J2

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Philadelphia Nanny Network, a domestic staffing business. We service families hiring nannies and babysitters, and we’re one of the largest providers of employer-sponsored backup care.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with J2?

We had already expanded into other markets outside of Philadelphia, and we were planning on continuing our expansion. We needed someone to guide us through the process of conducting a total rebrand. In line with that, we needed a website overhaul.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

J2 helped us with our rebranding efforts. The first order of business was to explore whether or not we should change our name. The team conducted a study around our current brand and how entrenched it was in our local market. They considered how we had already been in business for around 30 years. With the help of their analysis, we eventually decided to keep our original name and just do a total rebranding.

Then, the J2 team tweaked some elements of our brand, including how we presented ourselves. They created a new logo along with a style guide revolving around that logo. Afterward, they designed and developed our website, handling everything except the copy, which another vendor did. J2 created the website from scratch on a newer platform that had more functionalities than our old site. For example, they built contact forms into the website.

What is the team composition?

I mainly worked with Brian (Founding Partner & Executive Creative Director) and another teammate with whom I worked closest. We had in-person meetings where they would bring in one of their experts depending on what part of the project we were in, so I worked with several people on the team. This included developers, designers, and so on.

How did you come to work with J2?

Our first meeting was serendipitous. A friend and I were on a ski trip and decided to go to a restaurant on our last day. We sat at the bar and started talking to the two people next to us, who happened to be Brian and his father, who founded J2 originally. They happened to be from Philadelphia and mentioned that they did branding and web development, which was a project that I needed to do.

When I got back from the trip, I immediately contacted them, and they submitted a proposal. I had contacted two other vendors, but J2 seemed like the best fit. They were capable and incredibly creative, and at the same time, they considered our needs. I felt confident and comfortable with them, as well. Their price point was slightly higher than we wanted, but it was reasonable enough for us to move forward with J2. Everything just fell into place after that.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent somewhere between $10,000–$50,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from April–December 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to J2’s work, we had a massive increase in engagement. The site was easily navigable, allowing our potential clients to complete our forms easily. Overall, we got a lot of value out of their work. In fact, we continue to use the website.

The design, color scheme, graphics, and images were all expertly chosen. The brilliance of the website is how timeless it is — even though it’s been a few years since then, I still get compliments about how creative our site’s design is. Usually, websites have a specific shelf life, and then it starts to look outdated, but our site has stood the test of time. 

How did J2 perform from a project management standpoint?

J2 was super easy to work with and performed beyond our expectations. They didn’t drag out the project — they presented a reasonable timeline and worked within that timeline, meeting all their goals and deliverables. We used Basecamp to manage the project, and they were very organized in how they approached things. I initially found it hard to use, and the team was very flexible and offered to use email. However, with their encouragement, I learned to use Basecamp and found it to be really helpful. I even started using it on other projects.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with their ability to listen and understand our vision in a short time. J2 synthesized our goal and created a design that was just phenomenal. It was also remarkable how easily the team could work with different companies in various industries.

We kept in touch with them in the years after the engagement and maintained a strong relationship. Actually, we have a potential project for another business of mine, so we’ve recently been in contact with Brian.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would’ve been easier if I didn’t have to find another vendor to write the copy. Luckily, I found a great writer, and it all worked out.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director and head coach of a 150-years-old social service agency headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We serve and focus on the issues of intergenerational poverty.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with J2?

We needed to rebrand our agency while we were doing a strategic plan at the same time. We wanted to align the language, the brand, and the relaunch. We were probably the oldest and least-known agency in the city at the time, and that had to get corrected. We hired J2 to do the rebranding work with the idea that our engagement would then morph into design work and collateral building.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We went together through a mission statement, language definition, and value alignment, and the heavy lifting of the work was around the parallel effort of doing a strategic plan and the rebranding. We had to basically reset the agency, and we went through some organizational changes to tie in with all of those efforts. J2 also created a new logo and look and feel for all the collateral materials on the web, as well as printed materials down to the business cards.

Along with the new strategic plan, the brand roll-out, and the collateral, they helped us define how that was announced, designed, and disseminated. J2's work focused on both recruiting efforts with the participants of the fundraising and the overall communication with the stakeholders.

What is the team composition?

Alan (Co-Founder & Principal) has been involved in the overall project, Lucy (Art Director) was involved from the design point of view, and there were 5–6 other people in and out of the project as well. We also worked with a lead individual on the J2’s design team and a couple of other people. 

How did you come to work with J2?

We had an RFP process, and J2 responded. Prior to when I joined this company, I knew some of the agencies. I also had good recommendations of them from people that I knew in the industry. We looked at around 5–6 firms and, using a lot of different criteria, we settled in on them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around January 2016, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have about 8,000 donors historically, and that donor base has grown and been more active since the branding work made by J2. Our agency has also grown in terms of foundation and institutional support. I can’t tell if it all has to do with the branding, but it was clearly involved. Our new website clearly drove pro-growth.

In terms of size programs, we’ve grown about $3.5 million since then, but there have been ups and downs with government contracts. Before our engagement, we had about $8 million on the programs’ budget, and now we have over $11 million. Although the volatility is there and funding is a third of that number, the branding effort has supported that.

How did J2 perform from a project management standpoint?

We held a lot of in-person meetings when we were on a pre-COVID-19 time. We picked a local agency so we could meet with them, and J2 had a lot of interaction with the board and with us in the strategic plan group.

We had a lot of work sessions both at J2’s place and ours with a lot of whiteboarding, design thoughts, and refinement. It was the classic development process. When we were doing this, we worked pretty closely with our board. We had a subcommittee that was involved there, with some people with domain and experience in this space.

It all was pretty close and interactive, and we got pretty close to J2’s team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

J2 got our mission, bought into it, and got inspired by it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We go through major partner reviews as a matter of governance on three-, four-, and five-year cycles depending on the area. That includes accounting firms, law firms, and any major provider. I do that with my other businesses — it’s a matter of good governance to go through a formal review so we don’t get too comfortable with our providers. We also need to test the market and move forward through that process.

The J2 that we worked with back then has had a lot of personnel changes. I’m somewhat close to the founder, but we’re reviewing them right now, and we don’t know where that’s going to take us. The J2 that we worked with in 2016 had a fair amount of turnover, but now, it’s not clear if we’re going to continue working together.

We have some real concerns about the agency that we’re now experiencing, and we've got to dig into it to move forward. They’ve changed staff and their subcontractor’s strategy. Candidly, we need to go back and do a reevaluation. We still respect the firm, but some really key people from the design perspective are no longer with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

These types of projects can get very squishy, and the creative process is, by definition, squishy. You have to be very, very clear on the impact that you’re looking to get so that you don’t have a mission creep.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director at Asian Arts Initiative. We’re a community-based arts center in Philadelphia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with J2?

We hired J2 to help us with our brand strategy and identity design — our whole identity package.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

J2 was responsible for creating a whole identity system for us, including our logo, taglines, stationery, and other collateral. They also did our brand bible, which included all of the rules around how to use our identity assets.

They did a marketing discovery to do brand strategy. They looked into our organizational mission and strategy. The team did a lot of research on our organization, constituents, and staff.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 4–5 people regularly, including the creative director, the CEO, and the art director. We also worked with graphic designers and discovery lead coordinators.

How did you come to work with J2?

J2 was introduced to us by a peer organization in our city. We liked the work that J2 did for them, and we decided to contact them to see what they thought about us.

We shopped around with a few different agencies. However, what really appealed to us was their thoroughness in describing the engagement process. Their proposal itself was very thorough, too. Additionally, the lead design team was very available to us. It was clear that they had a complete understanding of our needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first engaged with J2 in 2018. However, we started working together in June 2019, and that particular project culminated in February 2020. Throughout 2020, we continuously worked together when needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I measured the success of this project with the buy-in from our staff and board and the general enthusiasm for the outcome, which was overwhelmingly positive and supportive. The usability of the brand guidelines with our new, young design and branding team has been excellent. It’s all been positive feedback.

From a quantitative perspective, the brand deck has translated very nicely into our presence on a lot of other platforms. We’d never had a designed identity before, so it was a very new and fresh debut.

How did J2 perform from a project management standpoint?

J2 was excellent at meeting deadlines and being responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

J2 is very receptive to feedback — they can handle it. They take feedback very well and understand if you have any concerns.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything that J2 could improve.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be as candid, open, and honest as possible. We were able to be super honest with them, and it turned out well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Kimco Realty, a real estate investment trust (REIT) national platform. I am a general manager of one of their assets, which is called Suburban Square in Pennsylvania.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with J2?

We were redeveloping the shopping center, so it was natural to rebrand as well.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

J2 has been helping us with our rebranding efforts. They’ve delivered a logo and a messaging for our website and social media, taking note of our company’s existing branding. We're still working together very closely, day in and day out.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with around 8–10 teammates since the project started. 

How did you come to work with J2?

I came in when the company was deciding which firm to go with, so I’m not sure how we found them. Ultimately, J2 stood out because they were available and shared excellent ideas with us. They also seemed to understand the product well, so we decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $32,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2017, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re pleased with what J2 developed. People have responded well to the logo and the color scheme, and they appreciate the more modern look compared to our original logo. The messaging they’ve created is clear and concise. Overall, their work is sensitive to our core demographic. We’ve been in the community for over 90 years — our customers have been coming here for generations, and they’re very attached to us. J2’s work is cognizant of those loyal customers while also being attractive to new customers. It's been a successful process.

How did J2 perform from a project management standpoint?

They are, without a doubt, the best in project management. We have weekly calls to go over their progress and make final decisions on the next steps. Before COVID-19, we also had some face-to-face meetings. Communication was very tight, concise, and frequent. Our personalities meshed well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're just highly professional, and they care about providing a good product. It’s a unique project, but J2 has done very well. They have a deep understanding of the center because most people on their team personally knew and shop at the center. If they didn’t understand the property already, it would’ve been quite the learning curve because it’s a very complex shopping center. They are very sensitive to everyone in the community and how the rebranding would impact them. 

It’s clear that J2 took a very personal interest in it, and it’s not just another project to them because they’re part of the community themselves. It’s that personal dedication that has allowed them to be successful. Every single teammate we’ve handled is fantastic — I love working with them. They’re a team of very diligent perfectionists, and they have my respect and trust.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I haven’t experienced anything remotely negative while working with the team. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It's okay just to leave them to do their job; they're very good at what they do.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the SVP of strategic marketing and communications at the Kimmel Cultural Campus, which is a multi-venue performing arts complex in Philadelphia. We present a diverse array of performing arts presentations attended by people in the 11-county region. We present around 1,500 events a year and about 1.2 million people come through our doors annually.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with J2?

The Kimmel Center was built as a one-building complex that housed a couple of theaters and the Verizon Hall. Over the last 20 years, the arts organization has grown, and it now manages two additional venues along Broad Street. Our biggest problem was a brand perception that we still were the only Kimmel Center building here and that we weren’t related to the Academy of Music and the Merriam Theater, both of which we manage. As a result, most people thought we were essentially an orchestra, which was our main performance group that worked in one building. 

Branding challenges came out because of that perception. For instance, we weren't getting credit for all of the other work that we presented, which was 80% of our work's volume. On top of that, people associated us with classical-based institutions. However, what we mainly presented were Broadway tours, stand-up comedy, rock concerts, and jazz concerts. In other words, genre perspectives were quite different. We began our work with J2 to address these branding challenges in a variety of ways 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We already had a lot of data about the branding problem since we’d undergone a bit of research around the development of a new website. We handed that research over to J2, and they conducted additional in-depth research. They created focus groups and interviewed civic leaders, board members, ticket buyers, and people around the region. They worked to get a better sense of people’s real perceptions about us and what they could advise us. 

Apart from that, J2 also performed a communications audit. We gave them a couple of years’ worth of materials to tell us how to better design our communications to convey the continuity of our brand. Through that, we figured out how we could reverse the brand challenges that we have. Then, J2 did a site audit and gave recommendations around tying our buildings together and stitching them visually and physically so they’d appear like one multi-building complex. For context, the architecture of the buildings spanned 165 years, so the three buildings looked absolutely different from each other. 

Meanwhile, the project has changed in scope around the time that the COVID-19 pandemic was occurring. We held out on the project for a while because it wasn’t possible to push through. Then, we came back to J2 saying we were going to take the project down a notch; we weren’t going to do what was recommended, though we’d still use all the research we had. We wanted to use their conceptual ideas and move forward. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 6–7 members of their team, and we mainly interact with Alan (Co-Founder & Principal) and Claire (Account Manager). We also work with their design team and exit team, which has done the physical audit of the buildings. That team has also made recommendations on things that we can do to tie the buildings together. 

How did you come to work with J2?

I ran into Alan at a couple of events, including a gala for the Marian Anderson Awards held at the Kimmel Center. He then came in and spoke to the design and leadership cohort that I happened to be in, and he stood out to me as someone to think about if we ever did rebrand. 

Interestingly enough, J2 didn’t put in a proposal when we sent out our RFP. Several members of our marketing advisory board had recommended them, and they asked why J2 didn’t send a proposal. As a result, I called Alan and asked them about it, and he told me that we already knew our problem. There was a lot to unpack when it came to a nonprofit, so we talked through some of his questions and misconceptions about us. Eventually, even though J2 didn’t submit any proposals, I threw all the other proposals away and went with Alan. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in February 2019, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

J2 has been a wonderful partner and leader for our organization to lean on. Everything has been relatively smooth. I have an employee who’s in charge of ensuring that all the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed in terms of communications. So far, she’s enjoyed working with J2, and everything has been smooth-sailing. 

How did J2 perform from a project management standpoint?

J2 is using project management software with my more hands-on team. However, I largely just do email, conference calls, and physical meetings with them. In 2019, we had regular meetings. Then, the rubber hit the road, and we were only meeting when there was something to review. 

During that time, we felt we weren’t meeting at all. We’ve only just recently started meeting again, but it’s not regular. When we need to have a conference call with our CEO, Alan makes himself available to present the project’s status.

What did you find most impressive about them?

J2 has the ability to be flexible and roll with the punches. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. They’ve already addressed everything that I thought they could improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust their point of view and do your best to listen. Their perspective is good, and Alan’s really a thinker. If you sit back and listen to them, things coalesce. In a lot of ways, I’ve used Alan as a thought partner in all kinds of things because of the way he thinks. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

U3 Advisors is a consulting firm that specializes in providing real estate strategy and economic development strategy services primarily to universities, colleges, nonprofits, and extra-governmental entities. We work primarily in the US, but we also work in select engagements in Canada. 

As the VP, I work directly with the CEO and CFO of the company in managing our internal business operations. In our conversations with J2, I manage all of our marketing and business development efforts. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with J2?

We thought our brand needed a refresh and reorientation to reflect what the company was and where it was going. Organically, the way we were messaging the company had evolved over the years, and we wanted to know what the evolution looked and sounded like. 

Then, when we did some internal workshop, and we found out that there had been significant changes in how we talk about ourselves — in a more thematic mission-driven way. Those changes made sense considering the mission-driven nature of our third-party clients and the sectors in which they operate. 

However, we realized that none of the changes that occurred were captured in our marketing collaterals or digital presence. That was the genesis of the problem we were trying to solve, and that led us to engage with J2.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started to dig deep with J2 through our discovery period where they got to know our company and where we gave them additional information beyond what we shared during the process. That process took 3–4 months to unfold, and Alan (Co-Founder & Principal) and Brian (Founding Partner & Executive Director) heavily engaged with us during this time. Frankly speaking, that happened because of the nature of our work; we were always busy most of the time. 

They interviewed a select pool of customers and they pulled quotes from them. Based on the processes that they did, they created our brand platform. Beyond stating our palette and how our U3 mark should be used in content and other collaterals, J2 also stated who we were and how we wanted to talk about ourselves from a marketing standpoint. They helped us present ourselves as a company in a thematic language so that our target audience would want to engage with us. 

What is the team composition?

Brian acted as the project executive and senior project, and he pushed the discovery process. They also had a design lead and a process manager. 

How did you come to work with J2?

J2 was selected as the team to help us with our rebrand and marketing refresh as part of a competitive process. We issued an RFP to a shortlist of approximately 10 firms, most of whom were based in the metro Philadelphia area where our headquarters was located. The shortlist contained the companies who were referred within our professional networks, and they approximately collaborated with 1–2 companies we had worked with in the past. In fact, J2 competed head to head with the design firm that developed our website and digital presence.

We chose J2 because they not only understood what we were trying to do in a practical sense but also proposed services that were the right size for our budget. Moreover, they were the most responsive team we communicated with. J2 saw the value in learning for us and they wanted to expand their knowledge base by knowing our work. 

How much have you invested with them?

We had originally budgeted around $20,000 for the project, and we ended up spending around $30,000. That happened because we weren’t disciplined around time, and the project dragged out. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2019–January 2020. We don’t have an official project at this time, but we still collaborate together. The team gives us technical support and other assistance in areas such as creating presentation templates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

J2 was able to channel our core values and ethos into the brand platform they built for us. After our partnership, we developed a deep relationship with them, and we considered them to be a great team. 

On our digital presence, we had very clear metrics and analytics on a daily basis, and on average, we had roughly a 40% uptick in our site traffic. On average, our traffic was 110% whenever we sent out email blasts and social media posts that connect to our website. We never had that traffic driven to our old website. Since our new website was cleaner and simpler — it looked good aesthetically, and it was user-friendly.

How did J2 perform from a project management standpoint?

Their patience and flexibility manifested when we dragged out the timeline of their originally outline aggressive discovery period. They were also very fair and transparent in modifying the scope and what the implications were in terms of pricing. 

Their flexibility also clearly appeared in their project management process. At first, they suggested using Basecamp to manage our workflow. However, they quickly realized that we were not very prescriptive around platforms. As a result, they quickly pivoted from adapting whatever we used for our project workflows such as Dropbox and Google Docs. Those platforms became our avenue to share our products, comments, and deliverables — it was very effective and secure.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was fascinated by how J2 assembled their team; they were a multidisciplinary group. Everybody from their team came from a similar background, and they had a very specific role during our collaboration. I was also impressed with the level of discipline they had with bringing a big team for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

From a design standpoint, they presented a lot of conservative choices that didn’t wow us. I felt that some of the ideas they had presented were boxed and that may be caused by the way they were trying to read us and didn’t want to misread us. Perhaps, they didn’t just want to go off the reservation and present us with something that feels completely dissonant from what we discussed and honoring what our scope was. J2 was just earnest about being respectful of our relationship. 

However, we quickly worked through that, and we challenged them to challenge us. After having conversations with J2, they delivered, and they hit the ball out of the park. They were a fantastic team, and we got a great amount of value that was outsized to what we paid. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am a Director at The Philadelphia School

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a preschool 8th grade elementary school.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire J2 to accomplish?

• Brand Strategy
• Visual Identify
• Creative Execution

SOLUTION

How did you find J2?

Other

Why did you select J2 over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

What was the size of J2’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

Brand strategy, Brand development, visual identity, signage, product design, viewbook, support for website design, magazine development

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• consistent brand
• increase enrollment/retention
• celebrate 50th anniversary

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

Their project management has been one of the most solid parts; they've developed plans, communicated when they needed more time, and really helped us push to meet tight deadlines.

What was your primary form of communication with J2?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They like to do work with companies that "do good". i.e. they help transform companies who have a cause (arts, education, non-profit).

Are there any areas for improvement or something J2 could have done differently?

At the beginning of the project, we needed to do more socializing of the "why" and "what" with our internal team. Eventually this was a hurdle we were able to overcome.