JL Audio Selects Widen DAM to Globally Manage Their Growing Media Library

MADISON, WI--(Marketwired - Mar 4, 2014) - JL Audio, an American-based manufacturer of high-end audio solutions for the home, mobile and marine audio markets, has selected the Widen Media Collective for its digital asset management (DAM) needs. JL Audio is a worldwide company that will use DAM to deliver large amounts of digital assets, quickly and easily, to globally dispersed dealers and distributors.

Known as a leader in the car audio industry, JL Audio has expanded and become a leader in the overall high-end audio equipment industry, including home, and marine audio as well. As self-proclaimed "audio nuts," they design and release many new products every year, each generating a large amount of digital support materials used by their dealer network in the United States, and their global distributor network in over 70 countries. It became clear that an easy-to-use, on-demand web-based solution was critical -- one that could efficiently store, manage and distribute those digital materials.

"Dealers and distributors call with requests for logos, product images, presentations and advertisements in specific formats and at specific sizes. We would go through the painstaking process of doing it for that one person," said Andrew Sheehy, Creative Director for JL Audio. "We'd hold on to those files for a couple of weeks, and after I'd clean up my desktop, someone else would call with a similar request, and we'd have to do it again."

They had a previous image server system that was rudimentary. One size and format was uploaded, and that same size and format was all that could be downloaded. It still required them to manually manage large file requests and special size and format requests.

JL Audio began their search for an improved and dedicated DAM solution. They investigated a number of different solutions paying close attention to the functionality of the interface, its ease-of-use, and location of the provider. In addition, the ability to upload one image, audio or video format, and the ability to download different conversion options of that file, were features that made Widen's solution stand out. As a proud American company doing real manufacturing in the U.S.A., JL Audio was also happy to find a DAM vendor that is U.S.-based, supporting U.S. jobs.

"Widen's advisors were very professional and knowledgeable. If I had questions, they knew exactly what was going on and answered them right away. There was no need to check and get back to me," stated Sheehy. "This ease of communication was very much appreciated and made a big difference, compared to other services we evaluated."

The DAM system will be used to service their global network of dealers and distributors. These users will have on-demand global access to logos, product images, beauty and lifestyle photography, PDFs of catalogs, magazine ads, videos, and audio files.

"The need to better streamline asset delivery to dealers and distributors is one we consult on quite often," said Craig Bollig, senior digital asset management advisor at Widen. "For the JL Audio team, it was imperative those groups could access the DAM solution and very easily find the needed assets without a request workflow. This frees up the JL Audio team to continue being productive on creating better content."

About JL Audio
Founded in 1975 in Miramar, Florida, JL Audio is a privately held American company manufacturing high-end audio solutions for the home, mobile and marine audio markets. JL Audio products are sold exclusively by specialty retailers throughout the U.S.A. and are distributed in seventy-two countries around the world. Recipient of numerous awards and accolades, JL Audio loudspeakers, amplifiers and subwoofers have been awarded fourteen U.S. patents for innovative audio technology. Facebook: @jlaudio Twitter @jlaudio

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.