Cheeky Monkey Media Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is a high-level Drupal web development agency. Our versatile team includes designers developers, and digital marketers. We also are associated with a technology college here in Victoria, British Columbia [BC]. I’m one of the senior project managers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cheeky Monkey Media?

Our partnership arose from a lack of resources because our in-house team was allocated to another large project. We reached out to them to take on a build from start to finish. The designs were already prepared, so they only needed to make those designs come alive.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We delivered the design files that were done by another agency to Cheeky Monkey Media. That was a challenge on its own because the other agency is neither a user experience specialist nor a Drupal expert. This led to a large amount of collaboration to help refine the designs.

For this Drupal 8 build, Cheeky Monkey set up the site from start to finish. They did a great job in producing a high-quality website, both on the front end and backend. In addition, we met once a week to prep for our weekly status call with the client so they not only completed development, but also were comfortable with client-facing relations.

How did you come to work with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We had worked with them in the past after finding them through the Drupal community. It’s a tightknit community, especially in Canada and even more so in British Columbia. We’re one of the bigger Drupal companies in BC. Our hourly rates matched up, so that made a great partnership.

How much have you invested with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We spent more than $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It is ongoing. We started working with them two or three years ago. We started utilizing them for project tasks about a year ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t launched, so I can’t give metrics. We’ve demoed the site and our team has been quite impressed. Typically, we conduct training for the client, but they made the backend so intuitive that the clients haven't required any training. They've done a great job making the system very user-friendly.

Overall, they've done an outstanding job in being involved and immersed in the project - communicating with the client and myself, understanding what the requirements are, and understand what we're trying to achieve. They always made suggestions and implementations that satisfied the original scope.

How did Cheeky Monkey Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a great job. I’m working with a project manager and a developer on their end, and use Slack to communicate. They’ve been very responsive - nine times out of ten they’re available. Especially for technical developers, they were great with communicating.

What did you find most impressive about Cheeky Monkey Media?

It would be their willingness to find solutions. They’re happy to do the work; they’re happy to get creative and find a way to satisfy my needs as a project manager, their client, and our end client as well. I found that they are inspired about what they do, which in turn makes it easier for me to work with them to find solutions and talk timelines, etc.

Are there any areas Cheeky Monkey Media could improve?

Not at this time. We’re not launched yet.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a consultant for the Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission. I’m on contract as a consultant. One of my positions relates to agriculture and what programs and services we can do to enhance our agriculture sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We needed a document created with great graphic design. This document would be used both in print and online. I had used an artist years ago who was freelance and I found out he’s the creative director at Cheeky Monkey. The document was called “An Economic Profile for Agriculture in the Central Okanagan”. It’s unique. There aren’t many of these in Canada. It had to be very dynamic, and the graphics needed to suit the content. It had to be visibly dynamic online and user-friendly. We needed to be able to update facts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a good working relationship. I went in knowing what Cheeky Monkey would want and had my copy ready to go. I had some ideas for pictures, but I was open to other ideas. We talked about the format I needed to provide things in. Everything that we expected happened on time and the way it should. It was really pleasant and seamless.

How did you come to work with Cheeky Monkey Media?

I had met them previously through one of my other contract areas at the commission. I thought they were a very innovative, growing company. I knew they were interested in doing more work locally. I approached them and they said that they could do that at the right price.

How much have you invested with Cheeky Monkey Media?

The project was $2,300.

What is the status of this engagement?

It was just this project. I put their name forward to bid on our website and other projects, and I have recommended them to other businesses.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I had this document vetted by planners and others who would be critical of it. People from the Ministry of Agriculture looked at it, and the feedback was very good. Once it was online, I was in a think tank planning session and this consultant said she was very aware of my work and that the profile that I’d done was excellent.

How did Cheeky Monkey Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Excellent. It all happened like I thought it would. They’re very good about how they track their time. They went beyond what was expected and were very pleasant to work with.

What did you find most impressive about Cheeky Monkey Media?

The first interview I did was with Gene. When we were talking, I saw how they had their team meetings. I sense the company has a very organized structure and process management system. The way they handle projects, schedule them, and communicate among themselves as well as with the client, shows they seem to be on top of things. I think that’s reflected in the caliber of work they give their clients.

Are there any areas Cheeky Monkey Media could improve?

There really isn’t. It was extremely successful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Volunteer Match is a website that helps connect volunteers and nonprofits online. On average, around 100,000 nonprofits post their volunteer needs on our site every day. We have about 13 million visitors to our site every year. We have corporate services that we license to companies who run employee volunteer programs. I am the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and engagement. I am in charge of all of the marketing and communications for Volunteer Match.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We have in-house product and engineering teams that focus on our core services and our own website. In 2012, anything that involved outward communication and how we talked about our services was shifted to Drupal. We have been working with independent contractors for a couple of years for those projects. Those contractors were all great, but as soon as they would leave, we would be stuck. We did not totally understand what we needed to do to keep things up to date and a lot of knowledge was lost. Also, they built things in a technical way, which made it difficult for us to go in and make really simple changes. We started looking for some companies that we could bring on for a more consistent relationship. We asked Cheeky Monkey Media to modernize the way our sites were working and then ultimately overhaul some of them. The websites needed to be a lot more modern and match what people expect to see.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we first started working with Cheeky Monkey Media, our main priority was shifting a lot of the pages and templates over. That would make it a lot easier for our team to make updates and small edits when needed. They had to create the templates and pages in a way that would allow us to go in and duplicate them in a simpler way. That was the first project and seeing how that went, we were really happy with it. Next, we wanted to completely overhaul our corporate marketing site because that hadn’t been touched in a really long time. So, we engaged Cheeky Monkey Media in more web design. We asked for different layouts that they thought could work in Drupal, given what was already on the site. Once we selected an appropriate layout, someone on our product team created the full design. Finally, we sent that over to Cheeky Monkey Media for implementation. That website launched at the beginning of this year, which has been awesome. Since then, we’ve been making small changes to get it exactly the way we wanted it.

How did you come to work with Cheeky Monkey Media?

I had been talking to a couple different groups out in San Francisco, where Volunteer Match is based. I think one of the contractors recommended Cheeky Monkey Media. Somehow I got connected to Gene and I really liked his approach to the relationship. It was very informal. At the time, I was very frustrated with our Drupal experience, but Gene was able to explain things to me. I really appreciated that. They spent time getting to know how we work and how Volunteer Match is a unique model because we’re a nonprofit. At the same time, we’re also a technology company with our own developers, but they don’t really work on the sites that my team works on. Cheeky Monkey Media was patient and understanding, and they really figured out what could bring us on as a client.

How much have you invested with Cheeky Monkey Media?

In the first year, we probably spent around $10,000 with Cheeky Monkey Media. This year, we’re probably closer to $15,000 or $20,000. That’s probably the limit of our budget. We’ll probably spend less next year since we’re done with all these bigger overhauls.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our next project for Cheeky Monkey Media is a complete overhaul of another section of our site. It’s a learning center where nonprofits go for training. It has not been updated in a long time, and there’s a lot of work to be done before we get a whole new look for it.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any metrics right now, but anecdotally, the launch of the new corporate solutions site has been incredible for us. We’ve been really happy with that. Also, Cheeky Monkey Media’s work allowed us to hook into Pardot. As a result, we’ve seen a great decrease in bounce rates and we’ve seen better leads coming through. The updated site is able to surface relevant content to our users in a smarter way, bringing them in as potential leads. I definitely think that the updated and relaunched site by Cheeky Monkey Media has been an important factor.

How did Cheeky Monkey Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Cheeky Monkey Media has been really good in terms of project management. We’ve always had a project manager we could reach out to who is amazing. She would jump on a call and wrangle her team when we needed it. We use Basecamp to document everything and communicate back and forth, and they’ll contact us when they need extra input. They’ll really listen to things that we’re trying to tackle and give suggestions. There was a situation that happened earlier this year, it may have just been a perfect storm. Our main person was out because she had a baby and then someone else was out, so things got strangely quiet from their side. Overall, our experience has been really great. We’ve been realistic with how the relationship with Cheeky Monkey Media will go. It’s a big improvement to the relationships we were having with other Drupal contractors. I was willing to take this call, so obviously I like them enough to be talking about them.

What did you find most impressive about Cheeky Monkey Media?

From my perspective, Cheeky Monkey Media has been really easy to work with. For example, they’ve been flexible with the pricing model for our engagement. We talked about whether we should have a minimum number of projects a month, or just have them wait and see what projects come up. I think they’re a fun group, and that comes through when you’re having conversations with them. They enjoy what they’re doing.

Are there any areas Cheeky Monkey Media could improve?

Cheeky Monkey Media can improve by continuing to improve the communication side of things. It would help to continue to have proactive conversations with clients. It’s important for Cheeky Monkey Media to think about what else they can help us with, instead of waiting for us to reach out to them. We’re probably too reactive when we’re planning the improvements to our site. I get it because we’re a fairly small client of theirs, so it’s a balance. 

BACKGROUND

Please introduce your business and what you do there.

BigSteelBox is a shipping container company. We rent and sell shipping containers and modified shipping containers. We provide a residential moving and storage business as well as a commercial storage business. I am the Marketing Director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cheeky Monkey Media?

It was an AdWords specific project. We had had some experiences with another agency and they didn’t pay enough attention to our business or the ROI on AdWords. We were just trying to get the cost down to a more reasonable level where we could actually justify running AdWords so that it would actually make us money.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

There was an initial planning phase where they investigated what was happening on the platform—in the AdWords tool and in the analytics tool. After the planning phase, there was a trial period of probably three months or so where we lowered our level of spending just to try to get the cost for acquisition down to a reasonable level. That included strategic development, a review of the existing tools, and the development of landing pages.

We followed that with a trial phase on both the keywords and the landing pages to see how they were performing and converting. We did some testing in terms of what ads converted better and what combination of ads worked with what markets.

We did a few test markets in those three months, then expanded our marketing to our network of locations using a very granular approach. It’s really hard, tedious work. I needed somebody with the brains to figure all that out and just work really hard to get the cost of acquisition down to a reasonable level, which the agency was able to do.

How did you come to work with Cheeky Monkey Media?

Somebody I knew here in Kelowna had started to work with them. I reached out to Cheeky Monkey after that person recommended them to me. I told the agency what we were looking for, and they came up and gave us a proposal. They were able to bring the right person to the project.

How much have you invested with Cheeky Monkey Media?

There are two sides to that. There are the fees that they charged, which would be in the $10,000 to $50,000 range, and then there is the overall size of the buy. When I look at our AdWords, we probably spent over $100,000 on AdWords this year. The agency is managing that budget for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re really in a very competitive business, so I was really just hoping to break even from an ROI perspective; the cost of just acquiring a customer has got to be reasonable. Based on the results so far—and it took a few months to get there—our AdWords are making us money.

It’s a little hard to tell with our current systems exactly what the ROI story is. I can’t follow a lead all the way through; I have to make some assumptions about the revenue that I’m going to get from the customers I’ve acquired through AdWords, which I base on the average value of a particular customer type. Based on that average, the ROI story is I’m probably doubling my money in terms of what’s been spent. Instead of it being a painful experience every time I look at the AdWords conversions, I’m happy.

How did Cheeky Monkey Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They have done well but it is a simple project management experience. I’m really working with one person who does monthly reporting and updating. I can easily get in touch with the agency. I just work directly with their AdWords consultant, so it’s very seamless. They’ve tried to eliminate the errors and inefficiencies.

What did you find most impressive about Cheeky Monkey Media?

The experience I’ve had with Cheeky Monkey Media has certainly been very pleasant, so that definitely gives me confidence that they can do more. They are on top of things and every client seems to represent an opportunity they take very seriously. As I have more needs that come up, I will certainly be inviting them to quote on other projects or provide proposals for other solutions.

Are there any areas Cheeky Monkey Media could improve?

I can’t comment on that, given the limited scope of our involvement with them. But they’ve been pretty proactive. They know what’s going on and where we’re at in terms of our online marketing. I keep them up to date, but it’s really just based on what our own needs are.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an adult education company that has online and on-site offerings. I'm the Director of Online Marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We constantly have updates to our website. Since we are using the website for conversion, we are mindful of SEO impacts and performance. We have an in-house front-end developer, but for larger products, we partner with Cheeky Monkey Media. They help us optimize the site and implement new changes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, Cheeky Monkey Media is helping fix things on our website that weren't set up properly by a different agency. For instance, we have default meta tags that were not displayed correctly on certain pages that are in panels or views. We put that in a ticket for Cheeky Monkey Media and they went in and fixed it. They are cleaning up our initial site build, which wasn't really designed with SEO or mobile in mind.

Cheeky Monkey Media handled other projects for us as well. We needed our mobile homepage optimized, so they came up with the design for that. We don't really use them for design services per se, but as we come up with new solutions, they will come to us with designs. When we want to implement something new, they research what modules are out there. If we need to do a custom solution, they integrate the modules for us and make sure that everything is running efficiently. Cheeky Monkey Media does troubleshooting if our site slows down.

How did you come to work with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We found them through a conference that we attended; they had a booth there. I wasn't at the conference, but one of my co-workers was.

There were several reasons why we chose Cheeky Monkey Media. One, they were a Drupal house, so it was comforting that they had expertise in the system. Two, their price structure is very affordable and very flexible. We usually work with them for 40 hours a month, but once we reach 40, they won’t say, “If you don't do 40 hours, we charge you for 40 hours. And if you go over 40 hours, there's a premium on top of the negotiated rate.” Instead, they're very flexible and say, “We agreed to 40 hours. But if you only do 30 one month and 60 the other month, we're only going to charge you for the hours that we actually do. And it's all going to be at the same rate.” That was different from our relationship with another contractor.

How much have you invested with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We pay Cheeky Monkey Media about $5,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Cheeky Monkey Media for about 2 years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site speed has definitely improved since we started to work with Cheeky Monkey Media. Our on-page conversion has also improved, as well as our visitor to inquiry ratio.

How did Cheeky Monkey Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Cheeky Monkey Media is good in terms of project management. We communicate frequently and they're very responsive. Recently, we had a sudden need for a WordPress site that we were trying to migrate. After about a week, our team couldn't get it done. I reached out to Cheeky Monkey Media at the last minute. They were able to get someone to look at it within the hour, and basically had it up and running in 2 hours.

They are very responsive and able to jump in when needed. We used Basecamp to begin with, but they had to update Basecamp every time they updated JIRA. Cheeky Monkey Media gives us direct access to JIRA, which is their ticketing system. This lets us submit tickets and see their progress on the tickets. We can just see everything that's going on, so it's working really well.

What did you find most impressive about Cheeky Monkey Media?

We were really impressed with their knowledge of Drupal. It is comforting to know that when you bring a project to Cheeky Monkey Media, they're already very knowledgeable. If they’re not familiar with the issue, they'll do research about it. You don't feel like there is a better solution. I can trust what they're telling me. I know that Cheeky Monkey Media has gained the respect of even our internal IT team.

Are there any areas Cheeky Monkey Media could improve?

Cheeky Monkey Media could improve their scheduling. It needs to be a little tighter in order to give clients a little more time to review all the changes. For example, if a sprint is going to push through, all the changes should be up 2 or 3 days before that. That way, we have time to review and make tweaks. Usually, it just seems like it's crunch time during sprints since the changes are up the day before we plan to push. If we find anything wrong, we have to delay the push.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Trenchant Business Evolution helps implement EOS [Entrepreneurial Operating Systems] for businesses. I am one of the founders.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We’re now in our third year and we thought it was time for us to have our website done professionally. We originally developed the company website ourselves, but neither of us are website designers. The website became old fairly quickly, within the first couple of years or so. We needed something that was updated, professional looking, and that really showed who we are.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we met with Cheeky Monkey Media and discussed who we are, what our business is about, and our core values. Cheeky Monkey Media looked at our old site and our Facebook page. We identified the things that we wanted to portray, our color schemes, etc. To get an idea of what we wanted, they showed us several options based on WordPress templates. We told them the things we wanted to keep and asked for their input. We gave them a lot of creative freedom. It was very collaborative and a great way to work.

How did you come to work with Cheeky Monkey Media?

To make a long story short, we were introduced to Cheeky Money Media through a mutual connection through business. When we knew we wanted to move forward with the website, we talked to them about it. They gave us an idea of what Cheeky Monkey Media is about and how they operate. He also showed us some samples based on our budget and we just liked the idea and feel of it. We didn’t have to move forward until we met with the team, and we were happy with that as well.

How much have you invested with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We spent a little under $10,000 with Cheeky Money Media.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’re still in communication with Cheeky Money Media. If I have any questions or if I’m a little lost with the website, they’re happy to answer the questions quickly. Since we have administration rights to the WordPress site, we can make small changes ourselves. If we ever want to do something bigger that is beyond our ability, we would engage them again to do the work for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I can’t put hard numbers or metrics at this time. Based on verbal feedback from associates and various other people that knew about this, they really liked it. They liked the rebranding since we changed our name at the same time. It was a big change that we went through, and everybody has given us great feedback. We launched around the time we did a trade show, and people that met us at the time were all very positive.

Cheeky Monkey Media really encouraged us to start a blog to increase our traffic and SEO. We’ve only written a couple of entries but we noticed that our numbers increased after each post. That blog has helped us and it was a direct result of Cheeky Monkey Media’s suggestion.

How did Cheeky Monkey Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Cheeky Monkey Media performed well from a project management standpoint. We used Basecamp and there was open communication. We were kept up to date when things were done and received feedback, which we really liked. They made one little mistake, but as soon as I brought it to their attention, they fixed it immediately. We were happy with it.

What did you find most impressive about Cheeky Monkey Media?

We felt that we got great value for our money with Cheeky Monkey Media. It wasn’t just the actual website that we felt we had that value from. We appreciated the interaction with the team at Cheeky Monkey and we got value from the ongoing connection that we have with them. They are very engaged with their clients during and after the project is the done. They regularly ask us if there’s anything that they can do if we have any questions, and how are things going. They’re very easygoing, and again, it suits who we are as a business.

Are there any areas Cheeky Monkey Media could improve?

I would’ve liked to see the project plan and I knew they had one laid out. Since I am also a project manager, I like to see schedules and various things like that. It’s a bit nitpicky and I never actually brought it up with them. I had a lot of faith in them, so I didn’t push it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a new tech startup. We do an app-based program that advertises businesses who sell any kind of product.

What is your position?

I am the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We needed to develop an application for iOS and Android.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The app that we needed them to build is a social media platform, and it's based on video reviews. When we approached them, our whole process was to be able to sit down with the team and be able to take us from this concept we had and make it into a reality.

How did you come to work with Cheeky Monkey Media?

I've known Gene [Bernier, cofounder of Cheeky Monkey Media] for several years. When he decided to start Cheeky Monkey, that was a big plus because he has so much talent. He has some incredibly talented people working with him. The fact that they were local and that Gene was a part of it were the main reasons.

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

Each phase had a different price tag with the original being less than $10,000. The cost increased for the next phase. Gene and his team made it easier.

What is the status of this engagement?

All the projects have been completed. We've moved our product in-house.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Cheeky Monkey Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Cheeky Monkey Media did a good job. We had our meetings once a week to be updated on the progress and what was coming up the next week. They also let us know what we had to do on our end to be able to get the information back to them so they could complete their tasks in a timely fashion and keep the project moving forward.

What distinguishes Cheeky Monkey Media from other providers?

We talked to other organizations to see about producing our product. We liked Gene because he understood. I had a close relationship with an owner of another company, and we walked away from that one to come to Gene's company because Gene understood it better. He wasn't telling us what we wanted. He was helping us understand what we needed.

Is there anything Cheeky Monkey Media could have improved or done differently?

No. It was 100 percent. We never had a problem. It was always great and still is today.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company is Canadian Heartland Training Railway Services, a railway training company. We support industrial railways and short line railways with operations management consulting and operations training.

What is your position?

I am the president of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We were trying to develop an online application to support safety management for industrial railways and short lines.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They helped develop a web application for us. Cheeky Monkey Media developed the framework and some wireframes. It's a modular system composed of 13 modules that is meant to provide a planning tool and then an execution.

How did you come to work with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We found them through the company that is hosting our website. They had a past relationship with them. When they looked at the size of this development project, they thought they'd be a good fit. We talked on the phone, and they gave us some quotes and everything fit our parameters.

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

It was $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We're still in progress.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We haven't finished the project yet, but I am very happy with the progress they have made.

How did Cheeky Monkey Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been excellent. Cheeky Monkey laid out a plan for me in the beginning, and we have weekly meetings to take care of everything. In those meetings, we discuss progress and any changes we need to make.

What distinguishes Cheeky Monkey Media from other providers?

I don't have much experience with this but I'm very pleased. Cheeky Monkey consistently meets their commitments and communication has been excellent. I can tell that they are very competent in what they do.

Is there anything Cheeky Monkey Media could have improved or done differently?

I don't think so. They've done a very good job working with us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are the Drupal Association.

What is your position?

I am the Chief Technology Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Cheeky Monkey Media?

We worked with them on two different projects. The first project we worked with them on was Drupal Jobs, a job board for the Drupal community. We also worked with them on several of our North American Drupal Convention projects. We put on a Drupal Convention in North America and in Europe every year. We needed both development and design work from Cheeky Monkey Media.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

On Drupal Jobs, they did the development work for us specifically doing the Drupal site development, integrating with Drupal.org, simple sign-on systems and profile data, and the commerce aspects. They optimized the workflow in order to set up a custom workflow that allowed us to have people who could pay for either a single job, a pack of five jobs, or for a subscription model.

On the second project, they helped establish the design framework for both the digital and print materials for Los Angeles and New Orleans. They’re also doing some work with us on our upcoming convention next year in Baltimore.

How did you come to work with Cheeky Monkey Media?

The Drupal Association is a non-profit that works within the Drupal community. For these projects, we went through a pretty rigorous RFP process. It involves allowing us to examine their portfolio, a couple of interviews with the staff, seeing if their team will work well with ours, and then we make a decision.

Both times, Cheeky Monkey Media went through that process, and they came through with flying colors. They have a great design portfolio, technically they’re really savvy, and have a generally sharp team. Their process of working with the team was something that we really valued.

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

The first project was between $50,000 and $200,000. The total scale of that project was closer to the upper end of that. On the convention sites, it tends to be in the $25,000 range, which is our standard for all Drupal Conventions.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are currently working with them on the design of the Baltimore page.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Anecdotally, on the design work, we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback at each of the convention locations. It’s a community-driven process, so the community actually gets to weigh in on the designs, and the feedback has always been amazingly positive. They do very high quality, professional work. The fact that the work can span both digital and print is something we really appreciate.

When we launched Drupal Jobs, it was an immediate success. It hit its first-year goal for revenue, and then we hired them to do a couple of tweaks based on the feedback we were getting. They were able to execute those very quickly, and that was able to give us another 10% to 20% of revenue bump. They’re really good at coming back around on projects and are very fair in how they negotiate that.

How did Cheeky Monkey Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They did an excellent job and are great communicators. We’re an agile shop, and they worked from an agile standpoint as well. Everything was well documented and Cheeky Monkey Media would get what they needed to be done in time to make sure that it was what we wanted. Because they were on time, we had time to make adjustments where necessary. They used all the best practices on the development side and had a QA environment for us to participate with them on. Everything about their project management process was spot on.

What distinguishes Cheeky Monkey Media from other providers?

They are by far the most fun group of people that I’ve ever worked with. They take the work seriously, but they don’t take themselves very seriously, which makes it a total blast to work with them on a project. Any time you’re doing a digital project, there’s going to be highs and lows. There are going to be stresses associated with those highs and lows, and they handle all that with just absolute positivity, which inspires you to do great things with them.

Is there anything Cheeky Monkey Media could have improved or done differently?

That’s always a tough question when people ask me that because if I’ve used a vendor for more than a couple of projects, any weakness I’ve identified, they’ve usually addressed. This is true of Cheeky Monkey. We’ve had a great time working with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We collect and sell business location data and lists of retailer locations. We provide those to other businesses for competitive and real estate research.

What is your position?

I am the Chief Executive Officer and founder of AggData LLC.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Cheeky Monkey Media?

I wanted my site to look more professional. I wanted us to have capabilities within that site to scale our business. Cheeky Monkey was referred to us by another firm, and they were able to help us do that.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Cheeky Monkey provided development, general upkeep of our website, integrated the converse applications, and also helped us with the design and marketing of the site. We’ve done a couple of redesigns with them and are about to launch a new one.

How did you come to work with Cheeky Monkey Media?

Another firm recommended we look into Cheeky Monkey. We have been working with them for four or five years. I needed help with the development and found that Cheeky Monkey was able to meet all my requirements. The people there were really easy to work with and capable, so we’ve stuck with them for quite a while.

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

We probably spend a few thousand a month just on maintenance with them. The big projects have been in the $10,000-50,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are currently working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Without their development, we wouldn’t have been able to scale to where we are now. We sell almost 5,000 different digital products on our site and continually maintain and update those products. They built an API so we could do that in a more automated way directly on the site. We are able to work efficiently because of their help. Traffic has continued to increase on the site since we’ve used them.

How did Cheeky Monkey Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve been with them for quite a while and it has been great. There were a few bumpy moments when they were transitioning, but at the moment, we’ve got a great account manager. She always makes sure tasks are getting accomplished and keeps us up to date on where we are at. If there’s a delay, she explains how it happened. I’m very happy with the way they manage projects right now.

What distinguishes Cheeky Monkey Media from other providers?

Cheeky Monkey Media is able to help us in many different segments of our business. Because they have so many experts in different fields, we can go to them with questions on design, technical aspects, or marketing efforts.

Is there anything Cheeky Monkey Media could have improved or done differently?

I can’t think of anything specific. When you’re doing development projects, there are bound to be moments where things aren’t done as planned, or as initially proposed. That being said, they’re very open about their plans to deal with that and are responsive when things do come up.