Illuminator

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the founder and CEO of a managed IT services provider. We provide IT services to other companies. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Illuminator?
I hired Illuminator to do a refresh of our brand identity. It wasn’t a complete redo of the brand, but we wanted to freshen up some elements, such as our mission statement and mantra. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?
We initially met with the Illuminator team, and they gave me some flat-rate pricing options depending on how much work we wanted them to do. I chose the option with the brand refresh service alongside a few other assets. We had a few meetings, and then they got to work.
What is the team composition?
We worked with two teammates from Illuminator, including John (Founder & Executive Creative Director).
How did you come to work with Illuminator?
I worked with John many years ago. He did some work for our company but for an entirely different brand identity. I’d always wanted to work with them again but hadn’t had the opportunity. When this project came up, I reached out to see if he was interested in doing it.
 
The reason I wanted to work with them was because they’d worked for famous brands. They brought something to the table that other firms didn’t. The team had a certain cleverness and an evolved sense of design unique to big hitters.
How much have you invested with them?
We invested around $26,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The project occurred in October 2023. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
My team and I liked the refreshed brand a lot. Interestingly, the firm that did the original branding liked the refreshed elements, too. They said that it was a good evolution of the identity. Overall, Illuminator delivered a world-class service.
 
They captured the essence of the brand that existed in our hearts; they even made it a little better — we had a good brand and a beautiful brand identity to begin with, but we always had trouble matching how we felt about the brand and how we communicated that with prospects and customers. The team bridged that gap; the small and subtle details from them made the biggest difference.
How did Illuminator perform from a project management standpoint?
John and his teammate both had a good impact on the engagement. They met our deadlines and budget and delivered exactly at the price they quoted. In fact, the project was completed faster than I expected. To communicate, we mainly used Zoom meetings.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They took the time and had the intellect to understand our brand. In my experience, it was difficult for creatives to leave things alone. However, Illuminator left many things alone and didn’t feel they had to change everything. They took what was great about our brand and made subtle changes, which was uncommonly courageous for creatives. They did what was best for the brand.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, there weren’t any.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Listen to Illuminator and let them come up with their own ideas. They’re experienced and creative, so they can come up with things that you wouldn’t even be able to lead them to — don’t limit them. There’s a lot they bring to the table. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former creative director of Yelp, a site for people to leave reviews on any business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Illuminator?

We were launching our first branded campaign.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Illuminator developed two branded campaigns for us. We started with the strategy and positioning and collaborated with the team to build a brief. At the time, most people knew us for restaurant reviews, and we wanted to focus the campaigns on the breadth of our offering beyond that, such as reviews for auto mechanic companies and golfing facilities. They took our existing strategy as a baseline and blew it out to make the storyline more diverse, developing a tone of voice for the campaigns. 

They focused both campaigns on video content, and Illuminator built them from the ground up. They wrote all the scripts for TV commercials and handled content and art direction. They also built out our campaign pitches for our internal team. After they were approved, they helped us find a video production service provider. The Illuminator team carried the process through postproduction. 

From an innovation standpoint, we hadn’t delved into social media, and they focused their approach on being mobile-first. During the production process, they thought through what material we wanted for social media to ensure videos were shot within a certain frame so we could later convert them to other formats. For this approach, they also researched what was popular on social media. For example, Instagram stories had just launched at the time, so they added elements in the postproduction process that linked to the kind of stories they saw on Instagram. 

The first campaign focused most on TV commercials and YouTube, while the second campaign was more focused on TV and Instagram. Additionally, they helped us create material for the radio.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with John (Founder & Executive Creative Director), a producer, and a strategy lead. 

How did you come to work with Illuminator?

A creative friend referred them to me, and I later realized that John and I had previously worked at the same agency. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April 2015–August 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Illuminator’s work was impeccable. The TV campaigns ran for a couple of years, and we published videos on YouTube for the first campaign and Instagram for the second. Even though we had huge awareness in certain parts of the US, we wanted to drive that and broaden it, so we ran the campaigns in key markets. Our goal was to increase our brand awareness in the Bay Area. In the first campaign, we drove a 34% increase in awareness year-over-year (YoY), which benefitted us and solidified our brand in people’s minds.

We had spent a ton of money on our brand line with another provider, and Illuminator was able to ground us in that line while evolving the strategy to become about our diverse offerings. They ensured we were thinking about the stories we were telling and the vignettes we captured. The team also encouraged us to be bolder and more attention-grabbing; they created an irreverent, comedic, and fun tone of voice that matched our DNA.

Moreover, they did all this efficiently to ensure we didn’t exceed the budget. Other agencies go back and forth because they’re in the business of getting more hours. Meanwhile, Illuminator was about efficiency. While they wanted to get the right ideas, they didn’t let that process run long. They didn’t get caught up in death by a thousand paper cuts — they were fast but good. 

The team was strategically and creatively smart and had innovative ideas. Their work was grounded in our goals and driving value for our business, and the results spoke for themselves.

How did Illuminator perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed great from a project management standpoint. They were efficient, so they met the deadlines and were even ahead of our timelines in some ways. Although we had a time crunch for the first campaign, they stayed on track and were super clear. 

Additionally, they communicated clearly and gave us a direct line to key decision-makers. We mostly communicated through email, phone, and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Illuminator was not only focused on good ideas; they strived to create them efficiently. They didn’t take months to produce work like some big agencies. Although the team was scrappy and nimble, their craft, production, and level of thinking were akin to those of big agencies — they were small but mighty. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive feedback for them; we were happy with their work, and they took care of every detail. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to come in with a clear objective, trust them, and give them space to explore and deliver creatively. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of Alen, an air purifier company. We make one of the best air purifiers in the market because we have a physics-based design. Air purification is about moving as much air as possible in the quietest fashion, so our product is a bit larger than an average, cheap air purifier. Many radio stations, schools, and boardrooms around the country use our air purifiers because they’re extraordinarily quiet.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Illuminator?

Our challenge was setting our differentiator in the market and how we could tell that story to gain additional sales. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Chinese air purifiers have come into the market, so we had to find a space and message for our potential customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We engaged with Illuminator to redefine our brand and create a new campaign for us. They recommended using BlueOcean, a brand tracker. We wanted to get a baseline on how our brand was performing in the market, and BlueOcean could compare our brand to 5–6 competitors. We chose a breadth of competitors across the market, and the information we gained from BlueOcean informed us of what direction of creative messaging we should take.

Initially, we had rudimentary brand guidelines, but Illuminator redefined them. They interviewed me, the CEO, and our creative and sales teams to have a full breadth of the different types of customers. One of the key things they did was create stickers to show that Alen was purifying a place. Then, they worked on the messaging; they presented 4–5 different options. From there, we did a couple of rounds of revisions. Illuminator found a way to emotionally convey the physics of air purification to the consumer.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Phil (Head of Strategy), John (Founder & Executive Creative Director), a couple of creative people, and an account leader and project manager.

How did you come to work with Illuminator?

They were recommended to us. We interviewed many creative agencies, but they were all in Texas. We were looking for somebody who had done national and international brand work, but we didn’t have the budget for a big company.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $150,000 and got a third of the work done. The total bill was going to be about $330,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking around January and finally engaged around March 2021. Unfortunately, we had to end our partnership in August 2021 due to some supply chain issues on our side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They helped us optimize our Amazon pages, and we saw a significant improvement in our Amazon sales. 

How did Illuminator perform from a project management standpoint?

They ensured that all the milestones were met on time. Communication was transparent; they kept us up to date on everything that was happening, so there were no surprises. They also embraced and incorporated our ideas; there wasn’t a lot of pushback from them. Illuminator listened to our point of view, and we came to a happy middle ground. All in all, working with them was great.

We used email and Google Sheets to manage the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their creative ideas and speed distinguished them; they were able to deliver quickly. They also had a traditional creative structure with a copywriter and a designer, so they were able to present diverse ideas instead of one idea with different treatments to it. Once they presented all the options, we digested them and put a couple of things together in the end.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them all the information they need upfront so they can write a creative brief. Just give them all the brand information and let them do their job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior VP of sales and marketing at Meyer Corporation, one of the largest cookware manufacturers in the world, representing many portfolio brands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Illuminator?

As mentioned, we have a portfolio of brands, so two and a half years ago, we began a process of solidifying their unique brand identities, for which we sought external help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Illuminator has helped us craft new identities for our core brands, as well as activate those brands on their new positioning and identity. They’ve been leading the entire process, creating all the deliverables required for solid brand identities. These deliverables have included brand guidelines, logos, color schemes, packaging designs, social media content for Facebook and Instagram, TV ads, creative assets, marketing strategies, benefit hierarchies, positioning statements, and more.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with four key people from Illuminator, including John (Founder & Executive Creative Director).

How did you come to work with Illuminator?

Our relationship with Illuminator dates back to 2013, which predates me, so I don’t know how the relationship started. At the time, the agency was known as Evolution Bureau. I’ve been in Meyer for around two and a half years, and I’ve been working very closely with Illuminator all this time.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the last couple of years, we’ve invested an average of $600,000–$700,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our relationship in 2013, and it is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Illuminator has been an amazing partner, and we’ve seen fantastic results from the brands we’ve worked on with them. For example, we launched an extremely effective and successful television campaign for one of our brands. Additionally, one of our direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites’ revenue has increased by almost 36% year to date. Moreover, the other sites in which Illuminator has also been involved have achieved a revenue increase of around 50% year after year.

How did Illuminator perform from a project management standpoint?

Illuminator offers outstanding communication skills and great project management. For example, we shot a full-production television commercial during COVID-19 in London, and they delivered it on time and on budget. Additionally, the quality was impeccable, and they paid attention to every detail.

Overall, Illuminator is very responsive and cost-effective. They truly understand our corporate culture and work well within it. Moreover, they’re very respectful of our culture, and they act as true partners in our business. We use Asana for project management internally, and we communicate with Illuminator via Zoom and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Illuminator’s level of communication, partnership, and project management are outstanding, and they’re a very collaborative agency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as transparent and collaborative as you can because Illuminator is a very trusted partner.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a former executive for a retail chain.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Illuminator?

We wanted to build brand awareness, modernize our media strategy, and reinforce our brand positioning.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Illuminator was responsible for ideating and developing our overall media strategy and brand positioning. After briefing the team on our goals and objectives, they interviewed stakeholders and gathered customer and competitor insights. Then, they analyzed our market and media landscape and utilized the findings to create concepts. After they built concepts, we shared our feedback, and the team went back and refined their ideas to ensure they aligned with our requirements.

Ultimately, they delivered several seasonal multi-channel campaigns, including TV time slots and digital and print advertisements. The team orchestrated social media campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for the digital marketing portion. They were also responsible for developing our PR concepts, and they advised us on how to bring campaigns to life. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with 5–8 team members from Illuminator. 

How did you come to work with Illuminator?

Illuminator had a great reputation, and when they participated in our RFP process, they had the best creative ideas and the most collaborative approach. After evaluating our budget, we felt Illuminator could deliver what we needed within our desired spend and moved forward. 

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked with Illuminator from March 2019–April 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Illuminator executed great quality work; we achieved all our internal goals. A prominent publication actually wrote an article about our campaign, outlining the smart strategy that Illuminator developed. They increased our brand awareness and delivered everything we set out to do.

How did Illuminator perform from a project management standpoint?

Illuminator managed the project efficiently; they met deadlines and worked within our budget. We used Zoom and email to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Illuminator combined their deep understanding of business strategy with world-class creative ideas that delivered effective results. They respected our budget and were genuinely collaborative partners with no ego.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing Illuminator could improve on. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Instead of handing them a brief and asking them for a strategy, I advise educating the Illuminator team on your business and industry. Ensure they fully understand your goals and their context so they can help you solve multi-dimensional problems.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a video game platform where we utilize cryptocurrency to power completely free games through a speculative metagame.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Illuminator?

The crypto space has some less than authentic companies in the space, so we worked with Illuminator to build an organic brand and marketing plan. This would give us legs and set us up for good growth later on.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The specific deliverables for the project included a new website, social media graphics, and a number of other properties. We’ve been working through a long process with them, starting with interviews with our stakeholders. After gathering information, they’ve gone on to create brand presentation decks, logo decks, and web standards.

As we’re not purely a crypto-currency, as well as not purely a platform — we’re splitting the difference — Illuminator spent a lot of time interviewing our people and talking to our game developers and traditional developers. We reviewed their work a lot, and they were able to nail our top-line items in 6–9 months, including getting our Twitter feed up and running, building our social media community, and more. Basically, as our campaign grows more complex, we’ve been able to match their work with our social media and brand guidelines as well.

Aside from building our brand, it’s Illuminator’s job to build our community through outreach, specifically, they’ve been working on Twitter, Discord, and, most recently, Twitch.

How did you come to work with Illuminator?

I originally met Chris (Creative Director) while working for another company. They did a design and technology project for us, and I realized that I had a lot of the same philosophy as they did. A lot of the agencies I’ve worked with do one-off projects, but I really liked how set up longer-term projects and processes.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost is around $700,000–$750,000. They’ve been lovely to us regarding their monthly retainer, which totals around $500,000. Their other work has been around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since July 2021. I’m a little wary to sign 12-month engagements, so had a bit of trial basis for the first few months, and we’ve recently re-upped our relationship with them for another 12 months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Initially, we minted in the cryptocurrency space at an approximate value of $1,900, and now our value is $100,000. Illuminator has been a huge part of that success. They’ve built our community so well over Twitter, Discord, and Twitch. In terms of individual pieces, one of our NFT’s started out as $200–$300, and now it’s worth $3,000–$3,500. I don’t think we would have reached the right people without Illuminator’s help.

Our engagement on our messaging is about 5–6-times the industry average as well; the same is true for our YouTube videos. We’ve built a highly engaged community — we’re gaining hardcore fans.

How did Illuminator perform from a project management standpoint?

We did experience some issues early on, but Chris has been great in taking our critiques. Some agencies don’t respond well to feedback, and Illuminator isn’t one of them. They made a strong project management push, including hiring a project manager specifically and rearranging their team to fix some of the problems we were experiencing. We collaborate over Monday.com, GitHub, and Google Suite

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve done things that no one has done before because crypto is such a new space. I was certainly right to implicitly trust them. If this had been a boring game we were creating, then I could have done it myself. I have 10 years of experience working in Adobe and winning awards, but I wanted to change the calculation by bringing in someone that was better than me. I’ve needed a full-service branding and marketing and development partner, and they’ve provided 360 service success.

Agencies come in two forms: large agencies and small agencies. Small agencies are hungry and will work as hard as possible to get the job done, but they’re not able to scale. Large agencies come with their own ideas, which can be somewhat frustrating, as they’ll pull back if you don’t use them. Illuminator has found a middle ground where they can build with us and keep us ahead of the curve regarding technology. They help us scale as a true partner, rather than an external partner we just send a check to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One of the challenges they run into is that they’re a few steps ahead when it comes to how they want things to work. They communicate effectively to me and our leadership, but we’re working on how to communicate those messages down to our people. This might be more of my issue than theirs — going in strong with an idea can be disruptive to more junior resources and people who are set in their ways. We’re working through how to communicate large-scale shifts, technology choices, and brand choices.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as vulnerable and open as possible about what you actually want from them. Tell them what you need

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Global Brand Manager

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Illuminator?

They were our Social Media Partner Agency this included:

• Quarterly content creation
• Content calendar creation
• Social campaign partners

SOLUTION

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

They won an agency pitch process & were selected due to their pitch, quality of work, previous work examples, content ideas, innovative thinking.

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

After winning the pitch process, we worked with them on:

• Quarterly content creation
• Content calendar creation
• Social campaign partners

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

5 partners:

• 1 x Account Manager
• 1 x Creative Director
• 1 x Account Director
• 1 x Strategy Director
• 1 x Producer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Helped us revolutionise our traditional digital mindset by instilling a new fully-integrated, analytically-driven, holistic marketing campaign approach, both on & offline, across Owned, Earned and Paid. The “Jameson Space-Aged” campaign was recognised as a Webby Award Honoree.
• Helped transform our digital strategy to adapt to an ever-changing social landscape, ensuring a best-in-class, future-fit, consumer-centric approach.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Hugely effective. A regular meeting cadence with continuous, open communication.

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

• Creativity
• Organisation
• Work quality
• Communication

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

No, I loved working with them, and I couldn't recommend them more.