Woden

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of STRIVE

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

STRIVE is an employee experience solution company focused on partnering with employers to create the one experience that drives employee retention, productivity, & wellbeing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Woden to accomplish?

• Create urgency messaging around employee experience
• Define our brand story to be compelling
• Solve top of the funnel areas for improvement

SOLUTION

How did you find Woden?

Online Search

Why did you select Woden over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Woden were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

STRIVE engaged with Wooden to transform our brand story, identity, & messaging! We knew we had a fantastic product in an area that the market needs (employee experience) but we were unable to get the amount of leads we wanted. Needed a strategic partner to help define our vision and be an ongoing support!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We were absolutely thrilled with the work Wooden completed and we just finished up a week ago so results are still early: 

1. Created a streamlined and captivating STRIVE end-to-end story from our ideal customers' perspective 
2. Help to redefine our approach to explaining employee experience as a new / emerging way to drive people operations value 
3. Creating a tagline of, "One Employee's Experience is an Entire Company's Potential" that created 600 leads at SHRM

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Everything was delivered on-time and as expected! Pivotted several times and were extremely flexible around process and refinement.

What was your primary form of communication with Woden?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Woden's ability to convey complex ideas in the simplest and most relatable way possible was impressive! The story arc aligning with the customer journey was so eloquent that I use it in almost every marketing / sales meeting!

Are there any areas for improvement or something Woden could have done differently?

The Story Guide is amazing and a fantastic artifact but 140 pages is tough for anyone outside of my head of marketing or myself to read. More bite-sized content with the StoryGuide as an initial deliverable would be helpful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of Peckham Industries, Inc. We’re a construction materials products and services provider. We provide services for construction, paving, recasting, and aggregate quarries. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Woden?

We needed to unify our branding. We were beginning a growth trajectory and had just completed a couple of acquisitions in the past years. We had a strategic plan to double the size of our business every five years, and we had different brands within our company that we wanted to unify.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Woden helped us unify our company’s branding and messaging since we had different business lines. Woden worked with our team to codify our company’s culture, story, and messaging tone. 

Woden also defined our brand guidelines and gave us a structure to advertise our brand moving forward. They also helped us develop our storyline with help from our employees and customers since the most important thing for us was having consistent messaging across our different channels. We created our social media content with Woden’s guidance.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 7–8 teammates from Woden, including two account managers. The team varied through our engagement, and Woden’s president also worked alongside us.

How did you come to work with Woden?

Woden reached out to us through their email distribution. We were already thinking about unifying the company and promoting one brand. We scheduled a call with Woden, and their services aligned with our requirements. We then spent around two months discussing the project’s scope before starting our official engagement. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $50,000 with Woden.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Woden from December 2021–March 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were primarily looking to improve our workforce’s engagement. We noticed a measurable improvement in our meetings’ engagement during the time we worked with Woden. I don’t have more quantitative metrics to share at the moment, but we’re conducting a survey with our employees that will give us a tangible measure of engagement. 

How did Woden perform from a project management standpoint?

Woden met deadlines and stayed on budget. There were some personnel switches during our engagement, but this didn’t affect us. Woden was ahead of schedule at times, and we tried to slow them down to follow our initial timeline. They were diligent in scheduling deadlines and providing follow-up. We also communicated efficiently through email, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was most impressed by how quickly Woden understood our business and how we approached our market. Woden got up to speed quickly. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Other than the early personnel changes, we had no other issues with Woden. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend being clear about your project’s needs and requirements. We spent a lot of time trying to clarify our task because we weren’t sure what we needed to ask for. Woden worked with us to define our project’s direction, so don’t be afraid to engage in conversations with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing of Binary Defense, a cybersecurity company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Woden?

We were refreshing our brand and messaging, so we were looking for help crafting a compelling brand story that could align with our vision as a company and position us in the market.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Woden helped us with the branding of our company. Their services included crafting a very detailed brand story guide that served as the framework for our go-to-market messaging and associated collateral. These tasks included website copy, presentation decks, elevator pitches, and sales representative guides.

To jumpstart the process, we conducted in-person interviews with our employees and customers to gather information like data sheets, marketing collateral, and external third-party research to provide to Woden’s team.

What was the team composition? 

We worked with around seven members of Woden’s team, including six subject matter experts and a project lead.

How did you come to work with Woden?

Woden reached out to us to offer their services.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $50,000–$60,000 with them for this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August–December 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Woden’s work immediately impacted our business because it aligned our sales teams under a common direct messaging space. In addition, it helped our customers to understand our services, true brand story, and value proposition. Every time they visited our website, our customers could see how we could address their issues rather than only reading a list of features.

How did Woden perform from a project management standpoint?

Woden delivered on time and within budget. Whenever they came across a challenge to meeting a deadline, they were communicative in thoroughly explaining the reason and gave us options on how we wanted to address those issues.

Regarding communication and tools, we had standing meetings and weekly check-ins and used their portal to share documents.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Woden’s team was flexible in getting to know our business and asking all the right questions to ensure good results. They were also hardworking and professional when we wanted revisions to iterate their work until we had what we wanted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I was delighted with their results, but they could share some of their previous results with other companies so their customers could have an appreciation and samples of how the deliverables would look like.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Woden is the best option if you want to sharpen and refine your company’s brand story.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a textile recycling company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Woden?

We hired Woden for their marketing and branding services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Woden has worked on our branding needs; their deliverables include our color schemes, brand name, and mission and vision statements. We’ve provided them with basic materials for them to review and accomplish their tasks. The team has also interviewed our staff and acquired a lot of anonymous quotations from them. 

What is the team composition?

They’ve assigned eight people to the project, but I’m mainly in contact with the project manager. 

How did you come to work with Woden?

Woden was recommended to us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $20,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2022, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Marketing and branding success is difficult to measure, but we’re truly happy with what Woden has provided. We’ve been able to reposition our business in a positive light and in a more constructive way. 

How did Woden perform from a project management standpoint?

They deliver everything on time and within budget and are responsive to our feedback. To communicate, we use emails and phone calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Woden has delivered a lot of things that I initially didn’t know were important. In other words, they’ve gone beyond the scope of the project and delivered what’s truly required by the customer instead of doing only what we ask them to do. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. They’ve done a good job. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be understanding of the way that Woden works. If you give them more flexibility, you’ll get more value from them. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Sortera is a new technology raw material sorting company dedicated to the mission of enhancing the circular economy. I am the VP of Commercialization and in charge of our messaging both internally and externally.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Woden?

Sortera hired Woden to help us with our story and how to tell it to various stakeholders.

SOLUTION

How did you select this firm and what were the deciding factors?

We considered the scenario of scaling a company and Woden had a nice proposition for our circumstances. Start-up companies have many challenges and outsourcing functions to an audience that does not understand your business is a very helpful way to optimize your story telling.

Describe the project in detail and walk through their service package.

Woden offered a package that allowed for beginning to end support for creating, telling, and training our Team our our story. Various opinions and dialogue contribute throughout the process, Woden is able to use other scenarios they have experienced to explain how the Hero's Journey can set a company up for success.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Woden had various Team Members who assisted in our journey, we utilized over 10 different Team Members throughout the process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Sortera struggled telling the same story across the company, Woden's process allowed our leadership team to standardize our story and make it very clear to all audiences, as a Technology Company this can be a difficult task.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Woden utilizes both on-site meetings and virtual meetings to help manage schedules and also gather intimate details about their customers and understand their culture.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Woden focused on the "Hero's Journey" this practical approach made simplifying the story a simple process. The more people involved the more opinions you get, so simplifying the process helps to gather the opinions and incorporate them into the story.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Sharing drafts more in advance a couple days before meetings, would have helped our process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the creative director of ChartSquad, a business consulting company. We enable people to gain fair access to their medical records through high-tech so they can have all their information in one secure place.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Woden?

We needed help branding our business, including its narrative and story behind what we’re achieving to improve and solidify our market presence.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Woden provides branding services for us, including our internal and external messaging through our website and social media to share our core values with our market and help us articulate them to our staff. Regarding the process, Woden has a very structured approach to working with us; they set many steps to understand our business and goals to create a story for us with all the information they’ve been getting from us. That story includes our overall message and how we want to manage our sales approach.

In terms of deliverables, their efforts are mainly copywriting for our website and optimizing our existing content to fit the campaign their team is managing.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with 4–6 members of their team, including Rachel (Director of Creative Services), Logan (Brand Storyteller), a senior partner, and a writer.

How did you come to work with Woden?

The CEO of our company brought them on board.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

We’ve spent $20,000–$60,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Woden’s work is extremely detailed and concise, and they break down everything for us.

How did Woden perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been great because they’re on top of any situation that arises. Regarding communication, we have biweekly updates to set up our upcoming goals and discuss the project’s progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re an organized, friendly, and personable team that has taken the time to understand our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a hiccup with the copywriter, but they solved it immediately. Besides that, I don’t think they can improve anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ask as many questions as possible to ensure you’re as involved as Woden’s team — a collaborative and communicative approach is always important.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a marketing director for a business technology service provider. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Woden?

We had established an IT brand that we wanted to take nationally and apply as our overall company brand. We needed to build some foundations for that and we were looking to get that accomplished fairly quickly which doesn’t always happen when you’re doing something internally. 

We hired Woden to help us put together a consistent message and brand story for our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Woden did research on our company, and then had a meeting with us where they presented their services. They put together a roadmap for us of where they would begin and what they would do at each step, and they walked us through everything. 

They have a regimented process, and we trusted that and handed over everything that we could to them. They ran surveys, did phone interviews, and collected data on the company. They also conducted internal interviews to collect all of our materials and messaging documents. They distilled all the data that they collected into key pieces that created our brand story which we based everything else like messaging, value statements, and culture on. 

They gave us a story guide which was a document with over 200 pages that guided us on how to develop messaging and improve our social media. They also summarized this into a 30–35 page document so that we could share that with our executives and board of directors. 

We now have frequent meetings with them and use them on a consultative basis from month to month. We primarily focus on various pieces of content like brochures and social media initiatives. 

We’re also in the process of doing brand story sessions with our regional salespeople, which Woden is helping us with. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Ed (Managing Partner), Joel (Storytelling Copywriter), and Rachel (Director of Creative Services). We also worked with Jeremy (Former Brand Storyteller) who distilled a lot of data for us.

How did you come to work with Woden?

They were referred to us, and we researched their company. We were intrigued by the process that they went through, so we reached out to them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $50,000–$60,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2021, and it is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve created a brand story that is bound to who we are and what we do, and they’ve nailed it. We’ve been on the road doing brand presentations for a while now, and these have been very well received. We see this as a huge accomplishment and are very excited about it. 

Another unit of measurement that we would consider significant is when we are presenting to our regional leadership and salespeople, we ask them to develop commitments based on the story that they learned in these interactive sessions. We are able to collect the commitments from the sales teams and can follow up and take measurements from them. 

How did Woden perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a strict process that they follow in order to produce results. They have very specific timelines and deadlines, which they adhere to very closely. Our primary form of communication is through email and phone calls. We also use Zoom and Microsoft Teams for meetings, but we do meet in person. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

One thing that we find that really distinguishes them is that they are very organized and fully understand their own processes. They've identified and established a process for developing a brand story that actually works, which is not the experience we've had with other companies. Everyone at Woden is engaged in their process and they know what they are doing. 

They are very collaborative and respond to feedback in a positive way. We sometimes go back and forth on phrasing and content because they are focused on adhering to the brand story we’ve created, but we need it to resonate with our audience. When this happens there is never any pushback, and they make the changes for us. 

They’re very customer service oriented. They want to make sure that everything is being done correctly and that we're happy and getting everything we need. This kind of specific attention is very unique to Woden, and we’ve been very impressed with it. 

Woden is adaptable and changes based on what we need. Our company structure is a little different from other companies, and they continuously adapt to that because they understand that we need something different. 

For what they are doing for us, we believe their services are very cost-effective. Given how much work they have done, and the attention to detail they provide, we are very happy with the cost. We don’t normally give glowing recommendations like this, but we’ve been very impressed with everything that they’ve done so far.

Are there any areas they could improve?

During the beginning phases, we found that they were very strict about sticking to schedules. We lost some data because they weren’t able to collect certain interviews that were originally planned. Once they understood our company a little better this changed, and they started providing a lot more flexibility. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust their process, and ask for flexibility when you need it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and president of a hospice staffing company. We provide experienced hospice nurses on a temporary basis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Woden, and what were your goals?

We needed help establishing a clear message that accurately represented our brand. We were struggling with messaging that clearly and concisely stated the purpose of our company. We needed a message that we could adapt for all marketing and media. We also needed a focused, cohesive marketing plan that used a recognizable message.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were approached by several branding and story development firms, but Woden stood out to use because they were able to tell us their story in a way that caught our attention - which is exactly what we needed developed for Amity.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

I am very impressed with the work Woden put in to really understand our business - they really grasp not only overall what we do, but the finer nuances of our business. The team developed a story that really captures what we do and expresses why we do it.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with several people from the team - due to COVID all of our meetings have been held via Zoom, which has worked well for us. Our primary points of contact were Ed and Logan.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are just implementing everything, and are very optimistic that our improved ability to share our story will have positive outcomes for us.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

All deliverables were on-time, with many being early. The steps of the project were very clearly laid out and easy for us to understand and follow.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We're impressed with their deep understanding of our business and their ability to take this understanding and turn it in to an amazing story that makes me so proud of my company. I tried for years to tell the story of Amity with minimal success, but in a couple of months Woden put together a beautiful story.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

The Story Guide is incredible and very comprehensive, which I love - a bullet point summary of the guide may be helpful for quick reference of all the recommendations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the former CEO and founder of Clear Ballot. Then, I became a partner and senior VP of strategy at VOATZ, a company that worked on online remote voting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Woden?

VOATZ hired Woden to help us create a communication plan. Online voting was a controversial topic, and we needed their team to help us blunt the opposition to online voting.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We did a series of initial briefings with Woden as the first part of the engagement. Our team provided them with information we gathered; we also gave them links to articles that were written about us and about the problem of online voting. It was extensive since we wanted to bring them up to speed on the issues within our industry.

Then, we worked on the project using their methodology, which they called the Hero’s Journey. It was a standard method of telling a story, and their output was almost book-length — it had a couple of hundred pages. In it, they broke the project down into various strategies. 

These include website and advertisement strategies, though we didn’t use the ad strategy. Their team also provided a storyline for each of the strategies. Meanwhile, the communication plan took the reader through a series of steps that followed the Hero’s Journey. Simply put, they provided content that allowed us to tell our story through stories. 

How did you come to work with Woden?

When I was the CEO of Clear Ballot, I received unsolicited emails. Most of them talked about marketing services, but VOATZ was the only one that clicked with me. When I retired from Clear Ballot, I contacted VOATZ to find a position where they could use my services. Then, I found Woden through them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $20,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project lasted from December 2018–July 2019. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were happy with what we received from Woden. Our company wasn’t driven by traffic, but the project helped us sharpen our focus and reorient the way we addressed our market. In that sense, Woden helped us more with strategy as opposed to simply marketing and advertising. They gave us a fresh set of eyes to look at a thorny problem. 

How did Woden perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through emails, Zoom calls, and phone calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Woden had a clear approach to explaining strategies and stories. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. I was truly happy with their work; in fact, I’d use them again.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have a complex service or product offering that’s hard to position with customers, then Woden can help. Their approach to storytelling is an excellent way to explain your product to customers. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of an independent claims adjusting firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Woden?

We needed someone to tell the story of our company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Woden has been providing us with branding and creative solutions to better represent our company to prospective clients.

We went through a discovery phase to give them a better understanding of what we do, so they can develop our story and brand guide, as well as our marketing materials.

What is the team composition?

I believe there are five people assigned to our account.

How did you come to work with Woden?

I wasn’t part of the onboarding process, but I do know that they worked with one of our clients and they were presented to us as a reference.

We decided to hire them because we felt comfortable with how they took the time to know our company better.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $23,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in July 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The feedback from our team has been very positive, and the information that Woden has provided has been really easy to digest and put into actual practical use — so overall, the partnership has been wonderful.

How did Woden perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re fantastic from a project management standpoint, as they’re able to deliver their tasks on time.

Additionally, their communication has been excellent, and we’ve never really had any questions about the progress of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with how much effort they invested in understanding our company during our initial conversation. The team that they brought to the project is also outstanding.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive criticism at this point in the relationship.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to just be open with them and provide them with access to your internal team, as well as your carriers.