OrangeYouGlad, LLC

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the marketing strategist for a 2-brand company involved in interior design and construction. I manage a variety of marketing, architecture, and design liaison.

One brand, Bialek, provides commercial furniture for offices, hospitals, healthcare settings, etc. We outfit business interiors and offer a good deal of design and planning. The other half, Intellistruct, is a prefabricated interior construction company that offers services for walls, ceilings, floors, etc. All supplies are made off-site, and then we quickly install the items on-site.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with OrangeYouGlad?

Our website desperately needed a complete overhaul. At the same time, I was redoing our branding internally. We were separating our brands to avoid client confusion. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we started, OrangeYouGlad came for a day-long discovery session. They had done a fair bit of work in advance, so we were reacting to things instead of brainstorming. They clearly understood who they were working with; my team doesn't do well with a blank piece of paper, but they’ll happily discuss set topics. We talked about which CMS [content management system] would work best and chose WordPress.

The hard-deliverable process was a new website, CMS, development and code, design, templates, and a bit of messaging help. We wanted to showcase our 2 different brands but connect them at the same time. The final deliverable was the developed website with the CMS.

OrangeYouGlad did a fair bit of illustrating and dividing content that we didn't have before to make simplify the process. That required a whole bunch of backend services.

It's all editable: I can go in and create as many items as I want, adjust any of those pieces to the user, and watch them magically drop into the right locations. If I didn’t know better, I would think that feature was hardcoded because it's so tightly integrated with everything else. We also have a blog, which is where I put our e-blasts. At first, we weren’t sure if we were going to include that, but we chose to have that feature in the end.

The functionality that’s attracted the biggest response is the fluidity of movement through the website. The site moves up and down and left and right in a logical progression, which was a big concern of ours initially.

I hope to use our projects or portfolio feature the most. It’s really complicated to figure out how to separate 2 brands but combine them in some way. We ended up creating a third piece to the site to showcase our combined projects. Users can navigate to this area in a million different ways, but all the content is in a set place for me to edit and upload. Content magically appears throughout the site in the appropriate vertical.

OrangeYouGlad also did SEO. Because I was revamping our processes, they were deeply involved in that effort. I felt like I had an in-house designer because they were such a major part of our work. We haven’t really grasped the best way to use social media, so OrangeYouGlad made sure everything was connected for us.

How did you come to work with OrangeYouGlad?

I found them through our manufacturing partner. When I visited OrangeYouGlad’s website, I was wowed by their designs and client list. Frankly, I thought I couldn't afford them, but we made it work.

At the start of the process, we interviewed 3 firms. At the end of the day, we wanted someone who’s creative and wouldn’t give us some templated system. We needed our partner to understand that a lot of our site is a brochure to help clients feel comfortable with us. The site needed to be beautiful, functional, and really express our distinctive design quality without making people think we dictate their style. It had to be beautifully designed but not so beautiful that people felt intimidated.

We interviewed OrangeYouGlad via video conference because they're in Brooklyn and we're in the DC area. Even over the phone and video, their inherent understanding—maybe even more than some of my colleagues—set them apart in my mind.

How much have you invested with OrangeYouGlad?

We spent $45,500, which was less than we should’ve paid. We got too excited about a couple of things, but I think that Tammy [Partner and Creative Director, OrangeYouGlad] decided to run with our additions and make them part of her portfolio. She uses third-party developers, so that cost included the developer. We never had to pay anyone besides Tammy.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our first interview happened in March of 2016. The work really kicked off in May of 2016, and we rolled out the site this past February. If we have questions, they're always responsive, so we're still communicating in that sense. In every other respect, the work is finished. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re incredibly happy with the results. Our old website was awful, so it’s not really fair to compare it with our new site. With the old site, a visitor a day would have made us happy, and we've blown way past that with the new site. We get consistent responses from our clients. It's fun to hear that people are amazed by a furniture dealer's website. We’ve gotten great feedback from the web design community too. It's interesting to look at the analytics and see the number of visitors from design blogs, not from our clients.

We're using the website as our proposal process. I upload items to the site, which brands the content as ours, but then a potential client can go into their own proposal. That's minimized confusion between us and our manufacturers.

How did OrangeYouGlad perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a great job of keeping us in line. Tammy really excelled at getting people on board. She and I would spend time talking about different concerns with team members from my side. Our biggest concern was the number and timing of edits, but she was able to bring everyone on board by either tweaking things or walking them through the reasoning.

Because we kept adding things, the timeline stretched. I don't blame anyone for that. If I had to do it all over again, I would have just moved the deadline because we couldn't have dropped any portion of the work. Everything was so valuable to us, and that was proven by the end result.

What did you find most impressive about OrangeYouGlad?

They’re outstanding designers. Everything that they do—and I know people in town who've worked with them before—is customized for the client. I think of WordPress as just a template; that's definitely not the case.

They became a part of our team, embedded like some sort of mind meld. They understood our problems, weren’t intimidated by the solutions, and sifted through ideas to find the best options. They talked us through each of the steps. I don't think most consultants try to become an integral part of a firm like they did.

Are there any areas OrangeYouGlad could improve?

Because the developer was an outsider, I was worried that something would get lost in translation. But, OrangeYouGlad spent enough time with us and with the developer to minimize any issues. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of Home Matters. We are a national movement redefining the American dream. We believe that every American should live in a safe, nurturing environment, which means having access to grocery stores, fresh food, quality education in good schools, green places to play, and all other community amenities which every citizen should have.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with OrangeYouGlad?

We wanted to create something that could take complicated issues like housing and community development, and transform those into a cause-friendly look, feel, and tone.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Housing community development is done in 100 different ways, but with OrangeYouGlad’s help, we were able to sum all of this into something simple that every American could understand. Through the work they’ve done over the past 5 years, we have reached a consumer-based and easily understandable brand. Our image was created to be very bold, and we’ve had nothing but compliments from day one on how the brand looks, which is due almost entirely to OrangeYouGlad.

From the outset, they’ve helped with overall brand development. We had a brand consultant who helped us with our story and narrative; OrangeYouGlad was very much involved with taking this and creating a visual output from it. They’ve designed everything related to print and online material, not only for the overall movement but also for any specific programs that come up. We have a “Home Matters to Veterans” campaign which we will be launching later this month, as well as a separate one called “Open the Door”. We’ve produced videos, as well as other separate design challenges for which OrangeYouGlad created entire websites. They’ve been responsible for everything related to our brand.

As our branding firm was helping us think through what our name would be, OrangeYouGlad came up with a handwritten logo for the organization. We love it very much because it encapsulates the feel of our movement. Given that it was actually written by hand, it alludes to someone finally sitting down at their dining room table in a safe home and writing down “Home Matters”.

OrangeYouGlad has also helped with all our branding guidelines. We have a resource library which includes all the different logos and how they should be used, anything we’ve trademarked, and any brand language which accompanies these. One of our brand tenets is “Home Matters for [Health, Education, Economy, Success]”, while another one is “Home Matters to [a particular geographic location]”. OrangeYouGlad created all the brand guidelines, logo usages, and language usages which accompany those 2 ways of using our name.

We’ve had a couple of iterations of the main website since launching it 5 years ago. We wanted it to be easy and accessible to an American. Housing and community development is a policy-steeped and brainy area. We wanted a site that would reach and captivate people straight off the street and show housing as a cause. Our website is reflective of this —it’s a very simple scroll down homepage. There are other pages where people can explore more of what we’re doing, but the main page is a simple presentation of part of our movement and an encouragement for people to join.

We show people clear ways they can become involved, one of which is a tool called the “Community Connector”. It allows users to put in their zip codes and bring up supporters within their community, which are making the homes we’re talking about possible. They can get connected through social media or other channels. OrangeYouGlad has created a database through which each of our 375 groups can create their own calls to action. We have a blog and OrangeYouGlad also developed a quiz game which walks people through why their homes are important. I believe that the site uses the WordPress platform, and we are hosted on Rackspace.

OrangeYouGlad has also provided search engine optimization and pay-per-click management. We’ve had a few social media campaigns, and they’ve continued to develop all our artwork and branding for t-shirts, banners, buttons, and so on. We send out packages for our groups to use.

How did you come to work with OrangeYouGlad?

Ideon Agency, our branding and consulting partner in New York put a request for proposal together, which we circulated around the country. They had known OrangeYouGlad from another project, and they ranked in the final 3 companies we looked at. It was a unanimous decision to go with them and we’ve used them for all our work ever since.

How much have you invested with OrangeYouGlad?

The cost of their work has been around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with OrangeYouGlad in the fall of 2012. We continue to use them for everything we do.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This past February, we had a group create a progress report on all our strategic plans. They focused on our current results on Facebook, which are very good. Much of this has to do with the artwork and branding created by OrangeYouGlad. We try to brand everything we post, and they’ve been a part of all of this, not only for creating images but also in thinking through what they should be. A big part of our success is how we look and how we communicate to consumers in midstream America. I attribute a lot of this to OrangeYouGlad.

How did OrangeYouGlad perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve worked with creative firms which didn’t necessarily have project management in place. This is a part of the core business with OrangeYouGlad. We’ve had 5–6 time-sensitive, PR-centered projects, and they performed great for each one. Not only do they take it seriously, but it’s a part of the business.

What did you find most impressive about OrangeYouGlad?

They’re the cream of the crop. We’ve worked with huge firms on the market, including Edelman; they looked at OrangeYouGlad’s work and were impressed. The service is not cheap, but based on the professional and creative work we’ve received, it’s a steal.

There are creative and thoughtful people on OrangeYouGlad’s side looking at what it is we’re trying to accomplish. They always make suggestions we would’ve never thought of, which is exactly what we need. They don’t simply come up with cool-looking things. I have a board to report to, but there’s never been a hesitation in the last 5 years about the work OrangeYouGlad has done.

Are there any areas OrangeYouGlad could improve?

Even though I shouldn’t say they were the greatest thing ever, I have no complaints. Even when Tammy Duncan, the owner, wasn’t involved, it was clear that there was a group effort on OrangeYouGlad’s side. I was never downgraded to lower-level people, and we always liked the work.