Emotive Brand

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of an investing platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

We needed help with brand strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially provided Emotive Brand with the brief we wanted to accomplish and some previous brand work from two and a half years ago. The project had different stages. First, they interviewed people inside our company. They started with 10 leadership team members and then interviewed the next level down. In total, they probably did 40–50 interviews throughout the process.

Afterward, they did workshop exercises because we had 50 different ideas and strategies. Emotive Brand led us through the workshops. They brought everyone into a room, and we brainstormed ideas. All in all, they facilitated the discussion to help us get to a conclusion.

What is the team composition?

At any given time, there were around seven people involved in the project. It changed based on the stage. We also worked with Tracy (Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer).

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

Someone we’d used at the company recommended them, so we had them on our shortlist. We sent an RFP to several firms; Emotive Brand responded along with some others. Then, we met with the team and decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent under $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2021–May 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Emotive Brand delivered the work in a PDF document that articulated a new strategy for the brand, and they were extremely effective. Ultimately, they got us through the workshop to a place where the leadership team is very aligned on how to move the brand forward. We’ve all agreed that this is the right direction.

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was excellent. They never missed a deadline despite having to coordinate so many different people. Tracy was very involved, and they prod us to ensure we hit the timetable. Communication was mostly through email; we didn’t use any management tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were fantastic. Not only did they do brand strategy, but they did corporate strategy. They had a strong understanding of people; the team was empathetic and critical, and they listened. When doing 40–50 interviews and trying to figure out a joint mission, vision, values, and purpose, it’s essential to ask good questions and listen. Also, they were able to tease out the real truth from people instead of a surface-level answer.

If you combine all of that, Emotive Brand was able to take that work and translate it into suggestions that could be transformative for our business. Often, a brand can just give you a document, but they gave us fascinating insights into the company’s core.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Maybe they could have a project management tool. It never occurred to me because they were hitting every milestone, but it could be interesting to see a tool like a dashboard to check the process at any given time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you want when you go into it. You should have an understanding of whether your company is ready or not. True brand work means you should be open to changing your business. If the outcome is significantly different than where you started, you should be willing to embrace it. If the company isn’t ready to challenge the mission, vision, and values, it’ll be a waste of time and money.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a cloud computing space company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

We wanted to redo our brand positioning and messaging because we had difficulties ensuring that users understood our product and its benefits. We also wanted to differentiate ourselves in our competitive market.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Emotive Brand did branding services for us, including our logo, brand messaging, public targeting, and our website’s colors and graphics.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 6–7 members of their team, including Tracy and Bella (Co-Founders), Jack (Senior Creative), Jamey (Strategy Director), Robert (Design Director), and Aoife (Senior Designer)

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

I was looking for design agencies with experience working with startups, and I chose them based on an article that praised the results of their work.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $300 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2021–May 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone on our team loves Emotive Brand’s work, which has improved our online platform.

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was great; they were able to put everything together and ensure that everyone was on track, including our team. They were also clear with timeliness, so we had no problems. Regarding communication, we integrated them into our Slack channel.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their experience was what distinguished them from other providers. Their designs convey the message we want to share, and that was because they did market research to compare our company to our customers. Overall, they were product-driven; they wanted to ensure that they understood the market and our differentials to create the product's story and design.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I suggest they add a public management tool where we can centralize all of our files. We did use Google Drive, but having something to manage what we need for each stage would be helpful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t underestimate the amount of work required on your side, and listen to what Tracy needs to say.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m currently the interim CMO of LiveRamp, a B2B software company based in San Francisco. When we worked with Emotive Brand, I was the chief communications officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

We used Emotive Brand to lead our overall repositioning and rebranding efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Emotive Brand worked on our repositioning strategy; they helped develop a positioning platform and a narrative to support it. Then, they created a new visual identity and design system to accompany the new positioning.

We began with a competitive analysis. We looked at our competition and did a deep dive into the messaging and positioning of our competitive set. Emotive Brand did a series of external and internal stakeholder interviews, working closely with our executive, marketing, and strategy teams. Then, they presented a series of options. We narrowed them down to a few territories, then landed on our positioning.

We followed a similar process for the visual rebranding and redesign. They did a lot of competitive benchmarking work, presented three options, and we narrowed them down to one. The team refined the design based on our feedback and presented it again.

What is the team composition?

There are about four people for the day-to-day work: a copywriter, a designer, and a strategist. Tracy (Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer) is our main point of contact; she and her partner, Bella (Co-Founder & CEO), lead the project.

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

We learned about them two and a half years ago; I think it was through a referral from a similar-sized peer in the B2B software space. We brought Emotive Brand on to do a smaller naming project for one of our products. Since we were really happy with their work, we brought them on to do this larger project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $500,000–$700,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in December 2020, and our relationship is ongoing. We’ll finish the last project within the next couple of months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re planning to launch the new brand identity at the end of February. Emotive Brand has been a strategic partner, and we’re really happy with the finished product. They’ve nailed it in terms of what we were hoping to achieve. We’re satisfied with all the main deliverables.

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. The team uses Figma, and we communicate through emails, Slack, and Zoom meetings. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re highly collaborative.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. Emotive Brand is a fantastic partner, and they deliver high-quality work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having constant communication with them has been a super successful tactic during our project. During one period, I talked to Tracy 2–3 times a week and every day on text. We’ve stayed in lockstep throughout the process, which has allowed us to pivot and review their work quickly. In turn, they’ve delivered high-quality results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO at a global consulting firm that serves public and commercial segments. We have about 12,000 employees and 50 locations around the world. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

We’re a relatively new and young company, so we needed to launch a brand. We turned to Emotive to help us develop our messaging framework.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We asked Emotive to develop our brand and messaging. They created content specific to our elevator pitch and came up with a tagline that resonates with one of our segments of industry-aligned focus areas. 

After they successfully provided us with a tagline, we extended our contract for the second body of work, which was the visual expression of our brands. Emotive produced all of our ads and creative assets and worked with us on a media strategy for the launch of the brand, which is where we started to have some challenges in the relationship. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people on regular basis but that changed as we got into the second part of the project. Read it more creative exploration and set up guardrails, the team expanded to about 6–7 people.

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

I did some research online and looked into various review sites. That’s how I came across Emotive. I saw that they were women-owned and had experience working with private equity firms, so I felt that they had a good understanding of our business model. We sent an RFP to five different agencies that had global credentials and narrowed down our choices to three, from which we selected Emotive.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about $1.5 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We entered into a contract in December 2020 and terminated the relationship in July 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve?

We terminated the partnership because Emotive was unable to meet our aggressive timelines and business pace. At that point, I was 60 days away from the launch of the brand, and we ended up missing all of our deadlines. 

We failed to get a complete messaging framework, which was the original scope of the work. We were hoping that that would be completed in the second phase of the engagement, but we ran into some resistance from their team when it came to understanding the expectations and feedback from our C-Suite. This was a deliverable-based contract, but we had no usable deliverable outside of a two-word tagline. 

How Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

We touched base weekly to review the status of the work and do intermittent reviews and prep sessions. We used this time to ready for the next round of content or recommendations from our leadership team and advisory board. 

Is there anything that you would consider a strength of the vendor?

I think that they are creative writers who bring a fresh perspective to an industry that is often associated with being stale and stodgy. That's one thing that I appreciated it about them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could benefit from agreeing and staying diligent to the agreed timeline and actually completing the deliverables that are part of the contract. Emotive could also do well to listen to their clients about the mandatories, which they did repeatedly challenge despite those being not open to change. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think Emotive is a brilliant team to work with if you want to refresh your brand and if you can commit a long time to work with them on developing the brand to their standards. However, if you are a company that is fast-paced, you might face challenges in getting them to stay on schedule and within budget. 

Company Responses

The vendor responded on November 9, 2021.

Producing good work is hard enough, but producing truly great work, transforming the trajectory of a business, a brand and a culture requires a Client/Agency relationship that is in lockstep. We enter every client engagement with the goal of producing great work, but it requires a mutual level of respect, standing side by side, supporting each other, speaking up, asking the tough questions, challenging the status quo and standing up for greatness. We're obviously disappointed that any client felt their experience working with our agency was anything less than awesome. We truly worked hard for you and in your best interest. We wish your company nothing but success and continued growth.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of Bright Therapeutics. We create applications for remote patient engagement and healthcare, focusing on behavioral health.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

We needed a coherent and cohesive brand that could reflect our evolving identity and mission and create continuity across all of our products. For this, we hired Emotive Brand. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We create a range of applications that healthcare professionals and patients could use. Our company creates value by improving the health outcomes of patients and avoiding emergency admissions. 

These applications are diagnosis-specific and could aid in eating disorder management, addiction recovery, medical dietary management, and bariatric surgery management. These go hand-in-hand with our clinician portal where professionals could log in, see up-to-date patient information, and provide data-informed care. Our company also has enterprise offerings for health plans and large health systems.

Emotive Brand was brought in to create a brand identity that reflected each individual application’s specialization while having a sense of continuity and coherence with all of the other apps in our gamut of products. They created a more unified look and feel. They also helped us rethink our messaging and position our umbrella company as therapeutic. 

The deliverable was a whole brand package that included typography, design, color schemes, and other visual and creative assets. They guided us through the ideation process to help us crystallize our company’s values and provided us with three different design concepts to choose from. We collaborated on Figma.

Emotive Brand also revamped our website, for which we provided the wireframes and draft copy. We’re currently working with a separate website designer to implement Emotive Brand’s designs. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with about five people, which included Bella (Co-Founder), Azi (Design Director), and Chris (Creative Lead). We received input from a junior designer and a strategist at some point as well. 

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

I had seen one of the websites they had designed for another company in the healthcare industry, so I tracked them down. I knew, from looking at their portfolio, that understood how to design websites that cater to multiple stakeholders and multiple products. 

Their familiarity with the healthcare space and ability to highlight diversity and inclusivity in their work gave me confidence that they were up for the job.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from April–September 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Emotive Brand created a really elegant, accessible, and professional website design for us. It reflected our desire to have people build trust around our product and experience innovation through robust applications. The team’s work communicated the clinical effectiveness and relevancy of our gamut of technologies. 

The brand work that they produced for us also received positive feedback from clinicians. Users will be able to tell that they’re using not a lone application, but an application that is part of a range of many others. 

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

We definitely felt supported from a project management standpoint. The process was transparent and very positive. Emotive Brand was always on the same page as us, and we cheered each other on through every milestone and exchanged candid feedback. 

We had weekly check-in meetings to monitor our progress and communicate updates and timelines. When there were delays, Emotive Brand informed us ahead of time. It was a fairly timely process because, at the outset, we already had a clear roadmap of steps along with an estimated time period for each of those steps. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Emotive Brand’s entire team was involved in the whole process. I didn’t see that elsewhere and it was very impressive. Being able to work with different members allowed us to carry through the design output from start to finish. They also had great workmanship; there was no asset or output of theirs that wasn’t of the highest standard.

It was also great how quickly and comprehensively they understood our business. I’ve spent 10 years building this company, but they were able to build a sophisticated knowledge of our products and our value within a couple of sessions. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

This is not a comment on how they performed, but more of a suggestion based on my ideal process. I would have liked to have seen clinician feedback integrated into the design process. It would be great if in future engagements they could build in stakeholder feedback into the project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go for it. You can definitely put your brand in the hands of Emotive Brand. They’re a team you can trust. Don't hold back when comes to sharing your passion for your business as well. Speaking candidly about your company’s value or your stakeholders perspectives provides the team with a great deal to work with when finally developing your brand. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re Zyris, a medical device manufacturer focused on the dental industry. Our devices help make procedures more clinically effective for the clinician and safer and more comfortable for the patient. 

I’m the COO. Most of the organization reports up to me, including our sales and marketing teams, our customer success organization, our product development organization, and our product assembly and production team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand? 

We brought in Emotive to help with the overall branding of a specific set of products that we’re going to be introducing into the market. The project later expanded to cover the branding of our entire company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we worked on a brand strategy piece. This required understanding what we wanted our brand focus to be and how the parent brand strategy would contribute to each of the products. The key decision here was whether we wanted to brand at the master company level or invest individually in specific product brands. Emotive Brand walked us through this dichotomy, as well as how to articulate our brand purpose to both our internal team and the external marketplace. 

Emotive Brand also helped us with naming nomenclature for our parent brand. This system details how our parent brand and our product brands all relate to one another, ensuring that the way our parent brand name, Zyris, connects to our product names is consistently understandable. Additionally, this helps with trademark exploration when we name new products. 

So far, we’ve had a good, thoughtful exploration of how all the pieces of our company relate to each other, how all the names connect, and how our customers see our products and parent brand. The marketing takes place at the brand level, and we haven’t reached the brand roll-out aspect of the project yet. The next phase of the project will get into visual identity, logo creation, packaging and website design, and other tasks of that nature. We’re scheduling out this work right now. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve primarily worked with Giovanna (Director of Strategy), Kyla (Director of Operations), a copywriter, and two of Emotive’s founders. Kyla is our project manager. 

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand? 

We went through a fairly detailed exploration and selection process. I searched my network of folks who’d worked with different branding companies and put together a list of 13 recommended companies to reach out to. A CEO of another company had worked with one of Emotive’s team members before. 

Four companies, including Emotive, made the short list, and we executed a fairly deep due diligence process. The companies ranged from large, multi-hundred-million-dollar companies to more mid-sized outfits like Emotive. 

We presented our business challenges to all four options and asked them to provide us with both their approach and reference work. Emotive moved into the top two quite quickly, and though we’d worked with the other company before on marketing campaigns, we felt that Emotive brought more experience and a better approach to brand strategy. 

Their leadership in the area was also attractive. We asked for both companies to bring a strong point of view about how the work should be done because we wanted our vendor to be very experience in dealing with a broad set of brands. The reference work was equal between the two, and Emotive was the most costly, but their experience and approach put them over the top. 

How much have you invested with them?

Between all of the different phases to date, we’ve spent just shy of $200,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since November 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the main aspects we’re looking at is our timeliness and hitting the milestones on time, as we have a desired date for the launch, as well as product launches tied to the completion of this work. They’ve hit all the milestones to date, plus or minus a day or so. 

A secondary measure of success is our own team’s quality, clarity, and understanding of what Emotive is proposing. In each of our review sessions, we’re very happy qualitatively with what they produce. Additionally, when we suggest changes, they iterate on the deliverables quickly. 

Finally, we’ve evaluated feedback from potential customers, showing them the proposed master brand and naming nomenclature. The testers’ ratings have been very positive. Emotive Brand is in the 9–10 out of 10 range. Subsequent projects with Emotive will be measured differently, as the work will be more linked to sales and metrics of that nature. 

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication is very effective, and they excel at setting expectations and following up. The project manager is also excellent. We haven’t had any issues staying on schedule. 

Slack and email serve as our communication channels, and we have formally scheduled status meetings to ensure we understand where we are, where we’re going next, whether we’re on track, and what, if anything, needs to be changed. Based on my experience, having worked on a lot of projects, Emotive Brand has top-tier project management. 

Slack and email have sufficed for project management, but as we move into production-type work, we’ll most likely transition into a more formal tool. We have used Nero, however, as an online whiteboard to spur collaboration. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Emotive’s level of strategic thinking stands out. It’s clear that they understand our business and that this understanding inspires their brand ideas. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was one minor misunderstanding about which aspect of a certain product we were focusing on. Perhaps this could have been avoided by double-checking with us on the focus of our product. This was a minor occurrence, and it didn’t have a major impact. It’s a real stretch to call this an area of improvement. 

I wish they were a bit less expensive as well, but everyone wants that. They’re definitely worth the cost of their services. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to them. If you’re hiring a company like Emotive, then let them lead and be the experts in branding that they are. A lot of clients will want to tell their branding vendor what to do, but that’s not the right approach to take with a company like Emotive. Follow their strengths. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing for AppDirect, a subscription commerce platform that helps telecommunication companies, software companies, manufacturers, and more transform their business models into a subscription model.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

We had an idea of what our brand stood for, but we needed help honing in on what our brand proposition and internal positioning were. Then they helped us translate our internal positioning for our external story and message.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Emotive Brand started the engagement by conducting a series of interviews with our customers,  potential prospects, company executives, and others in the industry. With that information, they created a set of insights that described how we were perceived in the market and how we saw ourselves as a company.

From there, we began to craft our brand story, who we were as a company, what we stood for, and what our messaging was. They delivered a set of PowerPoint presentations and documents that outlined our brand for the specific audiences we were targeting.

What is the team composition?

We worked closely with Tracy (Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer), she was the primary strategist and lead on the project. Then we worked with Sage (Strategist), another strategist, and Kyla (Director of Operations). 

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

I don’t remember exactly how I came across them, but I researched top agencies, reached out to people in my network for recommendations and looked at some articles online. We talked to some larger agencies, where it felt like we would be one of many, many clients and we wouldn’t get the attention we were looking for.

One of the reasons we chose Emotive Brand was because they were a smaller agency and we began working with Tracy and the rest of the team from the get-go. In that way, they were very compelling because they clearly thought about what we needed and what they could deliver for us.  

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2019–March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Internally, our team was very excited about their work and how well they articulated who we were as a company. We’ve begun to work the new messaging into campaigns and have included it in a boilerplate on our website, press releases, and in other content. Overall, the executive team is extremely pleased with the work they did. I would definitely work with them again.

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was excellent. They provided a very detailed schedule and pushed us to keep that schedule, which was very good. They worked closely with our administrators to make sure they were engaged in the process and available to meet when necessary.

We met in-person and on Google Hangouts, but the frequency fluctuated. During the research phase, we met with them on almost a daily basis, but as the project progressed, we only needed to meet with them once a week. Then as we finalized the messaging, we started meeting with them daily again.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had key insights into our customers and how they thought about us. We had been thinking about our traditional persona, but they helped us create a psychographic profile of the people we were targeting. Traditionally, our buyer personas were based on demographics. For example, we wanted to reach the head of product for a particular company. Instead, Emotive Brand encouraged us to target the characteristics of the people who were trying to drive transformation within their business.

By focusing on what those individuals would value, we were able to explain the benefit of our product clearly. We were able to build a full marketing program around that to focus on their needs.   

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any suggestions. They were great to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them unfettered access to employees and executives at your company as well as customers and potential prospects. The more information they have, the better they will understand who you are and the audience you serve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a B2B stat startup located in Silicon Valley. We make financial planning software for tech companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

In starting the company, it was important for us to understand strategically where to go to market. Thus, we needed an agency to help us with our brand positioning.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The brand platform was one of their offerings, which is the first step when it comes to brand positioning. It was a three-month-long exercise and they started with research and interviews. They interviewed external stakeholders and our internal team.

After that, they delivered insights and conducted a positioning territories workshop. Based on our workshops, they put together our brand platform as well as our different brand voices and a narrative guide. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with two senior strategists during the project. I also collaborated with a project manager who helped us schedule and kept the project on task. 

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

I asked for my neighbor's referral because she works with different brand agencies. She referred me to two companies and when I interviewed Emotive Brand, I felt that they were a better fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership ran from September–November 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measured Emotive Brand's performance through our roadmap. They delivered everything in a timely manner. Since we only requested a few edits from their deliverables, it was a confirmation that we really liked their work. 

We haven't rolled out their outputs yet since we're in the middle of testing it. However, since we appreciated the messaging and positioning they crafted, we are going to hire them again for our visual needs.  

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was perfect because they had a roadmap.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very good listeners and excellent writers. Both of those things ensured a top-notch product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, we didn’t know what they were doing or what the next step would be. I wish there was a little more description of their future plans and an explanation for its purpose.

Additionally, the other thing that would've been beneficial was meeting the senior strategist before starting the project. It would've ensured good chemistry and a seamless relationship with their team. We're actually going to do that with our visual project—we're meeting their designer first before proceeding with the new project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

In the beginning, a little understanding of what each deliverable does could set expectations straight. Furthermore, companies should book them early because they are really a good shop and are booked through next year. In our case, our visual project has been delayed because we didn't really plan it ahead.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a startup that’s been in business for about 10 months. I’m the COO and CFO of the company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

We engaged them for branding about six months into starting the company. Our business is a technology development company that builds tools for software and app developers. We wanted to find a way to position ourselves in the market and speak to our uniqueness as a service provider.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us define our brand, including our messaging, narrative, and language. We had different ideas for the general look and feel of the company, but our in-house team didn’t have branding or marketing experience. We thought that our internal team may be too close and familiar with our technology to reach companies outside of our perceived target market. They helped us think about our services more broadly while bringing an outsider’s perspective to the table. 

The project was split into two phases. During the first, we discussed our narrative and brand positioning statements. We left visual identity and specific copywriting to a later stage. They gave us a brand platform framework that worked through our services, how we deliver them, and our mission. That yielded statements that would position us in the market and communicate our brand in a single, concise idea.  

What is the team composition?

We worked with about four people, including two primary contributors, a project manager, and a partner at the firm. 

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

My co-founder was referred to them by someone he knows. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $125,000 on their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from June–August 2020.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We still haven’t launched their work, so there isn’t anything measurable yet. However, we were impressed with their work and process. We continue to get feedback from our customers and have been happy with their contributions. 

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They had a dedicated project manager and provided us with a clear timeline with milestones attached. It’s difficult to manage a creative project like this because determining conclusion points is a challenge. They understood that we were a young business and did a great job of marshaling the project along. For communication, we had a shared Slack channel and Google Drive folder as well as routine conference calls.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a small firm that has individuals with large agency experience.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing jumps out at me. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Put in the time and energy necessary to go through the brand journey with them. They went on a significant journey to learn about our company and determine what would be best for our messaging and stakeholders. We could have been more involved with them through that process because we didn’t have the benefit of learning with them through their process.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director of a software company. We offer three different products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

We wanted to define our brand and differentiate ourselves from the market. We’d been around for a while, but we didn’t have a clear brand framework to work with.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a kickoff meeting in the beginning, with everyone involved. Emotive Brand talked to our co-founders and asked them questions about the values and mission of the company. They got a lot of important information that was used in the deliverables. 

Emotive Brand ran a competitive audit and helped us define our personas, brand mission, positioning, and pillars. They looked at emotional impact and some implications around opportunities. Also, our messaging was worked on, but there was no design involved.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three strategists from Emotive Brand, including their chief strategist, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

I found them through Clutch. We considered a few other agencies, but Emotive Brand stood out through the work they’d done for other technology companies, and their proposal looked a lot more comprehensive.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Emotive Brand between May–September 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re still implementing their work, so I can’t talk about its impact. We’ll be looking at conversion rates and brand awareness in the long term, but overall I was satisfied with their work.

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

Their chief strategist was heavily involved in the beginning strategy phases and gave us a lot of useful branding insights. We had a dedicated project manager and we were always in communication with her. 

They gave us a statement of work, in the beginning, laying out what was to be delivered and at what time. Everything was clear and they followed through. Emotive Brand also gave us some business strategy recommendations outside of the scope, which we found useful as well.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their insights and level of experience were quite outstanding, especially for a startup technology company.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We would’ve appreciated their chief strategist’s input toward the end as well.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The kickoff meeting is a very important meeting to have, and clients should come prepared.