Kapowza

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing coordinator of Reliance Fire Protection. We’ve been in business for 30 years. We take care of all things fire protection, including installations for sprinkler systems, inspections, and we just recently added a SHAD department [special hazard, alarm, and detection] so we can take care of alarm and monitoring as well. We cover the entire mid-Atlantic region and have customers north of Baltimore all the way to Northern Virginia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kapowza?

I’ve been here for two years; there was no marketing before me. It was a lot of word of mouth. The website was not a focus, it was just maintained at a basic level, and they were using several different logos. We didn’t have a real plan, so I focused my attention first on the website and getting everyone to use the same logo, then on making sure that all of our services were on there, that everything was up to date, and that the design was appealing to our customers.

I just felt like we didn’t really have a brand. We had the company and our customers know who we are, but we wanted to reach a wider market. Before we went out and tried to get all of those new customers, I wanted to make sure that, when we reached out to people, they would be able to understand and recognize us and our brand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They have provided us with many things and are still working on a few things for us. They helped start our new logo but our in-house graphic designer actually came up with it ultimately. Kapowza has done everything as far as implementing the logo. They’ve designed and created our style guide, our new letterhead, and our presentation template. We did a customer onboarding packet and a handout to explain our services to our new customers. I’m working with Yellow Pages to send out mailers for potential new customers and businesses. Kapowza designed all of those.

Reliance is owned by a large parent company based out of Minneapolis. It’s called API Group and they are largely construction-based. It’s about 70% fire protection and the rest is specialized construction. We have a third party that we use for SEO and she handled all of our banner ads. Kapowza has helped us with everything offline. They’re working on our business cards right now.

The style guide includes logo colors, fonts we should use, when to use which logo, email signatures, business cards, and many other things. It will continue to grow as we develop more marketing material.

How did you come to work with Kapowza?

I have no graphic design background. I met Sean [account manager] about a year ago and wasn’t ready to work on it yet, but for our 30th year, it just made sense. We had new services that we didn’t previously offer. We needed to make sure that our current and future customers knew that we weren’t only working on sprinkler systems; we could do other things now. The idea to rebrand and drop our sprinkler logo and focus on a new, consistent brand was something I didn’t think I could do myself.

I talked with Sean and it just seemed like a very good fit; I didn’t consider other companies.

How much have you invested with Kapowza?

We have spent more than $10,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

They have been great so far, and I’ve had a lot of good feedback from everyone. They’re very understanding of our concerns and what we were looking for.

The brand and some of the collateral has launched. I’ve been working with our web development team, and we’ve got the new logo up. We’ve sent out a bunch of our customer onboarding packets, and we’re almost done with our business cards. Several customers have mentioned that they didn’t know we did alarms. They had associated us with sprinklers before because it would be right next to our name in our logo.

How did Kapowza perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything is timely and efficient. They always send multiple options for me to choose from. I’m not the easiest customer, but they’ve been great so far. They always provide me with options and work with the changes I request. They do things in order of importance. Sometimes I need something the next day and they always get it done. They’re happy to answer any calls. They’re great.

What did you find most impressive about Kapowza?

I think just the fact that they understand what I want. I’m not always the best at explaining things and they will ask questions to figure out what I want. They somehow make it happen.

Are there any areas Kapowza could improve?

I don’t think so.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Urban Teachers is an alternative certification program for people seeking to get into the teaching profession. We primarily work in urban school districts.

What is your position?

I’m the assistant director of digital marketing. I’m a part of the small marketing team inside the group. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Kapowza?

Our organization was experiencing a lot of growth. I had only been working here for seven or eight months, and this was our first fiscal year engaging in advertising. There was a greater demand for graphic design. We did have one person whom we were contracting out, but the turnaround time wasn't fast enough. We needed someone more responsive to our growing demands. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Some of the work done by Kapowza involved creating digital ads, helping us to undergo a mini rebranding. We now have a bit more of an icon to go along with our logo. We're in the process of updating our collateral, both offline and online. Kapowza has also provided video services, recording and also delivered edits and graphic treatments for the material. Kapowza has created multiple videos for us between 30 seconds and three minutes in length. We have different digital needs, so the longer ones are posted on our website, while the short ones are used for Facebook and other advertising. Kapowza has even come up with more advertorial videos to let us inform people of what we do in an ad-like fashion.

We develop our own creative brief and present that vision to Kapowza. They will come back to us with a result that keeps our overall goal in mind but also perform edits for shooting the concept in the best way. We will receive a couple of proposals for online advertising, including different calls to action and ways of looking at what we're trying to accomplish. We work together, deciding what’s best for the audience we're trying to reach.

Our website work primarily has to do with our logo and things of that nature. We've had a back-and-forth within the organization, through no fault of Kapowza's, but they've been responsive in reorganizing the navigation on our site and making some suggestions about what would be best for users in terms of UI and UX. There hasn't been anything too intense, but we are making an effort to keep the site in-tune with our new look.

How did you come to work with Kapowza?

We interviewed three different designers, and Kapowza came out on top. They seemed to be the most engaged in our organization and asked questions that made us realize that Kapowza was not only looking out for what we were currently trying to do, but they also had plans for our future growth. Designers and creative professionals tend to be more playful and relaxed, but Kapowza's team is also knowledgeable, and they have an extensive breadth of work. We saw ourselves being able to grow with them and having them continually take on our workloads.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

I believe that our rate was initially $2,000 per month at $50 per hour, but we're moving up to $75 per hour. Our workload has often exceeded the hours set aside by Kapowza, but they've done a great job of keeping us up-to-date with how much time we have left and suggesting how to utilize the time we have, either focusing on smaller tasks immediately or pushing others until the following month to not accrue any additional hours. After working with other contractors and organizations that didn't keep us up-to-date on this issue, it's refreshing to have Kapowza.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Kapowza in November 2016. We have an ongoing relationship. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We could call it a 100% increase in views on the video side since we didn't have anything in place before working with Kapowza. We have seen a response to our new media, especially with millennials, as we've posted them on our Facebook page or within emails. Kapowza has maintained a consistency across our videos but also increased the value with each one in telling our story. Everyone from the CEO and COO downwards has given them high marks.

Kapowza's work in rebranding our collateral is not really tangible, but we can see and feel results in terms of better feedback from our partners.

How did Kapowza perform from a project management standpoint?

Kapowza provides us with an inventory of our current ongoing jobs, along with their progress, what the next steps are, and their due dates. We have a weekly call discussing our work, and Kapowza has been on time in 99% of cases. When they're not, it's usually because we gave them something extra or threw a wrench into the work.

Kapowza has always been responsive and politely pushed back when we requested something that was not doable. They often deliver sooner, but I appreciate having our expectations managed, instead of being made to think that something will be done sooner when it won't.

What distinguishes Kapowza from other providers?

I simply enjoy working with Kapowza and plan to take them with me to any other organization I may work for. There are certain contacts we hold on to because of how valuable they are as resources. Kapowza has never made us feel like a burden, even though we may be one after going through so many changes so quickly. I was happy to give this review, given how stellar Kapowza's work is. I believe in their work ethic and results, and I want others to know that.

Is there anything Kapowza could have improved or done differently?

I'm not trying to say that Kapowza is perfect, but we're completely satisfied. Whenever we do have a concern, Kapowza will have a spot-on response. If the relationship continues in the same way, we'll be completely fine. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Notice and Comment is an analytics regulatory intelligence platform built on IBM Watson technology. It provides insight into the data being used by the federal government to make regulations. I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kapowza?

We have a very complicated process in the regulatory system. It’s not an easy concept to summarize, and we wanted a way to simplify the message for the public. Kapowza is our creative firm that helped us, together with Dan to think through that challenge.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with scoping out the messaging sessions. We worked on the aesthetics of the system because we’re using federal open data in a public portal and wanted to match the users that are typically in this space. They also did our logo.

How did you come to work with Kapowza?

They’re one of the companies at the Emerging Technology Center where my company is located. They have a very quirky guy on the team that gave an opinion on the project instead of a pitch, and I appreciated that.

How much have you invested with Kapowza?

We have them on a monthly retainer, and they’re our lead creative experts.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are currently working with them. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Distinguishing the results from the words and the design is hard. We have rave reviews on the logo, and he’s gotten other clients because of our logo. He developed a style and branding guide that brought our products into branding synergy and is doing that with our outbound sales efforts. I can’t quantify that, though. 

How did Kapowza perform from a project management standpoint?

They did an excellent job of communicating. Any time we miss a deadline, it’s because we changed things at the last minute.

What did you find most impressive about Kapowza?

Kapowza looks at things in a way that challenges the status quo. We come from opposite sides and end up getting to the right place. That’s been very important to me.

Are there any areas Kapowza could improve?

Our companies have grown together, so I’ve seen the challenges they face. They adjust to changes as needed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Maryland Venture Fund is a $100-million early stage fund dedicated to investing in and helping build the next generation of high-growth companies in Maryland. We don’t have a big operational staff, just a team of 4 and 1 part-time individual. We all do quite a bit of heavy lifting on the op side as well. I’ve been taking some of the lead on the marketing side and was the lead on this rebranding project. I’m an analyst for the organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kapowza?

We’ve been around in one form or another for over a decade. It used to be housed within the department of business and economic development in the state, which is now the department of commerce. It had a mixed reputation and was not seen as entrepreneur-friendly or proactive. It always had its hands tied behind its back in terms of who could hire in the track to work in the government for the fund. We’d done a lot in bringing on some new team members and changing the organizational culture and attitude. We’re trying to be more proactive, helpful and entrepreneur-friendly. We really need a website that reflected all of that. Having moved from the department of commerce outside into this organization called Tedco, we didn’t have any web presence at all for a few months. We wanted to be intentional about it and take some time to tell the world who we were after we made these changes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed them to help with web development. It started with some wireframes and IA spec’ing things out. Then we moved into some mockups a few weeks after that. We were giving them feedback this whole time. We had about 2 rounds of revisions for every deliverable they gave us—for the IA mockups, for the wireframes, and the logo before all that. We wound up going with WordPress. We were CMS-agnostic at the beginning, but we wanted something that we could edit on the backend. Kapowza convinced us that WordPress would be the right choice, especially since we had a tight timeframe. That was a great choice and we’re happy we went with that. There’s more stuff we want to do on the identity side and a little more on the website. It’s always a work in progress.

How did you come to work with Kapowza?

We gave them a brief that was also sent out to a few different firms. Of those, 5 to 10 responded with reasonable proposals. After running them through, Kapowza looked really good right off the bat. I think they did a really good job in their response to our brief. They made everything clear, which was very true throughout the whole process. They had a lot of rigor in thinking through and hearing what we were saying and then translating that into every element of the design. Kapowza was exceptionally responsive. They got our customer in a way that a lot of other firms didn’t. They’ve also been working with a lot of startup companies, which was helpful. We decided to engage with them.

How much have you invested with Kapowza?

We’ve spent $10,000 to $50,000, at the lower end of that range. That included some great custom photography work that they did as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We aren’t working with them right now.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We’ve gotten exceptional feedback across the board. With a brand-new site, it’s hard to measure anything specific. But one thing that’s stuck out for sure on Google Analytics is the 30% bounce rate. We’re excited about that as a venture fund. People go to the home page and we want them to engage with our portfolio, look at our team bios, and potentially shoot us a pitch deck or business plan. So, a 30% bounce rate is really good for us. We’ll have more measurements as we start working on the SEO as well.

The mark we wanted could be used in a flexible way throughout the entire brand. Kapowza did an exceptional job. Another good example was when we asked them to come up with a mockup of the home page that was very focused on us. They turned it around and said, “Your brief was so entrepreneur-friendly and entrepreneur-centric, and now you’ve turned this on your head. You need to tell people what you do, not just say, ‘We are entrepreneur focused,’ and then have a big picture of your team on the website.” They were really critical with our brief and did a really good job of keeping us on task.

How did Kapowza perform from a project management standpoint?

They handled things super well. We were worried about that because of the tight project timeframe. We did want things to be off the ground by the end of September and we thought there was no way it would happen. There were times they were throwing work so quickly at us that we were bottlenecking the process, which was amazing. They worked really fast from a project management perspective. It was very clear what our deliverables needed to be and what they were going to deliver to us: 2 revisions for every deliverable. It was all very well laid out at the beginning. They kept to expectations. We finished pretty far ahead of schedule. That was probably one of the better parts of the engagement. It was really professional and crisp.

The website was up and running by the end of September, which was a really impressive timeframe. It was a super condensed timeline and I don’t think a lot of firms could’ve done that.

What did you find most impressive about Kapowza?

I was impressed by their very professional output with a really scrappy style. Dan and Sean were always available. There were times I would call them at 6 AM or 8 PM and they were around to take calls. Sometimes during the business day, I was working on some venture deals or helping to manage the portfolio and they were able to be flexible outside of those hours. The rigor that they brought to the design process was super helpful. They weren’t afraid to challenge us on a lot of things. There were little choices we were making about the website that they felt seemed good at the time, but really conflicted with what we said we wanted in the brief. I think a lot of firms would’ve rolled over and just made the client happy. It didn’t feel like they were challenging us, but they definitely were. They wanted to focus on what we really wanted to do and accomplish those goals. It was excellent all around.

Are there any areas Kapowza could improve?

No. I think they were exceptional all around. They were great communicators. Nothing was outside of what we expected.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the assistant director of ETC [Emerging Technology Centers], a non-profit venture of the Baltimore Development Corporation. We’re the technology and innovation center of the city of Baltimore. We provide a series of programs to entrepreneurs and startup such as a vibrant coworking space, a tech-focused incubator and once a year, we run a lean startup accelerator called Accelerate Baltimore. That program awards 6 companies $25,000 in seed funding and an intensive 13-week program to help move startups forward.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kapowza?

We do a lot of community outreach. It’s important to make sure we’re well represented from a visual standpoint since we are such a large community. We work with over 100 member companies and want to make sure our branding is reflective of them as well. However, we don’t have a design team on staff. We needed to fill this skill gap, particularly for digital and print advertising.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

One of the first projects we did together was a brand refresh. We updated our primary logos and they came up with the current concept for all three of our programs. They were able to solidify and improve brand consistency throughout our initiatives. Kapowza modified the design for all the digital and print assets that we distribute. They also designed an expo banner with our new branding that we use everywhere.

With the logo refresh, we redid our business cards and updated everything on the website. It really triggered a huge overhaul. That was key for us, and they were very helpful with the different opportunities that came our way.

Kapowza also helped us with a digital ad for Baltimore Innovation Week, which is a big event here in early fall. Also, we’re just about to launch another digital campaign with Kapowza for Accelerate Baltimore on a media site- Technically Baltimore, targeting different markets. In addition to the digital ads, they have produced print marketing cards for Accelerate Baltimore that have been used at expos and information sessions. 

How did you come to work with Kapowza?

I knew Dan, their founder, when he was working as a designer with a previous organization. When he started Kapowza, he conveniently located the business at our co-working space. I saw some of the work that he was doing with a few of our startups and we got to talking. Dan is very creative and really easy to work with. Building off of our community and seeing some of the work they were doing with their other clients, it was a no-brainer to work with them.

How did you come to work with Kapowza?

We’ve paid $6,000 to $8,000 for their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with them in January 2016 and we’re currently working with them on projects. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I’d say that was the most memorable was a digital ad for Baltimore Innovation Week. We did a 30-day campaign and we got nearly 100,000 impressions. We got about 45 click-throughs on that and people really thought it was a great ad. A lot of our member companies complemented us on it and that was a great moment for us as an organization.

Since we started using Kapowza, people have really noticed the shift. We’ve been putting out consistent, concise, and organized content, both digital and print. Now, you can see that all our brands are being operated by the same organization. It goes back to our desire to best represent the companies that we’re working with. From a creative standpoint, Kapowza was able to present strong and interesting concepts. Plus, they really understand what is needed in print and digital media. All of it has been spot on and they consistently utilize our brand colors throughout the content they produce.

Our collaboration is a good next step for us as an organization since we don’t have those creative assets in-house. Kapowza is really in tune to what we’re doing, which helps. Since they’re one of our members, they have a stake in this as well. Our organization and theirs are in sync and working with them has been ultimately a great experience.

How did Kapowza perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve seen their team grow over the past year. They meet our deadlines and it’s easy to do revisions and updates. They’re able to quickly turn things around. It’s really easy to work with them.​

What did you find most impressive about Kapowza?

They definitely go above and beyond. For example, one of our digital ads needed to be updated over the weekend. Dan turned it in within 24 hours, and I knew he was out of town for a wedding. Kapowza gets it done and they’re really attentive to timeline and deadlines. They really understand how fast things move with our organization as well as startups in general.​

Are there any areas Kapowza could improve?

I don’t have anything. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Vice President of a non profit that provides help to families in the Alzheimer's space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Kapowza?

Complete redesign of our web site and continuing additions to the site as we grow.

SOLUTION

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

Kapowza past work with non profits and overall quality of the companies work.

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

They took our site which was very basic and developed a platform the took our site to the next level.

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

3-4 team members worked with our team to achieve our goals.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Work was done on time and we are very happy.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Great

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

We're impressed with their open approach to communication and plenty of solid ideas were exchanged.

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

no