Many manufacturers rely on creative agencies for more than advertising and marketing communications, including product label design. While this can ensure labels are visually striking to capture consumer attention and remain consistent with brand guidelines, creative thinking isn’t enough to justify the agency investment. More can be done to make sure agency partnerships deliver maximum value by setting the stage for all agency partners to work within the manufacturer’s own environment.
Label and Artwork Management (LAM) technology extends manufacturers’ working environments throughout their global organizations and can do the same with agency partners. LAM technology helps manufacturers avoid product recalls, ensure regulatory compliance, get products to market faster, and meet the growing demands of selling products across global markets and through e-commerce resellers. These and other factors make LAM technology a no-brainer for nearly all manufacturers, but many have the chance to increase benefits exponentially by insisting on the same LAM excellence from their agency partners.
Agencies must work productively to be successful and offer superior value to manufacturing clients. While most creative agencies already rely on a wide range of business and productivity tools to make design and production more efficient, high quality agencies can set themselves apart with an understanding of — and experience with — LAM technology. For manufacturers, making adoption of LAM technology a core part of agency requirements can save time (which saves money with agency partners), help to ensure compliance, and make it easier to work together.
LAM Adoption as Part of Agency Selection
For manufacturers who are currently engaged in, or are about to start the agency selection process, make adoption of label and artwork management technology a key consideration; not doing so leaves a lot of dollars and wasted opportunity on the table. For example:
- Workflow management can reduce overall management time by up to 75%
- Online proofing can increase “right first time” artwork by up to 70%
- Digital asset management can decrease asset search time by up to 90%
- Business intelligence can improve production performance through continuous fine-tuning
To gauge proficiency in managing labels and artwork with an RFP, first ask for case studies documenting experience using LAM technology and how it positively impacted business outcomes. Second, build the following questions into your agency partner RFP:
- Have you used our LAM solution previously?
- What value has it provided you and your clients?
- What types of integrations have you handled?
- What level of access were you provided by clients?
- Were you responsible for business intelligence efforts?
The case studies and answers provided by responding agencies should provide quality insight into their experience with LAM technology, and specifically the LAM technology you will have them adopt.
Learn More
As manufacturers increasingly rely on creative agencies for their product label design, they should also demand label and artwork management (LAM) excellence to save time and money, help to ensure compliance, and make it easier to work together. To learn more, download our e-book: Ensuring Partners Get the Picture (Efficiently).
