56 Degrees

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Marketing and Communications of The Ivors Academy

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Champions songwriters and composers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire 56 Degrees to accomplish?

• Strengthen our new brand identity: that we protect, empower and celebrate songwriters and composers
• Grow our community: increase the number of members and friends joining
• Engage our community: provide engaging information, opportunities and resources to existing members
• Increase our global presence: as the leading organisation for music creators anywhere in the world
• Improve the user experience: with clearer layout, improved navigation and simplified, visual content
• Improve site performance and content management: through a faster and cleaner site with improved CMS organisation

SOLUTION

How did you find 56 Degrees?

Online Search

Why did you select 56 Degrees over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Experience in similar projects

How many teammates from 56 Degrees were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Create a new corporate website in Wordpress CMS. Key deliverables:

• Research and concept development
• Design development
• Content migration
• Front end development
• Mobile responsiveness development
• Backend and CMS implementation
• Launch and post-launch support

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Positive feedback from stakeholders: Board directors, staff, industry and members
• Increase in membership
• Increase in traffic and time on site

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

A dedicated project manager helped organise the process with effective management via Asana, email and regular virtual calls. Items were delivered on time and well communicated. They responded effectively to our needs and adjustments to the brief as the project progressed.

What was your primary form of communication with 56 Degrees?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

• Their transparency and honesty stood out.
• Thoughtful approach
• Hard working
• Responsive and took time to understand our needs

Are there any areas for improvement or something 56 Degrees could have done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Manager, Digital Marketing of Strategic Property Partners

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Strategic Property Partners (SPP) is a full-service commercial real estate development firm focused on world-class execution, innovation, and creating high quality and experiential places.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire 56 Degrees to accomplish?

• Reimagine the Sparkman Wharf website and online brand presence to create a livelier, more engaging, mobile-first and visually compelling online presence.

SOLUTION

How did you find 56 Degrees?

Referral

Why did you select 56 Degrees over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from 56 Degrees were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Reimagine the Sparkman Wharf website and brand presence to create a livelier, more engaging, mobile-first and visually compelling online presence.

• Create a mobile-first and highly engaging web experience to fuel repeat web visitors and foot traffic to the venue.
• Showcase B2C-focused dining, shopping and event experiences to drive footfall to venue.
• Create UX/functionality to allow for B2B-focused leasing and revenue generation.
• Provide visitors with a best-in-class digital experience to explore Sparkman Wharf online through an interactive directory and map.
• Drive awareness and a clear path to book Private Events at the venue through an interactive prospect form and content.
• Implement an effective and clear user journey to drive revenue for parking reservations and booking.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Increased traffic to Sparkman Wharf's website.
• Increased Repeat traffic to website.
• Increased engagement rate / lower bounce rate.
• Increased time spend on web property.
• Increased ranking in SERPs (improved SEO).
• Increased Private Event bookings.
• Increased Parking reservations and bookings.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

56 Degrees is a complete pleasure to work with, from ideation and concepting during the creative and exploratory phase all the way through development, deployment and testing. The team shows great creative drive and execution as well as being extremely responsive, organized, and friendly to work with.

We were able to work through the project efficiently and collaboratively very easily even though our company is based in the United States and them being in a differnent time zone and country. 56 Degrees shows a great attention to creating beautifully designed web experiences that are built well.

What was your primary form of communication with 56 Degrees?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The 56 Degrees team's high standards match those of our company and company values. Everything from the project timeline and punch lists to the creative process and professional and friendly disposition, they are a well-rounded and fun group to work with who create great results, going the extra mile to exceed expectations.

Are there any areas for improvement or something 56 Degrees could have done differently?

We have no critical feedback about 56 Degrees! They took our vision for our new web property and exceeded our expectations. Even adding in elements and improvements to the project that we didn't expect or think possible.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Executive Assistant of Invent Development Partners

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a real estate developer specializing in multi family as well as single family luxury homes

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire 56 Degrees to accomplish?

• Development of new website

SOLUTION

How did you find 56 Degrees?

Referral

Why did you select 56 Degrees over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from 56 Degrees were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Planning: Prepared detailed functionality specifications including both front end functionality and server side functionality which includes content management system integration.
• Ongoing development of website 
• Build of website: incorporating approved and provided imagery and copy into working, interactive pages following the site structure. 
• Ongoing maintenance - implementing tags and links and optimizing the site overall based on performance metrics.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

56 Degrees executed all of the work of developing our website in a timely and professional manner. We had last minute requests that 56Degrees were willing and able to complete for us all while guiding us on any functionality risks and following all design preferences for a successful completion of the project. We went live with our website mostly on schedule and it has been working great! 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

All requests that we sent to 56Degrees were delivered on time and the responses were always timely and professional. Jakub as project manager knew when to bring in additional resources if there were schedule impacts

What was your primary form of communication with 56 Degrees?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

56 Degrees' willingness to explain and walk us through the process is extremely helpful. We do not have a marketing and IT group within our company and Jakub and his team were very helpful at explaining what they were doing and what was needed from our end. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something 56 Degrees could have done differently?

No, they are doing a great job,

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital Creative Director of Sectorlight

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Sectorlight is a creative branding agency partnering globally with brands within the place and space sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire 56 Degrees to accomplish?

• Development of two fully responsive, multilingual sites for a new-to-market development.
• Development of pre-launch lead generation landing pages for each of the main sites..

SOLUTION

How did you find 56 Degrees?

I had already worked with 56 Degrees on a previous project.

Why did you select 56 Degrees over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• Experience and Approach

How many teammates from 56 Degrees were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

56 Degrees were appointed to develop two bespoke multilingual campaign sites for a prestigious new-to-market development in London targeting global investors. Alongside the development of the core websites, two pre-launch landing pages were also developed to help with early brand engagement and lead-generation. During the project, they also provided UX and design guidance and developed specifically tailored functionality for both the front-end and CMS.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• The success of the project really comes down to both the client and our internal agency team being extremely happy with the work 56 Degrees has undertaken. Feedback from the multiple stakeholders has been fantastic, and the whole experience of partnering with 56 Degrees has been excellent.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

56 Degrees have a very agile and responsive approach to their project structure. The project management of the project has been both effortless and supportive. They are very responsive to all communications and integrated into our internal teams seamlessly. The team at 56 Degrees have been particularly accommodating and patient with both amends to scope and project timeline adjustments that can occur on considerable projects of this nature, offering support, guidance, and recommendations at each stage.

What was your primary form of communication with 56 Degrees?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

56 Degrees' approach to projects is one of a dynamic partnership that wants to work closely with you to deliver the best product on all levels. Alongside the fantastic development work they provide, they integrate seamlessly within wider internal teams and take the time to support the project with excellent industry knowledge, supportive guidance, and propositions. On top of all that, they're a lovely and fun team of people to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement or something 56 Degrees could have done differently?

Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of a well established media agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 56 Degrees, and what were your goals?

We engaged 56 Degrees to develop an intranet and an e learning project. The design for both projects were completed in house and 56 Degrees were commissioned to implement the bespoke design and develop all back end functionality

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

56 Degrees were referred to is buy another satisfied of theirs

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a scoping meeting to start. We the received a detailed proposal that detailed any clarifications required. We then completed a second meeting to dig through the details in depth to pinpoint a final solution and fixed cost. The technology used was Wordpress and Scrapi.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We only had contact with one main point of call which made the project very easy to deal with in terms of consistency of communication.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Absolutely everything that was expected was delivered on time and in budget. So no surprises at any stage of the development lifecycle. My client absolutely loved the final project and have now commissioned us to do further work which is always a great result

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Project management was very professional and detailed. Project time lines were broken down in short steps using an agile methodology. All key milestones were hit exactly as promised.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Flexibility, proactive and trustworthy

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Co-founder and creative director of a small branding and design studio.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 56 Degrees, and what were your goals?

We hired 56 Degrees to build a wordPress site to launch a new product that we'd designed for a new fintech client.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I worked with 56 Degrees on numerous projects at a previous studio I worked at. I found them easy and a pleasure to work with, always totally committed to the project and great problem solvers. When it came to starting my own studio I got in touch.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The site needed to have two phases to it, a pre-launch version and post launch, with content and state changes in each. There was a bespoke-designed time clock counting down to launch on the first phase and then weekly count-downs post launch that needed to be tested as a concept before we could safely launch. The site also required data capture as well as integrated payment gateway.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with the founder, a project manager and a small development team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The client loved the design and functionality. The site worked perfectly. The client was extremely please with the work and 56 Degrees carried on working directly with our client in a site maintenance capacity.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Friendly, organised, intuitive. Communication via email, phone and then Google meet with the client for weekly progress updates.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

56 Degrees were safe and creative hands that helped navigate the many potential problems with a new highly-valued client of ours. They were always happy to meet and speak to our client in order to answer questions when we couldn't.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital project director at communication and creative agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 56 Degrees?

We needed a development partner because we didn’t have any in-house capacity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

56 Degrees has built our website from scratch. They’ve used PHP, WordPress, and a page-builder CMS. The website is a campaign microsite; it has to stand a five-year test. One of the requirements is that it has to be easy to manage because the client needs to update information biweekly. Also, accessibility, SEO, and its performance with Google Lighthouse are significant factors.

Additionally, they’ve done standardized testing. They currently offer ongoing maintenance.

How did you come to work with 56 Degrees?

We went out and looked at a few agencies. We met with 56 Degrees and worked with them on a small project. They created a few landing pages for a former client. The process was easy, and the turnaround was quick, so we decided to continue our relationship with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $32,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2020, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We launched about two weeks, but the success has been measured by the positive client feedback and the fact that now we’ve got an online tool. We’ve wanted this for years, and it’s been a successful rollout so far. We’ve done initial tests on Google Lighthouse, and it’s had 100% performance. Moreover, the SEO and accessibility are over 90%, so we’re really happy with the results.

How did 56 Degrees perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a quick turnaround time and are very responsive. The team delivers within our tight deadlines and doesn’t cut corners. Overall, they ensure that they always deliver gracefully.

We directly communicate via Microsoft Teams, phone calls, and emails. Additionally, we used Asana during development. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their professionalism and knowledge are outstanding. If we have questions, they're always on hand to help.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think there’s anything to improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director and co-owner of an online auction company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 56 Degrees? 

We needed to create a piece of software from scratch, so we hired 56 Degrees.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our company has a basic roadmap of what we want, and we liaise with 56 Degrees’ developers to set a structure for the website. Much of it has something to do with the backend and administrative functions. We make sure that everything works smoothly and is highly efficient. They work on ensuring the software works seamlessly with the website’s content. For the development process, 56 Degrees has created wireframes. Our teams have tested them back and forth to ensure they run efficiently. If we need to tweak it, we tweak it. 

In terms of features, the software allows end users to bid live on the website. It takes payment details automatically. People can also make comments and discuss the products. From there, a final countdown starts. The highest bidder gets the product. We’ve created an anti-snipe feature where users can’t make last-minute bids. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Jakub (Founder & CEO), who liaises with his staff. 

How did you come to work with 56 Degrees?

I spoke to about 3–4 developers in the UK. Eventually, I dealt with someone who used to do some work for me and asked if he could recommend anyone — he recommended 56 Degrees. I spoke to the team and other vendors. Ultimately, I chose 56 Degrees as our preferred developer. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around £60,000 (approximately $67,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our initial conversations started in March 2020, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’re truly pleased with the outcomes of the development. This is an ongoing project, but we’re 100% happy with the results we have so far. I’m happy with 56 Degrees’ work. 

How did 56 Degrees perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is excellent. The team is on the ball and always prioritizes everything we need. They also work in a timely manner. In terms of tools, we use CRM products. We use Zoom regularly, and we have back-and-forth conversations on Google Documents.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The 56 Degrees team communicates efficiently. They also truly understand our vision. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. Everything has gone smoothly. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear vision — that’s the key to a successful collaboration. Stick to your guns; know what you want and make sure the developer understands your vision completely. Take the time to explain it. Once that’s clear, move forward. That’s what we’ve done, and we have no issues regarding 56 Degrees in terms of understanding our vision. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Onwards is a branding agency that works directly with founders and teams to create exciting and purposeful brands for startups. I am lead designer of the branding agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 56 Degrees, and what were your goals?

56 degrees create a wordpress web build for use across a range on different page variations, layout styles and CMS for a client ours to use and update going forward.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We had already worked with 56 Degrees in the past on a few projects. We have a great working relationship and the team always produce high quality work which we are both proud of.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We came to 56 degrees with the designs for a client website and 56 Degrees brang that to life in the web build. With a vast selection of interactions and loading states as well as creating something that is fully responsive and refined.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

• Jakub - Project lead and developer
• Marta - Project manager
• Radek - Developer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

This site doesn't have any metrics to analyse yet but from a brand perspective the output feels extremely on point.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Project management was great and it felt and always does feel like a great partnership between us both. 56 Degrees worked in a very agile way and were able to jump on any questions or comments we had very quickly.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Not only do 56 Degrees have an amazing output, whenever we work with them it feels very personal and they really care about the project being a refined and high performing product for our clients.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I honestly think they are extremely great to work with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the head of marketing and communications at a London-based venture capital firm. I manage all of our external-facing presence, including owned channels like our website and social channels, as well as PR, content production and PR/marketing support for the companies that we invest in.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 56 Degrees, and what were your goals?

The brief for 56 Degrees was part of a much larger rebranding project that I commissioned in January 2021. At that point, we did not have a 'brand' or any agreed assets to use across all of our channels materials which meant we had massive inconsistency (which if you work in marketing, you know is not a good look!).

Our original website had been created a few years prior to my joining by a sole developer who did not have any 'brand' to work with. The old website was a big pain point for me as it was very corporate and didn't reflect the business that we are today. We used 56 Degrees for the rebuild and development of our website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

56 Degrees was actually hired as part of our work with branding agency Onwards - it wasn't our specific selection but I am glad that we worked with them, and we still continue to work with them on ad-hoc changes to the website today.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

For the overall rebranding project we spoke to several agencies and reviewed a few proposals before agreeing on Onwards. This scope of work was overall to develop a visual and narrative identity for Talis. As a VC, Talis has to go out and raise capital from investors, and also convince founders to choose us as their investor, so we needed a more compelling brand to draw these various stakeholders in.

Onwards conducted various interviews at Talis and with our stakeholders to propose a new visual identity and narrative identity for us. Once this was largely agreed we worked with 56 Degrees to bring these two components to life on our website, which we ended up starting from scratch again (moving from Squarespace to Wordpress).

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Jakub, the founder, is who we liaised with. I know he had a larger team of developers working with him but we didn't have any direct contact with them

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Unfortunately no tangible 'measurable' outcomes. This is mainly because our website isn't a point of sale (as we don't sell a product) - it's more of a holding page with information over anything else. That being said, we had a lot of positive feedback from Talis' stakeholders who broadly agreed that the refresh of our brand was a much more accurate reflection of who we are today

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We primarily communicated through email. Jakub was very timely at considering our requests. While Onwards had drafted a static version of our website for 56 Degrees as a starting point, we made some significant changes to this with Jakub and his team when they were actually building it. They were all incredibly obliging when at times we were probably being quite demanding! - so I very much appreciated their commitment to helping us get to where we wanted to be.

After the project was complete we made a point of asking for a couple of tutorials from 56 Degrees so that we could manage our website and make minor changes ourselves - they were more than willing to help us with this, which was hugely helpful for me as I was relatively new to managing a Wordpress site at the time. To this day I am now able to make a decent number of updates to our website thanks to Jakub and 56Degrees.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

At no point did we hear them complain about the number of changes we wanted, which I massively appreciated!

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

At times, we felt it could have been clearer (from both Onwards and 56Degrees) on who was responsible for specific deliverables of the project (such as uploading all of the old content from our old website to the new one). I think this is mostly because it was my first time doing this kind of project so I didn't fully understand the nuance of what needed to be done - while they might have potentially assumed that I had a full understanding of what it takes to build a new, dynamic website from scratch.