Ruckus

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief marketing officer at the Residential Real Estate Council (RRC), which is the largest not-for-profit affiliate of the National Association of Realtors (NAR). We provide our membership of approximately 34,000 realtors with advanced education, resources, tools, and training.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus?

The Residential Real Estate Council was formally called the Council of Residential Specialists (CRS). The acronym for that organization's name was the same as the acronym for a prestigious certification we also offer to our members called the Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) designation. This situation created confusion in our industry and a perception that the Council was primarily a designation organization.

As we are expanding our educational offerings and other services, it became clear that we needed to rename and rebrand our organization to address the confusion. We also wanted to update the branding for our CRS designation to make it more contemporary and stand out in the marketplace.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ruckus began by doing primary customer research and a market assessment. They examined our position in the marketplace and also interviewed our members, volunteer leadership and staff. They conducted a rigorous strategy process followed by creative development with feedback from us and our key stakeholders. Ruckus also assisted us in selling the rebranding recommendation to stakeholders, producing several PowerPoint presentations and a video launch. It was a very thoughtful process that resulted in a successful organization rebranding.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with their account staff, designers and researchers. We also worked directly with Ruckus’ president Josh Wood. 

How did you come to work with Ruckus?

We conducted a very thorough process to select a branding agency. We first looked at the top branding firms in the country, as well as up-and-coming branding firms. We were focusing on firms that had experience with name changes and working with not-for profit organizations. After sending out several RFPs and conducting in-person interviews with the firms, we chose Ruckus because they impressed us with a very strategic process and methodical approach that made sense. They also had a very strong portfolio of creative built on a foundation of research, analysis, and insight into an organization’s customers.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in May 2017 and completed the project in November 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we recently launched, we have yet to quantitatively measure the marketplace’s response to the brand change. Qualitatively, we’ve received overwhelming support from our leadership and members. Among the real estate community, I believe we’ve elevated our platform.

How did Ruckus perform from a project management standpoint?

They did an excellent job. Not only did they have a really efficient and smart account team, but they provided a strong project leader and the regular involvement of their president, Josh, which was fantastic given the size of their firm. He attended meetings whenever we reviewed work internally and when we presented our work to our leadership. Josh is very eloquent, smart, and insightful.

I don’t know how he and his team get any sleep — we would leave them a message and would always hear back from them within 5-10 minutes.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their process was thoughtful and based on insight they gathered by doing an exhaustive amount of digging to get to the root of what the overall brand direction should be. They were disciplined, strategic, and attentive to details. They didn’t simply hand us a recommendation; they showed us the logic behind their recommendations and allowed us to see their iterations of work and translations in the marketplace for the present and future.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Ruckus was amazing, and I have nothing but good things to say about them. We set extraordinarily difficult requirements for this project. It had to be done quickly and superbly, and they rose to the occasion. We’re considering partnering with them again to do some additional work beyond branding.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am one of the senior managers of Food Trends Catering and Events. We are a full-service catering and events company located in New York City.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus?

We needed help with branding and marketing. We wanted to reinvent our brand and put forward a better image and representation of ourselves. We needed to create validated materials; print and web design. We were looking to build the right materials, as well as attract and retain more customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, they had to gain a very deep understanding of the business; what we do, who we are, who the current clients are now, and the challenges we face.

To date, we have worked with Ruckus on many things, and are currently working on more. One is a printed events brochure which highlights some of our higher-end material, with a combination of photos and text. They have also worked on the wireframes and material for our landing pages for online searches, and run ad campaigns. We are planning to do a website overhaul with them, as well as online ordering.

The project involves several iterations and putting things into practice; getting work in front of us so that we can react to it. There’s a lot of back-and-forth, but we rely on what they do, and they do it well.

What is the team dynamic?

We have worked with everyone in their team, from the most senior co-founders, down through the design team, some sales individuals, the creative team, as well as some of their web developers.

How did you come to work with Ruckus?

We originally found them through a combination of networking and web research. We had worked with another branding agency in the past but they were located out-of-state. In contrast, Ruckus is very local to us, which is helpful as we frequently meet in-person. 

Ruckus also seemed to be more in line with what we’re trying to do as a company. The other agency was not as creative, a little outdated, and not as responsive. We like to work in a very iterative and responsive way.

How much have you invested in them?

It’s a five-figure total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2017 and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We test ran a few of our ad campaigns and found that we have a click-through rate which is 50% higher than normal. Our ads are consistently placed in the top three and we have lowered our cost to acquire a customer by 70–80%. That’s just in the beginning stages, so we expect to lower that even further. The results are already tremendous, but I expect soon they will be even better.

How did Ruckus perform from a project management standpoint?

They have done really well. They draw on their expertise and what they have done in the past. Especially for a business of our size, it’s very helpful that they had dealt with a lot of similar clients.

They seem to be a step ahead of us, which is good. They are consistently giving me roadmaps showing the next deliverables, the order of work, and timeframes. It helps to know what is on the horizon, and it also ensures they deliver. From a management perspective, it has all been pretty clear.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Although it is hard to say what our expectations were, they were blown out of the water. Their responsiveness and fast turnaround are impressive, as well as their creativity, which they apply to our organization, rather than being creative just to be creative. We like to be quick, and the speed has been important for us, especially when we run into our busy season.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have been satisfied, and we also have a means of comparison.

They don’t know the specifics of every single industry, as that would be impossible. They have perspective and can leverage from others, but they hadn’t done anything specifically in our fairly small niche. Coming a little more prepared, having done some digging on our side before engaging, might have helped to accelerate things.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company provides self-storage, with over 230 facilities across the US. We target high-density markets with facilities averaging between 500 and 600 units. In my role, I lead all the marketing, pricing, IT, and training efforts across the company. The brand is certainly a big part of my responsibilities and it affects many areas of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus?

The current brand has been in place since the inception of the company, so the brand was tired and looked like it came out of the early 1990s. It was difficult for the brand to represent our values. Aside from the difficulty of rallying around a brand statement, we faced the challenge of representing our brand on different signage—both digitally and in our facilities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We engaged Ruckus to help us do a whole brand refresh. They needed to understand our business in order to help us develop a strong brand statement that fit with our values. They did a lot of internal stakeholder interviews and analysis, spending time at our facilities and talking to our field personnel. Ruckus also interviewed a couple of our customers to understand how they saw our company and our current brand. Out of all the interviews and information, they helped to synthesize what our brand platform was going to be in terms of a brand statement.

We then built out the visual components, which included a new logo, color schemes, and the overall look and feel of our brand. Ruckus also developed brand guidelines that we could roll out across our digital platforms and physical assets. They gave us a lot of the proof of concept behind what our external signage should look like. This included the signage on our facilities, monument signs, banners, internal promotional marketing, and digital platforms. Other brand collateral included our letterhead template, business cards, internal PowerPoint communications, and email signatures. Ultimately, those were the deliverables.

How did you come to work with Ruckus?

We did online searches and sought references from other organizations. In the end, we talked to about 8–10 firms. Ruckus had an attractive price point and was willing to take bigger risks while understanding our plight. It was easy to feel comfortable with the team, and the prior work they had completed represented a high degree of quality.

What is the status of this engagement?

Ruckus completed the project in about 2.5 months, which was within our expected timing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were completely satisfied with what they produced, but we haven’t tracked any specific metrics. It was more about meeting certain visual criteria with our brand team and our executive team. We’ve received tons of compliments and positive feedback on our new look and feel.

Ruckus did a great job and delivered an excellent product. We were so pleased to present to our executive team and the rest of the company. They went out of their way to ensure we felt comfortable with and involved in the creative process. The project required patience and listening, and they had an abundance of both.

How did Ruckus perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a great job. The project was more of a partnership, and we worked together through a large part of the project. They met all the timelines, even when we had to go through a couple iterations.

What did you find most impressive about Ruckus?

They weren’t afraid to take the bigger leaps. They were very open to a collaboration. There was strong value delivered for the price point we paid. Other bids were 40% higher than Ruckus, and I’m not sure we would have gotten the quality product that Ruckus produced. They were very concerned about the quality. They were quick to make adjustments based on our feedback and didn’t balk at it at all. They were interested in a face-to-face engagement, and they started building that client relationship right from the first meeting, which meant a lot to us. When we had concerns, they wasted no time showing up on our doorstep and working with us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a partner at DeSilva & Phillips, a boutique investment bank in New York. We focus on mergers and acquisitions in the media, marketing, technology, and information industries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus?

The fundamental issue was that we had an old website that needed updating. At that time, our firm was announcing a new affiliation with a global alliance of investment banks called Oaklins. We wanted to rebrand our site to feature that affiliation while still maintaining our independence. We were trying to find a way to preserve the DeSilva & Phillips legacy and identity while still paying homage to the brand guidelines from Oaklins.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started the process with an intake meeting, during which we got them up to speed on our company and our clients. They helped us to think through all the different customer journeys on our site—how people find us and what they might be trying to get out of the information on our site. We constructed an incredibly useful user journey document that captured all of that. Then, we translated that into the actual design in terms of form, function, layout, and content.

The end deliverable was a completely relaunched and migrated website on a new platform. We previously had our own in-house content management system developed for our site years ago. Ruckus helped us migrate to a more modern platform based on WordPress. They also did all the collateral that goes along with that, such as recolored logos and reorganized brand information. They also helped us integrate our customer relationship management system with Salesforce. In addition, they coded a subscribe page for our newsletters.

How did you come to work with Ruckus?

Someone at our firm knew one of the principals at Ruckus, so we included them in our request for proposal process. We vetted a number of different firms, but after we met with Ruckus, we felt that their understanding of our goals was better than everyone else’s. They gave us a sense of comfort and trust, and we felt that they could handle the job well. They were very professional, and their approach to project management seemed in line with what we needed.

How much have you invested with Ruckus?

We’ve paid $10,000–$50,000 for their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August or September of 2016, and the project was completed in October of that year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They got the project done very quickly. We were hosting a big event to announce our new affiliation with Oaklins, and Ruckus bent over backward to get the job done on deadline. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from clients. We’ve been around for a long time, and long-term clients have all said that they love the new site. They feel that it more accurately captures what we do today, whereas the old site didn’t really convey the depth of our offering and industry expertise.

I can’t give hard numbers, but we never had a good way to solicit inquiries on our old site. We now have reach-out forms on everyone’s profiles and a general inquiry box. Ruckus also gave us the ability to measure those inquiries in a way we couldn’t before. It’s now much more conducive for potential clients to reach out to us. People are also utilizing the subscribe page to sign up for the various newsletters we put out.

How did Ruckus perform from a project management standpoint?

Ruckus did a great job. Our tight deadline was a challenge, but they were able to meet it. They did a good job managing the input from all the different people at our firm.

What did you find most impressive about Ruckus?

They communicate extremely well. I felt very confident in their ability to deliver on their promises throughout the process. I worked with Alex, and he was always communicative and helped us understand the status of things. I’ve worked with other agencies, and I’ve found that’s often where things fall apart.

Are there any areas Ruckus could improve?

Not that I’m aware of. I had a very positive experience with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a startup providing a used costume marketplace. I am the president and founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus?

We needed to create our online infrastructure in the form of a website and app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ruckus developed a simple experience for a relatively complex problem, namely how we could convince people to put their old costumes up for sale or to send them to us. For this to happen, we needed a streamlined process. It started with developing wireframes, followed by design.

We are in the process of reaching out to coding companies and are starting the app design process with Ruckus.

How did you come to work with Ruckus?

Ruckus was chosen from a list of 10 companies which responded to our bid. We hadn't worked with another design company before them. Being a startup, our budget was limited, which knocked out several of the candidates. Ruckus stood out during our first meeting in their Manhattan office. We became certain that Ruckus would be our choice.

How much have you invested with Ruckus?

The cost of Ruckus' work has been around $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Ruckus in March 2016. The website portion of the project is complete. We are currently working on the app design.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The feedback we've gotten so far has been pretty much exclusively positive. People are very pleased with the design of Ruckus' website prototype. Donations are a big part of our company's operations. So far, some of the charities that we reached out to have been very positive.

How did Ruckus perform from a project management standpoint?

Ruckus performed as well as I could have hoped. We used Redbooth for project management, but the majority of the communication was done through emails, phone calls, and in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about Ruckus?

Ruckus has taken a personal interest in our company. Not only did we pick them, but Ruckus also picked us, which gave us a feeling of confidence. It's a good team of people that is not afraid to push back on the client when they think it's in the client's best interest. Especially for startups, this is important.

Are there any areas Ruckus could improve?

No. Ruckus has been as good as I could have possibly hoped, and I would highly recommend them. In fact, I have.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Ruckus?

I would tell clients to have a meeting with Ruckus' owner. It would be in their interest to have a consultation at the very least. The original vision that we brought to Ruckus has evolved a great deal during the past year of our collaboration. That is not only to our benefit but also Ruckus'.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and chief executive officer. We focus on helping mothers re-enter the workforce after they've had a career break for their children.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus?

As a startup company, we needed to create a logo, branding and a website. I was looking for an empowering look that could give a good message to mothers who'd had a break. Confidence is a big issue when someone has been out of the workforce for any reason, so whatever logo I chose needed to appear strong.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ruckus has developed our logo and branding. They're currently helping develop and design my website. The logo and branding are key to the website and I've provided the content for what I wanted on it. Ruckus is designing it for me, taking my direction, message, and audience into consideration. The website will be built in phases in order for us to have a soft launch. It will be monitored by Ruckus afterward in order to make appropriate changes to the elements which aren't working. Ruckus also helped put together a color palette, letterheads, and a PowerPoint template which I can use for client presentations.

How did you come to work with Ruckus?

Ruckus is the first agency I've actually worked with, but I did interview and speak to quite a few different companies prior to hiring them. I initially did a Google search in order to find out what design companies were on the market. I also spoke to freelancers and received some word of mouth referrals from successful business owners who'd gone through a similar process. A good friend had launched a mobile app using Ruckus. It was a different business model to mine, but I decided to check out the company. I was impressed by how clear and simple their website was, while also having an edgy look. I received clear and quick answers to my emails and had very good meetings with Ruckus' team. They understood what I was trying to do, rather than giving a run of the mill approach. I didn't find the same approach anywhere else, which is why I chose Ruckus.

How much have you invested with Ruckus?

The cost of Ruckus' work has been between $25,000 and $50,000 for our entire project. This is only a rough estimate, as the project is ongoing. Ruckus had a competitive rate compared to other companies I contacted.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Ruckus in November 2016. The website portion is ongoing; our branding and logo are done.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website isn't out yet, so it's hard to quantify results, but the people who've seen my logo and landing page loved Ruckus' work. They've created a thoughtful design which is mostly their own conception. I gave Ruckus information about what my company did and they took it from there. Ruckus took my feedback around what the company stood for and came up with four amazing logo designs. It was actually hard to choose one, but we ultimately selected a logo which was bold and elegant at the same time. It featured white spaces as a discrete way of portraying the gaps which appear in a mother's life, and what our company does in order to fill those gaps.

How did Ruckus perform from a project management standpoint?

Ruckus provided clear timelines and completed in advance most of the time. Things fell behind during the holiday season, but it was communicated well to me. We've had in-person and phone meetings.

What did you find most impressive about Ruckus?

Ruckus' team is able to think of creative solutions and put in a personal touch. They treat every idea as if it was meant for their own business, spending the time to understand what exactly it is that I want as a client. The team is also very nice and friendly.

Are there any areas Ruckus could improve?

I can't think of anything. I've been happy with everything that Ruckus has done so far. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're an online retailer, whose customer acquisition strategy is based on social and viral sharing, and we guarantee the lowest online price for everything in our store.

What is your position?

I’m the Chief Marketing Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus?

The company had been around for about a year, and it was clear that our website was not working in a way that was accessible to me or our users. Our Chief Executive Officer and I decided that we were going to take the site down completely and rebuild our site from scratch. We hired Ruckus through a pitch process that I ran. We met with four or five different companies, and we hired Ruckus to help us, to be our agency partner that would provide the front-end design and architecture for the site and contract out a back-end development company to build the back end.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

The first phase was to build the site, and the second phase was to help us with marketing activities. The majority of what we’ve done has been email marketing. The next step will be Facebook and other forms of social media. Ruckus is handling all aspects of the marketing campaign.

How did you come to work with Ruckus?

We had looked at four or five different agencies. One of our founders had worked with Ruckus at another company, where he had had a positive experience with them.

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

It was in the $50,000 to $200,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We had a very aggressive timeline on this project. It was one of the criteria that we used to choose an agency partner, and that we wanted to be live in time for holiday shopping. We started the project in August, so we had about an 11-week build from scratch, so it was a very quick timeline, and I must say Ruckus hit all of our deadlines.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The first email blast that we did with our guys from Ruckus was the day before Thanksgiving, and it generated us over $1 million in sales on day one with zero issues on the site. The site performed beautifully. People navigated through it. We had an incredible number of time on site; we averaged eight minutes per user time on our site, so we just had great metrics on our first foray with these guys.

What distinguishes Ruckus from other providers?

Prior to doing this, I worked on the agency side for 25 years. What impressed me the most about Ruckus was their leadership. They were very smart, accessible, and honest when issues came up. There’s always going to be issues and there’s always going to be changes, especially in a timeline this tight. When that happened, they helped me to make decisions that allowed us to move forward and not get behind.

Is there anything Ruckus could have improved or done differently?

I like the people in the company, but they could probably use a little bit of a deeper bench. Josh and Alex are fantastic, some of their creative people are very good, but as they scale they’re going to need other people that are of a really high caliber.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

MugClubs.com launched last September, we're a platform for bars to manage their mug clubs and encourage customer loyalty.

What is your position?

I'm the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus Marketing?

The idea was to build a mobile app for iOS and Android that bar patrons could download and join the mug clubs of their favorite bars. It would be free for customers to download, and they could earn various rewards by checking in and making purchases at a particular bar.

That idea was all I had when I first approached Ruckus. From there, they helped with every aspect of the business to bring my idea to reality.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Ruckus developed a business plan for me that sketched out how we could make the idea profitable. They also designed the app and handled finding a development agency that could actually code and build it. They also obviously coordinated the marketing and promotion efforts around the app.

How did you come to work with Ruckus Marketing?

I actually went to college with the CEO of Ruckus, Josh Wood. I went to josh with this idea, and he was immediately very excited about helping me, and getting the idea off the ground. I think what impressed me in those initial meetings with Ruckus was how diligent they were, they thought about everything.

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

It was between $10,000 and $50,000.

What was the timeline of this engagement?

We formally started meeting around September 1, 2015. The development of the app concluded somewhere at the end of February [2016]. Launching the company with Ruckus was roughly a six-month time frame.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The app is still in beta testing so it's hard to talk about results at this point. However, I can say that we met all of our timelines and budget requirements, and we're even able to add a few features at the end that we didn't think we were going to be able to. Also, subjectively, the app looks great, we haven't had any negative feedback about its performance or anything like that. I'm excited about the possibilities moving forward.

How did Ruckus Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was an area where Ruckus Marketing definitely shined. We were on the same page throughout the whole project and especially when it comes to the development of the app, they were the ones who worked directly with the developers and made sure that everything was done correctly. I couldn't have asked for anything more from a project management standpoint.

What distinguishes Ruckus Marketing from other providers?

I've spent the last eight years working for Johnson & Johnson in corporate finance, so that's the world I come from. There are many great things about the corporate world, I think a focus on creating organized processes and minimizing overhead is often lost in the startup world. There's a certain creativity and focus on the customer that often gets overlooked in the corporate world. Ruckus was great because they had a grasp of both of those mentalities, and brought the best of both of worlds to this project.

Is there anything Ruckus Marketing could have improved or done differently?

No, I really don't. I think they really were a wonderful partner. I hope that they'll continue to grow and do well. I hope to work with them for any products I do in the future, including growing MugClubs.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Davek Umbrellas makes uniquely strong and stylish umbrellas that are built to last.

What is your role at the company?

I'm the founder and CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus?

Prior to working with Ruckus, our various marketing efforts were impulsive and lacked a well-thought out holistic strategy.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The scope of the project touched every aspect of marketing for us – traditional, such as trade shows; digital, such as search engine optimization and pay per click; and social, such as Facebook and Twitter. Ruckus performed an audit of our past and current efforts, identified our current customers, developed a roadmap for each marketing channel, defined budgets for each vehicle, and realistic success and failure thresholds.

How did you come to work with Ruckus?

I searched and interviewed more than 40 marketing firms, from boutique to larger firms, before selecting Ruckus.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted around two months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We were very satisfied with the results. We now have a cohesive marketing plan in place with a realistic budget and implementation plan.

What distinguishes Ruckus from other providers?

Ruckus was an excellent team to work with. There was an unusual blend of business acumen with creativity in their analysis. They had a very deep understanding in a wide range of marketing activities, which is critical when developing a cohesive marketing strategy whose parts all work together. I was surprised at the depth of detail that went into each analysis. These were not generic recommendations, but very specific and customized to our specific needs. They were very thorough and had a remarkable resistance to project fatigue. The depth and enthusiasm was consistent throughout the project.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve or things you might do differently?

None. We plan to work with them regularly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

Neota Logic is a software company that builds documentation systems that are designed to ease the compliance process on our clients.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I'm the chief operating officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Ruckus?

We partnered with one of our clients to create a joint venture called ComplianceHR, using Neota Logic's technology. It's primarily designed for HR [human resources] departments in contract employment industry. This was a brand new business entity, so we went to Ruckus with a blank slate. We explained who we are, and where we envision the company going and asked them to build a brand from scratch based on that information.

Please describe the scope of their work.

We formed the business in February, and we had a major industry conference at the beginning of May where we wanted to launch the brand. So, we had two months to get together our logo, color scheme, branding, messaging, website, business cards, letterhead, and banners for a trade show – you name it, we had to get everything in two months, which was a real challenge. We went to Ruckus, and they said to us, "If you stick with this schedule, and if you're responsive with us, then we're going to be able to meet that deadline for you."

They laid it all out from the beginning. We knew the expectations they had for us, and they knew what our expectations were of them. As long as we hit our marks, they hit their marks. It was unbelievable. We started with Ruckus in late February or early March, and the trade show was the first week of May.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting Ruckus?

I was researching online. I wanted an agency near us in the New York area, and we wanted to be able to have face-to-face meetings. I called around, and I narrowed it down to my top three. I had them come in and meet the executive management team. One of our team members had met another firm that was based out of Los Angeles, and wanted to go that way, but I kept pushing because I really thought Ruckus had better creativity, and I really thought they were the one for us.

It was their edginess, but with a level of professionalism that I really liked the most. They were able to convey real business professionalism, but there was still a hint of humor, or a hint of self-deprecation in their work. It was fresh. You could tell that they were working hard, and there was a lot of creativity going on there. There were more interested in talking about the creative process than talking about money at the beginning. Of course, you have to talk about money eventually, but they were more interested in the creative process, and that was intriguing for us.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative?

It was between $40,000 and $60,000.

Can you speak to Ruckus's process, or what it was like working with them?

They're super-organized, which was great. They laid out the expectations from the beginning and stuck to their plan. They were always there, thinking of things, checking up on how we were receiving the work. They kept us on point, which was great. They didn't want to disappoint us, and they knew that sometimes they were saving us from ourselves. They were also very honest, saying, "We can't get that done in two months, but we'll put that on for version 2." So, they were very honest with what they could and couldn't do. They didn't over-promise. The delivery was fantastic. They were highly creative and highly available.

They used Teamwork, which is an online project management system, and they were always on that, making sure things were uploaded and where they should be. It's a really hands on, young team, but for as young as they are, their wisdom transcends their youth. They came up with some very creative ideas. I really enjoyed working with them, and I never felt like I was getting a hard sell. Everything was very open, honest, and transparent.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

The result was that they were able to get us from absolutely nothing to a fully branded functional company with an online presence in two months. Their work is beautiful. It conveys the exact message that we want to have. We've gotten so many compliments. It was so well done and so well received that we're planning to bring more business to them with our existing company [Neota Logic].

Do you have any stats or metrics on the project that support these results?

The result of the conference, which was less than a month ago, is that people know we exist now, and that was our primary goal more than selling our product. We got a lot of Twitter followers, and a lot of exposure. People are visiting the site. We're getting great engagement; their work has provided a good base, a place for us to launch from. The conference attendees included almost every single employment law firm in the country, so it was an important first impression.

Is there anything unique or special about Ruckus that really makes them stand out?

I liked how nimble and flexible they were. They're very organized, thorough, and creative. Also, they're just very human. I didn't feel uncomfortable saying I don't know how to do something, or that I'd never done that particular thing before. They would hold my hand and help me get through something, so they could get what they needed. They were a partner, and they guided us through the process. They became our marketing team.

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?

This project was so quick and so well done that I don't really think there were any areas of improvement.