Ape Unit

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We provide a live streaming service. We are located in Berlin, Germany.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Ape Unit?

We needed web design and development work for our site and a live streaming solution.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They’ve developed our platform. They provided different specialists for each area of the project. We had a project manager assigned to us, and I worked together with one of their designers to develop our brand.

How did you come to work with Ape Unit?

I found Ape Unit four years ago. I offered them our idea, and found them to be the most complete solution for developing our web page and streaming functionality.

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

The total cost so far has been $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together for a year and a half.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Everything is running at this moment, so I have no complaints.

What distinguishes Ape Unit from other providers?

I like the experience that they provide. They constantly offer different choices for each stage of the process.

Is there anything Ape Unit could have improved or done differently?

No, there isn't.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for a communications agency in Germany. We also work in other parts of Europe.

What is your position?

I am a junior consultant.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Ape Unit?

We had a project where opinion leaders designed backpacks for us, which we then produced. Each of the opinion leaders had six products to fill the backpacks with. They put lifestyle products, such as beard combs and oil, cosmetics and other accessories in the backpacks. Eventually, we wanted to promote this idea through an app, so we could talk about it online, and then offer special deals.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We were looking for an app designer who actually makes apps that you can download from the App Store. Then you could virtually open a backpack from a certain opinion leader and have their selection of essentials. You could read about the products that we put in there, and you could read about the company and the manufacturer. Then, you were offered some kind of special deal, and you were forwarded to their online shop.

We hired Ape Unit to develop that mobile app. It was a long process because we needed to collect all the content from the different manufacturers. We had to get all the pictures and the text, and then Ape Unit actually integrated them into the app.

How did you come to work with Ape Unit?

We found them through the recommendation of our digital team.

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

We have spend around €15,000 to €20,000 [approximately $17,000 to $22,500] working with Ape Unit.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around February. We started quite early with the planning process, and then we actually started developing the app sometime around May.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from this engagement?

From a development perspective, the overall performance of Ape Unit was good. We always received quick responses from them, and they showed a lot of understanding of our process. In the end, the result was good because the app is now online. It is still being activated, so we don't have hard results yet. The app rating in the App Store is something between 4.5 and 5, which is very good. The customer we work for is satisfied as well. Everything went fine.

What distinguishes Ape Unit from other providers?

I would say it's their flexibility. The app wasn't that difficult, but it was complicated to get the process started and to adjust all the content to the right format. When you ask a small manufacturer to send you pictures in a certain size, for example, sometimes they don't really understand. So, there was a lot of work in adjusting content, especially images, and they helped us a lot with that.

Ape Unit was very flexible and helped us figure out some of the initial problems. I think we did a great job working together to manage those problems, and something excellent turned out in the end.

Is there anything Ape Unit could have improved or done differently?

No. To be honest, I don't think so. Working with them was pleasant.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Monotype is a leading global provider of typefaces, technology, and expertise that enable the best user experience and ensure brand integrity. Headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts, Monotype provides customers worldwide with typeface solutions for a broad range of creative applications and consumer devices. The German office (formerly FontShop) is host of the annual graphic design conference TYPO Berlin. This conference was organized two times in London and four times in San Francisco so far.

What is your role at the company?

I'm the global director of TYPOtalks.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge that you were trying to address with Ape Unit? 

We needed support for our content handling. First, we wanted to set up an archive of our conference talks. Especially when our international activities started this part was growing fast. Furthermore, we wanted to stream some talks live. Overall, we want to become an important content hub for graphic design and typography. We want to address the creative community with relevant content.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They helped us with all aspects from recording, editing, streaming, and storing our talks.

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

It's about $45,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's continuing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

They performed very well. The video archive is in place, in cooperation with our web agency; the enhanced resolution is available; the individual player is programmed; traffic is growing; and additional international live streams from London and San Francisco successful.

What distinguishes Ape Unit from other providers?

Ape Unit really cares about our problems. They are involved in our strategic discussions and always have useful input for us.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

No. Nothing at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a digital agency, a full-service provider, located in Berlin, Germany. We are one of the largest digital agencies in Germany. Part of the work is from advertising strategies and creative touch points, then implementing these through technology excellence. This includes direct marketing, dialogue marketing, onsite marketing, performance marketing and so forth. This is part of our very big portfolio.

What is your position?

I am a project manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Ape Unit?

Our goal was to find someone who would help us create a fully responsive WordPress CMS [content management system] website – someone who could do both back-end and front-end development.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

We developed the designs, and Ape Unit supported us in the encoding of the source code.

How did you come to work with Ape Unit?

One of our colleagues knew the people from Ape Unit and said that they would be a very good fit if we were looking for some technology professionals for CMS websites. We asked for proposals from several agencies that were a little bit bigger than Ape Unit. Ape Unit was the smallest one of them, but stood out because they are very flexible. It was easier to work with a smaller company than a big one, and their proposal was the best from all the five agencies that we contacted. Ape Unit was the best fit for all our needs.

We had also done a project with them before and had a very good experience. We knew that the earlier project was a very difficult one and that they had performed very well. This new project was an easier one, so we figured they should be a good fit. It worked before, so why wouldn't it work this time?

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

We have spent a little bit less than €20,000 [approximately $22,100] working with Ape Unit.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this project in May. We had a kickoff meeting and talked about what our goal and our scope would be. In the last six or seven weeks, we've worked with them nearly every day to implement the CMS.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics, or other feedback from this engagement?

It was very unique to have someone who is very professional in developing the back-end of a CMS, but also has an eye for the design. For example, very often programmers just work on the coding process and just do only what you ask them to do. In contrast, Ape would ask us what we are trying to achieve.

They knew why we created the design in a particular way, but would then suggest a better way to accomplish what we were trying to achieve. They not only did what we asked them to do, but they really tried to make sure we did things the best way possible, and that was very good. They were very informal and friendly, but they were also professional. It was a very good mix.

How did Ape Unit perform from a project management standpoint?

Ape Unit did very good work, and the connection between their team and ours was good. They managed both the technical development part and the project management part very well. There was a very good understanding from both sides.

What distinguishes Ape Unit from other providers?

They think ahead, and they are good at pointing out when they think a certain path might be wrong. They're very reliable, flexible, and fast. When we asked for a quick change, it was not a problem. They understood that it was necessary, and they executed it as fast as possible.

Is there anything Ape Unit could have improved or done differently?

They would sometimes deliver a piece of work that they said they checked, but when we checked it – for example, the search engine they implemented – it didn't work. Maybe they could improve their process of quality review. I don't know if this was an issue because of time, but this could be improved. When we get something from them, we want to know that it's 100 percent ready, not just 90 percent. This is something they need to work on; otherwise, it could cause problems.