What a Rights Mess we’ve got into
Creative production is getting faster. Better tools, online workflows and automation are helping to create content in fractions of the time it used to take.
The speed at which we make content continues to increase, but how can the paperwork keep up? Digital Asset Management systems (DAMs) tell us what is allowed, and where. But this requires human input and a level of diligence to examine the metadata. All too often we don’t.
Tracking the rights management of a video ad has always been challenging. Now that an ad can be served up in almost any location or downloaded from a DAM and repurposed for local needs, it’s becoming virtually impossible.
Rights Management?
Those of us in the creative industry understand the importance of paying creative talent for the work they do. We have a legal and moral responsibility to create systems that ensure this happens.
We also understand the need for contracts that clarify how the talent and the client agree to use the content. Rights management is much more than simply the process of negotiating, recording and tracking that handshake. The management comes from creating platforms that ensure it is adhered to.
Historically we have been great at negotiating and recording. Less good at the management. As ads now travel the globe in an instant, this tracking becomes increasingly challenging, time-consuming and expensive when it goes wrong.
Ambulance chasing Agents?
Agents and talent are becoming increasingly smart to content use outside of the agreement and putting claims to brand owners. Who can blame them? After all, signed contracts are not being adhered to. However, incorrect usage is almost always accidental; a result of marketers moving quickly and of poor visibility into purchased rights agreements. Here’s an example of how it might happen:
Pass the Parcel
The claim arrives on the desk of the General Council who pass it to marketing. Marketing asks procurement what was bought, who then ask the agency… A TV spot that was intended for North America somehow ended up on TV (re-versioned) in Hungary! A meeting with the agency is called, but which one? The brand has a different agency in the US and Europe. The talent payment company for the US are asked for advice, but their remit is limited to North America so they can’t shed any light. Several more meetings provide no clarity, so a decision is made to just pay up and get on with more pressing business!
Are you at risk?
- Are your brands multinational?
- Do you use multiple agencies?
- Do you reversion ad content?
- Do you look to reuse ad content later or across many channels?
Multinational brands carry an obvious rights management non-compliance risk. The use of multiple agencies means there is little chance you can ask your agency to implement a global SOP for managing rights. Versioning of content and reuse across channels further amplifies this risk.
Control with no downside
CreateTOTALLY provides a content automation platform that has media planning at its heart. Smart asset planning informs the media buy, placement and live dates. This informs the assets which can be adapted and ensure only those that comply are accessible. From here we automate the creation of the assets and deliver them to the publishers. It’s simple really.
Rather than sorting the rights out at the end, we automate it at the start of the creative production process.
Magic Sauce
Media first content automation lets us automate your rights compliance. Through World-class automation, we can save advertisers 75% while also delivering detailed analytics combining media and production cost, alongside asset effectiveness.
Giving our clients more money to turn those valuable Insights Into Action. Find out more at createtotally.com
