Resin Advertising

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of marketing at Rhoda Goldman Plaza. We’re an assisted living and memory care community with 154 apartments in the Lower Pacific Heights in San Francisco.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Resin Advertising?

At the time, we were a 15-year-old company that didn’t have a cohesive advertising program in place. We hadn’t advertised ourselves in five years, all of our communication channels were out of date, and people simply weren’t aware of our existence anymore. Resin Advertising came on board to completely rebrand us from the ground up.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Resin Advertising created a new brand identity and logo before redoing every piece of marketing to reflect the change in direction.

We started off with a billboard campaign, which I’d never done before. We knew that it would have a high success rate because it was cost-effective and targeted our geographical demographic.

From there, they went on to our internal paperwork and folders followed by our external website. They added downloadable forms that people could fill out to join our waitlists, too. Finally, they developed a digital campaign and print brochures to get the word out.

What is the team composition? 

I work directly with their two principals along with their virtual team of creatives. There’s a webmaster, a media person, and a few others (e.g., photographers) that we use on occasion for special projects.

How did you come to work with Resin Advertising?

I’ve worked with many ad agencies in and out of state. The most successful relationships have always been with local agencies. That was one of the reasons I considered Resin Advertising. They knew this area and understood what resonated with the people of San Francisco. 

I’ll also add that I’ve watched them for about 20 years, now, and have seen the work they’ve done for similar companies. Their design sensibility is very sophisticated, which reflects our demographic. It just seemed like I wouldn’t have to educate them much about our business.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested more than $500,000, but a lot of it was at the start. Designing a sophisticated website is pricey, so it’s not like we’re spending that much money every year.

What is the status of this engagement?

They’ve been working with us since August 2016. Typically, a rebrand takes about 1–2 years to complete, but Resin Advertising managed to do it in 10 months. It was extraordinary! They were extremely focused because they knew that we were combatting a 10-year occupancy decline.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After launching our billboard campaign and website, it took about a year for us to gain enough traction to improve our occupancy rate. The phone started ringing from leads, and people were coming in. By the second year, we exceeded budget expectations and managed to hit 100% occupancy. We’ve been maintaining a waitlist ever since, which has grown to over 100 people.

How did Resin Advertising perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve never missed a deadline and have a great email communication system. Because they’re a small agency, I like that I can go directly to the principals rather than dealing with any individual vendors. It’s a simple yet effective form of communication.

We’ve never gone over budget, either. If there’s an additional project that they feel is important, they’ll let us know and back up their proposal with good reasons. We’ll then evaluate that internally before approving it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their copywriter is one of the best I’ve worked with in my 15 years in this business. That’s because they understand our industry and have a good grasp of our demographic. They know not to talk down to the audience, instead keeping things simple and to the point.

I’d also highlight their exceptional design work. I personally feel that their design has an elegance to it because the team shows restraint. We don’t use any stock photography. Everyone on our ads or our website is a living, breathing person — we’ll update it if someone passes away. That just makes things very real and unique to us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Most of our meetings now are virtual since we’re going through COVID-19, and one of the partners has moved out of state. They’ve been successful at working with us digitally, but it’s important to have in-person meetings when you’re hashing out strategy, especially at the start of a new year. The dynamic is different when you’re brainstorming in the same room. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You’re hiring an expert, so get out of their way and let them do their best work. Don’t have a committee making decisions that elongate the process to the point of frustration. When there are too many stakeholders, the preferences start to become more personal rather than expert, which contradicts why you hired Resin Advertising in the first place. 

They’ll sometimes suggest things that may seem edgy or out of your comfort zone, but you can’t dismiss them. Consider what they say carefully and give them the space to work.