PONANT EXPLORATIONS GROUP has been committed to meaningful exploration trips and more responsible tourism for 35 years.
Historically equipped with two platforms—one dedicated to photos, the other to videos—Ponant made the strategic choice to migrate to a unified solution to streamline the management of its assets. This was a long-term, structuring project with a clear vision: to build a qualified, centralized database to serve the brand image and operational performance.
The trigger: a strong desire for governance, accessibility, and platform animation. There was a need to bring the platform to life, to make it a place for internal and external communication, useful to employees, partners, and service providers.
The DAM thus became a pillar within the Ponant ecosystem, enabling all users to speak with one voice, with the right content, the right tone, and a consistent brand image.
The DAM project at Ponant followed a trajectory orchestrated by the Ponant and Activo teams at each key stage, from the initial scoping to the ongoing optimization of the platform:
Activo first supported Ponant in the strategic scoping phase: defining requirements, formalizing expectations, and selecting the most suitable solution through a rigorous RFI/RFP process.
Once the Bynder solution was selected, workshops were held with the various communication and marketing teams to frame the main pillars of the project: group and user structure, metadata definition, taxonomy organization, derivative logic, etc. These discussions helped anchor the solution in Ponant's specific use cases.
Activo then took care of the entire configuration of the platform, paying particular attention to metadata mapping and taxonomy, which are essential for ensuring searchability, consistency, and distribution of assets. Special care was also taken to customize the interface and set up derivative files, for example.
The assets from the two historical platforms, one dedicated to photos and the other to videos, were migrated to Bynder via data mapping adapted to the types of content and taxonomy, using Activo Connect.
Support and configuration of the platform's look and feel for a seamless customer experience.
Today, an Activo documentalist is working to harmonize metadata from older platforms to ensure that it is compatible with the new taxonomy. At the same time, a second documentalist is managing the processing of incoming data, ensuring continuity in the quality of enrichment.
Activo continues to work on adjusting the platform's configuration: evolving the taxonomy, refining search filters, and providing support for the various Bynder modules. This support also includes training sessions for users and ongoing consulting, as well as the production of corporate videos and motion design to communicate about the DAM.
Ponant also benefited from Activo's technical expertise in deploying Bynder's Digital Asset Transformatives (DAT) module as part of the implementation of the new Storyblok CMS. This connector enables the smooth and controlled distribution of assets to the new Ponant website and SEO optimization, ensuring fluidity and security in the distribution of these images.
The migration project faced several challenges:
The project continues with ambitious goals:
“Sustaining the strategy and supporting growth”
With annual production reaching up to 100,000 assets, Ponant aims to integrate 5 to 10% of this volume into its DAM each year, thereby consolidating a media repository that serves its entire digital ecosystem.
