A media taxonomy for several brands comes down to three things: three folder levels, one file-naming pattern, and a written rule for what's shared and what belongs to a single brand. That's the whole system. Tags, status folders and regional sub-trees are usually just ways to avoid making that rule, and they make files slower to find, not faster.
TLDR: Organise as Brand, then Campaign, then Asset type, and never go deeper. Name every file
brand_campaign_type_description_vNN. Keep one Shared area, with one owner, for anything two brands use. Check it for 15 minutes a week.
The folder plan: three levels and one Shared area
Put the brand first, because brands are what your team switches between all day. People look for "the Nordic Trail summer reel", not "all reels".
Brand
Campaign (or "evergreen")
Asset type: video, image, copy, brand kit
_Shared
Stock, templates, legal, partner logos
If you feel the urge to add a fourth level, add a word to the file name instead. Channel, language and aspect ratio all fit in the name. They don't need a folder each.
The file name is the second folder
Folders get you to the right shelf. The name gets you to the right file. Use one pattern for every brand and every person:
| Part | Example | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Brand code | nrt |
2 to 4 letters, agreed once |
| Campaign | summer26 |
Season or launch plus year |
| Asset type | reel, static, story |
From a short fixed list |
| Description | beach-sunset |
2 to 4 words, hyphens |
| Version | v02 |
Two digits, never "final" |
| Format (optional) | 9x16 |
Only when you keep several crops |
A full name looks like nrt_summer26_reel_beach-sunset_v02_9x16.mp4. Lowercase, no spaces, no emoji. Files sort the same way on every laptop and every platform.
"Final" is a feeling, not a version. Whether a file is approved is a status, and it belongs in your approval step, not in the name.
Shared or brand-only: one rule that stops duplicates
Most duplicate files come from the same moment: someone needs a stock photo or a disclaimer for brand B, finds it in brand A's folder, and copies it. Now there are two versions and nobody owns either.
The rule: if two or more brands use it, it lives in _Shared with one named owner. If it is copied, it is no longer the original.
| Asset | Where it lives | Who can change it |
|---|---|---|
| Logo, colours, fonts | The brand's own record | Brand lead |
| Licensed stock used by several brands | _Shared/Stock |
Marketing ops |
| Legal lines, disclaimers, templates | _Shared/Templates |
Legal or ops |
| Campaign creative | Brand > Campaign | Whoever runs that campaign |
| Raw footage and design source files | Your master storage, not the social library | Creative team |
That last row matters. The social library holds what you will post. Keep the heavy masters where your designers already work.
Brand kits and the media gallery, named by the same rules
In Mydrop, a brand holds its logo, colours, fonts and voice in one place, and the media gallery holds the files you attach to posts. When you import from Google Drive, files land in the gallery folder you have open, so open the right brand and campaign folder first, then import. If you manage several brands in one workspace, this takes about a minute of discipline per upload and saves the "which logo is current" conversation entirely.
Roll it out in one afternoon
- Pick one pilot brand, ideally the one with the most posts.
- Create the three levels and the
_Sharedarea. Add only the campaigns that are live or planned. - Move the last 90 days of files. Leave older material where it is.
- Apply the naming pattern to new uploads only. Renaming the archive is a project nobody finishes.
- Post the one-page rule in your team channel and pin it.
- Copy the structure to the next brand after two weeks, once the pilot is quiet.
The 15-minute weekly check
A taxonomy doesn't fail on day one. It fails in month three, quietly. Run this every Friday:
| Check | Pass condition |
|---|---|
| Intake | The "to sort" folder is empty |
| Names | Open the 5 newest files: all follow the pattern |
| Duplicates | Search _Shared items in brand folders: none found |
| Retire | Campaigns that ended 4 weeks ago are moved to an archive folder |
If your team can find any approved asset in under 30 seconds, the system is working. If not, the fix is almost always the naming line, not another folder.
Next step: write the naming pattern for your busiest brand on one page today and test it by finding a file you needed last week. When you're ready to run several brands from one place, start free with Mydrop.
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