Since the dawn of time (well the first computers anyway – almost the same thing), files have been saved with basic metadata attached.
Things like name, size, date, location, so they can be found again at a later date. And really, not much has changed since then in the way we save and store digital assets…but the way in which we intuitively search for digital information has evolved drastically. Which begs the question – why?
Firstly, let’s take a quick look at ‘search’ through the ages, it’ll be fun, promise.
As the digital age has advanced technology, the way in which we search has gone from typing in a box, to being ingrained into the ‘real-world’ of our day-to-day lives:
1990 – Aside from Nelson Mandela’s release from prison and the first image sent from space via the Hubble Telescope, 1990 was an important year in the world of search. When there were only a few hundred websites through which to search, Archie was released and considered the very first ‘search engine’. In order to find the site you were looking for, you needed to match the title name exactly. This was known as ‘Query’ search.
2012 – saw the next notable ‘search’ movement; the shift to mobile-first. Where searchers expected information to be highly relevant to where they are, who they are and what they are doing at that precise moment.
2018 – And here we are in the era of voice-search, where typing is no longer required and searching can be done in the car, as you walk around your house or play on your Xbox. What a time to be alive.
Or is it?
Because for a marketer, whose reliance on keeping their brand relevant in a world where people expect highly-targeted, personalised advertising when they are online (whether they actively search for it, or not), the process of finding their brand assets quickly, to meet the demand, is still in the dark ages.
Let’s imagine you have come across a conversation on social media and your brand needs to be a part of it, so you need to find a specific campaign image – how would you search for it?
Most likely you’ll be driven to using a search process not dissimilar to Archie. You’ll need to know the file name, or at least remember when it was shot? The location? Where the file might be saved? Basically, the whole thing becomes a time, productivity and often budget, black hole.
But what if you could search intuitively, using information you might actually remember about the content? Stuff like the agency who produced it, the photographer who shot it, the details of the image itself – a product featured, whether it was day or night, a person in the image.
Can you see where we’re going with this?
The Collaboro platform allows all these layers (and more) to be added to every image your brand has ever and will ever produce, to ensure they can always be found, at lightning-fast speed, no matter who is looking for them and when.
