Afternow (formerly BB Agency)

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Vast Conference is a collaboration company focusing on conference calling and online meeting solutions. I am the vice president of sales and marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Balkan Brothers?

Balkan Brothers helped us with a handful of things. We moved from a nonresponsive to a responsive design, and that was a huge change. Balkan Brothers handled website development for our marketing websites, our user panel and the back office for accounts administration. They also helped us with our brand refresh.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Balkan Brothers have been involved the majority of our processes. They helped us with the design of the pages as well as content and branding. Balkan Brothers handled our blog, which is on WordPress, but the main site is a straight HTML site. We're a Windows shop here.

How did you come to work with Balkan Brothers?

We looked at a number of different creative groups on Behance and Dribbble. We identified the creative eye of Balkan Brothers's design team, and we liked all of their work. From there, we reached out to them and had initial conversations about processes, the team, and scope of work. We liked the ideas that they were bringing to the table, and we've been working with them for a few years now.

How much have you invested with Balkan Brothers?

We have invested $50,000 to $200,000 with Balkan Brothers.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with them in January 2015, and we are currently working on our third project. We continue to iterate with them as well, so it's not just one solid project. We have a regular working process with them as well. For big projects, we contract work with them and bring to them a project that we want to do. We will then spend the next couple of weeks detailing the scope of the project and the pricing. If there's any additional work, we typically move to an hourly arrangement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I wouldn't have any statistics to share with you, but the overall feel of the website and brand as a whole has become much more professional. I would attribute that as a direct result of working with Balkan Brothers. We've worked with big design teams, in-house folks, and outside contractors, and we found a great fit with Balkan Brothers in terms of communication and staying on task.

How did Balkan Brothers perform from a project management standpoint?

Balkan Brothers performed well from a project management standpoint. That's one of the things that attracted us in the first place, and it is also part of what's keeping us there. Working with inspired, creative folk can be awesome and wonderful. However, it can also be very frustrating because of the need to stay on schedule. Structure is required in order to hit goals. I feel that with Balkan Brothers, we get both. We get a lot of inspired work, and we get a great creative team at our disposal. But, that team is very conscious of deadlines and final results. Balkan Brothers used InVision, Trello, and GitHub. These tools helped us communicate well, stay organized, and document everything. When you're working on bringing a big project down to a more detailed level, things could get lost, overlooked, or ignored completely. That's not the case with this team.

What did you find most impressive about Balkan Brothers?

I feel that Balkan Brothers is very aligned with what we're trying to accomplish. The relationship is never combative. They can also tackle very complex issues, such as workflow, dashboard, and admin design. Balkan Brothers is very open – communication-wise. We can call or meet with them anytime, eliminating a lot of potential confusion. They welcome that type of conversation on a regular basis, which is something that I haven't experienced while working with other teams.

Are there any areas Balkan Brothers could improve?

As far as their working relationship and process, I have nothing negative to say about them. The way they execute things is solid.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Balkan Brothers?

Aside from the tools, it definitely helped to have regular calls with Balkan Brothers. The calls keep us on track and significantly cut down text-based communications. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an Executive of Mursion

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We deliver AI-powered digital simulations to enterprises so they can practice difficult workplace interactions and build strong interpersonal skills.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire BB Agency to accomplish?

• Build a new website
• Create content for the website that aligned with new brand positioning

SOLUTION

How did you find BB Agency?

Referral

Why did you select BB Agency over others?

High ratings

How many teammates from BB Agency were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

We hired BB Agency to create a completely new website to bring our new branding and positioning to market. It was a wordpress-based site, and the team built out the site from wireframes to UX/ UI to final development to bring it live.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Creation and launch of the site 

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

They did a good job of bringing fluidity and flexibility to this project, collaborating to think creatively and find solutions to every need we encountered in the site buildout.

What was your primary form of communication with BB Agency?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their creativity and ability to look at a need and bring a unique set of options to consider.

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

They did a nice job of managing inherent timezone differences to keep communication moving.