Know what depends on what
Every product asset depends on product data: the pack design, the colourway, the ingredients panel, the model name, sometimes the price. When one attribute changes, some assets become wrong and others stay correct. A dependency map makes this explicit. Record, for each asset, the SKU and the attributes it shows, such as pack version, colour and claims. A change in the product information management system, the PIM, can then be matched to exactly the assets it invalidates. Without that map, teams either refresh everything, which wastes review time, or refresh what they remember, which leaves outdated packs live on some channel for months.
Triggers from product data
Refreshes should start from data, not from someone noticing. Useful triggers include a new SKU, a pack or label revision, a colour or material change, a new claim or certification mark, a range entering a new season, and a launch in a new market. Prices deserve a rule of their own: they normally belong in text or feed fields rather than inside images, so a price change needs no new imagery at all. Batch generation from the PIM or product feed turns each trigger into a queue of affected assets, and reviewers approve only what changed rather than re-checking the whole range.
Versioning without confusion
A refreshed asset is a new version, not a replacement that erases history. Keep the old version with its dates and approval, because customer complaints and regulator questions sometimes concern what was shown on a particular day. Version names should say what changed, such as a new pack or a new season, not just a number. Shopping feeds such as Google Merchant Center and Meta catalogues ask for a new URL when an image changes, because an image replaced at the same address can be picked up late or not at all. In the studio, product-lock keeps the product pixel-accurate while scenes and seasons change, and every asset carries a record of which model made it.
Retiring old assets
Old assets cause more trouble than missing ones. A superseded pack shot left in the DAM gets reused by a regional team, a retailer or an affiliate, and the old product appears in a new campaign. Retire deliberately: mark superseded assets as expired, remove them from active collections and syndication feeds, and move them to an archive nobody can publish from without a second look. Put expiry dates on assets tied to anything time-bound, such as seasonal scenes, licensed talent or promotional claims, so the archive does the remembering instead of a person.
Updated 25 September 2026 · General information, not legal advice. Rules change, so check the current text with your legal team before relying on it.