Agency Labs

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for HYFN - a digital agency to brands and larger advertising agencies. We specifically focus on technology and social media. Brands and agencies come to us to build websites, applications, and experiences. Sometimes we develop entire strategic campaigns and sometimes very isolated applications supporting their wider efforts for their clients.

What is your position?

I am the Vice President of Emerging Technologies. I focus on technology related solutions, campaigns, and products that we build both in-house and for other agencies or brands. I am involved with sales efforts and project management to make sure that we deliver everything that was discussed upfront.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Agency Labs?

Tag Heuer approached us to help with marketing efforts. We needed to develop a catalogue of all products that are available in each location, and make that website available to all the different retailers that sell Tag Heuer watches.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

We had Agency Labs come onboard to do web app development, built in the PHP language. We did code reviews with them on a weekly basis. Additionally, we did daily or bi-weekly stand-ups, to make sure information was flowing smoothly from us, to the client, to the team.

How did you come to work with Agency Labs?

Agency Labs reached out to our Chief Executive Officer, so I checked them out. I reached out and got familiar and was impressed with their awareness of the tech space. They were cool to work with and talk to.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was $10,000 to $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project is complete. From beginning to end, it was about a two-month long engagement. There may be some future work on it, in which case we would go back to see if Agency Labs is available.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

In general, the customer was happy. We found the process to be very smooth.

How did Agency Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Agency Labs was good. They always made their technology teams available to us so that we always had someone to communicate with. It was important that we were very closely tied to the teams.

What distinguishes Agency Labs from other providers?

Agency Labs is responsive and knows what they're doing. I appreciated their direct form of communication so I didn't have to go through a number of people to get an answer.

Is there anything Agency Labs could have improved or done differently?

They could have been cheaper. That being said, I am happy with the work they provided.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I used to work for a digital agency in New York. They are a creative agency and digital production company that take on a lot of different projects and types of clients. They do anything from full-on rebrands to website platform redesigns, to innovative digital, experiential, and physical installation pieces. They have offices in both New York and Amsterdam.

What is your position?

I was Partner & Managing Director of North America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Agency Labs?

Because we often got a lot of requests from clients, we became very busy. It is very wise to partner with trusted, talented people so that when things are busy, you are always covered. We partnered with Agency Labs on a few of our projects when we couldn’t take them on ourselves, and we always felt they were an extension of our team. It was a very collaborative approach.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They mainly provided development services. That is both front-end and back-end development. Additionally, Agency Labs would sometimes consult us on user experience and collaborate with us in our pitch process.

How did you come to work with Agency Labs?

Jonathan (the CEO) came into our office and did an in-person visit just to present their capabilities and show us what they were doing. I really appreciated his in-person approach and how genuine he was. From there, we knew if the opportunity presented itself, we would go with Agency Labs. When it did, we contacted them and have worked together ever since.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

I would say in the range of $50,000 to $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement is complete.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Agency Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Agency Lab’s project management was really good. Jonathan is very involved as the CEO which is great. He was accessible at any point if something went wrong. He and his team are very hands-on, which I really appreciate.

What distinguishes Agency Labs from other providers?

Agency Labs is filled with good and friendly people. I know that sounds light or not as in-depth, but it’s very important to work with nice people. That kind of relationship fosters better and more productive communication. When we would approach them with a challenging timeline, they would always try to make it work. They were always friendly and had good attitudes throughout the process.

Is there anything Agency Labs could have improved or done differently?

I would prefer more in-person interaction. Jonathan showed up that one time, and we’ve had their team over once or twice. During a project, maybe they could show up two or three times just to increase and deepen that relationship.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an advertising agency located in Chicago, working in the real estate and automotive verticals.

What is your position?

I am the owner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Agency Labs?

I needed help in translating my creative ideas into sites for my clients.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They help us with front-end design, including wireframes. We use them as our outside eyes.

We have a great relationship. Agency Labs think in tandem with me. It's beneficial to have access to their services only when clients have website building requirements.

How did you come to work with Agency Labs?

I received a marketing email from them. We responded and heard a phone pitch from their owner. We gave them a small project that impressed us. They project managed the deal just as my own team would have. Our project managers have gotten along extremely well. They've built more than five sites for me. Two of those were very simple while one was for a major international client. It was a monster task to take on.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The cost of an average project with Agency Labs is around $30,000 to $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with Agency Labs for about a year. The relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We worked on a website that blew the client's expectations. The design we made starting from paper drawings was very impressive. We received letters of appreciation, saying that the site was amazing.

We had a meeting recently, discussing RealPage and Exitor, two programs used by our clients. Agency Labs told us that, even though they aren't programs normally used by their team, they've since become experts in them. Everyone knows what has to be done. We don't create cookie-cutter sites, even though we'd like to. Every site that we build is based on different needs.

How did Agency Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a good balance of creative and technical ability from our Agency Labs team. I've thrown many curveballs in terms of the tools that are required by the clients. Agency Labs have found easy and simple ways to integrate them.

What distinguishes Agency Labs from other providers?

The smaller, real estate sites that we built have gotten us more work from the same client. Everything's been positive. Sadly, I take much more credit than I give to Agency Labs.

Is there anything Agency Labs could have improved or done differently?

Communication is always an issue. Having the time to pick up the phone and have a discussion instead of relying on Basecamp in order to find out what's going on is important. This isn't specifically to do with Agency Labs, it's a general state of the industry. Nobody makes phone calls for the simple things. We have good or better than average communication with them, but it can be improved. Their owner calls me every Monday morning, whether he needs to or not, and gives me a check-in. I appreciate that.