DeSantis Breindel

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m the Global Head, Marketing Strategy for SGK, a brand experience company that simplifies marketing and amplifies brands for global, multinational and regional companies worldwide. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel? 

The marketplace and our business was transforming faster than our brand. We needed to redefine the SGK brand in a way that helped us elevate the conversation in the marketplace, differentiate us from a growing list of competitors and remain true to our reason for being.

While we are fully capable of doing this work ourselves, we wanted to make sure that we weren’t just talking to ourselves. We wanted to be challenged by another authority—an independent, external source. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

We had a razor-sharp focus on developing the brand strategy and really wanted the agency’s perspective on this aspect. To be successful, the rebrand had to resonate in a fast-changing marketplace and with our employees. We wanted to stretch. But not past the point of credibility. We couldn’t leave our employees behind. The agency’s work included a competitive audit, brand review, external interviews, internal employee interviews and internal workshops with our own brand and marketing experts worldwide.

DeSantis Breindel challenged us during the workshops they facilitated and pushed us to confront legacy thinking when it occasionally reared its musty head. While we ended up refining parts of the strategy to ensure the rebrand was a delicate balance between who we are today and who we aspire to be, their expertise and their independent perspective was invaluable to us.  

What was the team composition? 

At the time, we worked with Howard Breindel (Co-CEO), and a multi-functional team that included strategic, creative, account and project management leads. 

What is the status of this engagement? 

The rebrand was completed in late 2020—during the global pandemic—which made the timing of the brand “re-set,” fortuitous. We have since engaged the agency on additional projects because we value their perspective. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While there is evidence on the Commercial side of our business—which I can’t share—I can tell you that equally important, the rebrand has inspired our employees worldwide and mobilized them around our new value prop and positioning and is helping to accelerate the transformation of our business.  

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management perspective? 

They held our feet to the fire in the best way possible. Relentless accountability. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

Their ability to challenge “groupthink” effectively when it occurred and always push for the right idea, the right word, the right nuance—no matter where it came from. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

I truly can’t think of any. We faced a very complex brand challenge—which is always an emotional one internally—and they got it. They often had strong opinions but they were egoless about voicing them and respecting the journey that we the client needed to take internally. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

If you want the very best of their thinking, if you have a complex brand challenge, business, or product, do your homework by briefing them intelligently but succinctly. The more thought you put into this upfront, the more value you’ll gain downstream. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a professional marketing and branding consultant. I was hired by a fully integrated real estate investment, development, and management firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

DeSantis Breindel was hired to develop a brand story and visual identity that:

• Reflects the current stature of the end client
• Differentiates the end client authentically from its competitive peer group
• Engages investors, tenants, partners, and recruits

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

The first phase was to identify the Agency Partner and finalize project RFP. The process included:

• Defining a select group of branding agencies with appropriate credentials who would best align with assignment
• Personally meeting with each agency team to discuss RFP, research and branding goals, agency process, timeline, and budget parameters and unanticipated costs
• Managing a capabilities matchup with a first round of Agency Selects
• Partnering with Davis team to assess proposals and determine final selections
• Collaborating with each of the agencies on work-in-progress up to and including final presentation
• Reviewing final selections with the end client's team and participating in the determination of final agency partner

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

1. Research - Kick-off with an in-depth team meeting to ensure alignment on the full project plan with all deliverables, needs, and deadlines.
2. Brand Experience - Review current brand experience and how brand communication to its audiences -Review current business strategy, marketing plans, and audience insights
3. Competitor audit - Research competitive peer set and aspirational brands/companies
4. One-on-One Interviews - Conduct internal interviews with senior leadership management team and external clients/stakeholders to uncover insights and brand perceptions
5. Brand Workshops/Strategy/Messaging Development - Meet with the end client's team business segments to understand internal stakeholders' perspectives and gain alignment through a series of brand-messaging-focused activities, conduct findings and positioning territory workshops to unlock brand authenticity, and present findings including brand implications and recommendations for naming strategy with brand differentiation, brand positioning, brand essence, brand personality and pillars with mission, vision, and values and audience messaging matrix
6. Visual identity development - Logo development and full design language with color palette recommendations for graphic elements, imagery/iconography style, and typography
7. Brand guidelines

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

I interfaced directly with the agency's Co-CEO/Partner and the firm's key brand development team including the Managing Director, Creative Director, Head of Strategy, and Senior Strategy Director.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As promised, the presentation of the new brand was perfectly timed to launch at the company's recent annual investor meeting. DB realized my client's vision—resulting in an authentic brand depiction that captures the spirit of the company. The feedback from the stakeholders was enthusiastic and confirmed that the new brand direction was authentic and aligned with the company's core values and mission.

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

DeSantis Breindel was thoroughly professional at all times, collegial, and determined to see the project through its timely completion, meeting every project benchmark. I do have to add here—branding projects are serious endeavors—intellectual pursuits that have the ability to accelerate a company's growth and revenue.

In consideration of the import of the project, working with the DB agency team was stimulating and enjoyable, bringing out the best from all participating members.

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

The participation of De Santis Breindel's lead team, including the Co-CEO, was most impressive. It is not often that all of the agency's key team players are in the trenches with the client at every meeting.

In addition, the Co-CEO's would communicate in multiple weekly one-on-one calls with myself and company principals. This amount of attention and care to the project is refreshing and unusual. In sum, they care!

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

I wish there were a way to shorten the process. But in order to arrive at brand authenticity, there are no shortcuts. The involvement of the principals in the process will guarantee success.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of communications for a lobbying and law firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We were working on a full rebrand of our firm, so we worked with DeSantis Breindel for their branding and web design services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the start of the project, they did a discovery session leading up to the branding work, and met with some of our clients and leadership to do background research. They then went through the whole branding process including messaging, brand pillars, and brand personalities with us to create a new logo and overall feel.

After that, we built a completely new website from scratch with another developer, while DeSantis Breindel provided us with extensive web design — they walked us through the wireframes, as well as an evaluation of our old site. We really wanted them to minimize the content and simplify the layout because it was really crowded, so they cut down on our word count and migrated some of the content over from our previous website.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Debbie (Co-CEO), Austyn (Creative Director), Jess (UX Director), Jessica (Former Senior Strategy Director), and Mariano (Associate Design Director).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2019–September 2021, but we still have them on for consultancy.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We did an advertising campaign and saw a 40% increase in traffic to the new site when we launched it. One of the biggest takeaways from the partnership was they streamlined our process, so it’s simpler to implement the designs from a marketing standpoint.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management skills got us through the project so it was fantastic. We mostly communicated through email and had weekly Zoom calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with their understanding of our industry, business, and competitors. Despite our field being risk-aversed, they were still able to get us to a place where we needed to be in 2021.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When the initial branding work was finished, they went away for a while. Maybe there could’ve been a little more connection between the initial group that did our branding and the group that implemented the designs, because we still had some questions about the strategy.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to get Debbie as your project manager because she was great.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing for a renewable energy business called Gibraltar. We have a number of high-growth platforms such as agtech, home improvement in the residential space, and renewable energy. The business that I work directly for — we have four that we’re integrating into one — we build and deploy solar racking and electrical balance of systems as well as projects optimization software for solar energy fields in North America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We were integrating four businesses into one because it would be inefficient to go to market with four separate brands. As a result, we brought DeSantis Breindel to help us shape our brand strategy, name, and logo. On top of that, we wanted them to help us establish our visual identity system and message development system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the start of our project, we gave DeSantis Breindel an overview of our business strategy, which included where we were as a business and where we wanted to go. We also shared how we envisioned ourselves reaching our goals. They asked about our value proposition and positioning statement, too. Along with that, we gave them a list of our biggest competitors, and they took all of the information we gave them in order to research and understand our overall market.

The team came back to us with key insights and findings on what differentiates us from other companies, including the assessment of our competitive landscape. They also told us what was the available space for our company. Collectively, we decided where we should go, which prompted them to give us some core ideas for our brand. In the end, we selected one from everything they presented. The team then further developed that one idea into a real brand strategy, which included our mission, narrative, colors, and personality traits.

Once we established the brand strategy, we moved into name selection. They conducted an assessment of our current names, and they checked if those names would fit our brand strategy. They also conducted name generation and shortlisted the names they collected. Following that, they developed our visual identity system so that we could build our iconography, templates, and more.

We also engaged them to do product naming strategy where they looked at our product portfolio and checked how we could build a naming structure. As part of that, they established a decision-making tree that aligned and supported our new branding. DeSantis Breindel is now helping us figure out how we could bring everything to life — we’re currently 99% done with the project.

What is the team composition?

We mostly collaborate with their account and project manager because they’re in charge of scheduling and logistics — making sure that things keep running. We also regularly interact with five people from the strategy and messaging side as well as the creative and design side.

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

DeSantis Breindel worked for our company before and was doing a very similar exercise for our agtech business and our overall brand. Our CMO had already selected their company so I just inherited them. The team was hired because of their strategic thinking capability and the high-quality work they were able to put out. 

They also had a knack for guiding stakeholders with differing views and needs as well as personal opinions through an emotional process like branding. I saw their work and was very pleased with what I saw, too.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2020, and we continue to collaborate.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we haven’t launched our brand to market yet, I can’t share any metrics or any performance impact. However, the business stakeholders that have been with us on our branding journey have given positive feedback on the team’s work. We wouldn’t have been able to get the quality of work that we have without DeSantis Breindel — they’re truly a safe pair of hands that will take a business through the right process.

Those business stakeholders were skeptical at first — about investing a lot of time and energy into undergoing a brand strategy process. Despite that, they were able to understand why we had to do the things that we did.

On top of that, they thought that DeSantis Breindel really led us to a good place by making the partnership so thoughtful and strategic. Given that our business stakeholders took immense pride in their brand, they were impressed that the team was able to back up their branding work with market customer team driven insights.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management process may be the one area that could use a little improvement. Since we have multiple brand projects with their company, it’s hard to keep track of everything that’s going on. DeSantis Breindel needs to keep a clear eye on everything that’s going on. On the communication side, we keep in touch through email and video calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team’s strategic thinking skills are impressive; we like the depth of knowledge they have about branding. We also appreciate how quickly they can understand a business and apply their expertise to it.

They effectively answer challenging questions from stakeholders and help us get to a place none of us have envisioned. More importantly, they create something that our whole team can be proud of — they really make a difference to our business.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you have everything that they need in order to perform their best — you’ll be thrilled with their work. Above all, make sure you’re ready because it’ll be a great process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of digital marketing for HALO. We’re a global leader in branded merchandise, uniform programs, and recognition and incentive solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We originally worked with DeSantis for a rebranding effort. Then, our company also needed to redo our website, and they served as our partner in this project. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we hired DeSantis to work on our rebranding campaign, which covered our go-to-market messaging and the look and feel of our brand. Essentially, their team helped us bring our new brand to life. Our team strategized with them through research and meetings until our collaboration evolved. 

While I wasn’t in charge of the rebranding process, I worked with them on the design and some of the content for our new website. Their third-party partner Happy Cog worked on the website’s development, while they focused on its design and part of its content.

To ensure that we executed the process properly, we had plenty of strategic sessions, conversations, and interviews. We worked closely with DeSantis resources on a regular basis through weekly calls. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with many of their resources, but we had 1–2 primary points of contact. During our weekly calls, we usually interfaced with 5–10 people. 

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

DeSantis selection for this project occurred during the rebranding phase. What made us go with them was their focus on strategy. They also seemed to be a good fit for a strong partnership instead of working simply as a vendor. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $230,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

This project lasted from January–August 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website has only recently launched, but we’ve seen an increase in leads and inquiries coming from it. Anecdotally, DeSantis helped us transform a completely outdated website on all fronts — from its messaging to its look and feel — into a website that aligned with our new brand and our go-to-market strategy.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a pretty aggressive timeline, but DeSantis did a great job at communicating. They kept us on track for the launch date and clearly communicated deadlines and requirements. If delays occurred for some reason, the team also relayed clearly how those could impact our timelines. To communicate, we mainly used emails. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

DeSantis was research-driven; they did a lot of research in their strategies, and the team developed strong insights and recommendations based on their thorough research.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was some redundancy in their strategy, and it would’ve been better if more of our resources were allocated to the actual development of the website.

For context, a bulk of our budget was spent on strategic planning and messaging, which at times felt a bit redundant given our previous projects with them. Because of that, there weren’t as many hours spent on actual development as we would have liked.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to have a walkthrough and understand the exact scope and breakdown of the project. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner of a private equity firm that controls a defense company, and I’m also on the board of directors. In this company, we make training products for the military and law enforcement.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

This company was a carve-out from a larger public company when we bought it, so it shared its name with it. As part of our efforts to transform this company into an independent entity, we needed to change its name and branding, which was the assignment for which we hired DeSantis Breindel.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DeSantis Breindel was in charge of the whole rebranding process of this company. First and foremost, they helped us find a new name, and they then created all of the branding collateral that went with it, including a logo. Additionally, they helped us design other assets such as trade-show booths and a website.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 5–6 people from DeSantis Breindel.

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

I had known a partner of them for a while, so we invited them to bid on the project. In total, we invited 4–5 companies to bid on the project, and DeSantis Breindel had the best presentation.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on this project from July–September 2020. Currently, we’re working with them on another portfolio company.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were extremely satisfied with DeSantis Breindel’s work product, as well as with the whole process from start to finish. We also saw that the employee base was extremely excited about the new brand and name. The employees had the chance to be part of the branding exercise, which meant a lot for them.

As the company’s new owners, this new branding allowed us to tell its story in the way we wanted. The new name and branding have resonated very well, and we feel proud of the work done.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

DeSantis Breindel’s project management was really good, and we had a very consistent engagement throughout the process. They were over-communicative in a good way, and we didn’t feel like they disappeared for moments.

They also took our feedback really well and changed some of their thoughts based on it. It was a nice iterative process and a seamless experience all the way through.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DeSantis Breindel excelled at two aspects. Firstly, their professionalism was impressive, demonstrating seamless communication and a great structure in their organization. Secondly, they came across as extremely buttoned-up, which was very important for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having a clear scope and constant communication are the most important tenets of getting the best work product from a firm like DeSantis Breindel.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The PhD Project is a nonprofit organization that encourages Africans, Hispanics, and Native Americans to get PhDs in business to create business professors who can then be role models and mentors for underrepresented students.

I’m the director of advancement within the project, so I oversee anything that has to do with funding coming in from the corporate sponsors, universities, and individual supporters.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

Our organization had been around for 26–27 years, and we felt that people still weren’t understanding what we were doing and why we were doing it. We figured out that we needed a brand refreshment, so we engaged with DeSantis Breindel on a rebranding project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, DeSantis Breindel conducted a series of interviews with some of our stakeholders and the leadership of our team. Then, they had a workshop with a lot of our sponsors, members, and constituents to try to better understand what the issues were and how they saw us as an organization.

After that, DeSantis Breindel developed a branding platform, and they shared with us the basic direction that they were heading into. Within a very quick period of time, they turned everything around.

They created a new logo for us and provided us with a whole new branding platform, including new branding and positioning statements, essence lines, and the language that we should use to better tell our story. They also gave us a lot of feedback on our different audiences.

What is the team composition?

We worked most closely with Shannon (Director & Program Management) and Seth (Strategy). Shannon was the project coordinator.

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

They were recommended to us by one of our sponsors who had used them for rebranding a couple of years back. We went to them and got a proposal, and we compared it against one of the firms that we were using for some other work.

We were very impressed with the examples that DeSantis Breindel gave us, the way that their proposal was structured, and, in general, their approach. We thought that they would probably give us a different perspective, which they definitely did.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $25,000. However, they gave us a substantial discount because they had worked closely with our sponsor, and they had engaged them for a lot of work — much more than what we were asking them to do. They told us that the work they did for us typically would have been more expensive, but they took the fact that we were a small nonprofit organization into consideration.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around January 2021, and they presented their findings at our sponsor meeting in May 2021. We worked together for another 1–2 weeks because they were giving us branding guidelines and tying things up.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Not only my team was very pleased with DeSantis Breindel’s work and blown away by the direction that we were taking, but also our board of directors, sponsors, and other providers were positively surprised as well — we all thought it was great, and everyone was happy with the result.

We were all very impressed with the sophistication of the branding and the way everything was presented. Even though it seemed that what we were doing was very simple, they were able to change the direction of it a lot. Everything was really creative, and it was tied up and done with the highest professionalism.

We don’t have any metrics of their work yet, but we hope that we can measure the visibility and the understanding that our branding will bring us a year from now.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

We exchanged emails to some extent, and we also had weekly calls with DeSantis Breindel once they got rolling with the project. During those calls, they provided us with updates on what they were doing and asked us questions to get some feedback. None of this engagement was done in person, so we used Zoom for our calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DeSantis Breindel was great to work with. They were wonderful people, and they were really excited and onboard about our mission, which was great. They were also very flexible. We didn’t have a lot of money to spend, and they took that into consideration.

They gave us more than what they promised because, once they got involved in it, they strongly engaged with our members, our mission, and what we were all about. We felt that we were working very closely to an extension of our team, which was really great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything that DeSantis Breindel needed to improve on. We were really happy with everything, and they did a good job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As with any other organization, the more you can get organized and share with them upfront, the better the results will be. They asked us questions, but what we shared with them and the input of what we were trying to achieve was really important as well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for Verisk Financial. We’re a vertical of our parent company, Verisk. We’re made of seven business units serving clients in the financial services industry, ranging from banks to bankruptcy unions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We had an outdated and unusable website. Our objective with DeSantis was to build a modern and interactive platform that enabled users to contact us. We essentially needed a one-stop-shop for information regarding two of our businesses. We also had a longer-term goal of unifying the websites when we moved on from one of our sub-brands, so the websites needed to have those capabilities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DeSantis built the entirety of the websites, which involved writing the code, developing the architecture, and creating the designs. They also worked on messaging for a few pages such as the overview pages. In addition to building out the platforms, their team integrated marketing automation and tracking products into them. From start to finish, they managed and executed the websites.

What is the team composition?

Probably 6–7 people from DeSantis worked on this project, including a project manager. A couple of their team members worked on the architecture. Their creative director and a couple of other design resources worked on the project too. They also worked with a partner on the web development side of the project. 

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

I initially found them online and worked with them on branding and messaging assets. As their team was familiar with the business and I was familiar with their work, it seemed like a good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

On the two websites, we spent a little over $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The initial discussions began in January 2020, and the project ended around October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The websites are extremely quick. They’re user-friendly, and their architecture was built well. We’re able to offer gated content for users to download and collect information. Those features weren’t previously possible. We can also have omnichannel campaigns that wouldn’t be possible without their work. We really couldn’t be happier.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

I had a standing call with them every Tuesday, so we were always in communication. DeSantis kept us on track and ensured that we provided their team with what they needed from us. If they ever missed a timeline, it was usually my fault because I was late on something. Throughout the engagement, their communication was good. DeSantis had internal shifts but were always transparent about them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was most impressed with their flexibility. Although this project involved many different stakeholders and opinions, their team stuck with us and didn’t become frustrated. Rather, they adjusted as we needed them to. DeSantis worked with us even though it was internally difficult to flesh out all of the visual elements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they did exactly what we wanted them to do and beyond.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work with them because it’s a partnership. They can’t produce anything that hits home unless you participate in the project with them.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on October, 23 2019.

Pat Barrett

Marketing & Communications Manager, Verisk Financial

IT Services

501-1000 Employees

White Plains, New York

$50,000 to $199,999

Feb. 2019 - Ongoing

Project summary: 

DeSantis Breindel led branding and content creation efforts for a financial services company integrating six distinct companies into one. They conducted customer interviews and competitive analysis.

Feedback summary: 

The internal team is impressed with the deliverables, particularly the high-quality graphic design solutions. Very few edits and modifications needed to be made because of their strong understanding of their partner’s needs. Despite the fast-paced project, communication was seamless.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a company called Verisk Financial as the marketing and communication manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We’d recently rebranded our organization under a new parent company. This would unite six different businesses into a single company with a common look and feel. We didn’t have unified messaging, so we needed a partner to help us with this effort.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the time, we had the logos and basic design elements created. They helped align our team further, getting everyone on the same page and helping us think through our audience and vision. From there, they led us through a competitive analysis. That included customer interviews that provided insight into what clients were expecting us to highlight in our messaging. Much of what our clients told us was different from our internal opinions. We learned a lot from having both perspectives and truthful answers. 

It was tough bringing together six individual businesses because each had its own distinctive elements. They picked out parts from each business and meshed them together in their work. That way, no one lost their identity, but everyone gained something new. 

DeSantis Breindel helped us with our value propositions and rebrand from there. Their work touched every part of our business, including all of our design language. Even our PowerPoint templates were adjusted to align with the rebranding effort they created for us. 

We’re coming close to the end of the project now. The final assets were just finalized. After this project is over, we’re jumping right into a website redesign effort with them.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with about ten of their teammates, including our project manager, Laura (Project Manager, DeSantis Breindel). In the first stage of the project, we met with two brand strategists that ran the branding workshop. They also did all the customer interviews. From there, we collaborated with a few writers for the messaging creation, brand strategy platform, and building our personality. In the final phase, we worked with their design team.

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

I found them through a Google search. We had a few interviews with potential agency partners, but we were limited by our budget. DeSantis Breindel was willing to work with us, creating a proposal that listed priority levels and corresponding prices. That made it easy for us to loop in our senior leadership and get the budget approved.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a total of about $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this project in February 2019, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work has been high-quality and well-received by everybody. Our team is impressed by it. Some of the messaging we hashed out internally, but our internal stakeholders and CEO are satisfied. Their graphic design work was such a good fit for us that it only went through one draft before it launched.

There weren’t too many edits on anything because their deliverables were typically in tip-top shape. Each time they met or ran a workshop with us, they were prepared. That definitely showed in the final output. 

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

Laura handled the project wonderfully. It seemed like I was constantly contacting her, but she was always on top of everything. There were many moving parts to the project. However, they never missed a beat. They were on every status call and submitted consistent status reports. In fact, I’ve received a status report every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. for the past year.

The report they send us functions as an evolving project plan, containing updates and upcoming deadlines for both of our teams. We’ve only experienced a few delays, and they were on our end.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The professional solution was delivered with a distinctly personal touch. I’ve gotten to know them all very well through our work together. It’s been a partnership more than a client-vendor relationship. That’s why we’ve been reaching out to them for various other projects. Our work is always mutual and collaborative.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were surprised by a few quotes for add-ons. There was a bit of work they did outside the determined scope, and their price points for those one-off tasks were pretty high. Other than that, I have absolutely nothing bad to say about their service.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Approach them like a part of your team, because branding projects should be a very collaborative process. You can’t count on them to disappear for six months and return to you with a perfect output. There should be someone on your end in the trenches with them editing, reworking, and collaborating with them consistently. It’s a real partnership throughout the whole process.

Star Ratings:

Overall rating: 5

Quality: 5

Schedule: 5

Cost: 5

Willing to refer: 5

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of corporate marketing for a technology and services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We recently merged with another company and needed to redefine our brand positioning. We also needed to tell the story of how we came together while differentiating ourselves in the market.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started by conducting research. They sent surveys to the customers and prospects of both organizations that had merged together. They did executive-level interviews with our internal leaders, as well as with our clients’ executive leaders and decision-makers. Then they did competitive research and general market research on our industry to determine where we stood within the market.

From that, they did a really extensive analysis and presented their results to our executive and leadership team. They also presented their recommendations on a couple of different architecture models and brand positioning options that we could pursue.

After that, they conducted a two-day on-site workshop with our leadership teams from both organizations. They brought us together to walk through those results and what the options were. In doing so, they facilitated a cross-functional discussion to get us on the same page regarding our brand architecture and messaging.

Then they wrote our specific messaging to support our brand architecture. They developed a brand platform that outlined everything from our personality traits to key taglines.

What is the team composition?

Our main points of contact were Seth (Strategy) and Kiley (Strategy). Seth was the lead strategist and he did a lot of the content writing, and Kylie was fantastic. I think there were a few other people writing copy and conducting research as well.

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

We researched companies that had experience working with B2B companies that had gone through mergers and acquisitions. Based on their experience, we felt like it was a really good fit. Then we put them through a proposal process with other agencies and they came out as our top pick.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from August 2019–October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They provided a framework for interacting with one another and communicating with customers.

Before this, we had difficulty communicating how our two organizations worked together and what value we brought to customers. But with DeSantis Breindel’s help, we finally had clarity within our organization.

Their work laid the foundation for understanding how we make decisions, how we show up with customers, how we create product roadmaps, and how we talk about ourselves. It helped us align on what our purpose is and how we can communicate that. Even now, our team still references it when talking about how they should engage customers.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

They were absolutely fantastic. They took feedback well and adjusted to our work style. There were a lot of people involved in the project, but they coordinated everything effectively. They’re probably the most accommodating and flexible agency I’ve ever worked with. They felt like partners throughout the engagement.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were able to take a lot of data and information, analyze it, and create a concise description of how we could move our company forward. They came up with a solution that wasn’t just strategic, but was also very creative. Now we’re able to communicate our story to customers in an engaging and interesting way.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing — they were fantastic.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The relationship goes both ways, so your team needs to be ready to engage with them. In order to have the best outcome, all of your stakeholders need to be prepared to provide expert insight into your organization

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of a financial services company. We’re a private professional services firm within the financial capital markets area, specifically financial risk management.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

Our first need was a full rebrand. While we’re a roughly 30-year-old company, when we started this process we had never had a full brand definition or exploration. This led to our second need which was a complete redevelopment of our digital presence and strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DeSantis Breindel handled our branding, web design, and digital strategy efforts. While this was a rebrand, we didn’t change our name. However, we did fully brand ourselves with messaging, voice, personality attributes, and so on. They built our new website, implementing our new branding guidelines.

What is the team composition?

The core team was roughly six people. It included a project manager, lead strategist, creative lead, creative designer, and copywriter. For the digital project, the team included about 20 people comprising a project manager, creative director, UI/UX designer, and developers.

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

I talked to people within my network and looked at various branding agencies. We kept an eye out for those who had digital experience because we knew that’d extend in.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $500,000–$600,000 for the branding work and $500,000–$600,000 for the digital work.

What is the status of this engagement?

Including both projects, the engagement was from September 2018–August 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The impact of the branding project was excellent. We’ve had higher quality, consistency, and production speed because we’ve had a defined brand and consistent output. We’ve received an overall greater speed to adoption from our clients, influencers, and internal stakeholders. They’ve commented on the greater professionalism, look and feel, and consistency of our marketing tone.

We launched the brand refresh in June 2019. In the following year, we acquired another company. Our brand took a high-profile and then smoothed the brand transition; that’s because we had such a well-defined brand.

For the digital side, the primary driver is around structure and flexibility. We’ve raised the speed and search index in both paid and organic. We’ve increased our search engine rankings because of the structure and performance of the site. What's more, we’ve flexibly met new business needs with coding because of the structure of the site. Additionally, our organization has seen a huge increase in conversion from our site.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

They were strong in project management, especially in our branding project. They had some changes in personnel and their project management is being rebuilt. Overall, I have a positive view of their project management. They need to potentially look at making sure they staff up with the same kind of quality.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They brought their breadth of experience but still dug deep to understand what we needed to do and the unique items that encompass our company. Their team did a nice job of balancing this deep experience and didn’t try to force us into any trendy or traditional path. I appreciate their counsel and professionalism. Branding-wise — this is where they shine. They excelled in making sure we had a thoughtful, flexible, and longstanding presence.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As they work with other agencies, I encourage them to make sure they have clear communications and tighter management. As turnover happens, make sure that communication with clients is clear.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you meet your project team ahead of time. Be on the same page for understanding expectations for communications and project management.