Spin Brands

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Apex Rides is a new British smart bike and app collaboration, providing the UK with in home fitness spin rides for all levels. I am the Chief Marketing Officer of Apex.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Spin Brands?

• Spin Brands oversaw the management of Apex's social channels
• Facebook and Instagram - providing Apex with end-to-end servicing
• From strategy and execution (including design)

What were your goals for this project?

We hired Spin to:

1. Launch Apex in social. This meant setting the tone for how the brand comes to life in social channels and exploring what engages our new community and what doesn't.
2. Grow our community/account following. This meant underpinning the highest quality design with a backbone of data and analytics - so we could learn WHY something worked, alongside WHAT worked. We also looked to Spin for recommendations on tactics that would drive growth.

SOLUTION

How did you select Spin Brands?

The founders of Apex were recommended a meeting with Max, the founder of Spin, just before Apex was going live in market with a pre-sale campaign.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

1. Account vision
2. Content Strategy + social pillars
3. Design - static and video
4. Monthly social calendars
5. Monthly Reporting
6. Weekly status and reviews meetings
7. Growth / campaign tactics eg. competition
8. Partnership support, eg. new Apex partnership posts
9. Sales support
10. New feature or product launch support

What was the team composition?

Account manager/director and creative lead

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Spin grew Apex's account following from 7312 in just over a year

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

On the whole the workflow was highly effective in what were some fast-moving and occasionally challenging circumstances, with everyone moving to remote working after 1 month of the partnership kicking off and Apex being a new company with many new process not being in place from the off. They're willing to adapt and create models that worked for both teams - including monthly and weekly meetings.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The design was of a very high quality, with Spin helping Apex evolve its voice and look & feel forwards from the brand we had launched with, to make sure it flexed to the more conversational, human approach needed in social.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Only a few areas:  

• At the start of the relationship,qgiv there were a few errors in posts that went out with grammar or occasional design slips, but these disappeared for the final 6 months.
• Some extra willingness/bravery earlier to push Apex's reason for being in social earlier, esp Instagram. It may have felt like at times we were getting content out there for the sake of it, rather than ideas that really made Apex stand out for people to follow and interact with.
• When our lead account contact was on holiday once or twice, posting on IG stopped and contact with the agency became more difficult.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and the head of web development at Drafthound.com, a fantasy community site. We provide sports data, information, and probabilities for upcoming soccer games.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Spin Brands?

We didn’t have the internal resources nor the time to handle many of the digital marketing tasks we had. Brands came in to take that burden away from our core team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an idea of what our brand was, but Spin Brands helped us become more professional. They came in and split tested a lot of different messages and approaches to help us nail down what our tone of voice is. They found that our user demographic was different than what we thought.

Spin Brands has helped with our social media strategy and has created content for Facebook, Instagram, and our site. Originally, we consulted with them on PPC and Google Ads as well, but we haven’t explored those services further.

They’ve determined which channels would have the greatest impact and how we should go about pushing content to those channels. Since solidifying our brand, they’ve become more specialized in their role and have focused on Facebook Ads.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with four people from Spin Brands, but have primarily been in contact with Charlie (Account Manager).

How did you come to work with Spin Brands?

I someone in my network referred me to them and I had a meeting with them. I explained what we needed and where we were going. Spin Brands focuses on helping companies that are growing at a fast pace, like us, so we thought we would be a great match. They understood our business from the start and were enthusiastic about it. On top of that, they’d helped similar businesses in adjacent spaces. It felt like a natural fit.

We started out by getting in touch with the two partners at Spin Brands. We explained to them exactly what we wanted and where we wanted to go, and they found the right team for us.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost so far is around £30,000 (approximately $41,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Spin Brands around July 2020 and our partnership ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Spin Brands has significantly reduced the cost per website session from our Facebook Ads and in general. As it stands right now, they’re driving about a quarter of our traffic. On top of that, our cost per acquisition has gone down by a factor of seven.

How did Spin Brands perform from a project management standpoint?

Charlie is doing a fantastic job. He’s incredibly proactive, understands our business inside-out, and goes above and beyond. He handles a lot of the Facebook execution, but he’s also actively helping us come up with new content ideas.

We’ve used a Trello board to monitor analytics because it’s simple and easy to use. We have a weekly call where everyone on the commercial team gets together to discuss our digital strategies for the week. We also have a weekly call to look at our metrics, specifically, our conversion rate for different channels.

We have both private channels and public groups on Slack, and we have individual follow-ups with different team members at least 4–5 times a week.

They’ve been very flexible and quick to adjust based on our internal needs. They’ve also been great to work with during tough circumstances like COVID–19. It’s been very easy to get a hold of them. A lot of agencies will be booked up on calls, and we’d have to find specific times, but we’ve been able to get a hold of Spin Brands pretty much whenever we’ve needed to.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understand what we’re doing and whom we’re trying to appeal to. We work in a field that a lot of people have no idea about, and it’s important to work with an agency that understands that. Spin Brands does. They’re all fans of our product and they use it. It feels more like a partnership than an agency contract.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing in particular that I could pinpoint as Spin Brands’ fault. We’re very pleased with how it’s working out.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

New clients should make sure that they’re getting the right team members, and they should be specific about their needs and goals.

Spin Brands is great from a generalist point of view, but bringing on a specialist like Charlie really allowed them to kick it in high gear. New clients take some of the burden on themselves and let Spin Brands focus on something they can deliver results on. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of B-Your Style, a personal branding company located in London. The team is just me, but I use external consulting according to the client’s needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Spin Brands?

I wanted visibility, so I contacted Spin Brands initially for promotion. I'm also the theatrical and cinema producer of a theater and I wanted to promote that business. However, due to COVID-19, we couldn’t carry on promoting the theater. We agreed to promote my company instead.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I asked them to support me with LinkedIn promotion, but I had zero conversions. I had no one contact me after one month and I thought maybe my website wasn’t good.

I texted them and let them know, unsure if the zero conversions were their fault. I didn’t want to wait to finish the contract in another two months with nothing in my hands. They apologized and said it had never happened to them before, assuring me that they'd convert the remaining money in the contract to restyle my website.

They put me in contact with an external website company that they work in collaboration with. I had one conversation with them to let them know I just wanted to restyle the website without investing more money than what remained in our contract. The website was already on Wix, so they continued with that.

What is the team composition?

James (Junior Graphic Designer, Spin Brands) worked on the my account. After being passed to Tropic Studios, I spoke with Alex (Co-Founder, Tropic Studios) once. It was strange because they passed me to another company. We didn't speak after that first meeting.

How did you come to work with Spin Brands?

I found them on the internet and through Clutch. I selected different filters and chose a company located in London with a high rating. Spin Brands came up as the first choice. The budget was reasonable, and the reviews were good, so I thought it meant that they were a good company.

How much have you invested in them?

It was £750 (approximately $1,040 USD) per month for three months.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started the contract with them in August 2020 and had to stop with them in November 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

They provided me with a website. I had never seen anything like it. I explained the personal branding industry and my work on the image and reputation of people. I asked them to choose a picture that represents the target audience that I usually deal with. They provided me with a picture of a man biting his cuticles and put that on the website along with other graphics mistakes.

The quality was very low, and they were not professional at all. I only spoke with them twice. The first time was to create the contract and the other time was when I spoke with Alex. There was another call that they set up, but I had to miss it. They didn’t want to set up a new time, so I never spoke with them again.

I appreciated that they pivoted my promotion contract from the theatre to my personal branding business due to the pandemic. The promotion part of the project didn't go well, but I thought that may have been my fault, so I was hoping to reinvest again through my website. I had to ask for updates about the website every time because they never updated me.

I understood the site was a work in progress, but the quality of the product was always very low. They gave me a product that wasn’t worth the amount I paid. I invested in them because I wanted a stylish website and expected to receive professional work at the very least.

How was project management handled?

I don’t expect people to be perfect at the beginning, especially on creative projects. However, I never even received a call from any of them. During our trial period with them, nothing seemed to be getting accomplished. They said things would be done by the end of the week every time, but things weren't completed.

It wasn’t a smooth way of working because there was no interaction. I tried to call James, but he never picked up the phone. When working remotely, I wanted to be able to trust my requests with them. They needed to engage and understand our needs, but I was working with a ghost company.

The invoice was also wrong three times. I asked them to keep the deadline for the invoice, but they sent it to me five days later. I had to chase them, and after I finished paying, they sent me another two invoices. Maybe I am a perfectionist, but I think they need to be more professional.

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

No. This is the first time in my life I'm leaving a review. I don’t find that there were any strong points because there was no connection. The only thing I can say that was good is that they changed the project when the LinkedIn project wasn’t working, but I don't think they had an option.

In what specific areas can they improve?

They need to improve upon their professionalism, customer experience, work quality, and skills. For a stylish website, I expect someone that knows what they are talking about.

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

To avoid a situation as I had, you need to see the previous work they've done decide whether it's something you like. For me, I didn’t contact them initially for a website; I contacted them for improving my social media. When we agreed to move to a website, I just trusted them. If you really want to work with someone, look at their work first and ask them for examples. Next time, I will see how a company works. I'm someone that wants to be involved in the process, so I needed to see that from a team.

Company Responses

The vendor responded on April 9, 2021.

This client came to us for Lead Generation for a personal branding business. We set up an initial campaign despite knowing that the foundations (brand, visuals, landing page) were not up to scratch - once the results bore this out, we then suggested a re-design and creation of a new landing page. With all due respect to the client, we provided a great, basic, landing page for the client within a very small budget - sadly the client didn't agree. We are not and don't pretend to be a web design agency and sadly regret offering this service - a lesson we will learn.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner and director of KW Records Ltd, a small record label started to write and release my own music.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Spin Brands?

Over the summer of 2020, I had a new EP out and was looking to increase fan base and over all engagement on social and music platforms. I hired Spin Brands to help me with advertising on Instagram and Facebook. I needed their expertise to help me target fans of music in my genre and convert them into loyal followers.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted to increase my follower base by a few thousand which we achieved. Also to encourage fans who discovered my music on social platforms to invest time in moving over to music platforms where they could dive in to more of my work.

SOLUTION

How did you select Spin Brands?

I was recommended to Spin by a fellow music artist who'd had great success building a similar campaign with them over a few months. After an initial positive call with Max, i felt comfortable that Spin were the right team to move forward with.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The first step was to get on a Zoom call with Andreas and Robert who were going to be my main points of call throughout the campaign. We discussed my company, career and goals. Andreas and I then began working on some ideas for ads I could create at home during the lockdown period.

Each month things changed within KW Records and I had different songs to promote so Andreas helped adapt the strategy to suit the different releases. Sometimes we focused purely on Instagram and sometimes we gave a push towards Digital Streaming Platforms.

We tried out some different target demographics to find what worked best for me and my music. This was very useful to me outside of ads too. Andreas was super helpful and always easy to get hold of. His reports were comprehensive but simple to understand. He was always available if i had any questions.

What was the team composition?

I appreciated working with a small team. Max checked in during the campaign, but Andreas was my main point of call. I found this really useful for communication and efficiency.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Over the 4 month period I worked with Spin Brands, I saw a significant increase in followers from 4000 up to 7200. With Spins help, I almost doubled my followers and also converted them into listeners on other music platforms.

Engagement was also up with more and more people interacting with me online. One of the most important goals that i achieved with Spin Brands was converting my follower base to a mostly female audience in the 25-34 age range. This has helped the tone of my social voice and to bring more of a community feel to my audience.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was very straight forward and always timely. Reports were issued to me weekly and Andreas checked in with me every Monday. Response was always quick and Andreas was honest about which ads I made worked and which didn't, which I appreciated.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

It was a very collaborative experience, both parties had innovative ideas and communication was easy. I felt like a lot of attention was paid to my project and of course the results of Spin's work speak for themselves.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I genuinely found it to be a great working experience and would recommend to others.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the E-commerce and Digital Marketing Manager at Zone3. We are a specialist triathlon and open water swimming brand supplying B2B and D2C.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Spin Brands?

We were looking for a social and google ads company to help take us to the next level in quality, returns and reach to help us grow internationally.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to increase our budgets for ads, and we wanted that increase in spend to come with an increase in returns. At a D2C level, this was going to impact our business at a customer service and fulfilment level - but the returns needed to outweigh the cost of scaling those services.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Having worked with Spin previously, and starting a new role I wanted to quickly use an agency that I could trust. Our internal procedures had us consider three companies; our existing agency, Spin, and one other. The deciding factor was how Spin could show me how scalable their services are in a clear and concise way that allowed me and my stakeholders.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The overall scope was for a social marketing agency with Google ads knowledge. This has since changed and our focus has moved more into Google with social too. Spin executed the briefs I create for them perfectly and suggest areas for improvement and challenges our decisions. We fully trust their decisions.

What was the team composition?

Initially, we were assigned an account manager who handled our account in full. Since scaling our spending, Spin has scaled their team to suit and through internal promotion, our original account manager is now more involved in their and our strategy. We also have a new account manager working alongside them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our initial expectations were to see a return of 8x our spend. These have been exceeded and we are consistently hitting 15x returns on our spend.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Spin has used a simple briefing form that has helped me focus on what is important in our ads. Their communications are clear and efficient, and the weekly and monthly reports provide precise data for us to make key decisions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Being in a sports industry, we were blown away by how quickly Spin absorbed our brand and got to know us and our products so quickly. Other agencies we spoke to didn't really 'get it' as quickly as Spin did. They were instantly engaged in what we make, and how we sell it.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I'd love to say everything could be quicker, but I would rather let Spin absorb what we are trying to achieve and get it done right than quickly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing at a lottery scratch-off and gaming company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Spin Brands?

We needed help with social media marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They restructured all of our account names on Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. We also tried out different target markets to optimize our efforts down to what works best.

Then they’re actually now accounting for over half of our newly acquired players these days.

What is the team composition?

I work mainly with two people from their team, four in total.

How did you come to work with Spin Brands?

They were recommended to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around 400,000 pounds (approximately $506,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2019, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I like them because they don’t feel like an agency, it feels like we’re just sitting down as friends. They do a lot of work in their own time, in their own way, and don’t need to wait for me to give them orders.

They’ve provided numerous creative options, which has added a lot. The team has also adapted quickly to gaming compliance. Overall, they get top marks from me.

How did Spin Brands perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re well structured. We have regular meetings, but they’re always doing what they need to do. We communicate in face-to-face meetings on Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The numbers speak for themselves. They’ve exceeded my expectations since I wasn’t anticipating the social side of things to become so important to our strategy. I’ve been very impressed.   

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything off of the top of my head.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them a chance. They’re not your typical agency. They’ll work with you as a partner, unlike other places that have a hierarchical structure of seniority.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and managing director of Brouns & Co. We specialize in everything related to linseed paint and oil.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Spin Brands?

We were looking to improve our brand recognition and general audience awareness of linseed paints, which is an uncommon product that people may not know exists.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Spin Brands helped us with the social media side of things. We had done that sporadically, posting here or there on different platforms without any consistency, and we had sketchy analytics at best.

Spin Brands set up a whole plan covering Facebook and Instagram. Later on, we added Houzz and some Mailchimp email campaigns as well, but initially, it was about Facebook and Instagram. We targeted B2B and B2C audiences, each subdivided into hot and cold for lead generation.

What is the team composition?

We work with three people, but most of our communication goes through our account manager, Jack (Senior Account Manager). He’s very hands-on and understands the brand and message that we want to communicate. Charlie (Account Manager) writes copy for our Mailchimp campaigns while someone else creates the social media posts themselves.

How did you come to work with Spin Brands?

They came recommended by somebody who helped set us up on Shopify. I was chatting with that person about our social media performance, and he recommended Spin Brands. I had two meetings with Spin Brands, and they seemed very switched-on and understood our message.

But what stood out is that they didn’t ask us to lock into a contract right away. Instead, they offered a month of service to prove themselves and let us walk away if it didn’t work. That appealed to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $26,000–$27,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2019, and since then, we’ve expanded their services and our budget.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have an average of achieving an average of eight times our revenue per our ad spend. Spin Brands gives us very detailed analyses of our campaigns to let us see our average.

People also comment on our social media profiles saying that they saw our adverts and want to learn more. So the work doesn’t always lead to direct sales, but it sometimes results in indirect sales instead, which is also powerful.

How did Spin Brands perform from a project management standpoint?

Every relationship is so much about personal communication. Jack is very good at that. We don’t use any project management tools. Since the beginning, it’s been open communication through email, which works fine.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their consistency and reliability are what stand out to me. Unlike past providers who over-promise and under-deliver, Spin Brands actually performs. We’re close to doubling our turnover. We can see month-over-month our turnover and profit figures improving.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d probably ask Spin Brands to double-check certain posts to make sure there are no grammar errors or spelling mistakes. That’s a tiny thing, though.

Any advice for potential customers?

Having been on the other side of the table, your brief is everything. Have a good, clear idea of what you want to achieve, and then trust Spin Brands to do the right thing. They have the staff and ability to take your brief and increase turnover. Also: keep communicating throughout the engagement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Vegannection LTD, the company behind world's first vegan payment card.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Spin Brands?

We hired Spin Brands to create and run Social media paid ads campaign.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to increase the number of our cardholders.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After closely surveying the market and having spoken with their team, having seen their track record and background, I decided Spin Brands are the best possible fit for what we were looking for.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After we selected Spin Brands, we had a series of discovery meetings to discuss our goals and strategies to reach them. The team focused on understanding what the major drivers for our business were.

From there, they developed an advertising plan that was shared with us so we could check and approved it. During our collaboration we maintained a constant communication and Spin Brands provided us with a weekly performance report.

What was the team composition?

There were three people working on our project and we were in constant contact with one of them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Since we started our collaboration with Spin Brands, we have increased the number of our cardholders by 500%.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager that we were assigned was not only vegan but also very approachable, friendly, enthusiastic about the project and very easy to communicate whether by phone or email.

He regularly and frequently shared updates and gave us access to the file with the prepared campaign features we could review, comment and later approve.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were most impressed by their professionalism, expertise, ease of communication, punctuality, enthusiasm, dedication and, ultimately, the results they achieved.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We cannot think of anything that could or should be improved. Thumbs up all the way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Fyrtorr Ltd. We are a digital e-commerce brand that does light VC, which involves acquiring brands that we think have potential in the digital space and helping them run organic SEO operations to support their brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Spin Brands?

In our work with different tech companies, we often outsource to different agencies for paid marketing services, which is what we were looking to have Spin Brands do for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When you’re asking people to spend a few hundred dollars with your company, they often require a bit more education on the benefits of the product, and while that’s easy enough to do with organic materials like blogs and emails, you really need competent advertisers upfront to be able to acquire customers for that more expensive product.

We have our own graphic design and marketing team in house, but Spin Brands handled everything for all of our paid advertisements across several different brands. That included everything from the copy and design of the ads to the platforms they were managing like Facebook and Instagram.

Their team would also feed the information about performance back to us to let us know what was working and what wasn’t, and we would go back and forth with them about edits. They have a lot of expertise around audience targeting and technical analysis of the ads, which helped as well.

What is the team composition?

The main project manager on our account at Spin Brands is Robert (Paid Specialist), who has been with us since the beginning. We also worked with their head of paid advertising, and an additional account person primarily focused on another of our brands in the outdoor sports area.

How did you come to work with Spin Brands?

Our former head of marketing used to run our social media work, and before he left, he put together a shortlist of agencies that he thought would be most suited to working with us. We interviewed a number of those agencies for the position, and Spin Brands came off as the most genuine and the most realistic of the bunch.

Spin Brands aren’t about saying what you’re hoping to hear, they’re about asking questions that get to the core of what we’re really trying to achieve. It was clear from that process that they had a better grasp of the long-term value of our projects.

How much have you invested with them?

Our ad spend has been about $150,000, so with their agency fee, the project has cost a total of about $180,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2018 and the project is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Right off the bat, they came into our office to meet face to face, and we had a half-day discussion that was really productive in helping us hit the ground running with our collaboration. They asked incredibly intelligent questions that helped to shape our target KPIs and establish a pattern that we kept up over weekly calls throughout the engagement.

In the long term, across our engagement with them, we’ve managed to generate about 40% customer retention rate from Amazon, and closer to 50% through Facebook, which is really outstanding. Those are all customers who are staying with the brand through at least a second-order, which really speaks to the impression Spin Brands was able to achieve.

How did Spin Brands perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication continued to be excellent regardless of the stage of our work. On our calls, they would walk us through all of the current customer reporting and our progress towards KPIs, and then we would discuss upcoming changes to the accounts and all of the tests that we wanted to run.

They were also responsive to email, so anytime we had a question or wanted to run something that we hadn’t thought of by our weekly check-in, we could just drop them an email and get a response very quickly, almost always at least within the same day, and they would be very quick to implement the changes as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The level of initiative on their team is much higher than at your average outsourcing agency. They were always willing to changes that they thought would improve our success rate and would tell us when certain things they were doing were working and could be useful to apply to our other product advertising as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be a little faster to communicate when they need something from us. We found they were very good about taking advantage of things that were going well and maximizing the returns from those, but could wait until our weekly call to make the call to close something down that wasn’t working when it might have been beneficial to get input on that a little bit earlier.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

One of the key parts of the process is to educate them early on about what your core targets are, not just in terms of the short-run ROI but in terms of things like customer retention and the style of engagement you want.

They are very good at working toward unconventional targets, and if you involve them in the process and share your customer demographics and information like that, you will get a lot more out of the engagement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the innovation lead for the Movember Foundation, a charitable organization that supports both mental health and cancer in men. It was established in 2003 by a group of lads who decided to grow mustaches to see if they could generate funds for charity. What started out as some lads sitting in a pub turned into a multi-million-pound charitable organization and one of the biggest funders for investigations into cancer and mental health for men globally. So, in the month of November, we encourage people to grow mustaches to raise funds.

Movember may have started as a fun idea 15 years ago, but we’ve grown into a global movement, having inspired support from more than 5 million Mo Bros and Mo Sistas, and helped fund 1200 innovative men’s health projects across more than 20 countries. We’re addressing some of the biggest health issues faced by men – prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide prevention – on a mission to stop men dying too young, and ensure they live happier, healthier, longer lives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Spin Brands?

Facebook prompts users to create fundraisers on their birthday, and they can select between hundreds of thousands of charities to support. We hired Spin Brands to help us optimize tech on Facebook to encourage people to create birthday fundraisers for our organization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Over three-months, they tested branded material to provide data-driven research that would inform our future decisions on whether or not we wanted to invest or scale this project. So, for example, we could use images and messages to target users with birthdays in December to encourage them to create a fundraiser to support our organization. We had several different project plans to test and they had the independence to go ahead on what we agreed upon. Every two weeks, we would review results and make changes based on what we learned.

What is the team composition?

Jack (Senior Account Manager, Spin Brands) and Katya (Account Director, Spin Brands) were our primary collaborators and led the project. It was nice because they circulated other team members according to what we needed to accomplish.

How did you come to work with Spin Brands?

I did a ton of Googling and desk research on Top Ten Agencies in London, the UK, and around the world. I was looking for brands that worked within an agile methodology and matched our organization’s spirit. Their response RFO was well-pitched and they came to see meet our internal team. They had a truly entrepreneurial spirit and were passionate about both our brand and theirs. We chose them because of their do-what-it-takes attitude.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from June–October 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Based on the data from our investigation, we have their recommendation and are set to present the results to our global team soon.

How did Spin Brands perform from a project management standpoint?

They ran campaigns over the weekend and kept me in the loop. We met with them every week in their office, and we implemented sprint changes every two weeks based on what we learned.  We conversed over WhatsApp too.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The personalities involved are just brilliant. They’re good at what they do and they’re good people, which really is a killer combination. They have an overpowering energy that shows that they’ll do what it takes to get the project over the finish line. That definitely matters to our organization because we’re doing what it takes to further our mission as well. Really, our energy matches each other well. It’s lovely to work with people with the same dedication.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m all for giving constructive feedback, but to be honest, nothing comes to mind about Spin Brands.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Find partners with the same energy and commitment to the project. Both of our teams were passionate and inspired by the project and really wanted to get things done. On top of that, be flexible and agile to change in order to get the most out of testing.