V2Works

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an aircraft-leasing company. We’ve handled private equity funds in the past, and currently take investors’ money, buy commercial aircraft and lease them to airlines and cargo operators around the world, primarily focusing on Boeing and Airbus planes. I am the head of operations for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with V2Works?

We were doing a management buyout from our parent company, and needed to rebrand. We needed to find a name and create a website. We had hired another branding agency initially, but it really wasn’t going anywhere, so we went back and found V2Works.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had been a company for 13 years, but, having to rebrand, we needed to change our name and make a new website. V2Works started from the ground up, initially developing a name for our company. They interviewed us, found out what we were doing, and presented a number of options, out of which we selected one we liked quite a bit. This quickly led into V2Works developing the website, which was something we’d never had, as a company. Our parent had a page which we broke off from.

V2Works created all the content for the website, as well as its feel and colors. They also came up with a logo for us, and completely developed our entire brand image, in a relatively short period of time.

More recently, they’ve also developed some print ads for us, creating three or four different options for us to choose from. V2Works has also helped us with integrating our logo onto different products, including client gifts.

How did you come to work with V2Works?

I was in charge of the transition, and, as a part of that, finding a branding agency. I didn’t have any experience in hiring or using a firm like this and found V2Works through a reference. I also looked them up on the web and interviewed a number of different agencies. As I mentioned, we initially chose another one, but that was a mistake. We came back to V2Works, and found that they had the most potential and showed the most interest in our project. Their ability to perform, especially after the initial letdown, was very good.

How much have you invested with V2Works?

For the last seven months, we’ve spent around $10,000 per month. The initial web development and branding project had a cost of $40,000 to $50,000. Our print-ad work had a cost of between $5,000 and $7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with V2Works in August 2016. We launched on the first of October. V2Works still maintains our website and enters updates whenever we obtain new aircraft leases. The total cost has been a little over $70,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We wouldn’t have been able to have a presence on the web or even a name without V2Works. We don’t’ generate business through the website; we use it more as a pamphlet or placeholder online. Dealing with airlines and aircraft manufacturers is done on a face-to-face basis, but we still wanted to put all of our information out there, and make it attractive, something that people would want to come to. We were mainly focused on people who wanted to know more about it, possible investors and so on. We didn’t perform any particular market testing, but, once we launched, we had an initial PR effort, and all the responses which came back were positive or extremely positive regarding the website and its design.

We are over-the-top happy with the final product, in terms of name, logo, colors and website. I was expecting much less and would have been happy with a lesser result. This is why we’re still using V2Works for add-ons, whether they are print ads or logo placements.

How did V2Works perform from a project management standpoint?

When we initially hired V2Works, we were on a very tight timeframe. They ran the whole project on my behalf, providing a budget and timeframe, which were stuck to. The people who were assigned to our project provided daily updates as to where they were and what they needed. The back and forth was excellent in this regard. As a customer, I appreciated knowing what the status of our project was. I have nothing to complain about, and I wouldn’t have changed anything.

What did you find most impressive about V2Works?

From our initial meeting with V2Works’ owner, Troy Turner, I could tell by his viewpoints and energy that he had a sincere love for this area and took it very seriously. He’s produced a book on branding. I had a high level of confidence in his team’s ability to perform what we needed to do.

Are there any areas V2Works could improve?

Based on the projects we’ve done so far, no. I’ve been extremely happy, and the work was provided on time and on budget. V2Works shared what was going on very well.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with V2Works?

I would advise clients to trust V2Works. I like to maintain control on the projects I’m working on, and I’m quite often let down by other groups we have to hire. This project has probably been one of the best relationships I’ve had with an outside vendor in terms of proactivity. It’s always difficult choosing a third-party, but I think that clients can place trust in V2Works. They are very creative people who will work hard and look out for clients’ best interests.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

IDEX Health and Science is in the life sciences business of manufacturing components for the optofluidics industry primarily focusing on life science OEM [original equipment manufacturer] instrumentation makers. I’m the global director of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with V2Works?

V2Works has been our marketing communications agency since I joined the company four years ago. They provide a variety of marketing branding and marketing communications services. We rely on them on a daily basis.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

V2Works does all our marketing collateral development and creative execution. They’re very instrumental in helping me manage all our branding and brand guidelines. They help us maintain, develop, and create new online marketing initiatives through email campaigns and newsletter campaigns. They’ve also helped us with developing and launching a website and website pages. They do the creative work, and they also help me do a lot of the discovery work. I don’t have any creative people on staff. All of our creative work goes through V2Works. Everything we do with them is a project, so I would say we’ve done hundreds of projects with them over the years.

How did you come to work with V2Works?

Twenty-some years ago, V2Works’ very first client was a company called Upchurch Scientific which was a catalog-oriented business in the life science connections industry. Troy [Creative Director & Principal, V2Works] produced numerous catalogs for this company over the years. Upchurch Scientific was then acquired by IDEX Health and Science. The relationship has continued to grow since then. We continue to do a catalog, and V2Works helps us with that almost every year.

How much have you invested with V2Works?

We have an annual contract with V2Works for a certain number of hours. This year we contracted them for 2,000 hours of agency time which is around $400,000 a year. The projects vary in size from a small e-blast or creative project which might be five hours to a website redesign project which takes 700 hours. Since I started working at IDEX, we’ve been working on a retainer basis. If we go over on our hours, we pay the excess. I’ve always used all the hours that are contracted.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been in a business relationship with V2Works for over 20 years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s been a wonderful working relationship. V2Works knows our business very well. They’re a small shop, but they’ve treated us exceptionally well. The first project I did with them when I came onboard was to redesign and relaunch a new website. V2Works was instrumental in the process, and we received a marketing award from IDEX for that work. V2Works is part of my team, and we are very satisfied with their work. I drive the overall strategy, and they execute it. The feedback I’ve gotten from people I report to and up has been very favorable.

How did V2Works perform from a project management standpoint?

V2Works' team has a very sophisticated tracking system. They’re very productive and extremely responsive. For a new project, V2Works has a discovery session with our internal customers. We have a discussion between my team and their team to come up with a plan based on where the discovery is leading us. In that process, we specify what the deliverables will be and what we want them to look like. We also have a budget setting process as well where they let me know how long the project will take. We check in throughout the process to see where we are with the budget and timeline. Every month we have a review of all the open projects and where we are with contract hours month-to-date, quarter-to-date, and year-to-date.

They have a person that’s dedicated to managing the projects. If V2Works is waiting on something from my team, they’re very quick to keep us on task. Projects are often late because of the client and not because of V2Works. They’re very communicative if they’re behind. I’ve never been surprised with V2Works not delivering something when they said they were going to deliver it. I’ve never been disappointed by what they deliver. If a storyboard is off the mark, we collaborate to rework it. They’re good at what they do, and I would endorse them to almost anybody.

What did you find most impressive about V2Works?

Their responsiveness and willingness to get to know our business are impressive. They’ve come to know our business really well. Troy and the members of his team have come up the learning curve pretty quickly. A year and a half ago, we acquired some other technologies that are outside of what V2Works has been used to doing. Part of our business is based on fluidics, and they know that side very well. The optical side of our business is new, they’ve forced themselves to learn that, and they’ve been very responsive and open. They’re quick to tell us what they don’t know and where they need help from us to give them guidance. Their creativity is good too. Brandee [Chief Operating Officer & Senior Art Director, V2Works] is Troy’s right hand and is very creative. The rest of her team has some very good technical skills as well. I’ve been very impressed and very pleased with what they do considering how small of an agency they are.

Are there any areas V2Works could improve?

Since they are small, everything flows through Brandy and Troy. At times, they have bitten off more than they can chew because they have other clients as well. Their business isn’t scalable. That would be the only downside. There have only been a couple of times where I felt they had too many things going on and it was impacting the overall work they were doing for us. I was open about that with them, and they recognized it and made every effort to be responsive and make sure we were getting what we needed.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with V2Works?

I would recommend anybody to work with V2Works. If you look at their portfolio, you’ll see a lot of what they’ve done for us. I would say for the money; it’s excellent. I know what I pay compared to what other agencies charge, and V2Works is a great value.