Division of Labor

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder/CEO of Mad Dandy

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a new mushroom coffee start up.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Division of Labor to accomplish?

• Brand launch
• Logo and packaging design
• Brand voice and social media messaging plan

SOLUTION

How did you find Division of Labor?

Referral

Why did you select Division of Labor over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Division of Labor were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Mad Dandy is a San Francisco-based startup. Division of Labor is our advertising agency and they helped up build and launch our brand from the ground up. They designed our logo and packaging and built our brand voice and messaging plan. Division of Labor handled our social media and video creation along with all our event signage and out of home. For a startup like us, it’s been great working with these folks. Can’t say enough good things about their creativity and strategic thinking.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Sales, response to branding and deaign, social media hits, likes and follows, website hits and reviews.

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

Easy to work with, great brainstorming, lots of alternatives, very effective brand identity.  Even their admin was a pleasure to work with.

What was your primary form of communication with Division of Labor?

Virtual Meeting

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

Unique creative culture, hilarious ideas, projects were delivered timely as promised.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Division of Labor could have done differently?

None, overall, working with them has been a fantastic experience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Jewish School Leadership Enterprise

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a nonprofit organization looking to increase the pipeline with qualified candidates for leaderships in Jewish Day Schools across North America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Division of Labor to accomplish?

• To create a multi-platform, multi media campaign to reach candidates interested in Leadership in Jewish Day Schools and have them submit a form through our website.

SOLUTION

How did you find Division of Labor?

Referral

Why did you select Division of Labor over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Division of Labor were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

JSLE wants to recruit a new generation of Jewish leaders for Jewish day schools across the country. They tasked Division of Labor with creating a recruitment campaign in order to increase the number of potential candidates for these jobs. Agency will provide Creative Development, Campaign Development, Project Planning, Concept Vetting, Production, Media Planning, Buying and Reporting as outlined below. 

●  JSLE CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT 

○  1: KICKOFF 
○  2: CREATIVE IDEATION 
○  3: CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT ROUND ONE 
○  4: MEDIA PLAN ROUND ONE 
○  5: STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT OF JSLE CANDIDATE USER JOURNEY 
○  6: CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT ROUND TWO 
○  7: MEDIA PLAN ROUND TWO 
○  8: PRODUCTION 
○  9: MEDIA BUYING AND PLACEMENT 
○  10: CAMPAIGN LAUNCH 
○  11: MEDIA REPORTING/OPTIMIZATION 
○  12: YEAR TWO PLANNING 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT 

○  1: OVERALL 
○  2: TIMELINES 
○  3: ASSETS & DOCUMENTATION 
○  4: PROJECT SCOPE 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Over the three months of the marketing campaign, we experienced over 2000 unique visits to our website, 150 submissions of interested candidates for JSLE programs, and generally enthusiastic responses to the campaign's messaging from our diverse broad community.

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

All deliverables were executed professionally and in a timely manner. Their greatest strength was their flexibility to change both timelines and approaches in order to maximize the success of the overall project.

What was your primary form of communication with Division of Labor?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The thoughtful balance between delivering on what we needed as clients, bringing their expertise and creativity to the project, and timely responsiveness to questions and concerns throughout the process. We've always felt as if our project is their top priority. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Division of Labor could have done differently?

None really.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Executive Director of Marin Foster Care Association

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide comprehensive resources that inspire and empower the foster care community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Division of Labor to accomplish?

• Spread awareness of foster care in Marin
• Encourage people to sign up to become foster parents
• Donations

SOLUTION

How did you find Division of Labor?

• Referral

Why did you select Division of Labor over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fits our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Division of Labor were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The project included coming up with an ad campaign strategy, messaging and design for the entire campaign. The deliverables included three short commercials, social media images, bus ads and print articles/ad for magazines.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• The amount of people who have signed up for the foster care orientations/meetings to learn more is a huge measurable success. The number of website visitors we've had during the campaign is a huge jump from the other half of the year when we aren't doing a campaign. The buzz around our county about foster care in general is evident and is helping us get our mission out there more.

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

Division of Labor was super attentive to our needs and always got back to us with a clear and concise answer. They were always on time with their deliverables.

What was your primary form of communication with Division of Labor?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting

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

We LOVE their creativity and the way they can come up with campaigns that really grab someone's attention. They use few words to get the message across. I also love how they really pushed us to do TV ads and once we agreed, we saw the huge benefit.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Division of Labor could have done differently?

We love working with them and admire how their minds think and work!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Content Lead on the Marketing team at Stytch, an API startup and all-in-one authentication platform for developers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Division of Labor?

We hired Division of Labor to help us launch a massive OOH (out of home) campaign / takeover of SF this past spring '22. We hired them to develop the campaign idea, copy for 400+ ad units, manage production and shipping of the units to our media partners.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We did research and RFP'd 3-4 different possible vendors, including Division of Labor. We selected DoL because of their creativity, experience working on billboard campaigns in the tech space in SF, their flexibility, enthusiasm, scrappiness and passion for getting into the details in terms of trafficking the ad units/coordinating creative to units. We knew they'd get it done, and do a great job. Also, they had experience partnering with Brex (and our contact there) on billboard buys.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

• Creative ideation and concepting
• Copy development (headlines)
• billboard layouts/design
• project management
• trafficking ad units
• hands on production of "one off" post-it note bus shelter units (custom development of thousands of handwritten post it notes as part of a "kill the password" concept for bus stop shelters).

What was the team composition?

• Creative Director: Josh 
• Account Lead: Rebecca
• Art Director: Faruk
• Designer: Vassil 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The campaign was a great success. Lots of viral response, socially. Led to new leads. Led to elevation of the Stytch brand and greater awareness amongst startup and tech community.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective, we worked quickly and well together.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The creativity and commitment to the project were impressive. How much they went above and beyond (or did exactly what it took to get to great), and their attention to details (e.g. note again, the thousands of handwritten postit notes). Link for more: https://www.divisionoflabor.com/san-francisco-advertising-marketing-age…

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

We had a great experience with Division of Labor. It is a great team!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of Communications the California College Guidance Initiative, which manages the State of California's official college and career planning platform, CaliforniaColleges.edu. CaliforniaColleges.edu empowers students by providing them with a one-stop shop for all the tools they need to set goals for life after high school and make plans to achieve them. The platform also serves as the foundation of the state’s new Cradle-to-Career System tools.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Division of Labor?

We hired Division of Labor to develop video, static, and moving content for our future social media ad campaigns. They developed a total of ten video, ten Instagram story, ten carousel, and ten animated social ads.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched online and compared various vendors who create content for social media. Division of Labor's unique take on messaging and design really pulled us in to choose them over others.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The process begins with a Creative Brief to inform the basics of the project. We then went through 1-2 rounds of brainstorming and fleshing out details of needs. Then, DoL began development on the concept. After the concept document was delivered, we went through around 3-4 rounds of reviews and edits. After the initial deliverables were provided, we went through 2-3 more editing/review sessions. DoL then began production, and we went through another 2-3 rounds of reviews. After the reviews and final feedback, DoL provided us with the finished product via Google Drive.

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

We worked with the Founder (Josh), the lead account manager (Rebecca), the creative director (Faruk), and around 3-4 other creative staff that were pulled into the work (mainly Ruby and Ruby).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were very patient with our rounds of edits and feedback and pushed back where they had expertise. Because of the many nuances of the platform we're trying to promote, they were very responsive and understanding to the various aspects and needs from our end, while still pushing for the type of creative vision they were hired for. It was overall a pleasant experience on our end.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. It worked best when we were able to provide our feedback directly on a slide deck with the content, so we could be specific.

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

They were kind and real with us about their feedback and thoughts, and respectful of the feedback we provided them. We appreciate the additional ideas they presented apart from the social content and went beyond to provide us with creative ideas to push out the platform for our future social campaigns.

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

I think providing us with Google Slides for feedback made it easier to give comments specific to certain content. I think also going over the details of the production needs earlier on in the process would have been helpful, especially in presenting their initial vision, just to give the client a sense of what that would entail.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

15Five combines engagement, performance, and OKR solutions on one platform, enabling HR leaders to drive meaningful business impact and create highly engaged, high-performing organizations. Our easy-to-use software, education, coaching, and community provides HR leaders with the tools and holistic support needed to create better managers and thriving employees. I am the Chief Marketing Officer at 15Five.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Division of Labor, and what were your goals?

We hired Division of Labor to help us develop and execute a national campaign to elevate our brand awareness and establish ourselves as a distinctive leader in our market. We wanted a story that was engaging and authentic to our target audience, inspired positive brand associations, name recognition, and interest in our products & services.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended by word of mouth.

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

We have worked on a couple of campaigns with them. They led us through a brand discovery process to hone in on our core attributes, understand our target buyer, and develop narrative concepts that were simple and striking. They then developed the creative concepts and design, and produced the final assets for digital advertising and OOH campaigns (including billboards and radio/podcast scripts). They also handled media buying for us

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

We worked with 3-4 people on their team, spanning creative directing, account leadership, creative design & production, and media buying. We always feel that we are working directly with senior folks on the team, rather than having to go through various layers of more junior folks who execute the work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saw an increase in organic traffic to our website from the regions were our OOH and digital advertising were targeted. We received a high volume of positive qualitative feedback on the campaign itself from our target audience, including on social media.

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

Division of Labor were flexible in meeting tight deadlines when needed, and flexing to meet our project management style needs. They were responsive and collaborative across a variety of channels (meetings, Slack, email, etc).

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

Their ability to come up with creative, distinctive, compelling narratives and designs.

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

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work in the office of communications for a public university for health, science, education, research, and patient care. We have a series of hospitals and a school and research division. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Division of Labor?

We had a fleet of shuttle busses that drove across the city, and they were an opportunity for us to advertise ourselves. They were also the least targeted channel that we could use for ads since everybody could see them in the city. That way, we could make our university more accessible; this project was an opportunity for us to engage people at a different level than we normally did. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We asked Division of Labor to come up with a creative concept, along with its execution, that could help us advertise on the shuttle busses, shuttle stops, outdoor flagpoles, and banners. Our team provided as much documentation as we could. 

Since we were a complex enterprise, we conducted a couple of brainstorming sessions with them. They also talked to some people within the organization, although this wasn’t an extensive effort. Apart from the creative concept, they also sourced images for our campaign, negotiating rights for the photos we used.

For the actual concept, they started with a rough idea based on our brief, which articulated how we wanted to attract attention and incorporate our messaging into the campaigns. Once we had an agreement over the idea, we started selecting topics and messages that we wanted to highlight. We then polished those topics into the final creative concept. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with an account director for our day-to-day collaborations. Our team also worked with a copywriter and another person who focused on art direction.

How did you come to work with Division of Labor?

We found them online. As a public university, we had our official RFP process. We reached out to four agencies, and Division of Labor had the strongest ideas and pricing. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $85,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from January–July 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Division of Labor was more cost-efficient than other providers. We also did a market test prior to launching the creative, and the concept scored highly on that test. On a scale of 1–10, the creative concept reached 8–9, making it stand out from others. 

Going forward, we’ll have a final assessment of the ad’s effectiveness after a year since the shuttle busses stay for one year. This campaign has a long shelf life, so we won’t know anything definitive until that time. 

How did Division of Labor perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was great. We had a lot of stakeholders and departments to manage, but the Division of Labor team was truly patient with us. Moreover, our team needed to get feedback from large groups of people. At the same time, we needed to protect the creative idea and ensure it didn’t get watered down with too much feedback. Division of Labor was great at striking a balance between these efforts. 

Meanwhile, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we mainly communicated through Zoom. At one point, we had a weekly Zoom catchup meeting. We also exchanged emails while the account supervisor kept a record of how things were going. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Division of Labor’s creative ideas were great, and working with their team was truly easy since they were a small agency. While the project went beyond our targeted time frame, the team was highly flexible in working with us. Their resources were highly accommodating in terms of changes and adjustments. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We could’ve had a more in-depth discussion about production and delivery. In the early stages of the project, our teams were focused on the creative concept since it had to come first. However, we could’ve done more in terms of clarifying the details of the concept’s production. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know your success metrics, and help Division of Labor understand those things clearly. 

For context, our team did have discussions about those metrics, but we weren’t as clear as we could have been. If we were, we could’ve come up with a stronger campaign than what we’d done on our side. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Marketing & Communications Manager at KQED. KQED is a nonprofit, community-funded, public media station serving Northern California. KQED provides public radio, television, podcasts, and independent reporting on issues that matter to the Bay Area. We're the NPR and PBS member station for Northern California.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Division of Labor, and what were your goals?

KQED is celebrating the Grand Opening of their new headquarters and the launch of KQED Live with a Marketing and Engagement Campaign in Summer/Fall 2021. The goal of both is to create brand awareness, sell tickets to our new performing arts venue, redefine public media in the Bay Area to make it more inclusive, participatory and community-oriented with broad appeal to both our existing audiences and attract a new, younger audience. Division of Labor was asked to provide the following services in support of the campaign: strategic oversight, media planning and buying, creative concepting, account/project management, digital production and video/print/ooh production consultation.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

To help launch a bold advertising campaign, KQED sent out RFPs to 19 agencies, received 10 formal proposals, and met with 4. We chose Division of Labor, an award-winning, local agency. They’re known for invigorating brands with bold designs, out-of-the-box engagement campaigns, and humor. Our goal was to increase audiences ages 25 - 44 and DoL was the agency to deliver!

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

Division of Labor met with key stakeholders and worked with our team to provide strategic oversight, media planning, and buying, creative concepting, account/project management, digital production and video/print/ooh production consultation. They went above and beyond to create an impactful and humorous campaign on the following platforms... OOH (digital kiosks, bus shelters, BART, Street Banners), KQED website homepage promos, Print (Direct Mail campaign and SF Chronicle Ads), and Digital (Cable and KQED TV ads, social media ads (IG and FB), digital display ads, and OTT).

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

4...Founder, Account Director, Media Director, Creative Director

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Each platform launch has resulted in a significant spike in traffic to our website on the day it launched (direct mail, street banners, KQED platforms, digital display ads, social media ads (FB and IG), cable TV ads, BART, bus shelters and digital kiosks, e-newsletters, and print ads). Our click-thru rates for display ads are high and people are engaged and buying tickets. The amount of engagement via likes on our social pages from paid ads is much higher than average and is targeted at a new audience.

Comparing the week before direct mail was sent out to the week that the direct mail was mailed, we saw a 77.8% increase of website traffic to KQED.org/live from San Francisco (the direct mail brochure was sent to homes within a 2-mile radius of the new building). Our campaign is comprehensive and is visible all over SF and online to our new audiences. We have done a great job with saturation while staying within our budget. People are intrigued and our new brand awareness is happening amongst existing and new audiences.

There is a buzz about town and we are driving new visitors to our website and to KQED Live. The click-thru rate we are getting on our ads is high because people are curious about our simple, engaging and intriguing ads. Our social team has never seen audiences interacting and liking our ads and posts as much as they have been with this campaign because people are intrigued by the messaging. The direct mail piece to the neighborhood caused an almost 80% increase in web traffic.

Many of those people are also seeing our street banners and bus shelters in their neighborhood and seeing our commercials on TV. This reinforcement helps drive people to our site. KQED staff are engaged and are posting selfie‘s in front of our OOH campaign in the wild. They are spreading the word and people that are seeing our campaign are coming to our website and buying tickets.

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

Their Account Director did an excellent job staying in constant communication with me and responded promptly. She was very responsive, organized, detailed, and connected all the dots. She kept us on the agreed-upon timeline, made sure we met our deadlines and made sure we didn't go over budget. The Founder was very responsive and provided us with out-of-the-box ideas and concepts. He also did an amazing job directing our commercials and video content. The Account Director and I were in contact weekly and had team check-ins at important milestone moments. Our brainstorming sessions were key, and Division of Labor took feedback and direction very well while keeping the integrity of their vision. We used email, Slack and text. They created presentation decks for us and updated them as needed.

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

Division of Labor goes above and beyond! They have passion, integrity, they look out for their client's best interests, they go the extra mile, they deliver results. They were able to take our feedback and spin it into gold! We hired them to help us create a campaign that was different than anything we have done before and attract new audiences - they accomplished that. They know how to make a big splash, get people's attention, intrigue audiences, and make people laugh. It was an amazing experience working with them and I am very proud of the campaign we launched. I am very grateful to Division of Labor and appreciate their hard work and dedication.

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

Division of Labor did an outstanding job!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former contract marketing project manager of a museum. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Division of Labor?

At that time, the museum felt there was a bit of a lack of recognition of the museum. It was a year after an expanded building had opened and we still weren’t seeing the type of foot traffic and ticket sales we were hoping for. We wanted to make sure we were able to sustain and then build from the first year.

Division of Labor’s charge was to connect the museum and the new building to other iconic places in San Francisco, given that the city is such a big tourist destination. We knew from traveler research that people don’t just do one thing when they come to visit. We were keen on this idea of pairing things people could do at our museum with other things people could do throughout the city.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Division of Labor did media placement and marketing strategy as well as handled the design and execution of everything. Their team plugged in one of their partners to help with research. That included plugging into visitor surveys. We also provided web results and looked at some of the more popular artwork. We used creative license to pair with a per-year sculpture. We wanted to be diverse in the types of artworks we showed by the medium.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a majority of their team including Josh (Founder, Creative Director, & Copywriter), Laura (Finance Manager & Accounting Genius), and Faruk (Creative Director & Art Director). There were at least 4–6 people.

How did you come to work with Division of Labor?

I wasn't involved during that time. I got brought on as the project manager on contract once Division of Labor was hired.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was from May–October 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We did some testing and the data showed that one in five people who saw the advertisements were influenced to visit the museum. People’s awareness improved after they saw the ads. For example, we tested in June 2017 and had 54% of potential visitors know what the museum stood for. Since it’s an acronym, we wondered if it needed to be spelled out more clearly.

However, during the campaign, we saw that 86% of travelers to San Francisco who saw that campaign knew and understood what the acronyms stood for. We saw that as a major improvement.

How did Division of Labor perform from a project management standpoint?

They did an excellent job with project management. Their team was incredibly detailed. Laura was detail-oriented, proactive, and responsive. Division of Labor really gave us the tools to help get the stakeholder buy-in that we needed. They helped us use customized presentations or otherwise helped move the process along.

What’s very challenging in the museum setting is that we’re often dealing with either living artists or those who are deceased and have estates that manage their copyrights and artwork. We had to gain permission from not only the license holders but sometimes the artists of the estate.

It was a bit laborious to gain all of the approvals, and Division of Labor was able to quickly adapt. They gave us the tools in order to help us present the information easily and clearly to those other stakeholders in and outside of the museum.

Laura had a spreadsheet where she tracked things. We typically communicated through email and had a weekly phone call meeting. We’d have additional meetings in person as needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First of all, they’re very lovely people. The Division of Labor team members are kind, excited, and good at what they do. They like to bring creative solutions to the table. Secondly, but just as important, is their output. It’s clean, thought-out, and often funny; it stands out. At every opportunity, I make sure to recommend Division of Labor because they’re a great organization that produces excellent content and advertising materials.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about your objectives and take their creative input to heart. They’re experts in their field and should be respected and listened to because of that.