Angry Creative

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an events planning company and I'm one of the commercial managers of the gaming division.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Angry Creative?

We needed to improve the revenue-generating potential and increase the scope of our website

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with a discovery phase to scope out the project and make sure that Angry Creative fully understood our expectations and requirements. We turned that consultation into a statement of work and then into a project plan.

The team used an agile methodology. They also utilized Google Docs to manage our meetings, track our progress, and facilitate the reporting. 

What we asked Angry Creative to do was to clone our existing website and close down the older version. They enhanced the features of the newly built website. We eventually ended up creating three websites for our different brands, and the Angry Creative team made sure that there was a consistency across all of them in terms of functionality and experience.

What is the team composition?

I've worked with 4–5 different individuals at different points throughout the cycle.

How did you come to work with Angry Creative?

We've worked with Angry Creative in the past. We decided to work with them again to ensure the continuity of the project and because we’re very happy with their work. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about £120,000 (approximately $163,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

This project began in December 2020 and the websites were completed in June 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All of the websites that Angry Creative developed for us are revenue-generating, but I don’t have the exact metrics at the moment. There have been, however, widespread positive feedback from users that have led to more successful sponsorships and advertising. 

How did Angry Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

I was so impressed with their project management. Angry Creative was very consistent anbd responsive. Our relationship went smoothly because the team was never panic-stricken or stressed out and they always stuck to our timelines. 

We had regular catch-ups where we raised issues with the team. Nothing ever got out of hand or went forgotten because the team was very thorough at note-taking, logging, summarizing, and reporting back to us. They were certainly better than other providers that I’ve seen.

 What did you find most impressive about them?

Angry Creative did what they said they were going to do. They’re very reliable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The way they reported the use of our budget and our financial position could have been more straightforward.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Properly attend the project meetings and make sure to communicate thoroughly. Don’t wait until there’s an issue before you turn up.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Senior Digital Manager at The Fairtrade Foundation, which is an independent non-profit organization that works to empower disadvantaged producers in developing countries by tackling injustice in conventional trade.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Pragmatic through a pitch process, to rebuild our existing website in WordPress. Our previous website had been built 8 years earlier in Sitecore, which is a powerful but expensive system that we were not using to its potential because the cost of development on that platform was prohibitive.

As such we had not been able to make the changes and updates needed to keep our website up to date with our changing business goals and requirements. In addition, it was running on a legacy version that was no longer supported and the costs to upgrade to the latest version were three times that of the cost to rebuild on an open source system such as WordPress.

The decision was therefore taken to rebuild our current site in WordPress. We did not have sufficient budget to completely redesign the website, so this project was to move the website ‘as is’ to WordPress which would allow us to save on ongoing support and hosting costs and allow us to more easily make changes to the site in future.

Our goals were: A replication of our website (fairtrade.org.uk) on WordPress. A smooth transition with minimal impact to our website visitors and to internal teams. Page URLs unimpacted Limited impact to SEO AA accessibility Long term cost savings

SOLUTION

How did you select Pragmatic and what were the deciding factors?

We invited 5 agencies to pitch for the project. All had come recommended through my network. We scored the agencies on various factors including;

• understanding of the brief
• expertise
• chemistry (with us and within their own team)
• diversity
• project management
• value for money
• extras (e.g. ideas and suggestions)

All our agencies scored well across most factors so our decision was hard and eventually came down to the proposed timings and on-going support package.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Scope of work:

• Move our UK website (fairtrade.org.uk) from Sitecore to WordPress, smoothly with minimal impact to our website visitors and to internal teams.
• A user-friendly CMS provided, to be used by several people at once and with different access rights
• Limited impact to SEO, no broken links, etc
• Maximise opportunities (better SEO, accessibility, search)
• Site to be built to AA accessibility rating
• We required a dedicated project manager to oversee the migration, keeping a tight track on timings and budget.
• The agency had to be WordPress experts with prior experience of managing similar migration projects.
• Thorough CMS training provided for a number of users from Fairtrade
• Agency on hand to support during the first two weeks of site launch
• Specific project management tools in place to manage progress, bugs and other ‘tickets’ and a dedicated project manager assigned to the project
• Website to be set up for Google Analytics tracking
• Thorough testing to be carried out in all main browsers and devices
• Website to be built with security in mind and advice given on how to limit issues of security going forward
• At point of project completion, the website should be running smoothly as outlined in the brief, with no known major issues or bugs outstanding. Project steps
• Brief sent 28 February 2020
• Pitches – week commencing 16th March
• Agency recruited – w/c 23rd March • Contracts and due diligence completed April 19th • Project Kicked off 20th April
• First review of site, end of May
• Review of site and feedback w/c 15 June
• Bug fixing w/c 6 July
• Site checks and approval w/c 13 July
• Site launch 29 July 2020

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

We worked with around 5 team members, they were project manager, UA designer and developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

• We achieved AA accessibility which was a very important part of the update.
• We have not seen any negative impact in SEO or site traffic
• We were able to redesign the homepage as part of the project, allowing us to address more of the issues experienced with our old site.
• Onsite search is significantly better than it was
• The CMS is significantly better than previously (more user-friendly)
• The website went live six weeks ahead of our deadline
• The project came in on budget

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

We had a dedicated Project Manager who was very good and accommodated our changing timelines. We had weekly update meetings and had access to the Confluence project management system. Outside of meetings, we had direct email communication with a number of the team and responses were prompt and helpful.

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

Pragmatic has a very good understanding of WordPress and used that expertise to guide and advise us, and to respond to our requirements and demands. They built our new site very quickly, working through the issues and unexpected roadblocks encountered. They were always professional and polite and the project was completed ahead of our deadline.

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

Some of the costs came in above the budget stated in the brief, this could have been managed slightly better (although I had a contingency budget so there was no impact in terms of completing the project within our total project budget).

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Senior Brand Manager for the Santa Teresa rum brand in Spain, which is part of Bacardi's co. portfolio. The company markets different spirits brands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Pragmatic?

We hired Pragmatic in order to develop the webiste of the brand's new communications campaign in Spain.

What were your goals for this project?

Develop and simple and reliable website with information on the brand and the campaign.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

There is a company global agreement with this vendor.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They developed the website based on existing creative material developed by a local agency. They built the website that we were looking for.

What was the team composition?

I am not sure about how many people were involved in the project. I did have regular communication with the account & project lead; further than that, I am not sure of how many developers contributed to the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

well, this is not a project with specific impact. I mean, the website is, as we need to have an online point of contact and information with consumers. Pragmatic developed the web and it works well.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Management was very effective. We had a very short deadline to develop the project and they planned and delivered in timings perfectly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was very satisfied, as they were very committed from day one and sticked to the plan the proposed, with the end result of delivering in a very short time.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really in this case. Communication was good all the time and the project got developed with no issues.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Martlets is a hospice and a charity in Brighton and Hove. We care for people living through a terminal illness in our community. I am the Digital Communications Manager, leading on web, social and email communication.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Pragmatic?

We hired Pragmatic to redevelop our website which was previously on a bespoke CMS.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a more accessible site for users and an easier site to manage as staff. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We wanted to work with someone local and approached a few local developers. Pragmatic far excelled everyone we saw in terms of what they were offering.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We started with a meeting to outline our goals together. Pragmatic then gave us the most comprehensive project document I have ever seen which made it incredibly clear what the scope was between us. The project needed to be done quickly as we had a hard deadline with our current providers and Pragmatic worked swiftly and professionally throughout.

What was the team composition?

We had an account manager and a project manager for the project and worked closely with the development team. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our website is already proving much easier for the team to work with and externally we have seen a reduction in bounce rate and users have commented that the new site is much easier to navigate.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management was very effective. We had a dedicated project manager and weekly calls to update on progress.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Pragmatic was really efficient and easy to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a district project manager for a multinational food product company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Pragmatic?

We were developing a new WordPress website. We wanted it to be flexible to use so that we could manage it through our newly-created in-house team, rather than an agency.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Pragmatic developed a site for us. We had to migrate all the content from the old website and create a new WordPress platform. We’re using several components on the site, including WooCommerce.

What is the team composition?

I was working with three main people from Pragmatic, but I also interacted with their technicians and designers. The team consisted of about 8–10 people.

How did you come to work with Pragmatic?

Our company identified the need to move to WordPress, so we started looking for an agency. Our global team recommended Pragmatic, which had done business with our wider team elsewhere.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Pragmatic in October 2018, and the site went live in March 2019. Pragmatic still provides ongoing support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m happy with Pragmatic. We have an ongoing relationship for monthly support; they fix bugs and make minor changes we can’t do ourselves. We’re managing the site’s content in-house. We’re looking at making a new e-commerce section within the next 12 months, and they are supporting us with that.

How did Pragmatic perform from a project management standpoint?

Pragmatic manages the project well.  We meet regularly, and they’re using an agile methodology. It allows us to get to a concept quickly and flexibly. Pragmatic also quickly adapted to the guidelines we chose midway through the design phase. 

We have a Confluence setup, which was great for tracking deliverables, key actions, and project documentation. I know they also use Jira as a ticketing system. We make use of Slack, which saves us a lot of day-to-day emailing. They’re also big on Google Hangouts, so we had video calls exclusively. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Pragmatic’s communication is strong. We’ve really gotten to know the team we’re working with. We’re not based in the same city, so spending time together thorough videocalls takes effort, but they are happy to chat with us regularly. We discuss the main project on an almost daily basis. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Pragmatic should be even more proactive and communicate risks—either with our timeline or list of tasks—as early as possible. They should also be clear on the impact those risks may have.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the VP of marketing and communications at a cybersecurity company. We're based in the UK, and we have operations around the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Pragmatic?

Our website was in need of a serious overhaul in terms of the design and the messaging, so we were looking for a vendor to develop a new website for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we had some meetings where we discussed the strategy and the objectives for the website. Then, Pragmatic developed a new WordPress website for us, handled the creative aspect, and helped us launch the site. The new site presents very clearly our mission, the problems that we solve, and our solutions. There is also a section with customer testimonials that we didn't have on our previous website.

What is the team composition?

We had one main point of contact and we worked with a team of about four people.

How did you come to work with Pragmatic?

We submitted an RFP and reviewed the proposals from the highest rated website developers in the UK. Pragmatic submitted by far the best proposal, so we chose them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between November 2018–March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The number of website visitors and the time they spend on our website have increased dramatically. We're very happy with the look and feel of the new website.

How did Pragmatic perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive and engaged, so it was a pleasure to work with them. We had regular phone calls and they kept us up-to-date with the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They know what they're doing, so we could trust them. They made the whole process easy for us and managed everything very well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We had a great experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don't skimp on the budget. They're worth it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the senior field marketing manager at ClusterSeven, the leader in spreadsheet and end-use computing (EUC) management software. We’re based in London, New York, and Boston. I’m in charge of planning and executing the lead generation plans for the organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Pragmatic?

We originally came to them for support for our WordPress website and quickly understood that they could help us with much more than that.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to reduce our bounce rate from the homepage and increase conversions on our free trial page.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We searched for WordPress vendors online because we were unhappy with the supplier we had at the time. We selected three vendors to meet with and got proposals from them. Our marketing team ended up selecting Pragmatic.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We first had a half day discovery session with Pragmatic at their offices to go through the website and explain the parts we were unhappy with and what needed to change. They gave us their opinions and later produced a proposal of the three areas they thought we should update first within our given budget, which led to a project plan.

They reworked the UX on some of our key landing pages where we had high bounce rates and low conversions. They also updated the design of our free trial page and homepage. Pragmatic built the pages in a testing environment and shared everything with us over video meetings. We provided feedback on the changes we needed, which they implemented before pushing the website live.

We have them on a support contract for four hours a week. They tackle any new requests we have, which we can submit via their online portal. We’re also looking to use them for growth-driven design so that they can implement important changes to the whole website’s design and navigation.

What was the team composition?

Our two key contacts have been their client services director and commercial director. We’ve also dealt with web designers, support staff, and more.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

From reviewing heat maps on the webpage, we can see that more people are clicking in the places we want them to. Our bounce rate has started to decrease and conversions are up. We’re going to continue our plans for further improvements to the website in order to advance our conversions even more.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We chose to go with Pragmatic because they communicate clearly and meet deadlines. We have scheduled calls to review work.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They’re more than just a web agency; they’re proactive and bring a lot of ideas to the table. Pragmatic helps us bring our thoughts to life on the website.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. We’re happy with their work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I lead digital product development for a global B2B media company that focuses on financial services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Pragmatic?

We needed to jettison an outdated, clunky CMS, while at the same time updating our websites to be more user-friendly and responsive.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Pragmatic suggested themes and designs based on our existing brand guidelines and then worked with us to develop a backlog of feature requirements. They built our new platform on WordPress, while also helping us migrate content from our legacy platform. Pragmatic were our core partner in relaunching 8 different sites and continue to work with us on iterative feature development and product evolution for both our subscription news and events platforms.

What is the team composition?

The team size waxes and wanes to match our needs We tend to have a scrum master/project manager as well as 3-4 developers as the standing team.

How did you come to work with Pragmatic?

Our relationship began with them on a smaller project in 2013. They offered sensible, efficient solutions that would bring value quickly to our business. They later pitched, along with other agencies and platforms, for the work to relaunch our subscription portfolio and were successful in their bid.

What is the status of this engagement?

Pragmatic continue to provide development support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Stronger commercials – our sites are performing better across the board, with higher user engagement leading to more and better sales and renewals.

How did Pragmatic perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communications and project management are best in class. We are in constant communication via Slack, Aha!, Jira, and over the phone. We frequently meet in person.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They go above and beyond to deliver what they’ve committed to and are constantly suggesting new ideas – and not just to win new businses. Pragmatic feels like a bona fide partner, not simply a service provider.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No; I’m very happy with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a robust relationship and take advantage of their experience, insight, and desire to help businesses improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a digital communications manager for an organization that provides health care services to the local public.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Pragmatic?

We wanted to make our website mobile-friendly and more accessible to those with disabilities and other language needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I joined the project when we started the build, so I’m not sure what happened before that. One of the best features they implemented was enabling us to customize our website through the WordPress plugin Cornerstone. Pragmatic did all of the frontend and design work, but we can change some of the layouts on the site ourselves without having to rely on designers as much.

We’re one organization, but we have numerous departments that each had their own legacy websites, so Pragmatic helped us move those all onto one platform. They gave us the tools to create multi-sites that were all accessible and connected to the central site. Now, our website is Android and iOS friendly, automatically responds to a user’s screen size, and the menus all function properly no matter the device.

What is the team dynamic?

We mainly interacted with two people, one being our project manager, but I’m sure a larger team worked on our project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Pragmatic in July 2016 and the site went live in December of that year. We still work with them, though.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site is much easier to navigate and more responsive than before. We don’t have any specific numbers on traffic, but I know access via mobile devices has increased. A lot of our staff have said how much better it is now, and we haven’t had any complaints from stakeholders, which is a good sign.

How did Pragmatic perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a pretty good job. Near the end, I was communicating directly with the developers, because it was faster, but the project manager logged all of our contact. We mainly used email, conference calls, and a tool to log any site faults right on the page.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility and unique problem-solving skills were essential to our project’s success. They made it possible for us to be more independent and make changes as we see fit, instead of having to turn to them for every little thing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since the site launched, Pragmatic has been a bit less responsive, but that may be due to us not having a formal support contract with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing for Lumesse Learning, a large learning technology provider with 3 business units, including talent acquisition, management, and development. I’m involved in the talent development unit. We have material learning products, and we also provide custom-built services, as well as advice and guidance services with learning strategy and implementation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Pragmatic?

Initially, we wanted to bring our hosting costs down and replace our existing website support agency with better resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Pragmatic was brought in for hosting and web support, but have since helped with other things.

We’ve moved on to website builds, and they’ve helped us build a site for one of our products called Me Time. The process was very fast and painless, because once we decided what we wanted to do, they put it in place quickly. They dealt with all the issues we had with various videos which we wanted to run on the page, and they were generally very responsive.

They steered us towards a particular WordPress theme which they thought would be useful for our needs. They also pointed us towards a guided tour called Cornerstone, which enabled us to build webpages in-house. We were able to do quite a bit of the setup ourselves, as well as the maintenance.

Pragmatic saw that this avenue would fit our needs, and since they introduced us and trained us to use this tool, we’re now able to go in and tweak things as needed. From our perspective, it’s been a very successful implementation, and a great idea. We get a lot of leverage out of the regular fee we pay in terms of retainer, because they do a lot of other things which are useful to us.

What is the team dynamic?

I initially spoke to David [Founder & Director, Pragmatic], and I’ve since also worked with Ian [Support Manager, Pragmatic], Ryan [Lead Support Developer, Pragmatic], Tom [Support Developer, Pragmatic], and Stephanie [WordPress Developer, Pragmatic]. If I’m ever unsure who a responsibility belongs to, I go to Ian, and he tells me who to talk to. When we implemented the website, I was mostly in contact with Ryan and Tom.

How did you come to work with Pragmatic?

A friend recommended Pragmatic to me, and also said wonderful, glowing things about them. Their founder, David, also initially impressed me with his attitude. Their name sums up their process well, because they get the job done.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2014, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Between Quarter 1 in 2016, and Quarter 1 in 2017, the website sessions increased from 2,800 to 8,000.

The core of what Pragmatic offers is support, maintenance, and hosting. They were immediately able to bring our hosting costs down, and they also provided us with better support and maintenance than we felt we previously due to their expertise and knowledge. They know what they’re talking about, and they do what they say they’re going to do on time.

How did Pragmatic perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was very good, and everything was brought in on time and according to budget. They were very responsive. We mostly communicated through JIRA, but we used email and calling as well.

Their team is also very observant. If I bring something up which they can’t fix immediately, such as a browser issue, they will continue working on it until it’s fixed. They will come back to me a week later, when I have forgotten about it, and present a solution. Things don’t get forgotten with them, which is a big improvement compared to who we were working with previously.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication, honesty, and efficiency have really impressed us. When they have had staff issues, they’ve been transparent about it, which I found to be really helpful. They are a fast-growing company, as we are, so we understand the pressure.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are on an as-needed basis at the moment, but it would be helpful if we had regular calls with them to see how things are going, what may be coming up, or if they can help us with anything.