In Brief
Sun & Ski Sports, a U.S. specialty sporting goods retailer with 32 stores across 13 states, once faced a slippery slope of scattered requests, manual approvals, and a 30-day signage process. Seeking a way to cut through the chaos, they turned to Lytho’s end-to-end solution — Workflow, DAM, and Tempo — to organize projects, accelerate production, and maintain brand consistency. By embracing automation, they shaved weeks off key processes (some down to mere minutes), empowered their design team to refocus on high-impact work, and built an integrated ecosystem ready to take on new challenges.
Peak Performance Stats
0,740
Projects completed in Lytho Workflow
0K +
Assets shared from Lytho DAM
0
Smart templates created in Tempo
0%
Reduction in signage turnaround times
Before Lytho: A patchwork of process
When Bob Budnik joined Sun & Ski Sports in 2018 as Director of Brand and Creative, the creative process was chaotic. Requests were submitted through emails, chats, or even sticky notes, leading to confusion and missed deadlines.
“We had no accountability,” Bob recalled. “If you tell my designer to get something done just because you walked by her, it’s just an idea. It’s not a request.”
Initial attempts to organize projects with Freedcamp and Photoshelter brought some visibility, but fell short in scalability. The shift to remote work during COVID-19 only highlighted the need for a cloud-based, centralized solution to support real-time collaboration and effectively manage a growing volume of creative assets.
By the end of 2020, it was clear Sun & Ski Sports needed a platform that could address their challenges head-on, and Lytho emerged as the perfect fit.
Why Lytho?
One of the key reasons Sun & Ski Sports chose Lytho over competitors was its focus on creative operations. “The ones that cater to the marketing mind and the creative mind are the ones I connected with,” Bob shared. “I wanted a partner that understood the creative operations side, not just the project management of a job.”
Bob evaluated six different platforms and was unimpressed with the competitors’ approach. “Four of them claimed to be for creative operations, but they weren’t. They were trying to mold their software to do it, and I could tell my team would be frustrated,” he said. “My creative team doesn’t want to think too much about using a tool.”
Lytho’s user-friendly design also stood out. “I want good UI and UX,” Bob emphasized. “Lytho is easy to read, easy to look at, and comfortable to use.”
Containing the Chaos With Lytho Workflow
Adopting Lytho Workflow gave Sun & Ski Sports’ creative team the structure they’d been missing. “I like to say to my team, if we have structure, we have less chaos for a creative person,” Bob stated. “And if the creative person has less chaos, then they’ll be able to be more creative.”
Key Workflow Capabilities
- Request Intake: Centralized intake forms now capture every project request with the necessary details, eliminating the confusion of verbal or informal submissions.
- Dependencies: Sun & Ski Sports can control task progression, preventing designers from starting work before blockers are complete.
- Centralized Communication: All project discussions, approvals, and updates remain in one place, building a culture of communication and accountability.
- Online Proofing: Integrated with Adobe’s tools, online proofing replaced the cumbersome email-based approval system, speeding up review cycles and ensuring accountability at every step.
Clarity and Control With Lytho DAM
Lytho’s integrated DAM gave Sun & Ski Sports the ability to overcome longstanding challenges in asset organization, version control, and brand consistency. By uploading multiple design iterations without overwriting originals, the team can refine conceptual art, streamline pricing updates, and maintain a complete history of past assets — allowing them to revisit previous designs whenever needed.
“It’s like an asset with layers, like in Photoshop, you have versions that you can go and refer to on your history. And it’s very helpful,” Bob stated.
Integration with Adobe Creative Suite further boosts flexibility, ensuring files remain accessible in the cloud and preventing downtime if someone is out of office. “Anybody can do the work at any time,” Bob added. “If someone is out sick, their work is still accessible in the cloud — not stuck on a local drive or server.”
Finally, Lytho’s Brand Center hosts Sun & Ski Sports’ brand guidelines in a single, centralized location. This consolidation reduces the time spent hunting for approved graphics and helps preserve brand integrity across every channel. “We appreciate having everything centralized,” Bob said. “It’s a process, but the benefits are undeniable.”
Transforming Signage Production With Lytho Tempo
Adding Lytho Tempo to their toolkit transformed Sun & Ski Sports’ approach to in-store signage. Previously, creating signage involved a 30-day process that relied on Excel sheets and manual approvals. Tempo’s smart templates and data merge features have drastically reduced production times, enabling team members to generate signs in minutes.
“Tempo’s automation has been a huge win for us,” Bob shared. “During Black Friday, our riskiest time of year, we produced all signage using Tempo, and it was smooth and efficient.”
The transformation began with building templates in InDesign and experimenting with data merging. Bob worked with a designer to demonstrate how the process could shrink from 30 days to just three. “Everybody was blown away,” Bob recalled. “All I needed was clean data, and we could build signs quickly. Even if it took a week, it was still far better than 30 days.”
Tempo took this concept further by automating the process in a cloud-based system. “I didn’t want designers spending their time making signs all day. They should be creating new templates and working on strategic projects,” Bob explained.
Today, a junior print coordinator handles most signage tasks, completing them in minutes. Bob described a typical workflow: “We had four to 10 sign requests come in last week. I set up the Excel file, sent it to her as a Lytho request, and said, ‘Here’s your file, use these publications in Tempo, and then put them into Lytho proofing.’ It’s that simple.”
The efficiency gains have been immense. “We now have a tool in place where automation allows a junior resource to do the work,” Bob said. “This saves money and speeds up delivery. It’s a win for the company’s bottom line and our team’s creativity.”
A Fully Connected Future: Integration, Partnerships, and the Path Forward
Sun & Ski Sports’ adoption of Workflow, DAM, and Tempo has created an end-to-end ecosystem where projects seamlessly flow from intake to delivery. “All of those pieces have to be integrated together to make the creative process as smooth as possible. It’s like an assembly line for creativity,” Bob explained.
By reducing bottlenecks and offering insights into resource allocation, this holistic approach supports the company’s long-term vision of a fully connected creative operations platform — one in which every step, from request to delivery, unfolds within a single system. “We’re working toward a future where our team never has to leave the process to do their job,” Bob said. “That’s the dream.”
Reflecting on Sun & Ski Sports’ journey, Bob offered advice for teams considering a similar transformation. “The human aspect of the software is just as important as the features,” he noted. “You should look for somebody who understands the creative industry and the mindset of a marketing and creative person.”
Fostering collaboration and mutual respect with software partners is also vital. “Your partner should live your world as much as you do. That shared understanding makes all the difference,” Bob concluded.
Do you want to give yourself and your creative team more room for creative stimulation by automating the boring stuff? Lytho helps you streamline your entire workflow and harmonize all brand collateral under a single, uniform platform. Feel free to reach out to us by scheduling a demo and learning how our creative solutions can boost the effectiveness of your creative projects. We look forward to speaking with you!
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