Creative Automation: Frequently Asked Questions

What is creative automation?

Creative automation is the automated assembly of marketing assets online in large volumes quickly, usually print, online and video. It is the ability to efficiently produce high volumes of creative marketing assets through automation, based on rules and templates rather than doing it manually. 

It has several uses for creative teams. Depending on the project needs, variations of assets can be created across languages, regional dialects and localised imagery. There are cases where automation can amend the ratio and format for different social and marketing channels.  There is also the ability to design layouts and template for specific creative automation

What is the difference between creative automation and marketing automation?

Marketing Automation uses computer software and online services to execute, manage, and automate marketing tasks and processes. Marketing automation features purpose-built tools and applications to boost your campaign performance and speed by replacing tedious and repetitive manual marketing processes. Most commonly used for campaigning and nurturing programs to help marketers do digital strategies based on rules and logic. 

Creative automation however is more specific to the automated assembly of marketing assets in large volumes. The same way that SEO is part of the marketing mix for marketers, creative automation is a specific part of your marketing automation system.

What other systems would creative automation work with?

If you have a marketing asset to produce, creative automation works best when your organisation’s digital asset management system and product information management system are connected and all can feed directly into your creative project. Avoiding creative automation being a stand alone system needs to be a concern as this creates islands in your infrastructure that could lead to time consuming processes and errors. Having an in-process view of your production flow helps the organisation by removing silo thinking.  

If you were working on a global campaign relevant for a new consumer product in multiple markets, wouldn’t it make life easier if instead of manually putting data into a spreadsheet across multiple stakeholders, your system just knew all the latest information and assets needed and could easily pull it altogether instantly? No matter the volume, whether your product is to launch in 7 markets or 107 markets, when all of your marketing systems are connected - there’ll be substantially less delays, less errors and more time saved.

Who is creative automation for?

Creative automation is targeted at creative, marketing and production professionals producing assets who have to work with complex, time consuming operations. The more complexity you are handling in your production flow the bigger the benefit. The more mature your organisation is in handling multi channel challenges with a multitude of media types - the better you are helped with Creative Automation. 

But there will be others with an interest in creative automation operations too. Ensure you consult with leaders of both your technology, ecommerce, operations and buying/category teams. The best time to consider creative automation is when you’re having to produce large volumes of marketing assets, but maybe you’re still using spreadsheets to project manage, or your existing system just doesn’t have the capability to support. 

What are the benefits of creative automation?

There are lots of benefits to implementing creative marketing automation into your marketing operations to handle the increasing complexity of your marketing efforts. We’ve listed a number of general ones for you below

• Faster turnaround for marketing assets
• Simpler processes for creating marketing assets
• All relevant information feeding into one single place
• Have all teams and stakeholders working on and from the same resources
• Ability to create marketing assets in large volumes with greater ease
• Easily scale the creation of marketing assets up or down
• Reduce time spent on repetitive manual tasks
• Empower others to use independently and reduce the likelihood of bottlenecks

How do you know if you need creative automation?

If you identify with any of the following statements, it would be worth considering creative automation:

• You’re using spreadsheets to manage our workflows, but do not have an integrated process
• You need to improve control over your asset production
• It takes too long to produce even simple marketing assets
• We operate multiple channels, countries, languages and/or media formats
• Marketing campaigns get bottlenecked at certain tasks 
• We’ve got so many products, it’s hard to find anything
• Too many different siloed systems and services that aren’t working together.
• Our operations aren’t that bad, but we’re sure there’s a better way of doing things

Where might creative automation sit in a company?

It depends on the company. But expect that a system, or parts of a system may already exist within one of the following teams: production studios, buying/category management, marketing, ecommerce, operations or technology. And as long as the application is not a stand alone system and is linked to your workflows with an in-process view it is not so important.  

How many creative assets can I produce through Encodify Creative Automation Studio?

It is unlimited. You can create as many as you want.

It’d be great to know more, is a demonstration possible?

Sure. Contact our team to discuss your needs and find out how the Encodify Creative Automation Studio can work for you.

How does Encodify Creative Automation Studio differ from other solutions?

We have developed our solution to focus on the actual business problems for creative teams, rather than just the technologies to solve it. Our approach is to design the technology solution using multiple tools to deliver the most optimal solution that fits your business case. We have an in-process view of the world starting with the workflows, and linking capabilities to a core understanding of your commercial operations. That is why creative automation with us will never be an island and you’ll be able to integrate with your DAM, PIM and proofing tools across departments and functions.

Can it integrate with my other existing marketing operations?

Yes. If you already have operations with us, you can connect Encodify Creative Automation Studio to your existing Encodify workflows to provide a single source of truth.

How much does it cost?

Pricing packages for Encodify Creative Automation Studio depend on your needs. For more information, contact our team.‍

More Questions?

If you'd like to know more, contact us for a chat, or check out our Guide to Creative Automation.

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