Matchstic

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Managing Partner of Black Airplane

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We build digital products and experiences that solve business problems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Conduct brand discovery
• Develop a brand strategy
• New brand messaging

SOLUTION

How did you find Matchstic?

Referral, Other

Why did you select Matchstic over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Matchstic’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

The goal of the partnership was to develop a brand story and messaging to elevate and bring clarity to the Black Airplane brand. This was accomplished through an in-depth, multi-level discovery process, the development of a brand strategy brief, and the creation of a new verbal identity. Final deliverables consisted of a Brand Strategy Brief outlining positioning, personality, target audience, and value proposition, and new messaging guidelines including brand voice, opening paragraph, key messages, headlines, and more.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Brand Strategy Brief
• Messaging Guidelines

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

Outstanding project management. They had a well defined process, they were extremely intentional in their communications, and did a fantastic job setting, managing and delivering on expectations.

What was your primary form of communication with Matchstic?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Matchstic has its process down. They know what they're doing, they know what comes next, and they instill confidence in their clients through the experience.

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

We wouldn't change anything about the partnership. Outstanding experience!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former SVP of a nonprofit organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Matchstic?

We wanted to refresh our brand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Matchstic provided branding services, focusing on our messaging as an organization. They created a detailed project scope, including the information we gave them, the research and interviews they conducted, and the benchmarking they did against other nonprofits. Their idea was to develop a new way of looking at our organization so new donors could feel integrated into it. It was a complex statement of work that took them about five months to create.

What was the team composition? 

We worked with two brand strategists, one content writer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Matchstic?

A board member who had previously worked with them referred Matchstic to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $60,000 with them for this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2022–January 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our team and board members thought Matchstic’s work was superb, conscientious, organized, and responsive to our requests and needs. They even were detailed in the presentation of their work, making this an excellent experience.

How did Matchstic perform from a project management standpoint?

Matchstic’s project management was excellent; they kept everything moving forward and prodded me whenever I owed them something to complete a task, which I appreciated. In addition, their team was knowledgeable and personable when it came to providing feedback. Overall, Matchstic led an excellent relationship and kept everything on time and within budget.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate that Matchstic was narrow and focused on their business model. Their team was also intuitive and profoundly good at brand strategy development.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t think there was anything they could improve on. Matchstic was great at their craft, and they listened well, which helped them learn. Their team showed me an exceptional skill set with great attention to detail and customer service, making us feel heard and considered.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief of staff for a moving, storage, logistics, and transportation company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Matchstic?

We’ve expanded our service portfolio, so we needed someone to help us explore formal brand strategies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Matchstic provides us with expert guidance in the brand strategy arena. This includes internal and external research, identifying potential suppliers, conducting focus group discussions and interviews, executing client and customer surveys, and identifying and strategizing our visual and verbal identity.

The team also creates content templates for social media, such as graphic design, profile imagery, and video production. Moreover, they manage Gantt chart working sessions and are now working on a presentation for our board members.

What is the team composition?

Main point of contact throughout the project has been our project manager, Patrice, and Brand Strategist Tracy.

How did you come to work with Matchstic?

I was looking online for brand strategy experts across the country. I used a few different award recognition criterias which helped me narrow my search and ultimately select Matchstic.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve only revealed success metrics to our internal stakeholders, but Matchstic has been a responsive, effective, and remarkable team to collaborate with.

How did Matchstic perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform well from a project management standpoint, as they’re consistently communicative throughout the partnership.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Craig has been instrumental in developing appropriate brand strategies for our organization. In addition, they’re the most likeable and responsive partner I’ve ever worked with in my life.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve consistently met the mark regarding our requirements and delivered more than I could ever ask for, but I do wish we could have more in-person meetings.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t have any specific advise, except recommend them to anyone who may be in need of their services.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CMO of Bold Commerce. We're a B2B SaaS ecommerce technology company focused on the checkout experience. We're helping brands sell more, in more places with a customizable suite of checkout, subscriptions and price rules.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Matchstic, and what were your goals?

Our origin story was routed in app development for SMB merchants -while our business and market opportunity had shifted upmarket and across multiple platform ecosystems. We needed to change how people thought of Bold. We hired Matchstic to lead us in developing clear, concise, compelling positioning - a brand strategy along with updated visual and verbal identity systems to connect with new audiences, while retaining our brand's personality.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reached out to 6 boutique branding agencies to invite discussion and proposals. We evaluated them on relevant client experience, credentials, process, fit/chemistry and value for fees. Matchstic covered all these bases and were excited to about our mission and challenge.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

Matchstic was ultra-disciplined in their approach and process, tackling the work in 4 stages: Discovery, Strategy, Identity and Launch. The began Discovery with immersion into our business - interviewing stakeholders and conducting a competitor and brand audit. They took findings into Strategy moving through a series of workshops and activities to create direction for brand strategy and to guide us to a "radically relevant" positioning and distilling insights to craft a brand brief.

From there they explored and presented concepts for visual and verbal identity using a logical approach of foundations > concepts > solutions - ultimately refining into guidelines for all visual and messaging components. Also they helped us think through launch and implementation, applying lessons learned from others to craft a phased approach to execution. Deliverables included the brand brief, identity and messaging toolkit and guidelines.

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

We worked closely with Blake- Co-founder and Creative Director as well as a Brand Strategist and specialized visual and messaging talent from the Matchstic team. Melissa, our PM kept us on track and informed and the core team was supplemented by other talent for the development phase.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The implementation of the new brand is underway - so quantitative measures of awareness/relevance to target market is yet to be seen. The feedback internally has been great - a first measure of sentiment - and our design team has fully embraced the visual identity system in planning forward work. We have started to experiment with some of the messaging - and it is resonating well - tradeshows, collateral and ad copy - showing more engagement. The Matchstic team has given us a great foundation to get us where we need to go.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had weekly sessions with the Project Manager to review progress and outline next steps. Meetings were booked well in advance and T=they were responsive to accommodate our schedules. They hit their deadlines - their time to delivery was on schedule - even with flexing to add in facilitation of additional sessions for product positioning. Over all really impressed with coming in close to our initial, somewhat aggressive timelines.

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

They really are committed to helping brands uncover their "radically relevant" position - and brought a highly collaborative approach to dig deep and challenge our thinking. The energy they brought to the project was fantastic and the final assets - both visual and messaging are great.

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

The only downside was the entire project happened virtually during pandemic travel restrictions - it would have been great to have them to our HQ in Canada. Also all our communication was via email - I do find there is a role for Slack vs email in sharing inspiration/updates.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of a health and wellness company. We do research and sell devices around therapeutic hydration and water production.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Matchstic?

Our initial goal was to develop a set of brand guidelines: the identity of the company, our logo, our colors, and our global messaging. The second half of the engagement was a naming process to go with the now existing brand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

All their work was from scratch, as our existing identity was very light, and we wanted them to have total freedom to do and propose whatever they wanted. It exactly the same for the naming. We started with a short brief about our company and our expectations, but it wasn’t very detailed. They quickly understood what we were going for.  They also created templates for us around messaging and positioning and copywriting.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around 6–8 people.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $50,000–$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from January–December 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any quantitative results, as our products are going to launch in about two-weeks time, but everybody is very happy with the job that Matchstic did. They love the name, the brand, the identity, and the messaging. It’s hard to compare this to what we had before, as they truly started from scratch, but we’re now nearly at a 100% satisfaction rate.

How did Matchstic perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication was very good, and they were always available to us. They were highly organized. We had an account manager on their side who managed all the meetings and the schedule. Communication took place by email, and they were totally transparent. We appreciated that they had no hidden fees and didn’t surprise us with anything. The process was very smooth. We also communicated over Slack and Monday.com.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As a French company, we have a very different mindset than American companies. Matchstic deeply understood our approach and were very open to our discussion-based process. We value creativity more than performance, and they offered a lot of really creative ideas that were in-line with what we were thinking.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a gambling comparison website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Matchstic?

We needed a company that could help us with our rebranding efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Matchstic to lead an entire rebranding process for our company. We started the engagement with a series of initial consultations, followed by the research phase, the design phase, and implementation. Matchstic created an entire brand package for us, including a new brand identity and tone of voice, logos, color schemes, and style.

What is the team composition?

We worked with six people from Matchstic throughout the engagement.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent a total of $140,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2021–January 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Matchstic successfully delivered a fantastic new brand identity, which we’re incredibly happy with. Their process was brilliant, as was the end product.

How did Matchstic perform from a project management standpoint?
Matchstic performed well in terms of project management. Their communication was excellent, and they hit all their milestone dates throughout the engagement. Overall, it was a professional, efficient, and smooth experience.

We typically communicated through email and Zoom meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Matchstic definitely over-delivered. They did everything they said they would, and they did it to a really high standard. I was extremely impressed with the products and services they provided.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything they could have done differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to think your brief through and be clear about what you want to achieve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of a child protection nonprofit.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Matchstic?

We were going through a rebrand, so we needed someone to assist us in repositioning our entire organization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Matchstic provided us with brand positioning, strategy, content writing, and logo design to revamp our visual identity.

They first did a full assessment of our existing brand and pulled some aspects from it from a legacy standpoint, so some of the assets were a carryover from our previous identity.

What is the team composition?

We mainly worked with Melissa (Director of Project Management), Blake (Co-Founder & Creative Director), Brit (Design Director), and a brand strategist.

How did you come to work with Matchstic?

We came across Matchstic through a Google search. I reached out to several brand agencies, narrowed down the list to three, and ultimately went with them based on their proposal.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about $120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2020–October 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Anecdotally speaking, the visual design and positioning of our brand were well-received in the marketplace.

We’ve been able to improve our marketing performance metrics across the board and garner a lot of positive feedback from stakeholders and external partnerships.

How did Matchstic perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed well from a project management perspective, as they did a good job of keeping us on track. They came into the partnership with a clear plan, consistently met all our deadlines, and adapted to our needs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with their creative process, strategic alignment, and expertise in the field. We were also very satisfied with the outcome and they were very adaptive and accommodating to our adjustments.

Overall, Matchstic was an excellent partner, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again if I had a similar need.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They didn’t necessarily adapt to our feedback as well as they could have, but it wasn’t really a major deficiency.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a state agency that administers higher education financial aid programs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Matchstic?

We were looking for a partner to help us develop brand strategy details and goals to promote one of our student financial aid programs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Matchstic developed verbal identity guidelines for us to promote our program. Their task focused on looking for better ways to verbalize our program’s value. They started by interviewing our staff and interested parties. Then, they interviewed program participants. From there, the team brought all the feedback together to develop the verbiage that best explained the program and promoted its value. They did ideation of headlines, deep dives, and talking points for us to use. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people from Matchstic. More people may have been behind the scenes that I didn’t interact with directly.

How did you come to work with Matchstic?

We have a nonprofit foundation charged with fundraising for our program, and they were the originators of our relationship with Matchstic. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2021–April 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Matchstic was very professional and patient with those of us who weren’t in the marketing world. They did a great job nurturing us and helping us understand what they hoped to achieve. 

How did Matchstic perform from a project management standpoint?

Most of the project management was done through email or Microsoft Teams collaboration, and they drove the process. We responded to their requests for scheduling, timing, input, and deadlines. They laid out all that information in the project scope we agreed to at the beginning of the relationship. Matchstic met all those deadlines and deliverables. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

For all that Matchstic provided to us, working with them was an exceptional experience. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they needed to improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the creative director and head of brand for a franchise organization that’s based in the US and has a global presence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Matchstic?

In order to better compete in the marketplace and position ourselves for the growth that we are anticipating and experiencing, we hired Matchstic to help us with our visual and verbal rebrand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We undertook two contracts with Matchstic over the course of our relationship with them. The first was for the update and development of our brand identity, for which the deliverable is a full report on Matchstic’s market research findings. This would help us verify and compare our perceptions to other people’s perceptions of our business. 

The first step in that process was the discovery, where the team really immersed themselves in the brand. This was a challenge because not long after we began working together, the pandemic caused the entire world to shut down. Matchstic had to be resourceful with how they got to know the people in our company because any information they could gather would play heavily into the next step, which was the strategy. 

We then asked the team to produce a brand brief, which is a one-page summary of our brand’s positioning, personality, target audience, and value proposition. This would serve as an internal-facing tool that will guide our design and branding process. 

Matchstic then went into proposing a variety of concepts as we got into designing the logo, aligning colors and visual elements with the outlined strategy. We married those down to one choice that was fleshed out into a full identity system that involved messaging, headlines, and conversation starters.

Once all those brand guidelines were in place, we proceeded into the second contract, which was for launch consulting. Matchstic helped us specifically with the design and conception of a hardcover brand book that would provide art direction for our company. They also helped with the designing and production of our frontline employees’ uniform system and vehicle wrap. We’re a vehicle-based business primarily, so the SUVs that our employees drive are wrapped and designed a certain way. 

What is the team composition?

One of the co-founders was heavily involved in a creative director role. There was a project manager, a lead designer, a junior designer, a copywriter, and at least two strategists working with us. There were more people working in the background, but I mostly interacted with those seven people.

How did you come to work with Matchstic?

It was out of their industry reputation and word of mouth. Matchstic is well-known in the brand strategy community, so I've known about them for a long time. When it came time for us to commit to a rebranding process, I was really excited to reach out to them and have the opportunity to work with their team. 

When our CEO filled out their contact form on their website, it only took 1–2 hours for their founder to email us and have a meeting scheduled for the following afternoon. Their responsiveness was impressive considering our CEO had filled out that form late in the evening. It sealed the deal for them at that point. 

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we've invested $155,000. We're getting ready to increase that as we enter into another contract with Matchstic.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2020, and we’re currently about to enter into our third contract.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As a franchise organization, one of the most important things for us to understand is how the owners and their teams will react to the changes we’re making. We took a very hands-on approach with getting franchisee feedback and involvement at all levels whenever that was possible. 

As a designer myself, I would understand if Matchstic didn't want all those other people meddling or of getting in the way, but to their great credit, they not only accepted but embraced this as a strength. It really showed in the quality of the work.

I have not heard a single negative feedback from any person in our community when they saw what we had developed. Everyone was thrilled and excited about it and felt that it truly represented the brand that they’re a part of. I think that's the best thing you can say about someone's work in the branding world. The quality of Matchstick’s output was second to none. On a personal level, I think it was absolutely remarkable. 

How did Matchstic perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is outstanding and better than I could’ve hoped for. They have one dedicated project manager who was assigned to our accounts, and we have hit every target and every deadline.

Sometimes when the other vendors we were working with would drag their feet, it's not me who had to reach out. Matchstic took the initiative to prompt those vendors along. It was something they didn’t have to do, but nonetheless did because they were so committed to getting the work done on time. I really appreciate that about them. 

We communicated by email and phone call. We also flew down to their office in Atlanta about 3–4 times for a face-to-face meeting. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The first impressive thing about Matchstic is that they were phenomenal at listening and understanding what it is they're seeing and hearing. They also knew how to read between the lines and search underneath the surface, especially during the initial discovery phase. That ability is such an asset to the work that they do and their quality as partners. 

More than any other vendor I've ever worked with, Matchstic was confident in and committed to their process. We sometimes felt like we knew what was going to be found during the research or that some information might not be totally necessary, but Matchstic unearthed insights that were absolutely essential to the decisions we would later make.

The second impressive thing, which is related to the first, is how they acted as true partners of ours in this process. Naturally, an agency like Matchstic will want to make sure that they are on top of the work to remain profitable. However, we requested their help so many times for certain things that we didn't know how to handle, and they consistently rose up to the challenge. We are very grateful to them for that because it is so rare in this industry. If we are to do another project like this in the future, we would 100% take it up again with Matchstic.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything that I would change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be ready to start with the strategy. Any good firm or agency will need to root the design and messaging in the strategy. It is so easy to get into the mindset of creating new logos, using new colors, and designing a new website when going through a rebrand, but never rush or skip the strategy session. Trust Matchstic’s process and they will be able to give you a much better output.