Sparxoo Digital | The Sparxoo Collective

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We’re a 1926 movie palace in downtown Tampa, Fla. Full-time staff is about 11, part-time and hourly brings us up to about 35. We are a movie theater. We show first-run and classic films, and we have some live programming. We’re a historic movie palace.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the director of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Sparxoo?

I had just joined the team at the theater and had noticed with regards to branding, we didn’t necessarily have a consistent look across the company. We had a logo that had been designed in the '70s, had been updated a little bit in the '90s.

Because we are a nonprofit organization, we had a mix of things that we had done in-house, things that people had given to us, and work that had been done at various times by various people. None of it was consistent. I was looking for a way to bring more continuity to all of our marketing efforts and also to update our brand.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

I was introduced to David at Sparxoo through a mutual friend. He was looking to meet other business people in the community, and they had just moved the agency here. Through talking, I realized their agency could certainly help us with what we wanted to do, but we really didn’t have it in the budget at that point to move forward on anything. After a couple of conversations, Sparxoo offered to take Tampa Theatre on as a pro bono client as the first of what will be an ongoing effort to work with nonprofits in the community.

The initial project that we went to them with was a rebranding, a refreshing of the brand from top to bottom. The deliverables of which, of course, were not only the new logo, but some new marketing strategies to talk about the theater. They also helped us form a new direction that focused more on the programming of the building, and what Tampa Theatre was all about, rather than just focus on the fact that it was a historic building. After all of that was delivered, we went forth with a new website as well and hired Sparxoo to do that work, too.

What was your process for selecting Sparxoo with which to work?

Not only were we impressed with their work, we were impressed with the fact that they were so close to us. They’re actually a block away from the theater, which made it convenient. Meetings were really easy.

Additionally, the tongue-in-cheek answer would be because it was free. But the real answer is, we were impressed that an agency of their caliber was looking to give back to the community and was looking to help nonprofit organizations. They really wanted to entrench themselves in this brand new neighborhood that they were a part of. It said something about them and their dedication.

When did you start working with them?

Project started in spring of 2013, and we launched the new brand last October. The relationship is ongoing. They finished the website, and now they’re taking a look at some of our sub-brands. We do a couple of different classic series’ throughout the year, so they’re taking a look at that.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any feedback to share from the project?

Everybody has been really impressed. We have a board of directors, a volunteer board that oversees what we do here. Those are two dozen community leaders, philanthropic leaders, civic leaders in the community, all of whom were incredibly impressed not only with the quality of work that was done, but with the relationship that was built.

How well do you think Sparxoo has performed overall?

They’ve been fantastic. Like any good agency, they don’t necessarily hit the nail on the head the first time, but they are very open to feedback. They’ve been very open to working with us and providing options, and taking constructive criticism back and reworking that into another round.

We were dealing with the public and volunteers, so you can imagine there were many opinions on what the logo should be. We went through an inordinate number of rounds to create the logo. Instead of being frustrated with our indecisiveness, they were very understanding, and just bent over backwards to make sure we had multiple rounds to show people, and produced them very quickly.

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

It’s like talking to friends. We can call them up anytime, we can email them anytime, and we can walk down there anytime. It’s just a very casual work environment, their office is very casual, and their demeanor is very casual. Whereas some organizations would translate casual into sloppiness almost, we get nothing but professional work out of them in a very comfortable environment.

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.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

I’m with Florida Polytechnic University, which is Florida’s 12th public university, so its state funded. It’s focused entirely on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It’s located in Lakewood, Fla. We’re a brand new university so were very much a startup. We actually welcomed our first class of 550 students on August 25 of this year [2014].

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the director of marketing and communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Sparxoo?

When I started last September we had a very basic website, and we needed to create a more robust website, one that really conveyed a sense of high technology because we’re a band new university focused on technology and engineering. We needed to get that across and we needed to add content to it. We basically needed to build it from the ground up, and we needed to do it in a short time frame, about three months was our goal.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They provided design, development, and training. They started with a kickoff meeting to get a sense of what we were looking for. We were considering at least a handful of firms, and they came to the proposal with ideas in mind for Florida Polytechnic. One of their ideas was actually the foundation for the site, so they really did their research about us beforehand and came with a solution in mind, which is one of reason why we chose them.

From there, they presented a couple of different designs. We refined them together, they then built the entire website on the backend, keeping our team in the loop through the process. They did all the site testing. They helped us create some content and add new graphic collateral. They trained my team on how to use the site from the backend. They gave us all the collateral that they’d gathered so that we could use it in some of our other marketing materials. Then moving forward they’ve done some ongoing training as we’ve added new elements to the site. They’ve also been a third-party extension of our team in maintaining the site. We probably reach out to them every other day, if not every day, for assistance.

What was your process for selecting Sparxoo with which to work?

Based on the amount of money we were able to spend onsite development, we’re required through our purchasing process to look at least three vendors, which is what we did. We sent a request for proposal out to some vendors. We had three that responded that were strong candidates, including Sparxoo. We brought them into our office to give a presentation.   

The deciding factor was that they really understood what our mission and vision were. They really understood our brand identity even though we were a really young startup. We had a very young brand identity, too, but they got it and came with ideas in mind. They came with a proposal and a clear concept that matched what we were going after. They came with a clear outline of how they would proceed, and they would take us through the development process. From that initial proposal, we were really confident that they would be able to hit out tight deadline. 

Additionally, Sparxoo was really reasonable in terms of cost for their work they did and for what they were producing, it was right within our budget.

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

It was probably around $50,000 for the initial site development. It has gone well beyond that for the ongoing maintenance.

What were the results of the project?

Work started around October of 2013, relationship is ongoing and has grown. We’ve added services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall, we’ve had traffic growth to our website, which is great. I think it’s important to keep in mind that we’re a startup, so we expected growth. Anecdotally, we’ve had really positive feedback particularly about the site, and particularly about the design and the fact that it really is high tech. They made a device meter, so it works on all devices, and it scales.

Our traffic has grown which was part of our goal. We want to grow more, which is part of the reason we’re adding them for SEO [search engine optimization] and PPC [pay-per-click].

Overall, how well do you think Sparxoo has performed?

They’re awesome. We work with quite a few third-party service providers, and I regularly tell people that they are the best at communicating. We have regular check-in calls, and I know that if they say they’re going to have something for me or complete a step of the process by this date, it’s done by that date, if not sooner.

From a management standpoint, I just love working with them. From a communications standpoint, they’re superb. I like their creative skills too, but it’s easier to find a really creative firm out there who isn’t necessarily the best at clear communication or management. They’ve got all three going for them.

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

I would say what definitely stands them apart is their internal creative process. When we were building our site they gave us two designs, and they told us a story about the design process. Then, they challenged themselves internally before coming to us, to take the one that was not their favorite, and make it better so that it beat their choice A. I thought that was a really standout design process. I think it’s rare to find a creative team that is satisfied with their work and still pushes it to the limit.

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?

Nothing significant.