Gartner, Bynder wins when it comes to scalability and ease of deployment.

Interested in more information on Bynder alternatives? Check out this post.

Acquia DAM (Widen)

With more than 20 decades on the market, Acquia DAM (Widen) is a strong Brandfolder alternative.

When compared by Gartner reviews, Acquia comes out on top with ease of deployment and integration and ties with Brandfolder on quality of support.

What Should you Look for in a Digital Asset Management System?

When choosing a digital asset management solution, it’s crucial to consider your organization’s unique needs.

How much content will the DAM need to store?
Are there systems that will become redundant when we implement a DAM?
We have multiple internal and external users – how will we support and manage them all?

Ready to see what the DAM hype's about?

Meet with one of our product experts

Book a demo

DAM Knowledge

The Best DAM Canto Alternatives

Finding the right DAM for your organization doesn't need to be complicated. We've broken down the best DAM Canto alternatives to help you navigate the market.

April 10, 2025

Nuala Cronin

Content Manager

6 min read

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Are you exploring options for a digital asset management system? Deciding on the right DAM solution can be overwhelming with the growing market offering numerous options.

DAM systems equipped with auto tagging, machine learning, and video and audio intelligence can enable organizations to gain real competitive advantage.

But which one is right for your business? Let’s explore some of the best DAM solutions on the market, and compare Canto alternatives.

We’ll cover:

MediaValet vs Canto
Canto’s Pros and Cons
The Top Canto Alternatives
How to Choose the Right DAM

MediaValet vs. Canto

G2, the largest and most trusted third-party software and professional services review site, ranks MediaValet as a “Market Leader” in the DAM space, driven by high customer satisfaction ratings and a significant market presence. “Market Leader” represents the top level in G2’s ranking system, indicating products that are highly rated by users and have substantial market presence.

Who is MediaValet?

Voted as a leader in the Enterprise Digital Asset Management 2025 space by G2 Crowd, MediaValet makes assets instantly more searchable, discoverable and sharable.

With a roster of customers across numerous industries like higher education, nonprofit, manufacturing and countless other industries, MediaValet stands at the forefront of the enterprise, cloud-native, software-as-a-service digital asset management and creative operations industries.

MediaValet is the #1 DAM on the market for security. SecurityScorecard rates MediaValet 98/100.

Based on the 2025 DAM Trends Report, MediaValet customers report incredible achievements with their DAM:

82% achieve ROI in just 1 year
save an average of 13.5 hours per week on asset-related tasks
89% are highly satisfied with their DAM

The MediaValet Difference: Lightening Fast ROI

Based on G2 data, MediaValet customers achieve ROI 5 months faster than Canto users.

These time savings contribute to significant business benefits, including enhanced brand consistency, increased productivity, and improved team collaboration, with 76% of our customers reporting cost savings in asset creation.

Check out MediaValet in action with our free, self-guided DAM tour!

How does MediaValet compare to Canto?

MediaValet vs. Canto: Support

MediaValet provides dedicated onboarding and customer success managers for each client, ensuring a seamless transition and ongoing support. Our 24/7 support system is a major benefit for global teams that need constant access.

According the to 2025 DAM Trends Report, MediaValet customers are highly satisfied with the DAM. In fact, we score a 4.3 out of 5 stars!

“As an administrator I enjoy the fact that customer support is excellent!” MidMarket Director of Marketing and Sales, G2

MediaValet vs. Canto: Brand Guidelines

A DAM system is critical in maintaining brand guidelines across an organization, aligning all marketing and communication efforts with the brand’s core values. G2 recognizes MediaValet as the leading DAM for managing enterprise-level brand guidelines.

MediaValet helps you to both connect and protect your brand with Branded Portals, CDN Linking, and Lightboxes as well as clear and comprehensive asset rights labels. It enables organizations to ensure brand consistency and compliancy.

“We have found great value in the branded portal functionality!” Mid Market user, G2

MediaValet vs. Canto: Product Direction

At MediaValet, the primary goal is to ensure each new feature or update addresses customer challenges. Our proactive approach to product development, which incorporates customer feedback into our roadmap, is reflected in our latest innovation, MediaValet Templating powered by Marq.

Customers are invited to frequent product update webinars and have access to the product roadmap for full transparency on what’s coming.

“It’s great to have a DAM that is constantly evolving into a better platform and to know the software is not intended to be a one size fits all for every company.” User in higher education, G2

MediaValet vs. Canto: Video

Did you know that 93% of marketers are embracing video content to accomplish higher engagement and ROI. Video content needs a secure, functional repository. And based on the DAM Trends Report, more than half of MediaValet customers are storing video files in their DAM system.

MediaValet is a pioneer in Audio/ Visual intelligence (AVI), enabling automatic generation of transcripts and translations in over 60 languages. Our AI-enhanced auto-tagging and time-stamped metadata make locating specific frames or videos effortless.

“MediaValet has [made] internal communication regarding videos much simpler.” SMB Director of Sports Broadcasting, G2

MediaValet vs. Canto: Analytics

MediaValet’s analytics tools offer detailed insights into asset performance and user engagement, aiding businesses in optimizing their content strategies. Our real-time dashboards provide valuable metrics on user, asset, and portal engagement.

The reporting functionality within MediaValet helps teams to monitor actions within the DAM to identify power users, schedule training sessions, and maximize its ROI.

Canto Pros and Cons

Canto, with over 30 years in the industry, is a well-known DAM solution, especially for smaller organizations seeking a cost-effective option.

Here’s a more detailed look at the advantages and challenges of opting for Canto as a DAM provider:

Pro – Ease of Use

Canto has a straightforward interface and user-centric design, making it accessible for those with minimal technical expertise. This ease of use can be beneficial for smaller teams that may not have dedicated IT support and need a DAM system they can operate independently.

Con – Scalability and Features

While Canto provides essential DAM functionalities effectively, it may encounter limitations when scaling to meet the demands of larger enterprises or more complex use cases.

When compared to more robust systems like MediaValet, Canto might lack some of the advanced features needed for extensive enterprise use. For instance, more sophisticated analytics tools, integration capabilities, or customization options that go beyond the basic offerings of Canto.

“What do you dislike about Canto?

Feature Scalability. . . it also lacks some extra features that make the other offers so enticing.” SMB E-Learning User, G2

Explore More Canto Alternatives

Brandfolder

When considering Canto alternatives, Brandfolder will always show up as a solid DAM competitor. Boasting an incredible strong market presence, and massive client logos, Brandfolder is usually better suited to larger organizations.

Where do they win against Canto? According to Gartner, Brandfolder wins when it comes to scalability and pricing flexibility.

Interested in more information on Brandfolder alternatives? Check out this post.

Acquia DAM (Widen)

Another strong Canto alternative is Acquia DAM (widen) which has been available for more than 2 decades on the market.

When compared by Gartner reviews, Acquia comes out on top with better service and support, scalability, and pricing.

Bynder

When considering Canto alternatives, Bynder will always show up as a competitor. One of the most recognizable DAMs in the industry, Bynder client list includes some huge brands and organizations.

Where do they win against Canto? According to Gartner, Bynder is a better choice for organizations that need to scale, need significant product training, and more comprehensive integration options.

Interested in more information on Bynder alternatives? Check out this post.

What Should you Look for in a Digital Asset Management System?

When choosing a digital asset management solution, it’s crucial to consider your organization’s unique needs.

How much content will the DAM need to store?
Are there systems that will become redundant when we implement a DAM?
We have multiple internal and external users – how will we support and manage them all?

Ready to see what the DAM hype's about?

Meet with one of our product experts

Book a demo

Shopping For a DAM

Why Digital Asset Management is Crucial in 2025

Digital asset management systems are critical to the modern tech stack; our blog post explains why & how a DAM can positively impact online presence.

April 8, 2025

Nuala Cronin

Content Manager

7 min read

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Over the last couple of years digital asset management systems, especially those powered by AI, have landed on the radar for many organizations shifting toward a new digital-first, rich content-focused environment.

In fact, we’ve seen a growing number of organizations benefiting from DAM systems usage across their entire organizations. DAM is no longer part of the MarTech stack – it’s crucial to an organization’s technological success.

As the digital transformation wave continues to change how business is done online, there are several factors worth considering, including why DAM is such an important investment for the coming years.

Why Digital Asset Management Is Important in 2025

In today’s dynamic digital landscape, effectively managing and utilizing digital assets has become a critical component of success. As organizations strive to meet rising demands for personalized, high-quality content and seamless collaboration, digital asset management software (DAM) emerges as a pivotal solution.

With innovations in AI-driven automation, video optimization, and rich media management, DAM systems like MediaValet are transforming how businesses streamline workflows, enhance brand consistency, and adapt to the challenges of 2025.

According to the latest DAM Trends Report, organizations that integrate DAM across their operations report significant improvements in efficiency, collaboration, and return on investment (ROI). By aligning with key digital marketing trends—such as AI adoption, the growth of video content, and hyper-personalization—DAM is becoming an indispensable part of the modern tech stack.

In this post, we’ll dive into how DAM helps organizations stay competitive in 2025 while future-proofing their digital strategy.

Why are Digital Assets Important?

Organizations are feeling the pressure to address the need to create more content for more channels…but with less resources.

Specifically, they need to find ways to both produce and disseminate more digital assets than ever before. Maintaining digital presence is one challenge, the next is evolving digital presence to compete!

To accomplish an impactful, effective digital transformation, it’s necessary to properly manage massive or growing amounts of digital assets like rich media and video content and enable seamless access across entire organizations.

Digital assets are indispensable in the digital marketing ecosystem, serving as the lifeblood of content strategies that engage, inform, and convert audiences. They encompass everything from images and videos to documents and multimedia presentations, each playing a pivotal role in storytelling and brand representation.

Digital Assets are Essential to Engaging Audiences

Digital assets are the cornerstone of modern marketing, crucial for capturing and maintaining audience engagement in a digital-first landscape. Through compelling visuals, interactive content, and personalized experiences, these assets connect emotionally and intellectually with viewers and drive conversions.

Rich media ads deliver engagement rates of 16.54%, compared to 2.14% with standard ads, so as organizations undergo a pivotal shift to more dynamic visuals, and we see videos become central to engaging audiences, there is a higher demand for more sophisticated management and distribution tools. It’s critical to enhance both effectiveness of and visibility to campaigns with the right digital assets.

Digital Assets Showcase Brand Values

Beyond their practical utility, digital assets carry the essence of a brand’s culture and values. They are not just tools for communication but are embodiments of the brand’s identity, enabling organizations to connect with their audiences on a more personal and emotional level.

Through careful curation and management, these assets become the voice of the brand, conveying messages that resonate with values, aspirations, and the unique character that distinguishes one brand from another.

As we see organizations struggle to produce and manage the sheer number of assets required to simply maintain their online presence, it’s important to look to AI as a method to improve productivity.

The Challenges of Modern Marketers and How DAM Can Solve Them

According to Forbes Business Council, in 2025, most organizations will face four common challenges when it comes to managing digital assets and digital presence.

1. AI-Powered Automation: Working Smarter, Not Harder

AI continues to transform how organizations manage tasks, freeing teams to focus on creative and strategic work.

DAM systems like MediaValet leverage AI for:

Auto-tagging and search: Automatically tag and organize assets upon upload, reducing manual effort and increasing discoverability.

Content personalization: AI-driven tools enable hyper-targeted campaigns by analyzing user behavior and segmenting audiences effectively.

By integrating AI into DAM, businesses can streamline workflows, reduce bottlenecks, and deliver personalized customer experiences at scale.

2. Video Content Dominance: Winning Engagement in the Digital Era

Video remains one of the most effective tools for capturing audience attention, and platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are leading the charge.

DAM systems empower teams to manage the complexities of video production and distribution by:

Optimizing storage and access: Centralizing high-quality video content ensures seamless collaboration across teams.

Facilitating multi-platform sharing: DAM tools simplify the distribution of video content optimized for different platforms, increasing reach and engagement.

Enhancing production workflows: Features like automated transcription and version control ensure content is delivered quickly and accurately.

Organizations using DAM systems report faster project deployment and improved campaign performance, underscoring the value of investing in video asset management.

3. Personalization at Scale: Elevating Customer Experiences

In 2025, consumers expect brands to know their preferences and deliver hyper-relevant content.

DAM systems support personalization by:

Creating dynamic user journeys: Use AI to map customer behavior and predict needs, tailoring content accordingly.

Ensuring consistency: Maintain brand integrity by managing all assets from a single, unified platform.

With DAM, marketing teams can create campaigns that resonate with audiences at every stage of their journey, improving conversion rates and customer loyalty.

4. Shopable Content and Influencers: Bridging Social Media and E-commerce

The line between social media and shopping has blurred, with platforms like Instagram and Pinterest introducing in-app shopping features.

DAM systems help brands stay ahead of this trend by:

Organizing influencer content: Centralize user-generated and influencer-created content for easy reuse across campaigns.

Streamlining approvals: Integrated proofing tools like MediaValet Proofing ensure assets are on-brand and ready for publication.

Driving engagement: Enable quick access to shoppable content that aligns with campaign goals.

By simplifying how assets are managed and shared, DAM enhances the impact of shoppable content and influencer marketing campaigns.

Why a Digital Asset Management System is so Important

As businesses adapt to the sweeping changes brought about by digital transformation trends, Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems like MediaValet provide critical solutions. MediaValet, with its robust features, is uniquely positioned to help organizations navigate these trends efficiently, enhancing their digital asset ROI, reach, and distribution. Let’s explore how MediaValet addresses these key digital transformation challenges.

1. Leveraging AI for Enhanced Asset Organization and Discovery

The evolution of AI is a significant trend in digital transformation, offering smarter ways to handle vast amounts of digital content.

MediaValet’s AI-driven approach reduces manual tagging and searching time, ensuring that teams can focus on high-value creative and analytical tasks. By streamlining the discovery process, MediaValet enhances operational efficiency and accelerates project timelines.

Auto-tagging and Advanced Search Ensure Accurate Asset Usage

Auto-tagging abilities in a MediaValet DAM automate the most tedious, human-error-prone tasks like meta tagging assets. On upload, the DAM automatically tags content with relevant keywords to significantly boost the discoverability of assets.

Advanced Search optimizes how teams search for assets and uses object, color, and text recognition to ensure the right content is found and meets audience and campaign needs effectively.

Saved Searches features with a photo gallery of graduate students throwing graduation caps

Face Recognition Streamlines Campaign Creation

MediaValet’s Face Recognition technology streamlines campaign creation by automatically tagging and organizing photos of people across an entire library.

It allows for better image management enabling teams to easily comply with usage rights and model releases and to quickly identify and compile all images featuring a specific person for a targeted campaign, reducing manual search time and enhancing campaign relevance.

2. Supporting Rich Media to Meet Market Demands

As the demand for rich media content grows, organizations face the challenge of managing and storing diverse and sizeable digital files.

MediaValet addresses this need by offering high-capacity storage solutions that support a wide range of file types, including high-resolution images, 3D models, and interactive content. This capability ensures that organizations can store and access all their rich media assets in one place, maintaining brand consistency across all digital touchpoints and meeting the market’s demand for engaging content.

3. Optimizing Video Content for Greater Engagement

With the increase in the use of video content, businesses require sophisticated tools to manage, share, and publish videos effectively.

MediaValet offers specialized video management features, AVI includes automated video translation and transcription, version control to keep track of edits, scene, object, person, and text identification and isolation, and rendering to enable easy distribution across various channels. These features enable organizations to leverage video content fully, enhancing audience engagement and maximizing the impact of their digital marketing efforts.

AudioVisual Intelligence (AVI) Accelerates Time to Market

MediaValet’s AVI is an industry-leading feature that can accelerate campaign time to market for organizations, even those targeting global markets.

By automatically searching, discovering, translating, and transcoding an entire video library it enables team to swiftly adapt marketing materials, ensuring consistent messaging while significantly reducing the turnaround time for campaign launches with rich media files.

AVI not only propels organizations towards more dynamic and responsive online strategies but also underscores the critical role of DAM in amplifying the value of video assets in an increasingly digital-first world.

4. Maximizing Digital Asset ROI, Reach, and Distribution

Understanding the performance of digital assets is crucial for maximizing ROI, reach, and distribution. MediaValet provides detailed analytics and reporting tools that offer insights into how assets are being used and performing across different channels. This data enables organizations to make informed decisions about content strategy, helping them to allocate resources more effectively and tailor their content to meet audience needs better.

MediaValet Mobile also enables teams to access the DAM from anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection, accelerating content uploads and downloads, sales pitches, and campaign deployments!

MediaValet’s DAM system offers powerful solutions to the challenges posed by current digital transformation trends. By leveraging AI for smarter asset management, supporting rich media content, optimizing video content use, and providing insights into asset performance, organizations can maximize their digital asset ROI, reach, and distribution.

As businesses continue to navigate the evolving digital landscape, MediaValet stands as a crucial partner in achieving their digital transformation goals.

The Benefits of Digital Asset Management for 2025

Organizations that invest in a robust digital asset management strategy see transformative results:

81% improve collaboration across teams.
100% achieve faster project timelines.
80% streamline creative processes.
Save an average of 13.5 hours per week on asset-related tasks.

The benefits of a digital asset management system extend beyond storage and organization—DAM drives efficiency, boosts ROI, and future-proofs your digital marketing and asset management efforts.

Get Ahead with a Digital Asset Management

It is evident that organizations are facing new hurdles with the digital transformation wave but it’s also clear that a DAM can help teams mitigate these challenges and enhance online performance. By simplifying processes and centralizing all high-value media into a secure cloud-based library, a DAM will help teams maximize success in 2025.

The benefits that a DAM can provide to your team, however, do not end here. Learn more about how a DAM can help your organization by scheduling a demo with us today.

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Product

3 Use Cases for Custom Category Permissions

In this post, we look at three ways MediaValet customers are using Category Access Management to support their category use cases.

April 4, 2025

Nuala Cronin

Content Manager

3 min read

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Setting up a digital asset management (DAM) system for your team is the first step to a more organized and efficient workflow—but not all solutions are created equal. Many cloud-based DAM systems aren’t designed to support customized user access needs. This is a major hiccup for the rollout and user adoption of a DAM, as the only way for organizations to secure sensitive documents and other materials is to completely restrict access for many people.

When not everyone can access a DAM, users need to constantly submit requests for the latest documents, photos, logos, and more. This presents a huge challenge for many teams because it eats up time and hinders productivity.

With MediaValet’s Category Level Permissions (CLP) features, organizations are able to create an unlimited number of user groups and customize their permissions and access levels, including their ability to access, share and download specific sets of assets. This means no interruption to anyone’s workflow due to asset requests, as everyone can access what they need, anytime, from anywhere.

In this post, we’ll look at three ways MediaValet customers are using Category Level Permissions (CLP) to support their category use cases:

Departmental,
Partners, and
Retired Assets.

Let’s dive into each use case below.

1. Departmental

Departmental use of category level permissions across an organization helps to keep the right assets in the right hands, and not to overwhelm any single user with access to too much. User permissions are set up in a way that team members only have access to, or have restricted actions to assets relevant to their department. This gives departments autonomy over their assets, keeping them up-to-date and accurate. Category access can be as nuanced as needed—with subcategories that are only visible to certain people within a department. Category level permissions can be an extremely helpful feature for any of the following departments:

Design,
Marketing,
Sales,
Finance,
Customer Success,
IT,
Human Resources,
Operations, and more.

Example

Say the marketing department at your company hired a social media coordinator. This person doesn’t need access to some of the subcategories within the marketing department bucket—like budgets and forecasting. But they do need visual brand assets. The DAM admin limits the social media coordinator’s user permissions to reflect what they need access to in their role.

2. Partners

Custom user permissions are extremely convenient when dealing with partners outside of the company who sometimes need access to the DAM. Third-party contractors like graphic designers who need access to core brand assets can easily log in and grab what they need, without having access to anything else. Category level permissions can be extremely helpful when working with any of the following external partners:

Photographers,
Videographers,
Agencies,
Suppliers,
Distributors,
Retailors,
Doners,
Printers, and more.

Example

Your advertising agency could have a login with strict user permissions to access only a category where the brand assets like logos and fonts are. They can seamlessly put together campaigns without having to request content from anyone at your company.

3. Retired Assets

One of the biggest problems companies without a DAM have is people using out-of-date, non-approved, or off-brand assets. With custom user permissions you no longer have to worry about anyone having access to old, expired content. The DAM admin can restrict access to retired assets, avoiding confusion and improving brand consistency. Category level permissions can be extremely helpful when working with any of the following retired assets:

Images,
Videos,
Logos,
Icons,
Campaigns,
Advertisements,
Presentations,
Spreadsheets, and more.

Example

Say your company did a brand refresh and updated your logos. You need to retire every old asset that shows the outdated logo to avoid anyone from accidentally using them. You can simply archive those assets, and because of user permissions, no one will even be able to see them—let alone use them.

Ready to Get Started?

MediaValet is a cloud-based DAM system designed to support customized user access needs, offering features that improve teams’ workflows by decreasing time spent filling requests for assets. Customized user access ensures better asset security and brand consistency across the organization.

Want to learn more about Category Level Permissions and how it can support your use case? Get in touch or ask your MediaValet account manager for more information!

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