Ford Motor Company Selects North Plains’ Digital Asset Management Software to Enhance Global Marketing Efforts

North Plains Systems Inc., the leading provider of digital asset management (DAM) and media asset management (MAM) software solutions, today announced that Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) has selected North Plains and TeleScope™ as its integrated, global digital asset management solution to manage, share and distribute digital media files among the company’s worldwide marketing teams. TeleScope will help Ford streamline the creation and distribution of global and local marketing materials, ensure global brand-consistency, and allow marketing team members anywhere in the world to quickly find, share and collaborate on vehicle and brand images, videos, logos, ad copy, and other rich digital media files required to execute a successful new product launch.

Guided by the company’s ONE Ford initiative, Ford is moving forward with a line of new products that are designed and developed to consistently meet the needs, wants and expectations of customers around the world. Likewise, as part of the ONE Ford initiative, the company is working to improve its ability to consistently market these new products in regions and markets across the globe.

One new product is the next-generation Ford Focus, which was revealed last month at the North American International Auto Show and will eventually be sold in 122 global markets. Ford needed a way to consistently find, manage, share, distribute and collaborate on product photos, videos, graphics and other related digital media files among its more than 2000 team members on its North America, Europe, and Asia regional marketing teams.

Ford selected TeleScope for its ease of use, ability to support Ford’s creative and distribution workflows, and for its scalable, distributed hub-and-spoke architecture which provides high performance for local, regionally stored and accessed assets, and a global catalog for locating and sharing assets worldwide. By implementing TeleScope as its global digital asset management platform, Ford will benefit from cost savings through the greater reuse of existing digital media, stronger brand consistency, more efficient global product launches, and enhanced cross-company and cross-agency communication and collaboration.

"We selected North Plains as the result of a thorough process that included members of our global marketing teams from every region of the world,” said Elena Ford, director of global marketing for Ford Motor Company. "With the new system, our marketing teams in locations around the world will be able to securely share assets and promote collaboration, which is critical to our success.”

Companies everywhere are realizing the importance of integrated, global digital asset management to enable marketing teams. Companies like Ford are looking at ways to increase efficiency and drive down costs while enabling brand consistency, reuse and sharing of marketing materials, and coordination across global teams. These activities, along with the increased use of video, images, and interactive graphics as primary forms of communication in Web, marketing and advertising initiatives, are driving the need for integrated, global digital asset management to enable coordinated and facile marketing organizations. A digital asset management system like TeleScope, automates workflows, enhances collaboration and streamlines complex, time-consuming manual tasks. TeleScope, a single platform that meets the requirements of a global organization like Ford, is invaluable.

"Ford’s selection of North Plains is a testament not only to the design and power of TeleScope, but also indicative of the challenges facing corporations today,” said Hassan Kotob, President and CEO, North Plains Systems, Inc. "As companies change to meet the demands of selling and communicating to a global marketplace, they need systems like TeleScope to facilitate those efforts. We look forward to working together and helping to make Ford an increasingly efficient global company.”

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 198,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.

North Plains’ TeleScope™ Digital Asset Management (DAM) Platforms

TeleScope™ is an award-winning digital asset management platform that enables the secure access, management and distribution of all digital and rich media content across an entire organization. With its distributed and modular architecture, TeleScope is designed to meet the diverse range of rich media needs from small and mid-size businesses and design studios, to the complex business challenges of global enterprises. Whether you’re a new creative ‘shop’ just starting out; growing so quickly that your asset inventory is getting out of control; or a globally distributed organization with millions of assets to manage for users around the world, North Plains’ TeleScope platform is ready to meet your unique business challenges.

About North Plains Systems Inc.

Founded in 1994, North Plains Systems Inc. is the world’s leading provider of digital and video asset management and publishing solutions. With a portfolio of over 475 satisfied customers, North Plains’ TeleScope platform streamlines the complexity of managing increasingly challenging digital asset and publishing environments. From centralized workflow optimization, asset creation, production and virtual collaboration, to delivery and distribution, North Plains provides end-to-end solutions that meet the business requirements of companies of all sizes. For further information please visit www.northplains.com. Follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook.