The Atlanta Hawks, a cornerstone of the NBA since 1949, are more than just a professional basketball team. Playing their home games at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, they are one of the nation’s premier entertainment destinations. With a mission to deliver unforgettable experiences, the Hawks and State Farm Arena team host 41 home games and an additional 80 ticketed events annually.
The amount of content needed to promote, recap, and make exceptional brand experiences around the excitement at State Farm Arena is a large workload that requires speed and cross-functional collaboration. The Atlanta Hawks produce around 1,000 projects each year, with an average of six assets per project. These include:
- Video for “tentpole events” in the calendar: Hawks Season Schedule Release, Tickets Pre-Sale, Tickets On-Sale, and City Edition Jersey Release.
- 30-second broadcast promotional spots + adaptations for social media
- Game promotions: Full collateral to promote 40 home games (with 20+ assets per game) plus social media support for 40 away games
- Partner content: Assets partitioned into collections (in iconik) for different brand partners
The enormous amount of content produced for these events, combined with the need for rapid delivery, presented both a tremendous opportunity and workload for their teams. Gilbert zeroed in on the absence of an asset management system when he joined the organization several seasons ago. Without this system in place, teams were working in silos, and collaboration and sharing was stifled with the lack of a centralized platform. He set out to assess their existing setup and workflows, which took six to eight weeks, and encompassed reviewing every business unit and documenting their workflows. Following this, they entered the RFP phase, consulting with several system integrators, including IMT.
IMT distinguished itself with its meticulous attention to detail and educational approach. This thorough approach helped the Hawks understand how to best marry their workflows and select the right solution.
“IMT’s took an educational approach and submitted multiple proposals and worked to educate the Atlanta Hawks on what our options really were.” Kim Rometo
IMT’s recommended workflow also included integrating CloudSoda with iconik for moving the Hawks data around which has been a great fit.
“CloudSoda is now an integral part of our asset management workflows here at the Hawks. It’s integrated into Iconik and serves as a data mover between our primary on-premises server and our near-line archival solution. It’s also our data mover for disaster recovery directly to S3. Once we weaved it into our ecosystem, it’s hard to imagine another product taking its place” – Charles Gilbert
