Everlast streamlines their global retail presence and go-to-market strategies with Brandfolder

Challenge

For the team at Everlast, communication is the name of the game. With two tracks of business distribution—there are nearly 100 licensees around the world and countless retailers in the U.S.—Everlast's core mission is to share new product launches, an array of existing SKUs, and seasonal promotional campaigns with unwavering speed and consistency.

Before adopting a DAM, the Everlast team hosted all assets on an internal server, disseminating vital information in large file transfers via Dropbox and WeTransfer. Whether they were sharing imagery with an international stakeholder or updating content producers at Dick's Sporting Goods or Modell's, Everlast marketers had to upload the same files again and again, delaying both the internal team workflow and the external go-to-market strategies.

"Our asset dissemination was rather fragmented and not very user-friendly," recalls Chris Zoller, VP of Marketing and Product Development. "Challenges included user management, search, and sharing capabilities."

There was also no way for Everlast to streamline asset customization for their broader market reach without taking the time to curate licensee or retailer-specific asset packages on an ad-hoc basis. Different sets of images files, Word documents, product descriptions, and SKUs were sent to partners in disparate attachments. This resulted in a slow and laborious pre-distribution workflow, pulling the marketing team at Everlast HQ into the weeds of asset sprawl and time-consuming communication.

The tipping point came when Everlast's internal system put their hard work and asset repository at major risk. "Our servers crashed. We lost quite a bit," says Chris.

Our asset dissemination was rather fragmented and not very user-friendly. – Chris Zoller, VP of Marketing & Product development

Solution

Everlast turned to Brandfolder to revamp their digital asset management strategy, and found solace in a cloud-based central source of truth that gave global teams 24/7 access.

Brandfolder also provided an essential framework for creating custom experiences to empower stakeholders. Josh Mevorach, Everlast's Senior Marketing Manager, now segments licensees from retailers in different Brandfolder Collections, so important information is easily curated to meet the needs of each.

Licensees: Data Sensitivity and Efficient Onboarding

Everlast's licensee assets often house sensitive data—including factory, cost, and contract information—all vitally important for effectively enlisting new distributors. With their licensee-specific Brandfolder, the team has maximized both speed and professionalism. "Brandfolder makes it very easy to share assets with new licensees when they're onboarded," explains Josh. "It's now a turnkey operation."

Retailers: Streamlined Product Launches and Custom Branding

New products and campaigns are constantly launching at Everlast, and retailers need access to the most up-to-date assets and promotion parameters. With Brandfolder, Josh centralizes product images and descriptions, stacking photo assets and tagging SKUs and seasonal campaigns to seamlessly bucket retail information for any website. His team can now send a single Brandfolder share link with the peace of mind that launches will happen with consistency, integrity, and a sense of self-sufficiency from retailers.

The Everlast team also uses Brandfolder to create uniquely-curated social assets for retail partners—brand experiences that might not be relevant to licensees. "You're not walking into an Everlast store," Josh explains. "Everything is sold online, by third-party retailers, or through licensees. Brandfolder gives us the ability to shape the retail narrative by creating branded assets that are specific to retailers."

Results

Since implementing Brandfolder, Chris and Josh have seen incredible improvement in global productivity and alignment. "Brandfolder has paid for itself many times over because of its tremendous impact on our internal communication," shares Josh.

Adoption of Brandfolder was intuitive and effortless for international licensees and retailers alike, streamlining communication channels and restoring autonomy to partners around the world. "You can't sneak one by them," says Josh. "They heavily rely on Brandfolder. They expect to see new assets in Brandfolder immediately. It's become second nature for them." Josh even sends a monthly internal newsletter and always includes a link to the newest assets in Brandfolder, doubling down on the simplification of company alignment.

Upload and distribution times for new assets and campaigns are also calculably faster than the internal server and Dropbox/WeTransfer workflow of the past. Everlast recently launched their "Be First" campaign, featuring trailblazing athletes—like Patricio Manuel, the first-ever professional transgender boxer, and Jinji Martinez, a fighter who lost his leg two days before his pro-debut, and is now challenging boxing norms by going pro as an amputee. The campaign was a massive initiative to champion diversity and inclusivity in boxing, and required clear and thorough worldwide asset distribution ahead of time.

Brandfolder has paid for itself many times over because of its tremendous impact on our internal communication. – Josh Mevorach, Senior Marketing Manager

"We used Brandfolder to communicate the full 'Be First' campaign roll-out to all licensees," says Josh. When the assets were finalized, Josh was able to send a single Brandfolder link in a single email to every international Everlast stakeholder. Teams around the world were then able to grab the collateral they needed on their own schedules, thus saving the New York-headquartered marketing team countless hours in launch prep and communication. "There would have been a lot more moving pieces without Brandfolder," Josh explains.

And whether a licensee needs an ad to fit their global market or a retailer needs an image to fit their unique website specs, Brandfolder has not only enabled go-to-market speed and self-sufficiency—it has given Everlast a crucial sense of brand integrity. Retail partners are using Brandfolder's custom cropping feature to size approved imagery for their own websites without needing Everlast review. Product launches roll out internationally with no risk of confusion or inconsistency. "We're now one brand globally rather than a segmented brand with one thing here and one thing there," Josh avows. "It allows us to push the overall brand message better."

The benefits of Brandfolder show no signs of slowing; as Chris, Josh, and their marketers continue to drive Everlast success worldwide, the value of Brandfolder grows, too. "Each time I'm in there, I think about a new way to use it," shares Josh. "Over time, Brandfolder is filling the holes."

Key Takeaways

• An internal server that crashed, causing loss of many assets → a centralized repository on a cloud-based platform that protects information and eliminates asset sprawl
• No clear way to conveniently distinguish licensee assets from retailer ones → custom collections for licensees and retailers to streamline global communication, expedite onboarding processes and enable partner-facing professionalism
• A tediously manual method of distributing assets worldwide → Brandfolder share links and custom cropping empower stakeholders to modify assets for specific markets, countries, and retail stores quickly and autonomously, saving time and effort for all parties
• Fragmented asset development around the world → global brand consistency and faster time to market

Interested in learning how Brandfolder can help you manage, distribute and analyze your brand assets?