Project Bionic

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Taco Time is a quick-service restaurant located primarily in Washington State. I’m the marketing manager responsible for all of our digital assets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Project Bionic?

We didn’t have a social media presence when we started with Project Bionic. We needed to establish and then grow that presence.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the beginning, they set up our social accounts and identified our brand tenets. We leveraged their insights on advertising, content creation, and reputation management.Through the years, we’ve also worked with them on several contests and promotions, which have been very successful.

Project Bionic manages our presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They’re creating content and doing community management. They’re also doing our ad buys on social. In the past year or so, we brought someone in-house to manage our guest services, and Project Bionic has been instrumental in helping that person create their own processes. They’re now sharing the duties in terms of reviews on various sites.

How did you come to work with Project Bionic?

Many years ago, I attended a talk given by their founder, Josh Dirks, when he was an employee at another company. I got to know him and found that he had an outstanding mind and was very forward-thinking. When he started his company, he reached out to us. We thought it was a great fit. So, it happened organically, and it was the right timing for us.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship started in 2010 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We went from zero followers on Facebook to almost 140,000. This is an important metric because we don't coupon or discount. We don’t do a lot of discounting, so those numbers are very organic. We’ve established a very ardent fan base. They’ve managed to do this without us giving them a lot of tools in terms of monetary or product-based discounts. The growth and retention has been very natural.

How did Project Bionic perform from a project management standpoint?

They worked to understand us, ultimately becoming an extension of our brand. Once that was nailed down, the project management became really turnkey. They don’t have to ask many questions. At this point, we operate like a well-oiled machine.

What did you find most impressive about Project Bionic?

They really care about our brand and our relationship. We have a loyal partner in Project Bionic. They care as much or more than any other third-party vendor with whom we’ve worked.

Are there any areas Project Bionic could improve?

It can be tricky understanding the nuances of a brand.  The voice and tone, imagery, and specialized services need time to be developed.  Project Bionic was committed to learning what makes our brand different.  We were able to establish this trust after a few months.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a gluten-free food manufacturer. We sell our products through the grocery channels throughout the United States and Canada. I am one of the co-founders and handle all sales and marketing for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Project Bionic?

We need to have a dialogue and connection with the consumers of our product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handle all of our social media engagement including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the content engagement of our quarterly promotions, etc.

How did you come to work with Project Bionic?

I’ve been working with them a long time and I don’t remember how I found them.

How much have you invested with Project Bionic?

We spend approximately $60,000 per year with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in 2013 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our fan base has grown on Facebook. When we first started with them, we had 2000 fans and now we have 270,000. It’s difficult for me to pinpoint a direct correlation to sales. This is more brand building. It’s had an impact but I can’t quantify it.

How did Project Bionic perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent and have been able to meet deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about Project Bionic?

They’re a good partner. They’ve been willing to work with us on certain issues. They are very responsive and proactive and are creative in their ideas.

Are there any areas Project Bionic could improve?

I don’t have any negative things to say.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

LEVL has a device that you breath into and it’ll tell you if you’re in a level of fat burn or not by measuring the amount of acetone in your breath. Our pro solution is out now and our consumer product will be out shortly. I take care of digital marketing and PR.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Project Bionic?

We were a startup and knew how important social media was. We wanted a company that could be our community managers as well as could help us with publishing and promotion.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They do community management and publishing for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They also do our promotions on those platforms. They develop the content in conjunction with what we’re doing on our website.

How did you come to work with Project Bionic?

We had worked with a video production company to create some videos for our site and he had talked about working with Project Bionic so we reached out to them and they were super responsive. They took time to understand our business and then we gave them an RFP and it went from there.

How much have you invested with Project Bionic?

We spend between $10,000 and $50,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2015 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

What’s most exciting is that when we went to CES in Las Vegas with our product in 2016, Project Bionic sent two people with us who captured videos and real-time tweet and communication with our community. They stayed up on the press that we were getting and worked in conjunction with our PR agency to make sure anything that was mentioned in the press was sent out or retweeted or whatever was needed. We were a small, unknown startup coming out of Seattle, Washington and we ended up in Time magazine as one of the top products to come out of CES in 2016. We were mentioned on a number of sites for 2017. A lot of that had to do with our PR agency however, I don’t think we would’ve gotten the buzz around any of those press pieces had it not been for Project Bionic. We set a goal for 10,000 likes and we have surpassed that with 12,000 likes.

How did Project Bionic perform from a project management standpoint?

They do great. It’s helpful to have an entire team dedicated to our business making sure we’re on top of trends and knowing when deadlines are coming. We get a weekly email that includes our plan for the week. Our product is a SEA class one device so we have a regulatory guide to approve everything that goes out. Colin and Laura make sure that anything we write on social media is approved by our regulatory guide.

What did you find most impressive about Project Bionic?

It’s a unique device that we have and I think they’ve done their due diligence to get to know the product well and understand the nuances of marketing this product. They’re a great extension of our marketing team.

Are there any areas Project Bionic could improve?

We’re really happy with them and if there are any issues, we can have an open conversation and have that resolved quickly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a dairy home delivery company. We deliver milk that we manufacture and other products that we purchase to 50,000 homes in the Seattle and Tacoma areas. I am the marketing and public relations manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Project Bionic?

We needed to build awareness of our company and drive more customer signups. We also wanted to upsell our customers by promoting new products that we’re carrying. We needed to upgrade customer service by being able to address weather delays for deliveries, etc. and to reduce attrition.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed all of the content for our social media including Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. They had also done Twitter but that is now done in-house. They help with community management and acquisition campaigns, which includes digital media strategy.

How did you come to work with Project Bionic?

They are a local company that was recommended to us. I believe we were one of their first clients.

How much have you invested with Project Bionic?

We spend $10,000 to $50,000 per year with Project Bionic.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with them for six years and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we started, we had less than 5000 followers on Facebook and now we have almost 60,000. Our customer growth has been really steady. We add 5000 to 6000 new customers on a yearly basis. We recently started our Pinterest and Instagram pages and we’ll soon have 1000 followers on those platforms.

How did Project Bionic perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a small agency so there’s not a lot of red tape to go through. We tell them what we need and a couple of people on the team get it done.

What did you find most impressive about Project Bionic?

They have a good range of creative capacity as far as having the capability to write in different tones, to design, to produce video, to do photo shoots, etc. Content creation is a big value for us because we don’t have a lot of that in-house.

Are there any areas Project Bionic could improve?

We brought the community management in-house because it’s a daily thing and I feel like they could’ve been done better with that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior global marketing manager of a company that makes two-way radios and different communication devices. I’m responsible for the regional marketing deployment we do on the brand, product marketing, and channel support.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Project Bionic?

Social media is a good way for us to build the brand and connect with our channel partners and end users. However, we needed help with our social media channels. We already had all the channels established but were not doing a good job of maintaining them. As a result, we had very few followers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Project Bionic is in charge of our social media channels. They reviewed our business and gave us goals to reach. They’ve really gotten to know our product line and they’re very involved. They know the people in our target market very well and know how to talk to them. We work on a calendar of the different things we want to do in social media and they manage all of that. I don’t have to worry about anything because I know it’s in good hands. They reach out to us if there are technical questions from a customer that they don’t know how to answer. I might give suggestions on content marketing, but they take it from there.

How did you come to work with Project Bionic?

One of our channel partners introduced us to them. I liked the fact that they’re not a big company.

How much have you invested with Project Bionic?

We’ve spent between $10,000 and $50,000 over the course of our relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2015 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The results have been great. In October 2015, we had 3,400 fans on Facebook. Today, it’s around 11,000. Our impressions, engagement levels, and share levels are very high. We had 1.5 million impressions in 2016. Twitter and LinkedIn have also seen some great growth. Our most successful posts are when we talk about a product, but our audience also likes to see funny posts.

How did Project Bionic perform from a project management standpoint?

We have access to the calendar so we can stay updated. I meet with the account manager every week and the founder of the company is always helpful.

What did you find most impressive about Project Bionic?

They asked for some radios so they could take pictures to post online. People like seeing those kinds of pictures on social media. They’ve really become an extension of our team.

Are there any areas Project Bionic could improve?

No. The time difference makes it challenging, but there’s nothing we can change about that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is the Winthrop Rhythm & Blues Festival which is a nonprofit put on by the Winthrop Music Association in Winthrop, Washington. It’s now in its 30th year, and it’s been a nonprofit for 12 years. I am the festival director, handling the booking of the bands, production, and marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Project Bionic?

It was to get the word out to an audience that might not know about our festival, and to sell more tickets. I’d like to add that I also worked for the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland run by the Oregon Food Bank. I brought PB into that festival first, worked with them there, and it was unbelievably successful. That’s a big festival compared to ours. I run the Facebook page for Waterfront, and they had previously made some Pandora buys. 

With Pandora, there was nothing trackable. A month before the festival, I reached out to PB and said, “This is the result that Waterfront got in an earlier campaign with Pandora. I’ve got a very small amount of budget to work with. Can you do something for me? Help us reach out to people who might be interested in a performer we hadn’t had before? And reach out to a demographic that we hadn’t interacted with before?” PB told me, “We really believe we can do better than that.” And they did. The PB buys on facebook proved just phenomenally successful, and had the trackable data to prove it.

Seeing the results we got at Waterfront, I convinced the board that runs Winthrop to spend some of our advertising budget with PB. And that paid off spectacularly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For Waterfront I managed the FB social media organic reach and PB wrote and implemented the FB ad buys. PB worked with both our ticket seller and web designer to put in a tracking system that tied FB clicks to our website to our ticket seller. PB provided weekly data updates.

How did you come to work with Project Bionic?

I met Josh Dirks at a conference put on by the Washington Festival and Events Association. Josh has taught social media classes over the years and I follow him since as he is a social media guru. Josh has shared his expertise with me and has always been available for phone calls when I have questions. I have learned much from Josh Dirks and Leif Espelund and they have really helped me hone my social media skills. With Winthrop Rhythm and Blues Festival, if we had the budget, I would completely turn over all our social media to PB, I believe in them that strongly.

How much have you invested with Project Bionic?

For Waterfront we invested $5k.

For Winthrop Rhythm &Blues Festival we invested $425

What is the status of this engagement?

For Waterfront – PB started the campaign in April for a period of 3 months.

For the Winthrop Rhythm & Blues Festival, we engaged PB in the beginning of June 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Waterfront: PB had a profound effect on our ticket sales. We had 794 purchases with a revenue of $46,000, Increased our FB audience by 7,000, and the cost per click averaged $0.28. The metrics are remarkable compared to what had been achieved with other social media buys.

Winthrop: We engaged PB with a $425 buy which turned into a purchase conversion of $5,300 in ticket sales.

PB really did an amazing job and both festivals will continue to use them this year.

How did Project Bionic perform from a project management standpoint?

They managed everything and gave weekly reports. They ran the ads by us and if we needed to, we tweaked them. We conferred with them regularly by phone, which was great.

They listened and knew exactly what needed to be done. They wrote the ads. When an ad did not have impact, PB would pull that ad and create another. They managed the whole campaign from beginning to end. It was amazing.

What did you most impressive about Project Bionic?

They really are into what they are doing. They really believe in it, and they have fun. Just a positive way that they show up as a company. They do great business and have a great service to sell, but they also are available for me even when I have just a simple question like “Why is Facebook doing this,” and they are always available and open and willing to impart information, which is great. It’s not like when you engage somebody who is taking care of your website, ask them to make a 2-word change, and they charge you their hourly rate to make that change. These guys are available. They are a great resource beyond the business they are doing.

Are there any areas Project Bionic could improve?

I can’t think of one thing, to be honest. I’m a huge fan. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Seattle Sports Commission.

What is your position?

I’m the director of marketing and communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Project Bionic?

The original goal was for an event that we have called Sports Star of the Year which is an awards show for the sports industry in Seattle. When the event was handed to us we hiredProject Bionic to help with social media messaging and planning. We’ve also used them for a road race we organize.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They were responsible for crafting the social media strategy to drive ticket sales and awareness for the event. In the past only attendees would vote but we moved to a new format for anyone to vote. They created a strategy for the voting aspect and worked with us to get the content needed. They set up the posts and the night of the event they handled all the social media aspects of the event. They spent the entire day posting before, during and after pictures and live tweeted the event. The platforms they worked on were Facebook and Twitter.

How did you come to work with Project Bionic?

The person that had my position before me set it up. When I came onboard here at the company I was told to get a social media campaign going but it wasn’t working for me.

The first meeting I had with Project Bionic was an eye-opener. They were so good at explaining how social media could augment what we were doing in marketing.

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

We’ve spent under $10,000 in total with Project Bionic.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in February 2012 and will continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Our following on Twitter would spike during the event. The awareness they gave the event was huge.

How did Project Bionic perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is great. They execute everything they say they’re going to do. The execution has been equally as good as the creative thought behind it.

What distinguishes Project Bionic from other providers?

They’re super smart and super creative. They look at each project to see how they can enhance what we’re doing. They understood our goals and looked for ways to help.

Is there anything Project Bionic could have improved or done differently?

I haven’t had any issues with them. In every instance their work is better than what I could’ve done myself. They’ve raised the bar.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Point Ruston is a 97-acre master plan community. The company I work for is a real estate developer building what will be a lifestyle center in the commercial real estate industry. Some condominiums are already sold, and some apartments are occupied. There’s a 9-screen movie theater and seven restaurants in addition to other commercial businesses that are running currently. The project is 20% complete at this time. I’m the marketing director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Project Bionic?

We wanted to grow our opt-in email database and social media following.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Project Bionic acts as a consultant and advisor for specific marketing campaigns that we’re executing. I worked with the founder of Project Bionic to craft a contest that had the objective of educating the public to the value proposition of our company in exchange for a great prize. Project Bionic manages our social media advertising placement and budget. We gave them a fixed amount and asked them to optimize the advertising spend that can best achieve our objectives for this campaign. The platforms that Project Bionic worked on include Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

How did you come to work with Project Bionic?

I heard Josh [CEO & co-Founder, Project Bionic] speak with the first company he founded that eventually became Project Bionic. I’ve known him for ten years.

How much have you invested with Project Bionic?

So far, we’ve spent between $50,000 and $200,000 with Project Bionic.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in March 2016, and it was completed in July 2016. We continue to work with Project Bionic on other projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We experienced an email database growth of 126%; from 9,000 to 20,000. The average daily visits to Point Ruston.com during the sweepstakes experienced a 400% growth. Facebook growth was 154%; from 4,000 to 10,000. The growth on Twitter was 246%; from 390 to 1,400. Our reach on Facebook was up 317%. We’ve done this campaign before using other mediums, but we experienced much bigger growth by using solely digital on the campaign.

How did Project Bionic perform from a project management standpoint?

There weren’t any issues. Project Bionic's team told me what they were going to do and they did it.

What did you find most impressive about Project Bionic?

I’m 100% confident in Josh’s role as a thought leader in the social media and digital marketing space. He provides cutting edge strategy on how to accomplish our goals. Project Bionic is a fantastic partner for anybody seeking to advance their marketing in the digital world.

Are there any areas Project Bionic could improve?

I wouldn’t have changed anything. We worked in tandem to reach the goals.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

My company is Axe Grind Studios, and I’m located in Arizona. I do a bunch of stuff with marketing consulting, digital design, and branding.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am a consultant.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Project Bionic?

One of our clients is a company called Wine Doctor, located in Nevada. They’re a young company, and I work with them as a consultant, acting as a director of digital marketing. So, I’m actually a consultant representing their company. They’re a startup company that was featured on "Shark Tank." They have traction with some major retail accounts, and they’re working on penetrating more. The goal was to bring Project Bionic in. The key performance indicators were to grow their fan base and get more exposure for their brand on Facebook specifically. We didn’t focus on any of the other social channels.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

[The] work was focused on fan growth and brand exposure on Facebook. More specifically, some of their action items were to manage the community, create content, schedule postings, come up with creative work, and manage the technical aspect of the fan growth portion of it. So, managing ads, coming up with ads, [and] testing ads.

If you have 13,000 people that like your page, Facebook isn’t always going to put everything you post in front of all 13,000 people. They’re only going to pull out rich and engaging content that you’ve created. Then, the other aspect of it is that you can pay to promote the posts that you put up to a larger segment of all of your fans. That was another initiative that we were working on with them.   

What was your process for selecting Project Bionic with which to work?

My business partner is actually located in Seattle, and through natural networking and common contacts, we were exposed to Josh Dirks [co-founder and CEO of Project Bionic]. We tried to connect on a couple of projects during a two-year period, and then finally this was the first one we were able to connect on. We were very happy with the services they were able to provide for our client.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

For this project, it was a $2,500 a month retainer, with a six-month contract in order to execute the different deliverables that I mentioned. Then, Wine Doctor decided to throw an extra $1,000 per month on the fan growth budget, to push out ads and grow their fans on the page.

When did you start working with them?

I believe it was in April of 2014. The relationship is no longer ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results and feedback, is there anything you can share in regards to the work they've done?

We started off with 445 fans approximately, at the onset of the campaign, and when we ended, it was just shy of 13,000. What they were able to accomplish in that short time, which some of that in the first few months, I would attribute a lot of that to "Shark Tank." It was able to set the campaign on fire, but Project Bionic was definitely there to help facilitate and execute. A lot of it was naturally what Project Bionic does. Being fair and thinking logically, the "Shark Tank" effect was able to help amplify what they were doing.

How do you think they’ve performed?

They’ve done a great job. They’re very thorough, definitely on the cutting edge of where technology is, and marketing strategies within Facebook. I like their approach to things. It’s not a unique approach but, in my opinion, it’s the right approach. They consult when they need to consult, they’re friendly when they need to be friendly, and they’re thought leaders when they need to be thought leaders. We’re very happy with what they were able to do for us.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

We haven’t worked with a ton of different social companies, but we have worked with a couple others in the past, and I’d say it’s a fully comprehensive approach. I think they have a good process in place in order to achieve the results that their clients are looking for.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

No, not that I can think of, and I’m trying to be critical right now. I really can’t come up with any holes to punch in the services that were delivered.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

Apex Media has been around since 1990. There are three partners and roughly four or five different employees. We’re a full-service advertising agency, with somewhere in the vicinity of 25 accounts, mostly smaller advertisers, in Washington State. We provide media planning, buying, and creative services, covering a variety of different industries from lodging, restaurants, retail, nonprofits, [and] automotive. Revenue-wise, we’re probably a medium- to smaller-sized advertising agency.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am an owning partner. My responsibilities include campaign management, media planning, media buying, overseeing creative services, [and] group business development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Project Bionic?

One of the things my agency has always been on the forefront is with emerging medias and new technologies. I find that being a small shop, it’s a lot more productive for me to hire experts that can carry on some of these services like social media, like Facebook [and] Twitter, providing a much better level of services than I could do if I had to research and develop it on my own.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

Mostly it is managing our Facebook program on a daily basis, creating content, and just handling all of the activity that goes along with conducting quality Facebook marketing. We have a couple of clients that are more event oriented, and Project Bionic has also provided us with more specific event-oriented social media programs.

What was your process for selecting Project Bionic with which to work?

 I actually had a radio rep who had been working with them. I think they had a friendship within the organization and had mentioned them several times to me as a new company that was doing a great job for businesses. I took his referral and met with Josh Dirks [co-founder and CEO of Project Bionic].

When did you start working with them, and is the relationship still ongoing?

It had to have been around 2010. It is ongoing, I’m very pleased with what they do. I actually now have a daughter who recently graduated from the University of Washington in digital new media, and I was able to introduce her to Project Bionic as an intern, and she is now one of the leading account managers for the firm. If I can refer my daughter to work there, it should give you an indication of the level of respect I have for Josh Dirks and the quality of work that they do.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any feedback from the projects they have done for you?

I know our client, Emerald City Comicon, trended in the top 10 in Twitter, and reached millions during their conventions as a result of the work Project Bionic had done through Facebook and Twitter. From that launch, we’ll see reach numbers monthly in the 100,000 level. They have a phenomenal ability to write engaging content that people will share. The reach that we get, as a result of the work they do, has just been outstanding, and we’re very happy with that.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

I think it’s partially that I’m friends with quite a few of the people there. They’re very approachable, [and] they care about what they do. I’m treated extremely well, there’s just this overall sense that they want a long-term relationship with me and my clients. I always feel like they’ve delivered extra value for what I pay for. I’m not familiar with any other social media companies that have as many different people managing different parts of the processes as Project Bionic does. It makes me feel like they really are thorough with the work they do.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

No. I can’t think of anything I would suggest that they could do differently.