Cohere

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive assistant, office manager, and the HR coordinator for a real estate development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cohere?

We wanted a new website to show the new direction of our company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They totally revamped our WordPress site. The team did everything from scratch and to the point where I can log in and make changes.  

What is the team composition?

Chris (Partner) is our go-to contact.

How did you come to work with Cohere?

We found them through a recommendation. We interviewed 3–4 different companies and selected Cohere.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2019, and our work is ongoing. We’re hoping to go live in the next 1–2 weeks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re a publicly-traded company so it’s really important to adhere to certain regulations. Cohere was very knowledgeable about everything we needed. Their immediate response time is impeccable. It makes it easy for me since it falls on my shoulders to get things done. The more that they can give me answers, the better. The team is very gracious, easy to work with, and quick to answer any questions we might have.

How did Cohere perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been excellent. There hasn’t been one time when I’ve sent Chris something where I haven’t gotten a response immediately, even if it’s just to let me know that he’ll be with me shortly. He also checks in periodically to see where he can check-in. It’s been a great experience with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility is impressive. We’re able to shift our direction as many times as needed because they want us to be happy. Chris is always willing to offer his professional opinion, too. He’s very knowledgeable, flexible, and professional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not as far as I’m concerned. They’re going to be a great company for years to come.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to work with them. I can’t say enough good things about them. They offer constant communication and support.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide services for people experiencing homelessness and poverty. We have about 20 different programs. My position is director of marketing and communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cohere?

We were looking to launch three different projects. We’re launching a new event this year, so we needed an agency to brand that entire event. For our second project, we were in the middle updating our website. Then, for our third project, we wanted to rebrand a program that serves meals and snacks. Before, we were just serving children, but now we serve adults as well.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For the first project, they did everything from messaging to logo to assistance with the Web site. They helped come up with a story about we're launching this new event. This included posters and invitations. Although we went with a different development company, Cohere was involved with the creative process. We’re including more interactive features, pictures, and videos.

Finally, for our last program, they designed a logo and new posters. We were going to promote the project at an upcoming event, but because of COVID-1 9, the event was canceled we will probably lean on them for more services.

What is the team composition?

I primarily interact with Chris (Partner).

How did you come to work with Cohere?

I started with the organization after the bidding process. I think the reason why we chose them was because they have a lot of expertise in a few different areas. For example, we felt their branding and design was great, but they have a lot of food industry experience, so they’d fit well with our other projects as well. They had a more diverse portfolio than some of the other companies we were talking to.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in April 2019 and their work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t started promoting the event yet, but internal feedback has been really positive. Our website looks great, and we’re excited about having a more interactive and dynamic platform. They don’t just look at what’s popular now, they look at what’s going to be the next big thing in web design. They brought data to back themselves up. Instead of just updating our website, we’re on the cutting edge for website features.

They’ve done a great job with coming up with the story behind the look and feel of our program. It’s the balance of light and dark, so the symbolism represents how everybody should be treated the same; that everybody is equal. It’s a really sleek look. Between the messaging, the logo, and the design, we’re really happy with their work.

How did Cohere perform from a project management standpoint?

It has been great working with them. They’re responsive and are really knowledgeable about modern design. We’re in touch with them weekly, sometimes even more frequently than that, depending on what’s going on. We’ve had phone, Zoom, and in-person meetings. Even with COVID-19, they’ve been able to keep business moving forward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been particularly impressed by their storytelling and the symbolism they used. They were even able to incorporate that into our lettering and marketing collateral.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We always go back and forth on different designs, between what we want to see, and what they recommend. Occasionally, there can be disagreements. Overall, they balanced that well, but sometimes they wanted to push forward with their ideas, or ideas that have already been presented.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Check out the scope of work and make sure it makes sense for your project and what you’re working on. Sometimes, we’ve thought we needed four different versions, but they’ve only recommended two. They’ve been good about helping us narrow down what actually needs to be included in the project to make it work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an office and industrial redevelopment real estate firm. I handle acquisitions and leasing in the Philadelphia region.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cohere?

We acquired a unique property in the central business district in Philadelphia. We enlisted Cohere to help us develop a brand and identity for the project, both online and in hardcopy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a website from scratch and helped us figure out our target customer. We wanted our online presence to be different from a typical leasing site. They put a strong focus on hospitality, which also had all the necessary facts about the property. They also created interesting scroll-over functionality.

The pamphlets they created include an insert with the detailed history of the property’s original purpose. They created a list of profiles for the people who worked on the original project in its heyday, and some of the stories they uncovered are amazing.

What is the team composition?

Our three primary contacts are the company founder, the creative director, and our project manager or account lead. The project manager was our day-to-day contact who made sure we stayed on track. There were other people on the team who we didn’t interact with.

How did you come to work with Cohere?

They’re very active in the Philadelphia real estate space, and I’ve seen their work with other developers. I like what they produce, so I reached out to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $35,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around May 2018. They completed the site around October 2018 and the printed material in November. The original scope of services is complete, but we’re moving on to smaller projects with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We get great feedback from our user and broker communities. Leasing is starting to accelerate, and they’ve set us up with a framework for future success. We don’t have any solidly quantifiable metrics, but the work they’ve done is first-class. I would highly recommend them.

How did Cohere perform from a project management standpoint?

They worked through our budget and kept up with all the deliverables and deadlines. We primarily communicated through phone and email, but we also used Google Documents and other small tech tools to boost the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They did an excellent job working with a first-time client who had never used this kind of service before.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I'm really happy with the work they provided, and I don't have any critique for them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be willing to step back and let them guide you. They will work within your objectives, but they’re a creative firm that will come up with a vision to support your business.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

MMPartners is a real estate development firm. I'm the co-founder and managing partner. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cohere?

We wanted to use Cohere to help us come up with a full branding and marketing strategy for a new development we are building in the city of Philadelphia. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cohere supported us with branding, naming, logo, and positioning. They made various pieces of creative, website, banners, and a very forward-thinking take on a flyer or book on the building for people who visit it. The team also developed our website. They came up with overarching ideas for staging the building and events to market it further. 

What is the team composition? 

The CEO is always involved and knows what's happening, which is great. We also have a dedicated account executive. The business development resource helps us get everything done on the frontend including the statement of work and contract. On the creative side, I have a direct point of contact and work with the creative director who oversees all the work. A few junior resources are involved as well, but I don't interact with them directly. 

How did you come to work with Cohere?

I've known the CEO and have admired Cohere’s work from afar for a while. Having seen their interesting and creative work in the real estate space, they seemed like the right people to engage for our out-of-the-box ideas for this project. They were the only ones we interviewed. We were pleased with their pitch, so we hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent around $30,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together since June 2018. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We just started the pre-leasing of the project, so it's too early to provide a direct comparison to previous building releases. Qualitatively, I've heard nothing but strongly positive feedback on the naming, branding, and positioning of the product and the building. To me, the input we've received speaks volumes as it’s coming from all types of people rather than ones who would just tell me what I want to hear. 

How did Cohere perform from a project management standpoint?

Cohere manages the project well and hits all their deadlines. Typically, the products they deliver are 95%–100% percent accurate to what I want. Our collaboration requires minimal back and forth, if any. We use email and Google Documents to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Real estate tends to be a fairly conservative sector from a marketing perspective, especially condo marketing outside major cities. Cohere brings a fresh, new, different, and exciting focus to the table. Their work has been a breath of fresh air.  They’ve found creative ways to market real estate besides just pointing out renderings or finishes. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don't have any complaints. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to listen closely to their suggestions. Even if their ideas sound a little far-fetched, don't dismiss them out of hand. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the VP of marketing for City Fitness, a Philadelphia-based active lifestyle brand that operates six full-service health clubs with over 300 employees. I oversee advertising, branding, strategy, communications, and business engineering.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cohere?

As a brand that operates full-service health clubs (or "box gyms"), we offer group fitness classes to our members as a part of their normal membership fees. With the rise of boutique studios in the fitness industry, we made a strategic decision to overhaul our group fitness programming to match the experience in studios, thus adding significant value to a membership at City Fitness. A major part of this project is to create an environmental experience—everything from branding to the design and reconstruction of the spaces within our clubs.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create a boutique studio experience for members of our gyms, adding value to a product they'd already bought. We're hoping this will increase our membership numbers and their participation in the group fitness program.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I knew Cohere's founder and, when we started this project, I knew they'd be a great fit.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Cohere has taken on numerous responsibilities for this project. They created three unique brands for verticals of our Studio program (indoor cycling, yoga/pilates/barre, and cardio group fitness classes) and developed evergreen marketing assets to solidify these brands position within our overall brand and program hierarchy. They created a distinct page for these programs on our website and made design recommendations for each pre-existing Studio space that matched their individual brand direction. They currently manage the construction of these redesigned studio spaces. 

What was the team composition?

The company's founder and CEO has been involved in all phases of the project, but I've worked most closely with an account executive, creative director, and content strategist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is still outgoing, so we don't have any results yet. Having personally been involved with the design and construction of multiple major properties in our portfolio and renovations within them, I applaud Cohere's methodology, design ability, and attention to detail. I'm excited to see what the finished products look like.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our workflow with Cohere is extremely effective. They hit self-imposed deadlines, hold regular and productive meetings, and are readily available. I'm absolutely thrilled with the nature and quality of our communications in a way that I've never been in my agency relationships.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have an impressive ability to turn nothing into something. This is a big project, and I have tight specifications and limited resources, but they've done a great job.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It's nearly impossible to scope budgets and delivery schedules in the construction world, so if Cohere could find the perfect project management flow that allowed them to meet those goals, I'd work with them on much larger projects. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the VP for marketing and brand strategy with a commercial real estate investment trust. We develop and manage office buildings for the government and defense contractors in northern Virginia, Maryland, Washington, DC, San Antonio, TX, and Huntsville, AL.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cohere?

We’re a suburban office developer trying to compete with downtown urban offices that have more amenities, which make them attractive to new workers and companies. We needed to create an image for a suburban office park of 28 to 30 buildings as an activated, engaged community that was a great place to work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cohere worked on two projects for us. The first was a three-minute video they created about our office park. They developed the storyboards, shot original footage, and produced the video.

They also redesigned our corporate website which is really three different linked sites that target different stakeholder audiences. Based on our direction, they worked with our existing sites to rewrite the copy, develop new content, and integrate new photography that we provided.

What is the team composition?

We mostly interfaced with the Chris (Director of Business Development, Cohere). We also sometimes worked with a designer or the creative director.

How did you come to work with Cohere?

I had seen a video that I liked that had been done for a project in Baltimore and I wanted to have something very similar done. I found out that it was Cohere that had created that video. I reached out to them, specifically to Chris, to see if they could do something similar for us. We were very happy with the video so reached out to them again for the website.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in mid-2017. They completed the website redesign in February 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of their creative and design work is top notch. Technically and creatively, they’re superior. I was very happy with what they produced for us based on the direction that they were given and the additional value that they brought to that process.

How did Cohere perform from a project management standpoint?

They met deadlines. We didn't have an end date but every time they promised they were going to deliver something at a particular time, they always did.

I was extremely pleased with the quality of customer service, particularly from Chris. They handled the process extremely well, for example, if something was out of scope and they needed to ask for additional funds to cover it. I’m a picky person but they’re detailed oriented and easy to work with. They were always on top of everything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was helpful that they work in and understand our industry. It impacted the style of the design they did for us. their style is clean, contemporary, and fresh.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing all.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you work with Chris. I can’t say enough good things about him.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the asset manager for David S. Brown Enterprises, a real estate company in Baltimore, Maryland.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cohere?

We needed to update our website and make it more functional. We had some websites that were getting old, and we wanted to find a company that could not only develop a very creative and good looking website but one that would last us a lot longer than the ones we currently had.

We did a couple of websites with Cohere. The first time we got in touch with them was about an individual property, one of our biggest properties that needed its own standalone site. From there, we gave them more to do.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They made a WordPress website that is user-friendly: easy and simple to navigate. They also made it mobile-friendly. Most people nowadays look at websites on their iPhone or iPad. The sites we had before didn’t look good on mobile devices. We also needed someone that had not only a business mind but also a creative side. That was one of the biggest things that sold us with them. They started everything from scratch and we left everything else behind.

They had a very good business-creative mindset. They gave us markups and photoshopped web fronts that they thought we would like. From there, we worked together and came up with what we wanted to do.

We didn’t use them for the copy. Most of the copy on our old websites was well-rounded and fit for the new website, but they did have a copywriter that went through and cleaned it up. They're not doing any of the marketing for us, but they did build all the SEO and social media marketing into our site.

What is the team dynamic?

I was in touch with 3 people. There was a business development person that I had most of the face-to-face meetings with, and who I talked to about all the concerns, questions, or changes to be made. I also had email exchanges with their head web developer and their copywriter. When it came down to the day-to-day, I only communicated with 1 person, who was the middleman between us and the tech team.

How did you come to work with Cohere?

They were recommended by another company. Based on the deliverables, we thought the price was very competitive. We thought from their previous work that they would design a site that we want and need. We believed in what Chris Richards [Director of Business Development, Cohere] told us, the way that he cooperated with us, and the way that he communicated with us. It was a big selling point, knowing that we always had him to go to if there was something we didn’t like.

How much have you invested with them?

I've spent over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since May 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We only have one other site live, and that's been live since May 2017. Since then, we’ve had an ongoing partnership. The website looks good, people talk about it, visit it, and we’ve had positive feedback about how the site works. It’s a very responsive website, and we’ve had a lot of people say it’s easy to use and straight to the point, which is what we wanted. They're still developing all our residential sites which are to be completed within the next month or two.

How did Cohere perform from a project management standpoint?

We've never had a problem. When they have trouble meeting timelines, they always explain why and what they need from us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The way that they think about the website. It's not just a piece of technology or a piece of social media, it's the front of your business, and they do a really good job at mixing the business front with the creative front, in order to really engaging the people that we want to.

We want to attract users that are interested in our business, but we also want the normal person who has no idea that they might be interested to come to the site and find out more about it. They made that happen online, and that's a huge positive for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wish their services were cheaper but they do a very good job all around.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior manager for marketing and media relations at a nonprofit tech-based economic development organization in Philadelphia. Our mission is to support innovation and entrepreneurship through programming, resource provision, and access to capital, advisors, and mentors for early-stage companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cohere?

After spinning off the organization’s physical assets off into a new brand, we hired Cohere to assist us in realigning the original brand's messaging and distinguish between the two brands. The goal was to refine our messaging and visuals so that everything was both coherent and consistent. In addition, they helped to create templates to promote our programs with the goal of maintaining cohesive branding.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have worked with Cohere for several years on various projects. Our first experience with them involved a rebranding effort for a STEM-focused educational program for middle and high school students from underserved communities. Most recently they spearheaded our brand alignment project. In the brand alignment project, they helped to distill our messaging, making it more clear and concise while also crystalizing the position of our organization on relevant issues.

How did you come to work with Cohere?

We sent out a request for proposals to which they submitted. Cohere’s in-depth discovery process is what initially made them stand out.

How much have you invested with them?

This information is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first engaged them in the second half of 2014, and our work with them is ongoing. The brand alignment project specifically began in the third quarter of 2016 and was completed in the second quarter of 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to Cohere’s work on realigning our brand, we are better positioned with more focused messaging. They helped to build an understanding of what our organization does, which is a testament to the quality of their work.

How did Cohere perform from a project management standpoint?

Cohere’s adherence to a straightforward, collaborative, and adaptable work ethic made their project management stand out. If we ever wanted to go in a different direction, they never hesitated to make the requested changes. Their team is in constant communication about their status, which allows us to see new designs, files, or copy in a timely manner. Additionally, their responsiveness throughout the process is a great strength, such that it feels like working with immediate colleagues rather than with a separate firm. Their consistency with meeting deadlines and communicating potential delays makes for an efficient management style.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their discovery process was both unique and impressive. To begin with, it involved interviewing key members of our staff, stakeholders, and board members. They also organized a brainstorming session with our team so that we could convey our ideas and goals for the brand realignment. In addition to giving them a greater understanding of our organization, it also allowed us to discover new concepts internally. This was central to the research they conducted to better understand our organization’s objectives prior to beginning development on the deliverables. Cohere is thorough in their work and invested in getting to know their clients and their goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is nothing specific at which they could improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Director of Marketing for NextFab, a makerspace network based in Philadelphia. Our makerspaces are a collection of different shops or studios where our members access facilities from woodshops to metal shops to a 3D printing studio to laser cutting suites, etc. We’ve been in business since 2009 and currently have 3 locations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cohere?

I was trying to rebrand the company and launch a new website as a first effort to bring the brand to a new level. Visually, our colors were quite bright, and the original logo was a bit confusing for new customers. To me the logo is a symbol of the organization, so the way that people first interact with the company via the logo is critically important. People could see the “next” but not the “fab”, as in fabrication. The net result was confusion about our brand.

Conceptually, we needed to reposition ourselves as a space. We had historically tried to cater to a broad customer base, including enthusiasts, hobbyists, entrepreneurs, etc., and we were trying to hone in on specific customer groups. We needed to draw a clearer line between our spaces and our website. There was a disconnect with what people experienced when they visited versus what they found on our site, which didn’t clearly represent us. We wondered if we were losing out on opportunities as a result of this disjointed experience.

We were looking for a partner that could help both bring things visually to the next level and also help us reposition as a space or a series of spaces. We knew we needed to spend some serious time, energy and money to create something that was really relevant for our audiences.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our initial project focused on the website within a broader brand redesign. At the time, we only had two locations—in each North and South Philadelphia—and there was a big difference in brand between the two locations. It was critically important for us that Cohere could consistently connect the virtual space with the physical space.

The initial work evolved into two other projects. The second phase was essentially a marketing project but we also had them help us with the interior design of what became our third facility. Our dream of linking the virtual with the physical manifested itself in our third location in Wilmington. Our Wilmington location is literally our website brought into the real world. We developed the signage and designed the floor plan together. By the time we launched our new website, our whole brand was physically on display in Wilmington.

The third phase is ongoing marketing support. They support us with social media and across various touch points, everything from stickers to brochures.

What is the team dynamic?

We worked with multiple members of their team including a dedicated project manager and their CEO. They have built a very close relationship especially with me but also with our organization.

How did you come to work with Cohere?

I'd done an online search but hadn't come across their brand. I reached out to a number of other companies and started having conversations with them but hadn't found the right match. At that point, the former marketing director of our sister brand suggested them. We reached out and had a series of conversations. We were concerned about price but they came in at much more affordable rates than any of the other agencies we had spoken to. I reviewed a project they had done for another client, an architectural firm, and it was clear they had done a solid job. In the end, we felt confident that they were a good fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

I would prefer not to say. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Cohere started with us in May or June of 2016. We continue to work together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have lots of evidence of impact. For one, our membership has doubled from when we originally started working together. We went from about 400 members in November 2016 to about 800 today. When we started, we were in the midst of building the Wilmington location and we needed to have 120 sustained members at that location by the end of the year in order for us to fulfill our grant requirements. We easily hit our numbers. Also, when our website launched, the number of online daily visitors went up tenfold.

How did Cohere perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve seen an upgrade in their efforts of late. They’ve always been very responsible and responsive, especially with the website. I believe they started as a web shop so it was clear that they could support that. What was a little less certain was how they were going to support us with our internal marketing efforts. We found they've gotten better and better over time. Part of it is that they put in place Risa [Director of Operations] as our project manager, who's done a nice job of supporting us. They use Asana and they give us reports when we require it. We had standing biweekly meetings which just changed to 30 minutes every week to push things faster and farther.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Cohere is focused on placemaking, which gives them a specific lens through which they make decisions. Because we are also in the placemaking business, they represent exactly the kind of organization that is appropriate for our brand. We create places that people congregate in and work from in a way that supports the community. That alignment between our mission and theirs is critically important to me. They might not be the right partner for a company that's solely focused on virtual goods, but that's intentional and that's what makes them really unique. When it comes to branding physical places, it would be hard for anyone else to compete with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At the same time as launch of our Wilmington location, our Cohere project manager was getting married and unavailable to support us at that specific time. Without her, things were a bit disorganized. I had the sense that the rest of the team wasn’t certain if we were handling some components of the launch or if they were. We didn’t get the level of support we had hoped for. The timing of the two events was coincidental and the issues could have been specific to the situation, but we felt that they could have been more proactive in addressing our needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a real estate development company. I work on a project that partners with a non-profit economic development organization. We’re partnering on creating a mixed-use development anchored by several neighboring universities, with a number of components, including residential and commercial space for pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as well as retail, hospitality and public spaces.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cohere?

We had purchased a large piece of land in the past 3 years in partnership with one of the neighboring institutions. We had built a number of buildings over the past 10-15 years, and were looking to combine these assets with the land we had just acquired, and the buildings we had developed to date, creating an even larger development project.

With this acquisition, we felt it would be a good opportunity to step back and think about what the place should be called and how it should be branded. Cohere was specifically hired to help us with the branding aspect of our project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cohere helped us create a website for the project, an overview video, and print materials. They applied the brand to a pitch book, which was something we could use when meeting with prospective tenants to describe our project.

They also helped us with insular items, including printed materials specific to a groundbreaking event we held, tied into the same brand.

Cohere came up with the social media strategy we’re implementing today, and made a number of recommendations in terms of media opportunities. We weren’t ready to invest money in more traditional marketing, but Cohere presented a number of great recommendations, tailored to our business. We may implement those at some point.

How did you come to work with Cohere?

Our partner had used their team on a different project. This partner was involved in our rebranding effort and suggested Cohere as a possible fit. We met with them, and the rest is history.

I believe that one of the deciding factors was Cohere’s local presence. We’re renaming a place in a city which is passionate about what certain neighborhoods and places are called, so we needed a local team of people who live here and know the city in order to really give it the creative juices it needed. Most of the firms we spoke with had real estate experience, but Cohere was local, and we liked their creative thinking.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work was between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Cohere in February 2016. Since then, we’ve hired them for a prospect-specific pitch, as a one-off project. They took the existing video assets and refreshed them. We’re also working on potentially branding some public spaces that are part of the project master plan. Our partner has also explored new work with them, so it has been an ongoing relationship since the initial project was completed in October 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Most of the feedback we have is anecdotal. We’ve found that, when clients and prospective tenants see our material, it pops, and they get our story.

How did Cohere perform from a project management standpoint?

Chris Richards [Director of business development] was our main point of contact, and he was very responsive. Cohere is not a huge shop, which makes them lean and nimble; they can adjust timelines and make things happen because of their size. They were great from a project management standpoint, have a nice team in place, and met our deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our business is generally focused on urban markets and trying to create interesting places. Cohere has understood what we’re trying to do, and have a niche in terms of creating brands for real estate places. They’re urban and understand the cool factor, staying one step ahead of it. Many times, marketing firms can come up with what they think is cool, but Cohere is living it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are a smaller shop, so, if one of their web designers left the company, it would lead to a resource issue. We haven’t run into this with them, but my only concern moving forward is whether they can staff up appropriately, from a bandwidth perspective.