2024 Year in Review: from the POV inside every production.
ShotFlow’s Top Launches in 2024:
This year’s major launches in mastering enterprise content production include:
1. Straub Collaborative launched their first enterprise brand and on-site studio!
This launch marks Straub’s 6th brand and 4th studio operating on ShotFlow. The Studio Production Services group have become masters in activating complex brands within their multi-studio, multi-metric’d org. New features unlocked with this launch include the adoption of ShotFlow’s Mobile Samples and Styling iOS App, Smarter Asset Automation, and Smarter Approval. Straub’s client users are in-system making selects from set, marking up shots for retouching, and have the ability to make the final QC decision before assets go live.
Straub’s on-site production team can swiftly identify, check-in, label, route, store, and pull samples via the Mobile iOS App saving time beyond their tethered desktops. The styling team is also using the app to link paired products together during prep the capture team doesn’t have to waste time on set. Our Director of Client Engagement, Rebecca Starr, has done the math and calculated about 1-minute of on-set time saved with each look. If a studio like Straub has a goal of 40 looks per set per day, across 3 on-figure sets, the capture team is forecasted to save 504 manual hours a year (or 63 production days).
Please connect with Straub Collaborative if you are considering a Studio Services partner who has mastered enterprise content production.
2. Top Retail Beauty Brand in the US goes live.
As a retailer, having your brand’s own take on product content means taking matters into your own studio. But beauty products a are special challenge – gathering (very small, nearly identical looking) products and samples from hundreds of vendors to create great content is a feat to master. This brand chose ShotFlow’s team of experts and systems to master sample tracking and identification to optimize the production process. Imagine the time wasted and the frustration in constantly reconciling product data when you can’t tell the difference between “Bearer Of Rad News” and “In A Flash Sale” orange nail polishes. Now with ShotFlow’s Brand App with Samples Module, tracking, managing, and identifying beauty products for this retailer’s content production team is like “Pnut Butta” (FENTY Beauty by Rhianna).
3. Apparel & Lifestyle Portfolio Company launches flagship brand in U.S. & E.U. just in time for Thanksgiving!
This launch completes the effort to bring all 4 of their brands online with ShotFlow’s operating system. Expanding into London wasn’t just about geographic growth; it was about operationalizing content production processes beyond U.S. borders. The corporate entity recognized the necessity of ensuring global consistency in product imagery, workflows, and data. By implementing ShotFlow for its London team, the brand aimed to create a seamless connection between its headquarters and its European counterparts.
While it’s too early to quantify the full impact, early feedback from the London team has been overwhelmingly positive. The immediate benefits include:
– Data Consistency: A unified system ensures that product data is accurate and accessible across teams.
– Workflow Efficiency: Streamlined processes are reducing redundancies, empowering teams to focus on creativity and execution.
– Global Brand Synergy: A shared operating system fosters a stronger connection between the U.S. and London teams, setting the stage for further regional integrations.
For our Technical Account Managers, Tammy and Ash, seeing the results of their hard work was especially rewarding. “We don’t just implement technology; we enable teams to work smarter and with less frustration,” Tammy explained. “Hearing the team in London talk about how this will transform their day-to-day operations made all the effort worthwhile.” Check out the full article on the launch here.
ShotFlow’s Summit in 2024:
ShotFlow Summit 2024 was our first hybrid event hosted at Straub Collaborative NYC!
The gathering at ShotFlow Summit, as well as Henry Stewart Photo Studio Ops, plus a special visit to one of our NYC clients, we had a packed month of May making connections.
Check out the best of the best from Summit 2024 in this showcase page.
ShotFlow’s Product in 2024:
It’s been a year filled with critical new functionality for ShotFlow. Let’s review the highlights!
In March, we launched our first clients on a fully integrated Smarter Approval experience!
We launched an incredibly configurable review and approval solution to harness the power of ShotFlow for post-production workflows.
Design your post-production workflow to optimize efficiency and asset logistics, and now make your Selects, Photo QC or Final reviews all within ShotFlow – keeping everything in one place.
In May, we completed the relaunch of our Mobile Sample & Styling App!
Revised existing flows are now more powerful such as Photo Mode – capture Sample Reference images while you scan in Samples!
We added new flows such as Updates when you need to adjust sample data quickly. The new Shipment flow helps you understand what is in your shipments and how to best get them where they need to go.
We rounded off with Sample Tag printing from AirPrint enabled printers. A crowd favorite demonstration is available here from Summit 2024.
Lastly in October, we released the ability to embed your custom metadata into Assets which were not captured by ShotFlow.
Let’s talk about what this means. ShotFlow can now embed metadata for assets that originate outside of ShotFlow Capture – think Orbitvu, Looklet, Profoto E-Commerce, vendor-supplied assets, and more!
Our Smarter Asset Automation can now populate your brand’s XMP metadata schema once an Asset is matched to a Shot. It’s like XMP magic, but it’s real – powered by configurable logic.
1. Editorial Assets: Even if they weren’t created with ShotFlow Capture, as long as we have the shot record, we can identify and process these files. It’s perfect for those location shoots or non-PDP editorial marketing assets.
2. Vendor Supplied Images: We’re extending ShotFlow to manage vendor images. If vendors submit images with the correct file names, ShotFlow will seamlessly incorporate them into your post-production Review and Approval workflows.
3. Orbitvu, Profoto StyleShoots, Looklet: Assets from other capture systems can now be identified programmatically and have their metadata embedded through post-production processing.
To make this magic happen, you’ll need the Smarter Asset Automation module set up and configured with placeholder records defined with a standard naming convention for the Assets to match. Then, take it to the next level with Smarter Approval to review and approve assets before final delivery.
This update will create unprecedented interoperability across your enterprise content production process. But don’t take our word for it; reach out to your TAM to with your non-ShotFlow asset needs to drive smarter workflows. We can’t wait to deliver more enhancements to your workflows and ShotFlow experience in 2025!
ShotFlow’s Holiday Wishes in 2024:
