Party Land

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the creative marketing manager at an entertainment company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Party Land?

We were looking for some creative ideas for a specific show.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Party Land worked from a brief that we gave them and put together a strategy. Before pitching the show to us in a final presentation over video-call, they told us their ideas during a tissue session.

What is the team composition?

I interacted with two teammates daily.

How did you come to work with Party Land?

They were recommended to me by someone at the company I work for. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $7,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–February 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered exactly what we asked for. They were a great team to work with and we’ll definitely work with them again. However, it was a tough brief so I don’t think we’ll end up moving forward with any of their ideas for various reasons.

How did Party Land perform from a project management standpoint?

We had some email communication but that was it. Most of our communication took place during the final presentation. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are creative, innovative thinkers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing specifically. They could’ve thought through tactical executions a little more and tried to figure out how to implement their ideas, but that wasn’t anything major.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Asking them how they would execute their ideas tactically is helpful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I oversee brand strategy at a major American brewery.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Party Land?

We wanted support with our branding efforts. We did a lot of local events, but we wanted to scale up to reach a broader audience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We work with Party Land on marketing and campaigns. They help organize cultural events and activities. The team also helps us respond to important cultural moments, both planned and spontaneous. 

How did you come to work with Party Land? 

I was introduced to them through a friend. 

What is the team composition? 

Our main point of contact was Matt (Co-Founder & CEO, Party Land). We also worked with Madison (Managing Director, Party Land). 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $50,000 on their services so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them at the end of 2018, and our engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As a result of their work, we were able to generate widespread press coverage. We were impressed with their ability to deliver such strong outcomes. 

How did Party Land perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent. We had most of our meetings over the phone or in person. They would come up to our office or we would go to them. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

The speed of their responses and their willingness to work around the clock was impressive. Since a lot of our work with Party Land was about responding to cultural moments, there is a short turnaround time. We typically needed to deliver something within 24 or 48 hours. They were able to work with us in these situations. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s hard to say since they did a fantastic job. My only feedback would be as they grow as a business, they should be careful not to lose their agility and personal touch. 

Do you have advice for potential customers? 

It’s important to be specific and know what you want. However, you should also remain open to collaboration and feedback from their team. They can help solve a variety of business challenges by bringing a new perspective.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I sit on the Brand Team as the Social Media Coordinator and am responsible for anything that digitally or socially relates to our beverage brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Party Land?

We originally hired Party Land to help us create a response to a legal debate and from it the Optimistic Conversations Brief was born as a way to keep the brand at top-of-mind during culturally relevant moments throughout the year. This brief, after several pitch rounds, eventually evolved into a brief meant to inspire ideas to celebrate our 175th birthday as a brand.

What were your goals for this project?

As mentioned above, the brief for Party Land changed and morphed as we went along the briefing process. Eventually, it became a way to find ways to celebrate our 175th anniversary as a brand. We are an old, independent beer brand in the United States, so we had to celebrate the right way.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

This particular brief was born out of a project we had completed with Party Land last year - the 'Manifesto' which was our response to the legal debate with another beverage company. I was not a part of the team at this point, so I'm not 100% sure how the connection came to be.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

As I've stated a few times here, this creative project in particular morphed several times along the way. Party Land, eventually, was in charge of putting together an AR lens through which users could use their mobile devices to see previous vintage cans and our previous Art Can winners in an effort to pump up the opening of our Annual Art Can Competition on 10/1. They also created all social assets, contributed to the press release and wrote copy for the corresponding posts with a suggested roll-out plan.

What was the team composition?

I worked very closely with Party Land throughout this process. We required a lot of testing for the AR lens, especially when it came to getting the process copy right - so we had a lot of really effective back and forth in getting it into the right place. I'm not sure how many people worked across this project on Party Land's team as most of my correspondence was with Madison, in particular, but the team was definitely available should we all have needed to connect. They're pretty nimble.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Vintage AR can - before we got shut down the first time (Facebook's fault, not ours nor Party Land's) was one of our highest performing organic social posts to date with an outpour of positive sentiment. Both aspects of this campaign really tapped into our sometimes two-prong audience, which was a really unique feature of this campaign in particular - i.e. fans of the old with the look back at Vintage cans and fans of the new and progressing with a look back at all of our old Art Can winners with the excitement of finding a new winner this year.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Amazing! Party Land has been a delight to work with. Because of the nature of this project, we had a lot of back and forth over instructions and copy and trial-ing and we worked very closely throughout the process. As previously mentioned, we were unexpectedly shut down by Facebook through no fault of our own necessarily and they were available even late night to work through concocting a full-prong Plan B plan of attack if we weren't able to get back up while taking into consideration how we, as the brand, felt positioned to speak if this were to happen as well. Super effective! Really open lines of communication which were much appreciated.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I loved how nimble they were. I think I spoke to this on the workflow, but it was like we were integrated as a part of their team and it felt really collaborative, rather than having an agency just hand you something. As the person who directly works on social, and with this being a social project, it was nice to have multiple perspectives for roll-out, copy, etc. And again, super accommodating - the unexpected shut down as a really big setback, but we didn't really bat an eye and worked through it efficiently and I think that if we had been forced to go down the Plan B route - it would've been equally as effective.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The only suggested area of improvement would be pitching within budget. Originally the birthday idea was supposed to have three pieces, but because of budget concerns we ended up only doing one. Would've been great to have the full set of three, because we were quite excited about the ideas! Other than that, really pleased with our Party Land experience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the business development manager at CBx Sciences and Evolab brand team. I’m responsible for the creation, development, and deployment of all brand and marketing related programs that are part of the Harvest, Inc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Party Land?

We needed help developing our brand positioning and strategy for a new product.

What were your goals for this project?

To bring our brand idea to life, identify our target consumer, establish a brand voice and a go-to-market strategy.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Their founders are former co-workers, so I knew their work, how good they are, and especially how fun they are to work with.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They worked on our strategy and brand story, beginning with work on our brand attitude and then on our visual approach. They built on our existing logo and identity with direction on photography, illustration, packaging, and merchandise. It also involved our terms of the manifesto, tagline, headlines, body copy, and calls-to-action, as well as visual and verbal concepts. These are billboards, video and static social mockups, a website homepage, and landing page mockups.

Finally, they did our rollout plan, focusing on grassroots activation directions to launch in three markets, as well as capture content such as stunts, influencer partnerships, and sponsorships. These media tactics are intended to generate demand, drive store traffic to our retail sites, and build followers. The team also considered where we could go next and tease future developments.

What was the team composition?

We worked with their CEO, CCO, Creative Director, and a Chief Strategy Officer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re still in the launch development phase, but they’ve produced great results.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It’s been so easy.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I’m so impressed by their talents from the top to the bottom of the organization. They’re fun to work with and bring unique, interesting thinking to the project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They just opened office space in Venice, which was my only previous request.