DAM China Connect Launches
Although the DAM sector is generally dominated by western vendors, the issue of managing digital content is far from unique to the US, UK or Europe. DAM China Connect (DAMCC) is perhaps the first initiative of its kind to raise awareness of the emergent Digital Asset Management groundswell in China and actively promote its adoption. Heading up a team that includes graduates from King’s College London’s Digital Asset and Media Management Program, its founder Yaochong Chen recently outlined DAMCC’s goals in an interview on Another DAM Podcast.
Yaochong appears to be fully sensitive to the cultural and technological complexities involved and how taking a more social and empathetic approach will be key to DAM adoption in China. In DAMCC’s vision, the importance of national themes such as memory and storytelling are discussed, and how their roles in our digital lives is something that demands faithful preservation:
“In China, we’re producing lots of digital contents because we need them to narrate stories and express feelings, and then consequently enjoy the atmosphere they bring to us…This is the power of a narration but how should Chinese people take care of it? We need to protect the carrier of it, the digital contents, and also optimize our strategies of protecting it. And how could Chinese people explore more valuable touching elements from digital contents? We again need DAM and we need your help.” [Read More]
In a recent Q&A session with DAM News editor Ralph Windsor, the team at DAMCC examined the potential of untapped DAM opportunities in non-western countries and the numerous trends and cultural factors driving, and sometimes preventing, the evolution of DAM initiatives. The fact that these countries invariably create, manage and publish just as much multi-channel digital content as their western counterparts is perhaps obvious, yet according to DAMCC, awareness of Digital Asset Management is still all but absent.
“DAM is not a local phenomenon and people do not grasp the true nature of operating those entities. In the past, they did not preserve with the purpose that everyone can find and appreciate the content, but with the intention to store and let people figure out by themselves. This makes the modern DAM awareness weak.” [Read More]
The Q&A session also discusses how myopic attitudes and a continuing lack of innovation within the industry could benefit from a shake-up, and that the apparent blind spot in western vendors represents a ripe opportunity for some fresh new competitors on the field.
“Chinese consumers are becoming as discerning and demanding as western ones. Their preferences might be slightly different for cultural reasons etc, but they’re still going to use digital channels to help guide their purchasing decisions and personalisation is going to be just as important. Something will need to drive all that activity and act as both a point of storage but also a metadata hub – like a DAM system, for example.” [Read More]
It’s perhaps the rather dull and static horizon in our own DAM landscape that makes the hint of fresh new digital terrain in the east all the more appealing, and if DAMCC’s invigorating and heartfelt mission statement is anything to go by, the introduction of new cultural and technical DNA could certainly assist in the resurrection of DAM innovation and competition in the west.
You can visit the DAM China Connect website at the link below.
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