Art & Science

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the COO for Ellie Mae Studios, a high-end womenswear company based in Toronto. We design, produce, and fulfil all within our studio space. I oversee all the business operations and lead our web development and sales.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Art & Science Digital Experience Design Inc.?

We needed to redesign sections of our website, as well as strategic insight into conversion optimization. We wanted to improve the general customer journey and UX on the site. 

What were your goals for this project?

Ultimately, we wanted to leverage technology and user experience to drive strong customer service and increase our conversion rates. With that, we'd be able to invest in other initaitives and continue to grow.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We first worked with Art & Science Digital Experience Design Inc. when we were investing in digital marketing. They did an extremely strong job so we decided to bring all our technology under one roof. They offer many different creative solutions to technology. 

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Art & Science Digital Experience Design Inc. is helping us evolve our website through conversion optimization services, design enhancements, and general support. We provided them our brand guideline documents to support their efforts, and they do all the heavy lifting. Currently we’re working with them on a customer service enhancement.

What was the team composition?

They provide a director of business development, a junior digital project manager, a developer, and a designer. When needed, their team flexes up to include additional resources (including their CTO) to help with our projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

They just implemented most changes at the end of January, but already we're seeing an improved customer journey. We’re looking to add the customer service features at the beginning of March, which we anticipate will result in improved conversion rates.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their project management is seamless. We communicate mostly over email and phone. They always meet deadlines and their responsiveness is excellent. Their resources are seemingly endless. Everyone on their team brings something unique to the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

What's unique about Art & Science Digital Experience Design Inc. is their approach to technology, and their people. Working with good people who care about our business is the most important part of a partnership. We work with a lot of vendors, and they stand out because of their team. They also offer out-of-the-box thinking in their approach. For example, they built a physical experience that can react based on digital interaction. Their motto is "show don't tell" and I think they model that very well.

Are there any areas for improvement?

If there’s room for improvement, it comes from the client needing to provide clearer communication for the end result.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior creative manager at ecboee, a smart home product company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Art & Science Digital Experience Design?

We’d considered a number of concepts for a Black Friday promotional campaign but ultimately selected a Rube Goldberg-inspired experience. Rube Goldberg is a cartoonist and inventor best known for his drawings of complex and outlandish machines designed to complete simple tasks. We needed a vendor to help us bring that idea to life.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave our initial concept to the Art & Science Digital Experience Design team and waited for them to review the scope. After a couple of weeks, they came back with feedback and suggestions. They recommended we stick to a digital campaign, so we asked them to fully develop the experience. The team delivered a microsite that reflected our Rube Goldberg concept, but we decided internally that it wasn’t the right path for the business at the time.

With that said, we were still very impressed with their digital capabilities, so we asked them to complete a set of digital promotional materials for Black Friday. In total, their team created about 200 different assets, including banners and social media posts. Following that project, we hired them again to help with our holiday campaign and are looking forward to those results.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Spencer (President, Art & Science Digital Experience Design Inc.) and Kirk (Chief Creative Officer, Art & Science Digital Experience Design Inc.) on the Rube Goldberg concept. They helped us plan the cause-and-effect interactions for the digital experience, turning our idea into a tangible experience. They were incredible in building on our initial idea and bringing it to life. Then, we worked with Sherif Taalab (Digital Project Manager, Art & Science Digital Experience Design Inc.), who helped project manage execution of all the numerous assets of the campaign.

How did you come to work with Art & Science Digital Experience Design?

We were looking for vendors both locally and nationally, and one of our internal art directors referred us to Art & Science with a glowing review. Following her recommendation to explore, we analyzed their team’s capabilities, past work, references, price points, and location information. Because it was a complex project that involved multiple stakeholders, we preferred to work with a nearby agency.

Art & Science Digital Experience Design met all of our criteria, so we scheduled the first meeting. They described the current projects they were working on and demonstrated some of their incredible technical experiences in a beautiful demo room. We were highly impressed—it was an easy choice.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from September–December 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our Black Friday sales were 40% higher than they’d ever been previously.

How did Art & Science Digital Experience Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Their service is top-notch across all aspects. They were trustworthy and independent, delivering on time and staying on top of their workflow. The senior staff members assigned to our project were extremely dedicated and worked closely with our internal team. We communicated daily via phone call, email, and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We tracked every task on an Excel spreadsheet that included every element in the campaign. We requested a lot of changes and modifications throughout the project. By the end, I think we went through about 12 different versions. No matter what we requested, they maintained an incredibly eager attitude. It was clear that they wanted to deliver the best results possible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

On a few occasions, we caught some minor mistakes that could’ve been avoided had they done one final proofread. With that said, they were already working overnight and weekends to deliver on time, so I can’t fault them too much.

Any advice for potential customers?

Clients should give them as much information as possible, even if it seems unnecessary. Their team knows how to identify key points and put them together into a cohesive idea. Additionally, in-person meetings were extremely beneficial in our case. Being able to discuss and brainstorm face-to-face helped us bring a complex vision to life. As long as their team has a clear understanding of what their clients want, they’ll be able to handle the project. I also recommend establishing a point person on both sides and an assigned QA person for all assets.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO and partner at VetStrategy. We own and operate veterinary hospitals across Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Art & Science Digital Experience Design Inc.?

We wanted to improve our digital presence to attract new potential clients and generate business. Initially, we managed our online efforts internally, but we were struggling to get results, so we looked for external help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team took over the management of our entire digital strategy. They helped optimize our websites and Facebook pages on both the corporate and clinical levels. Additionally, they implemented campaigns to improve our presence on Yelp and Google review pages. The team also provided support for several of our client outreach programs that involved digital components. They’re still supporting these various campaigns. Working together we recently put together the plans for our next fiscal year.

What is the team composition?

For planning and strategy, we work with the partners at A & S.  For the day-to-day activities we have a key account manager that works with our team and our hospitals.

How did you come to work with Art & Science Digital Experience Design Inc.?

My predecessor made the decision to look for external support, conducted several interviews, and ultimately chose Art & Science Digital Experience Design Inc. I took over the relationship soon after, and I’ve managed the engagement ever since.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend in excess of $1 million annually.  That cost includes payment for their digital strategy management services, Google AdWords fees, and various ad placement costs.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2013 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since the beginning of the partnership, we’ve experienced an increase in new clients and growth in our hospitals. As an organization, we have been able to expand from about 17 hospitals when we started with A & S to almost 90 hospitals across the country. The Art & Science team was an important part of that growth. They helped us bring a variety of different digital activities into one cohesive social media strategy. 

How did Art & Science Digital Experience Design Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve had an excellent experience. It’s been a true partnership from the start. The team is responsive and readily adapts to our needs and requests. Over the course of the partnership, they’ve developed a good understanding of our business and know how to properly address tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They actively suggest new methods to drive clients to our practices then guide us through their implementation. For example, they found that blogging by our veterinarians helps bring awareness to the clinics and attract website visitors. They took the time to educate our team on how to write blog content to help us benefit from each post.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their strength is digital media, not traditional marketing. In that area, they’re outstanding.

Any advice for potential customers?

Clients should treat them like a partner, not as an outside source. We gave them access to as much information as we possibly could to help them develop a thorough understanding of our business. We even allowed them to interact directly with our clinics. With these developed relationships, they’re able to come up with the best solutions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work on product and marketing for Precision Nutrition, an online nutrition coaching, education, and software business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Art & Science?

We were venturing into seven adjacent markets and didn’t have the internal capacity to execute a sophisticated marketing strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created a multi-channel campaign in six months with full-attribution tracking for completed sales. We’re still executing the strategy, which now includes testing and systems implementation. Since we have an in-house marketing team, both sides have split targeted audiences between them.

What is the team composition?

We interface primarily with the VP and co-founder, a digital marketing manager, a digital project coordinator, and a designer.

How did you come to work with Art & Science?

former director of marketing referred them while we vetted numerous other agencies. During the presentations, Art & Science was the only vendor to focus on our material, rather than the client reel. They titled one of the slides “This is What We Heard”, which successfully captured our stated goals. During the initial meeting, Art & Science explained how we may have based our goals on incorrect assumptions. We decided to hire them because they could execute at that unexpectedly high level so early in the process.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2018 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had a reputation in the fitness industry for 10 years, but Art & Science helped expand our customer base from mostly personal trainers and enthusiasts to yoga teachers, chiropractors, and others. In addition, they’ve generated tens of thousands of new leads. We expect results to grow substantially going forward.

How did Art & Science perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform better than any other agency I’ve worked with, marketing or otherwise. The team is responsive; they follow-up in minutes, not hours. We’ve built a rapport with Art & Science and they’re now great at communicating upcoming tasks. We speak with the co-founder on a daily basis and have formal weekly check-ins. The project coordinators on both sides interact with one another, but we prefer to communicate directly with the designers as appropriate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Unlike traditional marketing agencies, Art & Science integrates our team as an extension of their own. They’re good people that I’d hire in-house if given the chance. To reiterate, they have incredible listening skills and the expertise to guide collaborations. Cross learning between teams has benefited both companies.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Knowing exactly what we wanted has helped us. If the client has quantitative numbers that need to be optimized, it’s always good to start a conversation. Art & Science’s expertise comes into play here, especially at the early stages. They will do the actual work, and it will allow them to differentiate themselves from other agencies.

Second, I’ve found them to be flexible with workflows, particularly weekly sync-ups and creating reports. We didn’t have these reports and sync-ups initially, but we noticed that there were some gaps in the communication, and we wanted to speed it up in general. Clients should go in with that kind of flexibility in mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

InterVarsity is a Christian Canadian youth and student organization that operates nine summer camps between British Columbia and Ontario, employing around 3,000 staff and servicing around 10,000 campers. We also run a university and high school campus student group ministry in 80 campuses across the country.

We have international missions as well, which take two different forms: a U.S. conference, and a student mission conference that takes place every two years in St. Louis. For the latter, we partner with InterVarsity U.S. to welcome 20,000 students who are interested in international developments and global mission issues. We have people working in student-driven ministries around the world, or for international development in different contexts.

I am the organization’s national marketing manager, working as a part of the larger communications team. I oversee all externally-focused messaging and promotion and lead our strategic innovation teams across the country.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Art & Science?

We want to get our message out, particularly to Canadian students and parents, and are looking for effective and diverse methods of doing so. One of our biggest needs—and internal knowledge deficiencies—was online marketing. We needed to intentionally promote our name on Google and social media, so we approached Art & Science to serve as our strategic partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Art & Science has helped us with SEO, Google AdWords, social media campaigns, website design and consultation, and general online marketing strategy.

We operate ten websites as a part of our organization. Our national site covers everything that we do, and each of our summer camps also has a separate page. We largely handled web design in-house, but leveraged Art & Science as a strategic partner during the process.

They helped us design a mobile-friendly user experience for users and ensured that our sites were optimized for search engines. We wanted to build accessible sites that were easy to use, relevant within our industry, and pleasant for our visitors. 

They have designed some social media advertising campaigns for our summer camp promotion, which lends itself to a transactional business approach. Our campus submission side doesn’t accommodate social media advertisements as well.

What is the team composition?

My initial experience was with Adam Green [Vice President & Co-Owner]. Nitin Joseph [Sr. Digital Marketing Manager] acts as our project manager and account lead.

How did you come to work with Art & Science?

I initially connected with Adam Green, one of their vice presidents. I had worked with him in a previous capacity before and knew of his expertise. Adam is an out-of-the-box thinker who asks great questions and a brings a visionary approach to every situation.

He was a natural resource for me to approach when we were trying to build a more strategic and creative online presence. This evolved into a conversation about the different ways that we could potentially partner with Art & Science. The relationship has taken different forms over the last few years, but we mainly wanted to leverage their industry-leading expertise in SEO and paid advertising.

We considered other companies, but my previous relationship with Adam was a significant factor in our decision to fully engage Art & Science.

How much have you invested with them?

The overall cost of their work has been around $250,000, or about $50,000 to $60,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Art & Science four or five years ago, around 2013. The relationship is ongoing, and we’ve been looking for ways to expand it.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Art & Science’s work has been incredibly effective at moving us up the rankings organically and attracting a fantastic amount of traffic. Their strategy, expertise, and creativity have been paramount to our design process.

They’ve been incredibly effective in managing our ads and encouraging us to be more intentional about our social media posting and positioning. Art & Science has helped our teams develop a more effective approach to social media.

I don’t have exact numbers in front of me, but the biggest result for us is that our online advertising has directly increased our number of summer camp visitors. This has happened in every year that we’ve worked with Art & Science.

How did Art & Science perform from a project management standpoint?

Our account manager, Nitin Joseph, is professional and dedicated to our organization. We’ve had a very pleasant experience working with him. He goes above and beyond the requirements of our on-paper relationship out of a desire to see our organization thrive, and his technical expertise has been unmatched. When he notices an issue, he sends me a text or a quick email so that our teams can address it as promptly as possible.

Nitin and Adam prioritize customer service in many forms: prompt response times, an appreciation for deadlines and budget, and a very solutions-oriented approach. Art & Science finds solutions that address our problems and objectives as well as our budget restraints. I can’t say enough positive things about their project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Few agencies that I’ve worked with have offered the same quality, professionalism, and ability to hit objectives. The main quality that separates Art & Science from other agencies is their commitment to customer service. Their technical expertise and their creative approach have been unmatched. The team can think outside the box, but within our resources and constraints, to find effective solutions. Art & Science has been an incredible asset to our organization, and we’re grateful for their efforts.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing jumps out at me. We always want to see more growth and communicate our message to more people, but this is true of any collaboration. There’s nothing I could highlight as an area for improvement, either regarding their workflow or their achievements.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

My advice is a recommendation. Art & Science has been a fantastic partner and resource for our organization, and I couldn’t recommend them more strongly to another business looking for a strategic partner for online marketing.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Since connecting our first cable customer in 1971, our family of companies has grown to become Western Canada’s leading network and content experience company, delivering the highest-quality consumer, business and content products.

I am the Manager of Corporate Events for all of Shaw. I lead the events department, and we produce internal, culture-related events and external hosting and brand activations of all kinds across all regions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what reason(s) did your company hire Art & Science Digital Experience Design Inc.?

We were asked to build a brand activation that brings BlueSky TV to life. Our idea was to create a BlueSky TV Jeopardy game that would push the customer through the features of the platform while having fun with a game. The biggest challenges of the project related to the daily-changing elements within BlueSky TV (TV programs, movies, daily sporting updates, etc.) as well as the inability to manipulate BlueSky TV in any way. This meant we had to create a stand-alone game that would allow the customer to interact with BlueSky TV portal as well as the game, at the same time.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to increase brand exposure, intrigue, and sales of BlueSky TV product.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended by Production Canada.

Describe the project in detail.

With 2.5 months notice until onsite execution, we set out to create a brand activation that could tour across Canada. The activation needed a branded road-traveling vehicle (Trailer or similar), experiences or games within the build, and a way to interact with BlueSky TV that felt less about selling and more about falling in love with the product. We decided to design a 48' trailer with an attached tent and stage deck, housing customized games and activities that enhance the product experience. We designed and built a BlueSky TV Jeopardy Game that would be our way to show the product to the customer. The entire build had to be modular as well, to allow it to go on the road in pieces when needed. We called Art & Science when we realized the complexity of creating a jeopardy game for this product as well as an extremely compressed timeline.

What was the team composition?

We worked with Spence Saunders, who is the Lead for building BlueSky TV Jeopardy, and Margaret Kwan, who is the Project Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We heard positive feedback from all levels of Shaw and all customers when interacting with the BlueSky TV Jeopardy game. Shaw employees had a strong sense of pride to be a part of a company that would create something like this. The Jeopardy game was built in a way that could be easily learned by a non-technical person so a technical lead on the ground was not required. This resulted in even more positive feedback.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was flawless. A&S held us accountable, managed the project timelines impeccably regardless of how imperfect the timeframe was, and we always felt a sense of understanding when we hit internal roadblocks.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I love working with professionals. The combination of 1) subject matter expertise, 2) smart business sense (ie: strong recommendations about how to spend the budget) 3) impeccable project management skills and 4) clear communication are really hard to find. A&S has it all.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I have no feedback to offer.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a marketing agency. Our clients range from Fortune 50 accounts to really interesting B2B and B2C companies. I partner with Art & Science for PPC [pay-per-click] marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Art & Science?

We wanted to grow our business by providing PPC services and counsel to our clients. We wanted to establish a productive partnership with a PPC company who offered a wide variety of services. They should deliver what was important to us and help us stand out in the marketplace.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Art & Science works with us for our PPC needs. In the past 12 months, they have worked with about six of our clients. Business would materialize inside our agency, and I would work with the client. We would own the client relationship—the strategy, the creative, and all those things.

When it came time to execute the project, it would be a matter of including Art & Science as a contributor in our team. Just like I would have a copywriter, a creative director, and a designer, I’d turn to Art & Science for the media planning. They would give recommendations on what we would do for media, and then turn around and execute our plan. They don’t do anything outside of PPC for our clients.

What is the team dynamic?

I have worked with about six different people from Art & Science, and two of them are consistently on our team. We’ve integrated their PPC strategists into in our accounts. We have established workflows between our two teams and collaborate on an ongoing basis.

How did you come to work with Art & Science?

I was looking for a vendor with specialized skillsets, one that could execute the strategies that we were selling to our clients. Paid media is a really important component of digital. It’s crucial, and it must be well integrated with all the rest.

Our ideal PPC partner should use different platforms tactics to deliver the results we were looking for. Sometimes, when looking at a PPC partner, they say that they can only do Google —they would never touch a social network or a native platform. I ran into a lot of that, unfortunately.  

I found two possible shops, but we ended up choosing Art & Science. They were at the very top of the list. I had a pre-existing relationship with one of the principals when I worked with them at a different agency, so I knew firsthand their expertise and prowess in PPC marketing.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve paid $500,000–$750,000 for their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2015, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Art & Science’s marketing PPC specialists are integral to the success of our digital marketing practice. Their involvement has led to immediate improvement for our clients. Their results are at least 30% better than those of our previous provider.

They provide added-value service. Their remarkable insights have proven invaluable for our clients. They have grown mandates with existing clients, and we’ve landed new accounts together. Everything’s transparent. We’re one team, and we trust them. I’m not going to let just anybody talk directly with my clients.

How did Art & Science perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re extremely strong in project management. We are constantly connected through Slack. We have ongoing conference calls that are scheduled. We also have ad hoc meetings when we need them. There are no concerns.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Art & Science’s team is made up of excellent marketers and PPC experts—that’s their strength. They can completely grasp all the considerations that go into marketing, and then translate that to PPC advertising performance. They value respect and teamwork, and they are fantastic collaborators. I don’t want to talk about them too much because they are my secret weapon.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything that needs improvement. We are extremely tight partners. If there was anything that needed improving, it would be discussed and resolved within minutes. It just doesn’t linger.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and EVP [Executive Vice President] of one of the leading real estate CRM solutions. I’m responsible for sales, marketing, and business development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Art & Science?

We needed to migrate our complex legacy website from .NET to WordPress. It was imperative during the process that we minimize business interruptions and impact to our online marketing and client registration.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They rebuilt our consumer-facing website on WordPress.

What is the team dynamic?

I mainly communicated with a project manager, but also interacted with their CEO and chief designer/artistic director. I’m unsure how many of their team members were involved.

How did you come to work with Art & Science?

We’d already worked on a project with Art & Science in developing a real estate agent platform, which was extremely successful. They were a logical partner for the redevelopment of our public website.  

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from May 2015–August 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our website traffic has increased by 40% since going live, and conversions continue to increase. The website is unwavering, and we receive a lot of compliments on it. There were many complex integrations involved which they did a great job with. The website has been very smooth in regard to bugs.

How did Art & Science perform from a project management standpoint?

The project was well managed, delivered on time, and finished under budget.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Art & Science was simply fantastic. They listened well, and really comprehended the project unlike other developers we'd worked with who required much more effort. They dealt with every technical challenge with perseverance, understanding, and an open mind. Their design skills are excellent, and there wasn’t a issue they weren’t able to overcome. Their deliverables were extremely close to the final product.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a global entertainment design company. We create theme parks, water parks, visitor attractions, mixed-use and entertainment spaces, and resorts. We are a company of designers, architects, landscape architects, interior designers, graphic artists, and creative people.

I'm the marketing director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Art & Science?

We had a website that was more than 10 years old and gravely in need of an overhaul, both from a technological, user experience, and content point of view. The company has evolved quite a bit from how it was 10 years ago and it was a question of how to frame the business as it is today, using the best possible website design, SEO, and user experience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did the strategic framework, the development, and the SEO. They met with us through a variety of discovery meetings to interpret marketing goals and they played a key role in identifying how best to represent our company’s work.

We wanted a website that we could update ourselves. Art & Science built a CMS on the back of a WordPress site, which made it accessible to us, but they customized it so that it wasn't a completely off-the-shelf plug and play that anybody would have. We also had to make sure this website worked in China, due to their firewall issues: Art & Science gave valuable consultation and advice. They also worked to assess the best way to show our projects on the website. There are more than 60 projects on this website and we didn't want to show all of them at the same time, so Art & Science created a user-driven access database to tease people into learning more about our work beyond what the site revealed.

We were looking for traffic, but also to garner more leads, and we’ve had really good results in the two years the website has been in place.

How did you come to work with Art & Science?

We tendered out the project to five firms and Art & Science was superior to the rest.

Their ability to listen was impressive. They didn't come in telling us what they thought. Art & Science spent an enormous amount of time doing discovery with our leadership and teams to better understand our business. They probably know more about us than we know about ourselves. That’s the reason we keep going back. They invested time in understanding and listening to us and that has made them an ongoing partner as we evolve the website.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement began around January, 2015 and we just hired them to do new work for us. We're expanding the functionality and scope of the website to meet other marketing targets.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Art & Science helped streamline a process of self-analysis to understand our company. One of the strongest things they brought to the table was being equally invested in finding a way to keep our business evolving. Another success factor is that the website is very easy to work with. We definitely wouldn't have said that of our previous website, which was HTML and hard to add content to. The website is really easy to use, which was a requirement to ease the load on our marketing team. I didn't want to send the updates out to a developer every time I wanted to update the site.

How did Art & Science perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a dedicated project manager who has been terrific to work with - always available, always ready for solutions. We delivered the material in a really tight time frame, our content had to be ready in a six week period and at their end they coded as we delivered. It was well-planned, but it was also a real partnership to get the work done, which is why I consider them an outstanding company.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They're great; I can't think of anything. Their company has grown in size, but I don't notice an impact on the service they provide me. They are still readily accessible.

Advice for potential customers?

Respect their insight and don't make a lot of decisions about what you need upfront - bring them in. Present your challenge and let them do their magic, because they are really quite good at understanding and coming up with solutions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Danier Leather sold apparel leather goods and other products. I was the head of marketing for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Art & Science?

The biggest issue for us was awareness. Regular customers of the store had stopped shopping there, so we needed to get them to think about our business again and re-explore what we had to offer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Art & Science was our digital agency. They managed all of our display and search advertising, working with us during our "winter warmth" campaign. The object was to make people associate Danier with warm winter coats since we had traditionally been known for leather jackets.

Art & Science focused on SEO [search engine optimization], ensuring Danier appeared prominently in all searches for winter coats. Art & Science's recommendations were around completing the path to purchase for someone going online in the morning and getting the idea to buy a new coat. We wanted to keep our business top of mind and make people consider coming to our store.

How did you come to work with Art & Science?

One of the people working on our digital team had known Art & Science from a previous job. It was very much a positive referral. Art & Science also presented their services along with a few other agencies. We felt that they had the best vision for what we were looking for, plus we preferred working with a smaller agency. That would bring more investment in our own business, as we weren't such a big company ourselves.

How much have you invested with Art & Science?

The yearly cost was between $600,000 and $700,000. We had a monthly retainer with Art & Science, which fluctuated depending on our focus at each point. The business was seasonal from a weather perspective, with peaks during specific times of the year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Art & Science worked with Danier for around three years. I was involved with them for a year of that period.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don't remember our actual stats, but we definitely saw a lift while running our awareness campaigns for warm winter coats. Art & Science was very invested in the success of our business. I appreciated their ability to take action if we had a plan in place. If we weren't getting the results we had determined, they went back and rethought our strategy, determining which areas were working best and where we needed to shift our dollars. Art & Science was very reactive and understood the retail business. A bigger agency wouldn't have given us the same level of attention and care. They had an analytical ability to show us tangible results, making information clear for people who didn't understand the digital field very well. There were many people on the executive team who weren't as familiar with the metrics, but Art & Science did a great job of giving a base level for them.

How did Art & Science perform from a project management standpoint?

I've never worked with a better agency, from a project management capacity. We had weekly status calls, and Art & Science always kept to our timings. More than that, they were proactive in bringing solutions and suggestions to us, based on their work with other clients or their analysis of the business.

What did you find most impressive about Art & Science?

At the time, it was Art & Science's ability to analyze a business and provide proactive solutions while staying within budget. I know that Art & Science has expanded to include experiential marketing to their portfolio, but I still find that one of their biggest strengths is the ability to analyze a business and provide tangible solutions for driving sales and traffic to the website.

Are there any areas Art & Science could improve?

As a fashion retailer, it was important to have a global understanding of competitors in the fashion world. There was a bit of a learning curve in getting Art & Science up to speed with key fashion websites and brands, but they did a good job of learning who the leaders in the e-commerce space were once they immersed themselves in the business.