DBC

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and founder of Thrive Hair Bar.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DBC?

We wanted to increase brand awareness, engagement, and sales revenue.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DBC helped us put together a social media playbook and guided us in creating social media content and ads. Initially, we had a launch meeting so they could understand the company’s needs and set the project's expectations and timeline, which went well. Then, they proceeded to help us with content creation, A/B testing, and analyzing the efficacy of the posts and ads they created. 

DBC guided us into leveraging an efficient social media calendar to help with our posts; we mainly worked on Instagram. They also suggested Buffer, so we use it now.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Sakura (Communications Lead) and Zoe (Communication Strategy Officer). Additionally, we had someone who helped us with admin issues, but we didn’t work face-to-face so much.

How did you come to work with DBC?

I found them because I knew the owner; he was a friend from high school.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project on December 18th, 2023. They completed it in March 2024.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saw increased brand engagement on Instagram and brand awareness regarding followers. I don’t remember the actual number, but we saw an increase. Overall, DBC exceeded our expectations.

How did DBC perform from a project management standpoint?

They delivered on time and within budget. We communicated well over the phone, through Google Meet and Zoom, and shared Google Suite documents.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

I’d like to give a shout-out to Sakura and Zoe. They were both wonderful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They did an excellent job listening to us and ensuring they delivered the contracted and requested work. Moreover, DBC was creative and made good marketing suggestions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there were no areas of improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be transparent with DBC about your challenges and what you’re trying to solve. Also, be clear about the expected results and outcomes for your projects.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the COO of a government agency with the mission to preserve public housing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DBC?

We needed to create our organization's branding identity since we were a new agency founded in 2022. We wanted to create a branding and messaging consistent with our values and the aspirations of our founding residents. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DBC created our branding identity and messaging, delivering a brand book and different media types for us to use. Initially, DBC developed a framework that guided the branding project's execution for distinct pieces. We had a couple of sessions with DBC to develop our brand's voice and narrow our mission and visual identity. 

DBC then turned to the execution of a new website and information deck that could be repurposed for multiple formats. DBC also delivered a content library for social media for various needs. 

What is the team composition?

We interacted with around four teammates from DBC: Carlos (Prime Minister), Sakura (Communications Lead), Tyler (Motion Design), and Genevieve (Deputy Prime Minister of Creative Innovation).

How did you come to work with DBC?

We found DBC online in the city's Minority- and Women-Based Business Enterprises (MWBE) directory. We noticed the team had interesting work, and their projects looked relevant to the type of work we were seeking to do. We sent the team an RFP and received a strong submission, so we decided to work with them.
How much have you invested with them?

We spent under $100,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with DBC from September 2023–April 2024.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were a new agency and didn't have any followers on social media. After working with DBC, we gained 787 followers on LinkedIn. DBC delivered extremely high-quality work and helped us achieve a strong visual identity and clear messaging that captured the heart of our organization. The team was accessible, transparent, and great to work with. 

How did DBC perform from a project management standpoint?

DBC met our expectations regarding budget and deadlines. We had weekly meetings and also communicated via phone calls and emails. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed by DBC when we had our first meeting as a leadership team, where we announced our new logo. The team pulled all the stops to make that meeting successful. DBC went above and beyond, and I could tell they genuinely cared about the work. DBC delivered a special project beyond our scope of work.

Are there any areas they could improve?
I can't think of anything for DBC to improve.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I suggest trusting DBC's work process because it's thoughtful. I also recommend thinking through what you need to work with the team efficiently.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President/CEO/Owner of The Perennial Group Inc

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Perennial is an aluminum value added supplier for the Americas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire DBC to accomplish?

• Pitch Deck to potential investors

SOLUTION

How did you find DBC?

Past colleague works there.

Why did you select DBC over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from DBC were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

To take our data and put it into a professional deck designed to attract investors for a multimillion-dollar project we are undertaking. Key deliverables were:

1. a pitch deck
2. Long deck.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Two incredible decks were completed that have been well received by my potential investors

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

I provided the team a vision that I couldn't put on paper. It was certainly a challenge to take my ideas floating in space and capture them. The first deck did not accomplish my vision and I asked them to try again after sharing more of my passion and vision. This time they nailed it perfectly. The team has literally taken an idea that I could not visualize and captured it perfectly. 10/10

What was your primary form of communication with DBC?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their owners' hands on approach when I wasn't happy with the first version and their quick turnaround of the perfect second try. Truely amazing and professional.

Are there any areas for improvement or something DBC could have done differently?

The process worked and yielded an incredible product.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Director of Development of Propel America

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Propel America empowers young adults with the skills, debt-free credentials, experiences, and networks necessary to obtain a living-wage job in healthcare with opportunities for advancement.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire DBC to accomplish?

• Update Propel's one pager and pitch deck
• Publish Propel's first-ever annual report

SOLUTION

How did you find DBC?

Online Search

Why did you select DBC over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from DBC were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

DBC was tasked with updating our pitch deck presentation and organization one pager to represent our latest impact, program design, and goals, while simultaneously building presentation and one pager templates in google suite for out team to use moving forward. DBC was also tasked with designing the layout and composition of our first-ever annual report for our nonprofit.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Propel published its first-ever annual report which has been welcomed with positive reception from our existing donors and partners and been a critical piece of collateral for forming new partnerships. Our deck is so much more streamlined.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

DBC was timely in all communications and deliverables.

What was your primary form of communication with DBC?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The company values are communicated clearly and align to our commitment to educational and economic equity. Each person from the team we interacted with was aware of our work and our goals and was such a pleasure to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement or something DBC could have done differently?

Working with them was wonderful and resulted in deliverables that exceeded our expectations.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Gaia Software, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Gaia provides modern SaaS solutions for school nutrition teams to manage their operations, compliance, and focus on serving healthy, delicious meals to students.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire DBC to accomplish?

• Build a compelling brand identity that captured our culture and image

SOLUTION

How did you find DBC?

Referral

Why did you select DBC over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from DBC were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

DBC worked with us to develop our initial comprehensive branding strategy, including logo, color palette, branding assets, website, and brand messaging. Deliverables included a comprehensive brand book, a logo in all relevant formats, several different color palettes, branded templates (like PowerPoint decks), a complete website, and detailed messaging materials.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The brand the DBC helped us develop had a clear impact on several different efforts. We leveraged the brand standards, the logo, the website, and the presentation assets to launch our recruiting campaign, and the number of applicants exceeded our expectations. Feedback from candidates indicated that the professionalism and polish of the brand was a factor in their interest. 

Similarly, feedback from investors, advisors, and prospects, along with metrics around our reach from web and social media, showed that the brand was capturing the image we were looking to convey and assisted in our early launch presentations.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

DBC leveraged AgencyMax/SketchDeck to provide interactive feedback and asset delivery, which was a helpful platform to interact with. We also had a project manager who facilitated project kickoff through delivery and project completion. We particularly liked the open feedback session we had after project delivery, which was an honest, open forum on the process, the interaction, and the delivery. 

Once we got rolling into the process and had figured out how to clearly communicate the image we were going for, our culture and values, and what we liked (and didn't), delivery was very iterative and ideas, feedback, and asset iterations were passed over to us very quickly.

What was your primary form of communication with DBC?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We really loved the iterative approach and how above any limited number of iterations or anything restrictive, DBC worked hard to truly understand who we were, our culture and values, and what we were looking to convey. This took a week or two of conversations, ideation, and feedback, but proved invaluable to capturing the right brand, delivering assets that we were very pleased with, and allowing very rapid iteration delivery.

Are there any areas for improvement or something DBC could have done differently?

We were very pleased overall with DBC. Early on in the project, we didn't communicate as well as we could have and the first few ideas didn't exactly fit what we liked or were looking for. In the end though, this proved to actually be a valuable part of the process - trying different things and getting our raw feedback on them - so communicating that clearly as part of the project and building in discovery time would actually be a valuable callout.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a financial technology platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DBC?

I needed a company that could handle our branding needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DBC helped with our brand image, logo design, and messaging. They designed our color, style, and lettering. Aside from that, they developed a website for us.

What is the team composition?

I worked with three people from DBC, including an illustrator and a web designer.

How did you come to work with DBC?

I found DBC through a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

I spent around $10,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2021–April 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

People like our new branding a lot, and I was very pleased with DBC’s work.

How did DBC perform from a project management standpoint?

DBC performed well in terms of project management. They were highly professional, organized, and responsive. They delivered everything on time and within budget. They also used a project management tool to provide me with regular updates and where I could reach them if there were any revisions that needed to be done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was most impressed with DBC’s personable approach and supportiveness. They still provided me with updates and were quick to implement change requests even after the project ended.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to provide them with as much information and materials as possible so they can have a better vision of what you’re trying to achieve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Founder and CEO of MultiGenerational, a registered investment adviser.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire DBC, and what were your goals?

We had just started our business and needed to improve, update and unify our online presence and marketing materials. We needed a new logo and website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were introduced to them though Kim at Bank of America.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

They interviewed us and listened to our vision for our company. They also researched others in our space and came up with a design that fully incorporated our ideas, while also making them beautiful, consistent and cohesive. I actually got emotional when they sent me the first images, it was exactly what I wanted to represent our company, and they really listened and delivered. A second project was a short video to introduce our company, and we loved how they handled our story.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with 5 people on the branding project, and they had 8- 10 people working on the video project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

So many people have told me how much they love our website. They incorporated video and design in a way that makes the website dynamic and engaging, and it made me much more excited to share our site with people. Also, they were flexible, willing to work with the interface that our company was most comfortable with, so we are able to make updates ourselves.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They communicate well, and delivered on time. They outdid my expectations.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Carlos is a great guy, and has built a really wonderful company. I'm so happy that our branding was designed by a great Black-owned business.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I wish I could have used all of the designs they came up with for our branding. Each one had a special flavor that expressed a different aspect of our company, and it's too bad we couldn't do all of them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was Head of Corporate Development and Strategy, which included responsibility for Corporate Communications (as well as other functions). I have no internal resources dedicate to Communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire DBC, and what were your goals?

My CEO mandated a Corporate Branding re-do in conjunction with an important market update. The purpose of the update was to

1. share new data
2. set forth a new strategy
3. signify a refreshed management team and elevated corporate path forward.

For the later goal, he wanted a brand-refresh, allowing 6 weeks between his request and market update. With no personal experience in Comms or internal resources, I approach DBC for help.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

DBC founder is ex-Bain. He was recommended to me via the Bain network. After initial outreach, he responded within a few hours and I had a proposal within 48 hours. Carlos understood the need and pressure I was under, and responded appropriately.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

• New branding (while respecting some non-negotiable historical aspects)
• New fonts and scientific icons
• Slide design and simplification for public audience
• Converted a working document into the new template (in parallel to content generation and under tight timelines)
• Final work products with instructions for organizational roll-outs

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

2 -CEO and another executive

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

CEO was very pleased - which is a tough bar to meet!

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Weekly meetings, additional check-ins if needed Shared electronic drafts ahead of the meeting, allowing pre-read time Created options, with rationale for each, rather than a single product Highly responsive to "urgent" issues and version-control issues

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Speed Quality Service-orientation

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Hard to identify any, given the challenge presented to DBC and the action-oriented mindset

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Chariot Software develops software for moving companies to make it radically easier to run a successful moving business and deliver great customer experience. I am Co-Founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire DBC, and what were your goals?

After launching our company, we needed to quickly develop a logo that could convey our brand and our professionalism to prospective employees, advisors, and customers. We hired DBC with the goal of developing a logo as well as some high level style guidelines that could inform the future visual direction of our product and company brand.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I had worked with Carlos and several of his team members in a previous role at a consulting firm, and had followed the successful trajectory of DBC for several years after its launch.

As a result, I could already attest to the quality and professionalism that DBC would bring to the table. Still, we interviewed several other designers who were recommended to us to see what other services were available. At the end, it was clear that DBC was the right chose given their track record with major companies/ brands, organized processes, and reasonable pricing.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

DBC began by interviewing my co-founder and I to learn about our business, vision, and initial ideas for branding. It was clear that they were genuinely interested in understanding our company's motivations and business objectives and incorporating this into their visual design choices.

After this kickoff they started the design process. They used a software tool so that we could review design concepts and provide feedback in a single platform and were communicative and responsive throughout the process.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked directly with Carlos and several of his team members to launch the project, and then worked closely with 2-3 of their designers on the tactical elements of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're extremely happy with our logo. It reflects our initial ideas but improves upon them greatly, and we've received a number of compliments from prospective employees and advisors. The logo and style guide have also already proven useful as a starting place for designing other corporate collateral and our software itself.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We communicated regularly with DBC throughout the project, at first by email and zoom calls and then through their central project management software during the tactical design process. Their team was proactive about sharing expected timing and was prompt in replying to our questions.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I think DBC has a very unique mix of strengths. They were capable of working with large enterprises and startups alike and can handle everything from logo/ branding to events and product design. They have an excellent team and set of processes in place to make sure their customers are successful.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing in particular comes to mind. We expect to work with them again in the future.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the brand and product marketing manager at Spotify, an audio streaming platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DBC?

We needed help with rebranding and renaming one of our projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DBC initially helped us rebrand and rename our project. First, we gave them our previous name and our problems with it. After getting to know our company and our industry, the team came up with a new brand and name for our effort. DBS is now our full-time design partner.

What is the team composition?

We work with the founder of the company, who has been really instrumental to the project. Additionally, we work with a designer. 

How did you come to work with DBC?

I met the founder through a networking event.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000–$60,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in June 2020 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to DBC’s work, our audience has been much more excited about our efforts — the team really helped us drive up engagement with their creative solutions. The momentum they’ve built for us is impressive.

How did DBC perform from a project management standpoint?

We assign tasks every week and communicate every day. The DBC team is highly flexible and willing to pivot with us when we need to. Furthermore, the team has introduced us to some valuable tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DBC always goes above and beyond to fulfill our needs. They have a deep love for the music industry, so they know exactly what questions to ask to help us move forward. We’re confident that we can trust them to produce high-quality work. Overall, it’s been a strategic partnership.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on keeping track of all our projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give as much background information as you can, and then give them the space to be creative.