GA Creative

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a founding Partner in a district energy development, advisory, and technology firm. We are focused on decarbonization at campus and community scale.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GA Creative?

We are a young but motivated development company with very senior people. Our website upgrade was needed to provide a presence and credibility in the marketplace as we work to build alliances, partnerships, and clients.

SOLUTION

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

We looked for a highly capable firm with experience in similar efforts with emerging companies and one that we could trust to work with long term as we evolve and grow.

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

In this project we exchanged a lot of strategic thinking and information through the discovery phase. GA developed two very distinctly different styles for our website and positioned each so that they could grow in the future to support our efforts as we mature. Then they walked us through the options to help facilitate a decision on a path forward.

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

We worked directly with four of the GA Principals and staff including those in charge of client development, operations, strategy, and art.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In the process of developing our updated website it helped distill our thinking regarding mission and strategy. The content has made it easier to quickly communicate who we are and what we do with current and prospective partners, allies, and clients.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The GA team kept us on task and was in regular communication. The workflow was easy to manage. Their skill helped us to quickly work through decisions we needed to make to advance the effort and to go live.

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

We were thrilled with the strategic engagement and the depth to which GA went to understand us and our business. They brought unique insight into our communication efforts in the market and helped spark development of some of the additional tools we are now using to grow.

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

We couldn't have asked for more within the budget we afforded for the effort.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are the 3rd largest nonprofit health system in the country, providing health services across the board. I’m part of a team of marketing strategists. We focus exclusively on talent acquisition. Our focus is on marketing to increase the pipeline of candidates to apply for work with us.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GA Creative?

We’ve asked them to produce a variety of services, including digital, print, events, and creative work. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve been working with our team for a while to build advertisements and messaging. That work is still ongoing.

Recently, they’ve helped us with a campaign to bring talent into a competitive market in Seattle. We were focused on bringing in nurses, therapists, technologists, pharmacists, and even baristas and food service workers.

They created a year-long strategy for the campaign. This involved introducing a new media buying group, which expanded our horizons. It expanded us into streaming and advanced television and streaming audio. While the campaign launched last week, the storytelling work will continue for the rest of the year. They’re doing organic social media work, blog writing, and additional video work.

What is the team composition?

We have one main point of contact that was an account manager, but we would interact with every member of their team. On a given day, we’d interact with an additional 4-5 people depending on their role. We directly work with the media buying company as well.

How did you come to work with GA Creative?

They were hired before me, so I’m not quite sure how we found them. But, one year ago we had an in-house designer. This year, we’ve shaken up our structure to be more strategic by using GA Creative for more technical work. 

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with the company at the beginning of December 2019, and the work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They went from being a nice partner to an integral part of our team this year. We wouldn’t be able to do what we do today without the team. 

They are excellent at implementing specialized targeting for candidates, which has been especially important during COVID-19. Our partnership with GA Creative makes our lives easier by helping us move from “fill a job” metrics to a “build a career” metrics with our candidates.

How did GA Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re pretty spectacular about timelines and deadlines. The campaign launched at the end of January, and the work they’ve accomplished in a very short period of time has been amazing. 

Any problem we’ve run into hasn’t been them. GA Creative has adapted well to our internal structure and systems, and always find a way to work well with us. They know when it’s appropriate to suggest things, and they really feel like a part of our team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have much bigger clients than us, and they still give us exceptional service. They know when to speak up or not speak up. They’ll push back only when it’s appropriate or for the highest purpose of the team. They’re very diplomatic and understanding if they don’t understand something in our complicated space.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I’ve put forth that they cannot do. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them as much context and background as possible up-front. Don’t be afraid to overwhelm them because they can take it. 

They’re even involved in work that’s outside of their realm. Providing the proper context is important because it allows them to do their work better and avoid pitfalls.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former chief revenue officer of a software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GA Creative?

We hired GA Creative to gain leads from the top of our funnel. We also wanted some social media support and branding services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Typically, their team came to our office for strategy meetings and planning sessions before creating any of the work. Throughout our engagement, they helped with content creation, branding, lead generation, and other aspects of social media marketing. One project they did for us was creating a new website that focused specifically on lead generation. 

What is the team composition?

I had three primary points of contact: Karen (Principal & Client Services, GA Creative), Julie (Principal of Brand Strategy, GA Creative), and Jeff (Principal of Creative Services, GA Creative). 

How did you come to work with GA Creative?

Our company had already brought GA Creative on board when I started. I needed to fill a gap from our other marketing teammates, so I continued outsourcing our work to their team.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent at least a couple of million dollars on their services. We had them on retainer for $65,000 per quarter and they also did special added projects. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from 2016–2019. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We received outstanding feedback. Our team loved working with GA Creative, which is why our engagement continued as long as it did. 

How did GA Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

They handled our complicated projects really well, especially the website development project. When they weren’t in our office for planning sessions, we communicated through email and phone calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They brought a strong presence to the project—they were highly engaged with our business. I never felt like our work was going into a black hole when we assigned it to them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything for them to improve—I wouldn’t have spent that much money or worked with them for as long as I did if I weren’t happy with the results. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you want someone who deeply understands your business and brings creative suggestions. If you just want to outsource work, there are other companies. If you’re looking for a business partner, they’re the right choice. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior program manager at Microsoft’s Commercial Software Engineering (CSE) team. We focus on working with customers to tackle tough technical problems, both in the cloud and on the edge.

Our priority is fostering deep relationships with our clients, particularly through a community called Innovation Outreach. It’s a member group, comprised of forward-thinking leaders from Global Fortune 500 companies, that meets semi-annually. Microsoft manages these semi-annual forums. We get together to seek innovative solutions and opportunities for hands-on engagement.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GA Creative?

We were looking for a full-service agency. From naming to web design, we wanted to establish a brand—a look and feel that could accurately reflect our community. Our goal was to create connective tissue, between the two forums, to keep the attending parties involved in the community during downtime.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their scope of work included naming guidance, logo design, and even web development. They designed a framework where community members could talk about news and success stories. They created all branding elements and launched a website on a tight deadline, in time for the October forum. There was a lot of collaboration between our two teams.

What is the team composition?

My primary point of contact was a principal at GA Creative. I worked with a team of six which included copywriters, designers, and two developers.

How did you come to work with GA Creative?

GA Creative came highly recommended to me by some friends and colleagues at Microsoft. We had an initial conversation with the two principals there. They were able to immediately understand the challenge we were facing, so we knew they were the right choice for us. They were very clear about their different deliverables.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent somewhere around $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered with them in April 2019, and the project wrapped up in October of that year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s difficult to say because we haven’t received explicit feedback about what's gone well. Overall, the project was good, and we’ve been using the branding and the logos since their launch in August. The login experience for community members has been pretty seamless.

GA Creative was able to look at our needs holistically to really consider how the website can represent the community. They discussed best practices and options over the phone in a really collaborative way. I found that they’re forward-thinking and customer-focused.

I felt that we had a partnership instead of just a vendor-client relationship. They were clearly invested in our process and in creating a sense of community, so it was really a pleasure working with them.

How did GA Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

Their responsiveness was incredible, and so was their turnaround time. They were collaborative, and while we often met them in person, we interfaced regularly on the phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their focus on customer service is outstanding. They’re not just another vendor that works for Microsoft; they became our partner who truly cared about the community they were contributing to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let them lead. Let them have the space to explore colors, names, themes, and messaging. Trust their guidance, because they’ll present something amazing to you.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I manage outdoor recreation and coordinate volunteers for a state land/resource management agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GA Creative?

GA Creative developed attractive and informative interpretive panels for a unique state forest block, as well as designed a series of logos to promote the values of the forest and all of the work a community advisory committee has done to guide management of the land.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted signs that helped explain the uniqueness and significance of the land people are recreating on to begin to foster a relationship with the land and resources. I believe these panels are going to get the job started. In the future, as funding allows, I would like to use them again for more panels.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

There were a handful of vendors on state contract and GA Creative was the most responsive and really understood what we wanted out of them and the product.

Describe the project in detail.

The project included:

• An interpretive panel that will be displayed throughout the forest to explain the management goals and strategies
• An interpretive panel to show the recent industrial history and significance of a specific recreation site 
• A series of logos to use to help brand the forest and showcase the work of the advisory committee and agencies involved

I worked with an NGO representative who gathered a subcommittee to help come up with ideas for the panels. My job was mostly making sure they fit agency standards and aesthetics, as well as paying invoices. GA Creative developed a plan to complete the tasks we assigned them and stuck to it and our tight timeline.

What was the team composition?

There were two people involved on the vendor side doing the design and they were very responsive and timely.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The panels and logo were delivered to us on time in the formats we needed. The product met our goals.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was very effective and responses were timely. They were very easy to work with.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They worked within our tight timeframe and did exactly what we asked of them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The project went well and I can't think of anything I would change.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the regional coordinator for the Upper Yakima Basin, as part of an environmental nonprofit called the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust. We stretch from Seattle out to Ellensburg in central Washington and cover a million and a half acres of land where we build trails, work with communities to connect members to their natural resources.

We collaborate very closely with land management agencies like the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, and the Forest Service. In this case, we were working with the DNR. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GA Creative?

DNR acquired grant funding to do interpretive design work at a campsite in the region where we work, in the Teanaway community forest. They had funds they needed to spend specifically on installing kiosks and informational signage for forest management.

They have very limited staff, however, so while they had someone administering the grant, they didn’t have the means to engage the community in determining what narratives we needed to include in that interpretive signage process. We needed to work with the DNR to select messaging, photos, and a general branding approach for the community forest before the deadline for the grant spend down.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project involved helping us create a logo for the forest and helping with the design and production of two interpretive signs to be posted at the campsite. One of them included information about the general management of the 50 thousand-acre forest. The other sign had to do with a historic ghost town which no longer exists but used to be located at one of the campsite areas that we wanted people to be more aware of the history of human use in the forest.

We had an interpretive subgroup of community members who worked with us to nail down a bit on themes that we wanted to be communicated, general imagery that we wanted to be associated with the forest, which we shared with GA Creative.

For the logo, they sent us four mockups in terms of design, colors, and fonts; our panel looked at that and picked their favorites, made some suggestions about things they might like to change, and GA Creative turned those around very quickly. They essentially took feedback from our group and incorporated it into their designs at every step. We had three rounds of edits per project.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Sara (Principal, GA Creative) and Karen (Principal, GA Creative).

We worked primarily with Sara. She handled pretty much all of the communication. Karen worked more on the design side of things, whereas Sara handled both the design and the communication.

How did you come to work with GA Creative?

DNR had an existing contract with GA creative. They were one of a couple of vendors that DNR’s graphics department works with. We looked at that because we needed to be expedient about getting those funds spent, so we wanted to work with a vendor that already had the permission to work with DNR. We interviewed several about the project.

We were looking at a couple of firms that had existing contracts with DNR. We were restricting ourselves to those firms because of our sensitive timeline. The reason we selected GA Creative was that we preferred the style of logo samples that they sent us and the style of an interpretive panel they provided, in terms of the colors and use of fonts. We preferred that over the other vendor. We felt GA Creative’s panels and logos felt more welcoming, like a forest, and less like a corporation.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our contract started in April 2019 and we ended in June 2019. They only had about six weeks to turn all of this around.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were excited about the logo drafts they provided. As I mentioned, they gave us a couple of different styles, layouts, fonts, and color palette choices. They were very quick to implement edits and hand things back to us. In the case of the logo, we were only contracting them for three drafts but they provided the fourth one that they’d whipped up during the process. It provided a good alternative color palette that we were able to pull on, so they were great. The array made it very clear. Everybody came down very solidly on one of the designs but wanted the color palette from a different design. So, it was a clean, sharp, decision. They also provided some cool font alternatives that we got to play around with and the ones that weren’t selected, we were able to recycle into the panel designs.

The panels required a bit more back and forth because there are more moving parts. A lot of regulatory language and photo credits needed to be included, so they were somewhat restricted by what we had to have on there. They did their very best to make it work. When we weren’t 100 percent happy with the first panel design, they took it back, incorporated all of our requests, and provided us with a second draft that we were very pleased with.

How did GA Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great. They presented it all in a way that was accessible members of the interpretive panel, many of whom aren’t graphic designers; they’re community members and we wanted to get their gut responses to these drafts.

We were a little bit scattered with our panel, added to the fact that it was managed between myself and a DNR employee who oversees the grant. They did a great job of following up and reminding us where we had left things with all the other projects that we were juggling, trying to make sure that they were able to get things done in the timeline that we had given them. I have to give them credit for very gently nudging us along to make sure that we were able to finish things within the timeline we’d laid out.

We never met them in person because our team works two hours away from Seattle. We did do a shared viewing walkthrough of the initial project outline so we had one of telecommuting meeting. Other than that, it was all by phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very responsive and offered a very large packet of examples that we had pulled together for logos that we liked from other projects and panel designs that we liked from other parks. I think they did a tremendous job of reviewing that to get a feel of what we were shooting for and distilling a very vague set of directions that our interpretive subcommittee had pulled together for them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The biggest comment that we got back from our subgroup was that the use of fonts looked like it came out of a word-processor, which makes sense for a first draft. That was the only thing that made people less than pleased on the first round.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

GA Creative took the wheel on making sure that we stayed engaged the whole way. There were plenty of times during the busy spring and summer months that we got sidetracked, even though we knew we only had a limited time to do this. GA Creative kept us on task, so I can’t criticize them at all when it comes to maintaining engagement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the director of marketing for a managed services provider and systems integrator that offers world-class solutions for UC, AV, Cloud, voice systems, and networking.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GA Creative?

As a Microsoft & Cisco partner, we needed to build a new sales presentation template with the right visuals. It is for our account executives when they present to a prospective client.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed an impressive sales presentation that is easy for our account executives to use.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I worked with GA Creative in the past, so I was familiar with their quality of work.

Describe the project in detail.

We had a series of meetings with managers, subject matter experts, and our designer. GA Creative walked us through the development of the product in stages.

What was the team composition?

There were five people actively involved in the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve used the presentation templates in various client meetings and receive terrific feedback.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our team was always kept in the loop. We received frequent and comprehensive emails, along with quick meetings where our teams touched base. They were receptive to feedback when we saw some of their design examples.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

GA Creative was highly professional and organized. Their team knew exactly what we were looking for visually.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are none that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the recruiting manager at Providence St. Joseph Health, a large healthcare organization with properties in seven states.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GA Creative?

We engaged GA Creative to provide various communication materials as part of three large talent acquisition initiatives.

What were your goals for this project?

We hoped to launch a system-wide initiative for our internal transfer program.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our marketing team had worked with GA Creative in the past and was confident in their work following a vetting process to determine the scope and our budget.

Describe the project in detail.

We relied on GA Creative to align our communication efforts across various channels. This task involved producing training videos, creating new emails and flyers, and writing and designing presentations.

What was the team composition?

We worked with four people from GA Creative.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The final videos were outstanding, and we received great anecdotal feedback from our teams about the work. All deliverables were clear and able to be deployed effectively in the organization.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

GA Creative was a great vendor to work with. We communicated daily, and they always accommodated our changing deadlines. They worked hard to complete the work. Together, we maintained an effective system for project management.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were very communicative and always on time. I appreciate their flexibility and willingness to take feedback.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we had an excellent experience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the former vice president of marketing and communications for a healthcare system made up of eight hospitals and hundreds of clinics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GA Creative?

We engaged GA Creative to provide service line advertising and promotion services.

What were your goals for this project?

We hoped to increase consumer awareness of our offerings.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We initially worked with GA Creative specifically for design services. As their firm grew and developed, we moved more of our business to them until they became our agency of record for all creative services.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We relied on GA Creative to develop an advertising strategy, plan and coordinate our media efforts, and evaluate and refine our practices.

What was the team composition?

I worked with the firm's principals and various other team members.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We developed leads for a variety of service lines, and we experienced a significant increase in awareness of and preference for our system.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We worked very well together. GA Creative presented an array of solutions and approaches that could suit our project. They partnered with me and my team to polish our ideas in a very collaborative manner.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

GA Creative offers adventurous solutions and a non-pretentious partnership.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, everything ran very smoothly.