Equilibrium MediaRich for SharePoint Accelerates Marketing and Fundraising Efforts for Feeding America

Feeding America’s HungerNet Implements MediaRich for SharePoint and Significantly Cuts Labor Time and Physical Handling Expenses

SAUSALITO, CA, July 15, 2009 – Equilibrium®, a software and hosted services company that specializes in assisting enterprise clients of all sizes to manage, monetize and mobilize content announced today that, Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief charity, is successfully utilizing Equilibrium MediaRich® for SharePoint to increase efficiency of marketing initiatives across its national network of 206 member food banks. HungerNet, Feeding America’s intranet, serves members across the country, with approximately 90% of affiliated staff able to access marketing assets such as photos, graphics and pre-set branded templates.

Since Feeding America installed Equilibrium MediaRich for SharePoint this spring, it has been much easier and more time efficient for the creative services team at the national office as well as 5,000 affiliated staff members to upload, access, share, and manage digital assets.  MediaRich also allows Feeding America’s HungerNet to closely track images and make sure older images are removed from the system at the proper time.  In addition, costs were cut through the use of MediaRich, with members now able to directly access resources on-demand, rather than having to make in-house requests that are not only time-consuming but also use valuable resources to address. Due to MediaRich’s ease of use, Feeding America interns and part-time volunteers were able to initially catalog, tag and upload all digital images to HungerNet.

“Equilibrium and MediaRich have enabled our staff at both the national office and our member food banks to access digital resources in an unprecedented way. The product is delivering significant time savings, which is time that is now better used toward serving Americans who are struggling with hunger,” said Steve McFarland, Director of Communication at the Feeding America national office.  “As we strive to raise awareness of domestic hunger and the work of our member food banks, easy-to-use tools enable our network to speak with a consistent voice and quality of presentation.”

“Equilibrium made the execution of MediaRich for SharePoint for Feeding America’s HungerNet as smooth as possible, providing all the information needed through the sales process and all the support that we needed through customization and implementation,” said Matt Morse, Solutions Architect at PointBridge the software consulting firm that works with Feeding America.  “The MediaRich product allows Feeding America to do things with their media that simply were not possible with their SharePoint installation alone.”

“The values and mission of Feeding America makes us proud to be aligned with the organization and the fight against hunger,” said Sean Barger CEO of Equilibrium.  “Equilibrium MediaRich noticeably changes and improves digital content management for all of our clients, as Feeding America has experienced. By taking advantage of Equilibrium’s discount program for non-profits, Feeding America was able to implement the system economically as well. ”

MediaRich – Solving Feeding America’s Creative & Access Services Challenge
Feeding America turned to Equilibrium’s MediaRich for SharePoint software to find an easier way to manage, distribute and access its digital assets for marketing materials including newsletters, Web sites, direct mailings and public service announcements to the more than 5,000 network member staffers across the country.

Prior to the installation of MediaRich for SharePoint, the Feeding America national office had shared digital resources across the 206 Hunger Net network through traditional techniques: mailing hundreds of photo CDs each year, containing mostly food bank and hunger-relief images that members would then incorporate into their local outreach and marketing efforts.  Now, the Feeding America network uses MediaRich to continuously maintain and refresh its custom digital media library, where the affiliated remote staff members can search, manipulate and download thousands of images and media files used to conduct local outreach programs in thousands of communities across the U.S.  In addition to time saved, Feeding America has eliminated the costs and environmental issues associated with producing photo CDs, shipping and mailing materials and the energy consumed to deliver marketing program elements to 206 locations.

In addition, the photos may be used for only two years. The system also allows them to track these legacy images and make sure they are removed at the proper time.

MediaRich® for SharePoint is a highly effective management and deployment tool for digital media that features a scalable, high-volume media distribution and repurposing engine.  It enables companies to control the costs, in terms of both time and money, involved to upload, ingest, manage, visualize, find, modify, discover, export and deploy media assets in a secure self-service portal. With MediaRich for SharePoint, Microsoft SharePoint’s powerful capabilities are extended to include the automated visualization and dynamic processing of Office documents as well as image and video assets. This is a necessity to meet the pace of demands in the advertising, manufacturing, retailing, publishing, communications, entertainment government, and non-profit market sectors.

Equilibrium has published a case study about Feeding America and MediaRich for SharePoint, which is available for download from Equilibrium Library.

About Feeding America
Feeding America provides low-income individuals and families with the fuel to survive and thrive. As the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, Feeding America’s network members supply food to more than 25 million Americans each year, including 9 million children and 3 million seniors. Serving the entire United States, more than 200 member food banks support 63,000 agencies that address hunger in all of its forms. To learn more about Feeding America, please visit feedingamerica.org.

About Equilibrium
Equilibrium, the world leader in media processing since 1992 when it released the first automated graphics processing software, DeBabelizer®, now leads the monetization of the next-generation Internet and mobile video revolutions. The patented, high-powered MediaRich® engine enables real-time personalization and delivery of music, images and video to website, wireless and portable devices. Equilibrium offers breakthrough cross-platform technology solutions featuring interoperability and integration for the workgroup, enterprise and web-server, delivering the same MediaRich CORE technology for cross-platform interoperability and integration virtually anywhere. Equilibrium MediaRich for SharePoint is the only self-service Digital Asset Management (DAM) software that is seamlessly integrated within SharePoint. Equilibrium is a Microsoft Gold Partner. The EQ Network can automate personalized video delivery and monetization via advertising from any web video. To learn more about Equilibrium and its products, please visit Equilibrium, EQ Network , or our blog or call +1.415.332.4343.

Equilibrium and MediaRich are registered trademarks of Equilibrium. Patent Numbers 6,792,575 and 6,964,009, other patents pending for automated media processing and dynamic multi-platform delivery.

Press Contacts:
Frank Colin – Equilibrium
+1 415-332-4343
pr@equilibrium.com

Sallie Olmsted / Amy Gubman
Rogers & Cowan for Equilibrium
+1 310-854-8124 / 8194
solmsted@rogersandcowan.com
agubman@rogersandcowan.com