Taking Back Control
The Marin County Convention & Visitors Bureau had trouble managing their large portfolio of photos via a free online photo sharing program. With the program, they couldn’t control the quality of downloads or properly credit photos to photographers. That’s when they came to Barberstock for help. Within weeks, Barberstock was able to organize their library and control access, saving valuable time for employees and ensuring that only the best photos of Marin County were shared across the globe—a move that increased awareness of the destination greatly.
About Marin County CVB
The Marin County Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) is one of California’s busiest outdoor destination networks. Famed for its beautiful oceanside views and outdoor activities, the area is a tourist hotspot that attracts a lot of attention, especially from nature lovers and photographers.
Situated just “one famous bridge” from San Francisco, right next door to the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma Valley, and with approximately 70 miles of bay-front shoreline and 40 miles of ocean shoreline, it is the ideal place for kayaking, hang gliding, hiking, mountain biking and wine touring. Unquestionably, photos for the county are plenty, but managing them proved difficult for the bureau, spurring them into action with the help of Barberstock.
The Challenge
With such a picturesque destination, the CVB naturally accumulated a large amount of photos. Initially, they began using Flickr to manage these images. Soon, they realized that external users were downloading images from Flickr without having any permission or crediting the proper photographers. Marin was losing control of their photos. They quickly acknowledged that they needed a new solution—a solution that gave visitors and clients the option to access their photo library independently, but still allowed the CVB to maintain control of usage and rights.
The Solution
Barberstock was selected to house and manage their images, primarily because its platform is specifically built for Destination Marketing Organizations and targets the precise needs of a DMO. The three main system features that appealed to Marin were:
- The various options to organize photos
- Ease of use
- The ability to make photos available to the public while still controlling access and usage
The Barberstock production team was given access to the Marin Flickr account and transferred all of the images to the new system making the transition seamless. Once all of the photos were on the new platform, folders, access groups and metadata were applied, allowing a higher-level of organization and control.
The Outcome
Marin has been utilizing Barberstock’s system for over three years now, managing over 1800 photos. All of their images are neatly organized into folders and sub-folders, making searches quick and easy. Being able to find the right photo within minutes has been a huge advantage for the CVB. Prior to Barberstock, any photo request or search was a ‘big project,’ but now it’s a simple task. With all of the appropriate usage rights in place, employees no longer have to worry about the wrong photos getting into the wrong hands. They have full control of their assets. Marin also experienced an increase in photo requests and awareness of their destination with the implementation of Barberstock’s system. Additionally, by linking their digital asset library to their website, the bureau was able to increase the number of requests they received from travel writers who wanted to promote Marin County and its amazing sights and activities.
