Traction

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I manage global digital strategy at a food manufacturing company. Our team works on optimizing our digital interactions with customers, advertising, and messaging.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Traction?

We had an outdated corporate website that didn't meet the demands and needs of our regions. As a result, we had a lot of different online presences and messages about our company. We wanted to position ourselves as a global flavor leader and create one hub that could meet the needs of individual markets, so we started looking for a company to create a website for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed and developed a new website in Sitecore. We built a website toolkit in-house, so we already had some building blocks, best practices, and style guides. Traction did the frontend development and design, after which they handed the code off to our IT team. We handled the backend development in-house. We wanted to do geotargeting, so that we could optimize the website in the same platform and let the regions update their own content. Also, our corporate website is linked to our investor and career websites.

What is the team composition?

We had about six people assigned to our project.

How did you come to work with Traction?

I knew Adam Kleinberg (Founder and CEO, Traction) and I had heard good things about Traction. We had an RFP process and they beat everyone else.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $200,000–$450,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between September 2017–September 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched the website only a month ago, but the initial feedback from our senior leadership and from different regions was fantastic.

How did Traction perform from a project management standpoint?

We had an aggressive timeline, but they were flexible and willing to work with us. The code they handed off to our team was always clean. We had weekly calls with them, so it was a seamless process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Often, small shops outsource certain aspects of the development, but Traction was big enough to have all the capabilities in-house. Also, they were agile and spoke the same language as our IT team, which happens rarely.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They did a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be honest about your expectations and your limitations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the chief marketing officer for Rabobank N.A., the U.S. retail commercial banking unit of Rabobank Group. Headquartered in the Netherlands, we operate in California and do commercial banking with a focus on agricultural lending. The other half of our business is retail and business banking.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Traction?

Our presence was new in California and we needed help conceiving the next brand campaign to grow the business. We hired Traction specifically for design conception and campaign strategy. We knew our business objectives, but wanted to leverage their creative capabilities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope has three components. First is research using primary and secondary data to gather strategy insights. The second component is the brand campaign, which utilizes the research to formulate a theme and concept. Third is the creative execution and recommendations for media plans.

What is the team composition?

At minimum, we have an account manager and about three resources on the creative and strategy side. Due to the project’s fluid nature, team members step in and out based on deliverables.

How did you come to work with Traction?

Although I knew the CEO for a decade, we considered multiple vendors. Instead of a formal pitch, we invited agencies to present their credentials and discuss the project with our team. Following these conversations, I recommended Traction based on three factors. First, they had a strong digital marketing background. They were also keen on earned media as a supplement to paid media. Third, the team whole team came across as intelligent.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2018 and the partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Traction produces good copywriting and analytics. They also generate helpful insight in an effective manner.

How did Traction perform from a project management standpoint?

I have no complaints. The account manager is very responsive and the team meets every deadline. They’re committed to the project and hold us accountable to our deadline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their strategy analytics and creative approach stand out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s too early to say until we finished the project.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be crystal clear on goals and establish boundaries for the project’s creative aspects.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior director of marketing for Megastar, a mobile app for entertainment purposes. It is an online talent competition where someone will win a million dollars.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Traction?

We hired them for branding and advertising for our mobile app. We didn’t want to hire someone for our internal team because this was a one-off project, and once brand guidelines and tonality are set against the research, we would have to make an in-house person redundant. We decided that this should go to an agency that understood, had experience, and had a broader perspective than just one app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Traction because we were looking for a company that understood our challenges. We had an idea of what we thought we should look like. We had done some qualitative research in Boston and Los Angeles amongst people who favored reality TV competitions because we thought they were the closest to our potential audience. We wanted to be able to translate our look and feel into something that would appeal to them.

We asked them to work on this with us. They helped us craft not just our advertising or our website, but also the look of the app, color scheme, tone of voice, the entire tonality and appearance, and human side of our brand geared at our target audience. They helped craft the brand guidelines, look, and feel, and they developed all the assets required so that we could be self-sustained. We did the digital advertising in-house because we were running 26 campaigns at one point. On the app itself, they worked on the frontend design. The app is available in the U.S., Australia, U.K., New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada. There will be an opportunity to go international as well.

What is the team composition?

The team ebbed and flowed in accordance to where we were in the project. We worked with the creative team, the UX team, and the account team, who was awesome at keeping a grip on everything that was going on and delivering on time and on budget.

How did you come to work with Traction?

I knew Adam, the CEO, previously. We did due diligence and sent out an RFP to 3 companies, but we felt that Traction understood our digital needs and our digital audience and challenges better than anyone else.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent $500,000–$1 million on the entire project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in December of 2016 and ended in May of 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team was incredible to work with, very professional, responsive, and informed. Our team’s satisfaction with their work is 10 out of 10.

How did Traction perform from a project management standpoint?

They were flawless. In fact, they kept me on my toes and were awesome.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I really liked about Traction and why I wouldn’t hesitate to use them in the future is that they called the right people into the room at the right time. I never felt that Theo Fanning [Creative Director, Traction], didn’t understand what was going on. They are an agency that is really informed and up to speed, and could also handle the international aspect of our brand. They are a boutique agency, but I had all this knowledge at my disposal which one would expect from a bigger agency; that really impressed me.

They also impressed me with their understanding of our 2 target audiences. We had performers as well as fans, and they understood it from both sides.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could clean their kitchen more, but I don’t have any other areas to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I have hired many brand agencies, and I specifically look for someone who talks to the data and not the feeling. An agency that comes into the room having thoroughly researched the target audience and the data behind it, whether it was given to them or whether they commissioned it themselves, and one that understands and articulates the voice of the consumer is the agency to hire. If I hear “I feel” in the room, I instantly disconnect from that agency because it is the data that speaks.

The second thing I look for is if I like them, if they are people I can have lunch with or call in a time of crisis and let them know I need their help urgently, or if I can call the CEO if there is a problem with one of the account staff. It’s a relationship business, and liking these people, being able to work with them, and having confidence in knowing they are likable is key. Everyone has a showreel from projects they have done in the past, but hire someone that understands your challenges.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior manager of global digital marketing at Lenovo, a manufacturer of PC’s, data centers and mobile phones.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Traction?

We needed a campaign that generated a general interest for Lenovo laptops and spoke to our audience. Historically we created product-based campaigns, but we wanted to connect with our audience at a non-product level.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired them to do some research amongst our customer groups and demographics. They pitched campaign ideas and created an over-arching campaign that included three or four sub-campaigns. The campaigns included everything from creative strategy, video production and interactive elements.

What is the team composition?

We worked with the CEO, the creative director, an account manager, a video producer and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Traction?

We found them through word-of-mouth, but at the time, we were looking at two other companies. We chose Traction because of their creativity and they brought firsthand customer information to the table.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent close to a million dollars.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from March of 2015 to November of 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have given us the framework to create campaigns like we have never done before. It has given us exposure to publications that we have not had access to. The content published are still some of our top performing pieces out there. Audience engagement has increased since the advertisement.

How did Traction perform from a project management standpoint?

Very responsive and always on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their strength was their ability to spin humor into the normally boring B2B technology content, but not in an overly risky fashion like with Super Bowl ads. They worked in a creative way that spoke to our audience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be more understanding of the B2B market. They are a consumer-driven agency and we had to educate them on our practices.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you are in the B2B space, look for someone who can create professional content and has a sense of humor.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of marketing technologies for an entertainment technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Traction?

Our initial contact was purely a technical job related to our corporate website. The collaboration has evolved over time. We now have an end-to-end engagement with Traction, coming to them with ideas of future accomplishments from a broad, strategic direction: reaching consumers with specific content or reinforcing certain value propositions from a technology standpoint.

Together, we come up with strategy, creative, and specific tactics and work together on bringing those to life, whether from a creative, technical, or deployment standpoint.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The last big project took place in summer 2017. We rebooted the way we presented our core technologies to consumers. We’d had an encyclopedic presentation built by another agency earlier and wanted to deliver a better experience. We wanted to leverage our interesting consumer-facing creative assets in order to highlight a few value propositions—the key benefits of why someone would consider our project in their next purchase.

We’ve applied this across all our technologies. The first view is cleaner, more concise, and delivers a better articulation of what our products are meant to do.

Traction has also helped us with the last redesign of our main website in 2014. Having it work on mobile devices and desktops was a fun thing from a creative and development standpoint.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a project manager, an executive creative director, a lead creative, a content strategist, a junior designer, and around two developers from their team.

How did you come to work with Traction?

I think it was done through a recommendation.

How much have you invested with them?

The revamp of our technology pages had a cost of between $120,000 and $125,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Traction eight to nine years ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve very happy with Traction. They take ownership of issues, noticing elements not related to the main scope of the project and addressing them.

We can count on them to help us identify and figure out solutions, just like internal employees. They’re always willing to partner with us and drive incremental change. We can trust them to do the right thing from a strategic and creative standpoint, something we’ve always appreciated.

Being able to present multiple options, taking into consideration what's out of bounds, is something Traction has successfully executed on.

We track customer satisfaction closely and have seen improvements with all the KPIs that interest us, which are a direct result of Traction’s work. We’ve also seen positive feedback in terms of users understanding our technology better.

How did Traction perform from a project management standpoint?

They're outstanding. They understand our expectations, providing project and budget reviews in terms of the spend to date and resources allocated to a project. There's never a question of whether we're going over- or under-budget on major milestones.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The willingness to hear what we’re trying to do. Our lines of business are varied and completely different from each other. Being able to understand those pieces, absorbing that information, coming up with creative solutions for what our various marketing teams want to accomplish, and running basically the entire gambit of interactive media from demo videos to ads, websites, and marketing automation, has been great for us. We can rely on Traction. As our needs have evolved, they’ve evolved with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We could stand to bring cost a bit lower, but Traction has been good at working with us on their blended rate. We definitely get the value for our work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We are a global staffing firm. We specialize in professional staffing, so we place people, such as accountants, attorneys, technology professionals, and creative professionals.

What is your role at the company?

I am senior director of brand marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Traction?

I started working with them in 2009. I was exploring the idea of developing an updated advertising campaign for our primary brand. I had multiple challenges that I was trying to solve for with the campaign. I needed to make sure that it appealed to small to midsize businesses and that it appealed to a younger demographic. I also needed to make sure it was all encompassing, that it wasn’t just a traditional broadcast radio campaign, but that it was also something that would work very well in an interactive format.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They’ve done a lot of concepting work for us. I’ll go to them with a challenge or goal that I’m trying to accomplish. They have a very extensive research phase, so they will do research into who is our customer is, what our demographic is, what we are trying to accomplish. They make sure that they understand our business really well. They do a lot of outside research into the space, and then they will come back with proposals for the single most important message that the rest of the campaign is going to be based on. Once we’ve agreed to that core focus area, they come back with concepts. It’s a fairly standard creative process, but I feel like they do a fantastic job of diving really deeply into the strategy and getting to know the business. They run a very tight process in terms of concepting, and I always find they over-deliver when it comes to the concepts.

In terms of actual assets that they’ve created, it’s everything from video, websites, print advertising, digital advertising, radio, and outdoor advertising. They’ve really done the gamut of work for us. After the concepting is done, we have worked with them on production as well, so they actually produce the concepts.

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

Typically, whenever we’re looking for an agency, we’ll vet multiple agencies, so we never just go straight for one agency and start working with them. We looked at a variety of different agencies, including Traction. Adam Kleinberg, their CEO, came out, as well as their executive creative director, Theo Fanning. I believe they had a couple of other people in the original meeting as well. We had a really great talk with them. They clearly were very passionate about the same things that we are. They specialize in interactive, which at the time was not something that everyone had their head wrapped around. They had a lot of experience in the small to midsize business space, and they just had a lot of really creative ideas. Their reel was fantastic. We had very intelligent, strategic conversations in that original meeting, so that’s why we went with them.

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

It ranges depending on the job -- and whether they do concepting only, or concepting and production. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

It’s an ongoing relationship. The first project was a huge undertaking, a huge campaign. We worked with them for a very long time, and we’re thrilled with the work. It has actually won at least three different industry awards at this point. We’ve done other campaigns with them as well. We had a very sought-after outdoor advertising space on Wall Street for more than a year, and Traction did all of the creative for that. They’ve also done other one-off campaigns for us for some video programs that we needed to do, and we are currently working with them. So, we definitely have kept the relationship going.

Do you have any metrics you can share that indicate the success of the work?

As I mentioned, we’ve won three industry awards, and it’s always nice to know that the industry feels like it’s been a really good and well-received campaign. One of our major goals was to make sure that we engaged with a younger demographic. We had really great results in the A/B testing that we did, with the radio, for example, to see which demographic it appealed to compared to our older campaign. We ran those ads on Pandora, so that was very helpful to see that it really was appealing with the younger demographic.

When the campaign first launched, we quickly had an 18 times increase in our Facebook fans, so that was a really big deal for us at the time. The content itself had a very high number of shares in social. The comments on the campaign and the sentiment was overwhelmingly positive from a targeted audience. So, the awards are great because they were industry awards, but what we really looked to is how our customers, or our target audience, responded to it. It was very positive. We had some really great quotes. We found that the creative is doing really well in our advertising buys. The videos had a better than expected number of views. We still use the assets today, so they’re very evergreen for us. We’ll be able to use them for a long time. So, overall, we’ve been very pleased with the work that they did.

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

One of the things that I like about Traction is that when they do work for a company, they will always come back with something extra. You can hire them to do concepting, but they’re always going to come back with some unique digital experience that you haven’t actually asked for but is sort of above and beyond what you were expecting. It’s always really strategically tied into accomplishing your objectives. So, that’s a really nice thing they do also, they don’t just run down the very specific list of deliverables and only give you that. There’s always an extra.

What I would say about Traction is that they’re extremely smart. They’re very strategic, they are not afraid to push the envelope, but they also understand the company well enough to know when to dial back. I appreciate that they will encourage me to push the envelope. They’re not afraid to bring things to the table that perhaps we need to dial back before the final concept is done, but I like being challenged by an agency.

I was onsite for all the work they did around videos, which was a very extensive project of casting talent, writing scripts, doing wardrobe, shooting onsite, and actually shooting in a warehouse with multiple different sets. I was extremely impressed with their work. For me, I think it boils down to, can I trust that I’m working with people who are extremely smart, extremely creative, are going to be cutting edge, but are also going to keep everything very closely tied to the goal that we’re trying to accomplish and who we are as a company? I think they do a really great job with that.

They’re amazing. I don’t think anyone would be unhappy working with them. They’re definitely a good secret weapon.

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. I think with any agency, they tend to be big personalities with great ideas, and super smart. I think they’ve been fantastic. I trust them, and I will continue to work with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

The company is Bank of America, a Fortune 5 company in the financial service industry.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the former director of user-centered design and research.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Traction?

They helped me on a couple of occasions. Once was for some deliverables for an interactive environment, to provide access to account holders to figure out the type of account and cards they should be getting depending on life stages. Something else they helped me with was also a very resourceful flexible staffing model, where we were able to upscale and downscale very quickly across multiple projects, depending on size. They would provide resources to support the relatively small user experience design team that was currently at Bank of America.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of the project.

It began with concepting and defining business requirements. Then they went from concepting through to approval, to wireframing, to skinning, making sure that that they were adhering to Bank of America standards, front-end code, and backend code. They developed a small content management system for us that would provide distributed content across the application. They knitted into the backend systems through collaboration with our IT [information technology] department.

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

 I had worked with them previously. I was lead interactive designer for an agency in San Francisco at the time, and they had pitched for a project there. So, that’s where I met them, and I was very impressed with their work. I reached out to them directly after I realized that the project was very appropriate for their skill set and their development processes.

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

It grossed close to $200,000 in the end.

How long did the work take?

It was a quick 12-week project.

When did the project take place?

That particular project was in 2007, I think.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had targets around unique visitors, and time spent on the site. They exceeded all of the benchmarks that we had agreed on between us.

How would you describe their performance?

They’re performance is excellent. I think their methodologies are splendid. They’re transparent and easily understood. They really like to get engaged, and they’re immersive and collaborative. There wasn’t a time when we weren’t welcome at their offices, or that they couldn’t come to ours. Nothing was too much trouble, just a very excellent working relationship.

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

Very little red tape and a great sense of humor. These guys really know how to work hard, play hard. I hear people say it all the time, but with them I really experienced it. They have a really good time delivering on complex business needs, and do so with accuracy, both in timing and in financial structure. It was a really collaborative process and a really good experience.

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?

Not really. At the time it was just full-bore, very fast development and very fast iteration. On the whole, it went terribly well.