You need to produce a lot of high-quality content for your complex and emerging retail channels, and you need to do it fast. This is the dawning reality of creative content production across the retail sector. The problem, of course, is that resources are always limited, and there’s never enough manpower or hours in the day to produce what you need in the timeframe that you need it.
This is why AI has proven to be a powerful tool for most creatives’ tool belts. We’ve talked before about how technologies like Midjourney are fundamentally transforming content production management (CPM) for most organizations by giving creatives an easy way to create and iterate new content quickly. But there's another powerful way to leverage AI: using existing assets to create additional versions and variations, known as derived assets.
What Are Derived Assets?
The core concept of “derived assets” is simple: imagine using one core asset to generate endless versions tailored for every customer and channel. By taking a single piece of content (say, a high-resolution photo or 3D scan of a dress), you can repurpose it in numerous ways, such as:
- Redressing a live model
- Creating new still images
- Producing video content
- Designing editorial campaigns
- Crafting social media posts
- Developing 3D models
However, the beauty of derived assets is that you’re not just limited to taking the same asset and repurposing it, but you can also customize and transform it to meet a wide variety of unique channel-based requirements, such as:
- Seasonal campaigns
- Geographic localization
- Representation, such as gender or body type variations
- Customer profiles across different markets
- New styles and creative modifications
The applications of this level of customization are vast, spanning e-commerce, marketing, virtual try-on technology, and more. The only limit is how far an organization is willing to explore, as the possibilities—like AI’s customization capabilities—are nearly limitless.
Why Do Derived Assets Matter?
Despite the promise of derived assets as a concept, the question remains of how they work in practice and how they can significantly enhance creatives' ability to meet new delivery requirements. The answer involves integrating these solutions into existing workflows, scaling them to ensure that they are future-proof, and ensuring that they always produce high-quality results.
While they sound fantastic in a vacuum, capabilities like derived assets don’t function well in a literal vacuum. They require other technologies to take advantage of their capabilities and deliver actual value to the organizations that use them.
And yes, this brings us back to CPM platforms like Creative Force. Leveraging derived assets is integral to our vision for scaling content production in the future, and our innovation lab Dreem.ai is focused on making this a reality.
We’ve already started investigating numerous projects incorporating derived assets into CPM-related areas.
Color Variations
This project would enable retailers and brands to automate the process of changing garment colors by deriving content from a source color or garment. This capability would turn what is often a time-intensive and complicated part of the retouching process into something that can be done in a matter of moments.
For example, imagine you’re a brand launching a tangerine-colored product line. You need to ensure that all clothing and accessories made from different materials match in color. By implementing automated color correction, you can simplify and expedite what is typically a time-consuming and complex part of the retouching process, reducing it to a matter of moments.
Styling & Outfits
This project would automate the process of editing and styling model photos by replacing products, backgrounds, and more. This would be supported by a library of assets, which could be utilized separately or together to derive new content that meets a wide variety of use cases.
For example, you’re a retailer with products that need to be styled for both warm and cold climates. This project would allow you to customize your core assets by dynamically changing products and accessories, enabling you to target customers in different regions with ease. You would leverage a library of assets, which could be individually or in combination, to derive new content that meets a wide variety of use cases.
Digital Models
One of our most exciting projects is to create a digital catalog of models in partnership with modeling agencies. This catalog could be used directly in the Creative Force platform to produce a wide variety of content without having to deal with in-person scheduling and costs, creating a more sustainable solution to one of retail’s biggest challenges.
VPI Versions
This project would enable you to quickly customize Vendor-Provided Imagery (VPI) to match your own style guidelines. When you have to manage various channels with specific brand requirements and aesthetics, the ability to quickly modify an image to align with your brand is crucial.
Our Approach
As more AI solutions enter the market, we set ourselves apart by focusing on products that respect the detail and complexity of e-commerce content production. Our solutions are designed to fit seamlessly within your existing workflows and adhere to industry standards and norms, including the ethical use of data in our research and development.
Let’s Chat
At Creative Force, we're committed to leading innovation in content production management (CPM). We’d love to show you how our platform can help your organization reach its goals.
Interested in learning more? Contact us!
