Sidebench

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a media and tech company that produces, publishes, distributes, and licenses high-quality sport, entertainment, and educational programming. We have an engineering arm. 

What is your position?

I'm a senior software engineer in the mobile space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Sidebench Studios?

At the time, we didn't have the scale on our engineering team to be able to take on a new project that was given to us.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We were building out a back-end system as well as an iOS mobile application. It's a photo booth application, which is now currently used and supported by Sidebench Studios. It was designed for all of our events.

How did you come to work with Sidebench Studios?

We put out an RFP [request for proposal]. We had a few agencies in the pipeline. We like to use our own preferred vendor list. But, one thing that was awesome was that Sidebench Studios was just right around the corner. They were able to come by and have face time. They were chosen because they were the most familiar with the technology and that was mostly their wheelhouse – tying a mobile device to a solid back-end stack. 

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

In the beginning, we had a project-based agreement. Then, it turned into a service-based agreement. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

It's been a seamless process since the beginning. One of the big wins is that the app is being used across all business units.

What distinguishes Sidebench Studios from other providers?

Sidebench concentrates a lot on the project management and leadership side of projects. That's helped our partnership. They've been able to help guide the vision as well as a back it up with a solid technical team.

Is there anything Sidebench Studios could have improved or done differently?

Not really. It was a small scope of work at first. It was a seamless and easy experience.

BACKGROUND

Chapman/Leonard manufactures custom camera support equipment for all types of motion picture and television productions. We specialize in camera cranes, arms, telescoping arms, dollies, pedestals, remote cameras and camera stabilizing systems.

Chapman/Leonard equipment will save on production time, and therefore on production costs, while enhancing your production capabilities. We market to the motion picture industry in Los Angeles, California.

I am the chief operating officer [COO] in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Our goal was to make a more engaging website that would draw in more users and describe our firm better. We are targeting the motion picture industry regarding our line of products so design was important. We needed to find a strong web designer.

SOLUTION

Sidebench Studios was able to streamline our website and come up with a nice design that we liked. Sidebench listened to all our requirements while making sure the website was user-friendly and easy to navigate.

The project took six months of hard work, and we finished in 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Sidebench went above and beyond what we wanted. I have heard nothing but exceptional feedback from customers and staff. Sidebench was quick to respond to any feedback we gave them.

I am completely satisfied and would give them perfect marks for every criterion. I highly recommend them to others.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a small e-commerce jewelry called Anita Ko. We are driving most of our revenue through online sales.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m an assistant.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Sidebench Studios?

We needed to set up a Shopify e-commerce site that was easy to manage and navigate. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

It was basic and straightforward e-commerce development.

What was your process for selecting Sidebench Studios with which to work?

They were referred to us through a friend who had also used their e-commerce development.

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

It was around $25,000.

When was the work completed?

The work was completed in 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

Our online sales have definitely improved.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

Yes, we are satisfied. The website is successful.

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

They’re really nice and personable people. They’re easy to work with and willing to go the extra mile.

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

I don’t have any complaints.

Is there any advice that you would give future clients of theirs?

If you come to Sidebench Studios with a good idea, they’ll make it even better.

BACKGROUND

We are the producers of the largest beach volleyball event in the world outside of the Olympics. Our event attracts more than 50,000 attendees annually and more than 23 million worldwide TV viewers. The event includes a professional competition with the best players in the world, open mass tournaments, and a multiday music festival.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Sidebench was tasked with relaunching our consumer-facing website for the largest beach volleyball event in the world. This involved a complete redesign of both the UI [user interface] and back-end navigation providing visitors with all elements needed to follow our property, such as stats, videos and results as well as make decisions regarding attending the event and music festival or tuning in on television.

SOLUTION

Sidebench spent considerable time evaluating websites of similar properties to ours to see what worked elsewhere and could be replicated for us, as well as how we could improve on what others were doing. They spent considerable time understanding clearly what our objectives and challenges were and focused on solving those issues at all times.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Our Web redesign was an overwhelming success and navigation for our visitors was greatly improved. This resulted in more page visits, a longer length of time that visitors spent our onsite and significant positive feedback from fans. We are currently working with Sidebench on version 3.0 to build on their success further.

BACKGROUND

[Our company's] mission is to bring the sense of community back to apartment living by providing an interactive mobile hub that eases and enhances communication between tenants, their property manager, and the local community.

I am the co-founder and head of product development, so I coordinated closely with Sidebench on developing user workflows and the user experience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Sidebench was consulted to direct [our] team towards establishing our minimal viable product that could be built within our limited budget while maintaining the core functionality requirements to have an efficient product to release to market.

We independently developed our backend database for the mobile app, but then needed Sidebench to develop the Web application while integrating into that database back-end. The major challenge was to integrate the Web and mobile aspects into a cohesive product efficiently while maintaining the individual functionality of both aspects.

SOLUTION

After initial scoping meetings with Sidebench, they proposed two alternative development paths. One was to build off the back-end we developed, using Parse, and the other was develop a new back-end using Rails that would be designed efficiently just for our product.

Sidebench helped my team weigh the pros and cons of each method based on our specific goals and company direction over the upcoming year. Even though we decided to go with the cheaper option, due to our own budgetary constraints, Sidebench was not driven by their own financial gain and instead worked with us to determine the best course of action for [our company].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Sidebench has been nothing short of spectacular. Their friendly and prompt communication has made them a pleasure to work with. They treat clients with the utmost respect and courtesy.

Sidebench is clearly focused on delivering an elite product while building professional and personal relationships that last. They delivered our product on time and within our budget while working with our on-team developer. [Our] team looks forward to future projects with Sidebench as we continue to evolve our product.

BACKGROUND

Our company publishes the largest number of niche magazines in the art and crafting industry, with more than 1 million copies sold annually. We currently produce more than 30 high-quality titles focusing on crafts such as mixed media, paper crafting, and both wearable and digital arts.

With premium newsstand placement and representation in all major bookstores, crafting chains, upscale grocery stores, and hundreds of independent art and crafting stores, [our] publications have become synonymous with quality in design, production, content, and photography.

The company also maintains a strong presence in the online crafting supply market, offering more than 5,000 art and craft products and a wide variety of self-manufactured art stamps that are sold on the website, which receives more than 20 million hits per month. With more than 100,000 fans, we enjoy sharing even more inspiration across various Social Media platforms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

With the launch of a brand new title, we wanted to design and build a mobile responsive website that captures this unique brand and mimics the sensory experience of its readers. Some of the challenges were that we also needed to leave room for extensive growth, e-commerce, and a few more capabilities that we just weren't quite ready to utilize at the launch of the new site.

SOLUTION

Having been recommended to us by a past colleague, we decided to outsource this project to Sidebench Studios based on their expertise in this arena and samples of previous Web design and development work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Sidebench Studios delivered exactly what we wanted: a beautiful, fluid, and functional website that is mobile responsive and gives us the ability to manage changes/growth in-house while keeping the door open for future e-commerce capabilities.

I cannot speak highly enough of the skill and professionalism of their team, open communication throughout, including handling new requests seamlessly, and completing this project on time and within budget.

This hasn't always been my experience when working with other related companies, designers, and Web developers. [We] will definitely be working with Sidebench Studios again on future projects, and I would highly recommend them for any interactive Web design and developmental projects, cart solutions and fixes, mobile optimization, and other related needs.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

I work for Pabst Brewing Company, which has a portfolio of beer and malt liquor brands.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m an associate brand manager here, and I work on PBR [Pabst Blue Ribbon] specifically. I handle all the national brand management initiatives that the brand has.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Sidebench Studios?

We worked with them when we sponsored the bull riding tour, which we no longer sponsor. We created an email blast template with Sidebench and had plans to starting that effort, which we haven’t done. We started our email blast initiative, which is a marketing automation project.

Since then, they’ve done some work for our other brands as well, such as website redesign and merging a couple of websites. That was for our Colt 45 brand.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

The work was mostly the email marketing for PBR and Web design for Colt 45. I believe the Colt 45 project just wrapped up, but it was very successful.

What was your process for selecting Sidebench Studios?

We constantly look for agencies that deliver a high-quality product at a competitive price. Sidebench definitely met those two criteria. They are easy to work with and are on top of everything. It was an easy turnkey experience.

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

These were on the smaller end of the project scale since our relationship with Sidebench Studios is fairly new.

When was the latest milestone completed for that work?

The initial email marketing project didn’t happen, but it wasn’t their fault. It was because of an internal situation in our company. That project wasn’t that big. The Colt 45 project was about three weeks long, which should have taken a lot longer. They got it done pretty quickly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

I don’t have those stats.

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

It was easy to work with Sidebench. They were on top of everything. Most of us are in the marketing and brand space, and we don’t know much about the digital side. They made sure to keep us informed on what was going on and to educate us as we went through the project. We were comfortable with them, which is not a term we throw around here lightly. We are very particular with the agencies that we hire, and we don’t hire very many of them. Overall, it was a good experience.

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

Nothing stands out. It was a good initial experience with them that will only get better as we get to know each other and get used to working with each other. I don’t have anything negative that comes to mind.