18 Coffees

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Programs at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, an immigration non-profit based in San Francisco that seeks to improve immigration law and policy, expand the capacity of legal service providers, and advance immigrant rights.

I direct the New Americans Campaign (NAC), a national initiative for which the ILRC serves as the lead agency, which brings together national and local organizations in partnership with a funder collaborative to increase naturalization among eligible lawful permanent residents.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 18 Coffees?

We hired 18 Coffees to answer a big question for the New Americans Campaign: how could we build a repeatable digital toolset to make a dramatically bigger impact on citizenship every year?

They put in place a digital strategy and test-and-learn execution plan that would allow us to collaboratively learn over time what digital strategy would work best for the New Americans Campaign.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to make the New Americans Campaign smarter about its use of technology and communications, but mostly we wanted to find new ways to reach lawful permanent residents (LPRs) and convert them into new U.S. citizens.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

18 Coffees was recommended to us by our communications steering committee, made up of stakeholders from some of the philanthropic organizations funding the New Americans Campaign.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

In Phase 1, we worked collaboratively with 18 Coffees to determine the initial digital strategy: the team spent two months digging into our existing data on LPRs, interviewing New Americans Campaign partners and stakeholders, looking at secondary research, and determining the biggest market and messaging opportunities to reach LPRs with digital tactics.

We settled on a pilot in the Miami market, and working hand-in-hand with an 18 Coffees execution partner they brought to the table to manage digital advertising and creative, we executed a six-month campaign focused on Spanish-speaking LPRs, using an agile learning process that forced us to step back, look at the data, and learn along the way.

After this first phase, 18 Coffees took the learning to expand to a national market with campaigns targeting Latino, Chinese, and Filipino LPRs in multiple languages. The work led to refinements, such as breaking down the ad distribution into distinct geographic markets in Phase 2, to ensure we served the ads into certain target locations aligned with strategy rather than solely optimizing into the largest markets.

We secured funding to continue the digital work with 18 Coffees, and we are in the planning process of developing an even more ambitious learning agenda that testing different calls to action, partnerships, and media strategies.

What was the team composition?

For Phase 1, we worked directly with the managing partner, Caleb Gardner, a project manager at 18 Coffees, and representatives from the agency media buying team.

This structure continued into Phase 2, with a different agency to execute the media buys. Caleb’s ongoing engagement, which has been necessary given the complexity of our project, has been invaluable.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our initial hypothesis, developed with the 18 Coffees team, was that we could prove effective digital tactics that would work for naturalization among LPRs in the Miami market by collecting a set of digital actions that demonstrated intent to naturalize.

Because this was a new initiative without much data with which to benchmark, 18 Coffees had to adjust our target after being in market and getting initial data. But after we adjusted our hypothesis and continued to learn how to optimize the campaign, we were mostly able to reach the new targets.

But more importantly, we learned valuable information about what worked to target LPRs, including messaging and technology insights, which we built on for a second phase.

In the second phase, we targeted a national audience with geographic and cultural and linguistic segmentation. We are approximately seven months into the new phase and have a seen a significant decrease in the cost per lead (less than a third of the cost of the first pilot), as well as open rates for email and SMS engagement of approximately 30%. We have effective digital assets that we can continue to use.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We worked very closely and collaboratively with the 18 Coffees team and their media buying vendor, with no friction and real-time, productive exchanges to resolve the rare miscommunications that arose.

When frustrations arose on our end about some process breakdowns with the media buying vendor during the first phase of the pilot, 18 Coffees helped to mediate a better working relationship between all parties.

In the second phase of the pilot, 18 Coffees brought on a new media buying vendor with more senior-level engagement, which also facilitated a more effective workflow.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Caleb Gardner and his terrific team have put in place a data-rich approach that allows us to test audience targeting, platforms, and messages so we can adjust in real time. It’s a treat to work with Caleb—he’s a thought partner who has infused 18 Coffees with a collaborative spirit that defines how we work together.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We have learned that a critical need for our project with 18 Coffees is a community manager to engage in platform in a culturally competent and linguistically appropriate fashion. This would enhance brand building for us and improve the quality and quantity of follow up with social contacts.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am a department manager at LinkedIn

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Social Platform

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire 18 Coffees to accomplish?

• Uplevel team communication & storytelling skills

SOLUTION

How did you find 18 Coffees?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select 18 Coffees over others?

• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from 18 Coffees were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Prep meetings, content design, facilitated two workshops, one-pager leave behind

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Training NPS

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

They were very proactive, responsive and delivered the project on time, on budget, and in full. 

What was your primary form of communication with 18 Coffees?

In-Person Meeting

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

They were adaptable to my company's unique situation and culture.

Are there any areas for improvement or something 18 Coffees could have done differently?

N/A