How DAM helped a bicycle brand become retailers’ go-to source for cycling images

Consumer cycling brands rely on local bike shops to highlight their products in marketing materials. Of course, so do their competitors. So how can brands stand out from the crowd and ensure their products are the ones that end up in the spotlight?

For Giant Bicycles UK, the answer is Canto. The team uses Canto to manage photos, videos and technical PDFs for the bikes and gear they sell. To become the easiest place for bike shop owners to get product images, they make key content from their library available externally in a sharing portal. Then, they use Canto reporting to refine their content strategy, providing more visuals retailers will actually want to use.

Step 1: Provide retailers with the easiest place to get product images and videos

Bike shop owners are busy. They don’t have time to chase down content or sift through disorganized folders. With their Canto Portal, Giant UK created a one-stop-shop for retailers’ cycling image needs.

“A lot of these retailers are dealing with three, four, maybe five brands,” explains Giant UK’s digital content strategist, Ricki Cumberland. “If we provide retailers with the easiest place to get graphics or whatever they need for their shops, they will hopefully come to us rather than a competitor brand.”

Now, when bike shops need an image for their website or storefront, they have Giant branded content right at their fingertips.

Step 2: See what retailers are actually using

Canto’s digital asset reporting provides detailed insights on download rates, top search terms and more. For the Giant UK marketing team, that means a bird’s-eye view of how hundreds of bike shops interact with their content. They can see what’s popular and what’s falling flat at a glance.

“We supply social assets to retailers. Before Canto, we would just send it out and hope that they would use it,” says Ricki. “Now we can actually see the download rates on them.”

Step 3: Let real-world data lead the way

Now that Giant UK knows what types of content retailers use most – and what gaps need to be filled – they can focus their efforts on content they know bike shop owners will want to use. If certain types of content languishes unused, Ricki knows something’s not working. When an image or video proves popular, the Giant team knows they’re on the right track.

Canto’s reporting data also helped the Giant UK team identify gaps in their visual content. One of the most popular search terms was for Liv, the company’s women-specific bike brand. Now they know to stock their retailer portal with more visual assets featuring Liv bikes. “It was an overwhelming demand we didn’t know was there,” says Ricki. “The data indicates where the trend is moving, and what the retailers are really liking.”

Brands invest a lot in content creation – around a third of their marketing budgets on average. So it’s well worth making the effort to ensure that investment pays off. By distributing content with Canto, Giant UK made it easy for retailers to feature their products. And as they monitor demand and real-life usage, they can easily adapt their content strategy to meet local bike shops’ changing needs.

Want to learn more about how Canto helps teams succeed? Read our guide to organizing digital content, with examples from top brands that got it right.