Landmark Group Chooses Widen Digital Asset Management to Organize New Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations Department

MADISON, WI--(Marketwired - Nov 8, 2013) - The Landmark Group, Canada's leading group of restaurant and special event facilities, has chosen the Widen Media Collective to power the company's new marketing, advertising and public relations department. The company is using Widen Digital Asset Management (DAM) to organize a diverse collection of digital assets, strengthen brand consistency and facilitate collaboration with local property teams and creative agencies.

With seven venues set in some of Ontario's most scenic locations, the Landmark Group has earned a reputation for providing a premier culinary experience and hosting unforgettable weddings and corporate events. In order to scale awareness and outreach efforts, the company decided to create a central marketing, advertising and public relations department.

However, Adam Geml, the new director of marketing, soon discovered that the company's brand assets were dispersed across Ontario with colleagues at each property. At some properties, Landmark Group had over 30 years of images that needed to be identified and sorted.

"A first step in establishing our department would be to collect all the assets and put them in a location where they could be easily accessed, kept up-to-date and managed," said Geml. "We wanted something that had an excellent user interface."

An experienced DAM user, Geml felt confident that a user-friendly system would help Landmark Group centralize its photos, logos and menus. He enlisted the help of two trusted creative professionals to assist with researching DAM solutions. When they presented a selection of options, the Widen Media Collective stood out from the crowd. 

"The number one thing that attracted us to Widen was the customer service," said Geml. "Widen was the first to respond to our inquiries and the most insistent on keeping us in the loop throughout the process. They took the time to listen to our needs and support us in the process of getting everything switched over to DAM. We also found Widen's user interface incredibly easy to use, which was important for our user base. Friends and former colleagues also had nothing but great things to say about the software."

With Widen DAM, Geml was able to collect and tag photos with key information including the timing, location and photographer. Landmark Group's DAM system is now used by Geml's department, marketing specialists at each property and Landmark's creative agencies. As the administrator of the DAM system, Geml is able to oversee brand consistency by customizing permissions and user roles. When team members want to download and use an image, the system automatically requests Geml's approval. This ensures that only the most up-to-date and approved brand assets are used in marketing efforts.

Landmark Group's DAM system will store photography, logos and menus, which can change six to ten times per year, as the company takes pride in providing seasonal, local foods from its private farm.

"When Landmark Group came to Widen for DAM it was apparent that preserving the history of their properties and branding was a very high priority," said Craig Bollig, senior digital asset management advisor at Widen. "They were very clear with what they expected from the solution and had a well-planned strategy for deployment which made it easy to execute. We look forward to helping them get the most out of their solution for years to come."

About Landmark Group
Landmark Group creates and operates destinations that provide world-class hospitality focusing around an Earth to Table food philosophy. Landmark Group's venues include both high-end and mid-market restaurants, catering facilities, a golf club, the Earth to Table Farm and two luxury hotels currently under development. Landmark Group is a privately held company based in Ancaster, Ontario. For more information, visit: http://landmark-group.ca

About Widen Enterprises, Inc.
Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Widen has honed its more than 60 years of experience in premedia services and color management specifically for assisting customers with building brand equity and supporting consistent brand representation across print and Web communications. Through its inventive suite of Web-based digital asset management applications, Widen software services provide marketing networks with real-time, Web-based access to clients' digital asset libraries, subsequently eliminating manual search and file preparation time, costs related to replacing images and videos that cannot be located, and added costs for hardware, software and upgrades. For more information, visit: http://www.widen.com.