The Ascendant Group

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of the company. We are a communications and leadership training company with over 20 years in the marketplace. Our clientele includes over 40% of the Fortune 500.

For what projects/services did your company hire The Ascendant Group, and what were your goals?

We hired Ascendant for multiple areas. PR for myself, the founder, and the company. Book concept idea development, proposal writing, and securing a book deal. Social media for myself and the founder. Brand strategy for the company. Brand design for myself and the founder. Ongoing strategic branding advisement and management for the company. Our goals were to help transition from being an in person training company to be more well known for our technology solutions.

How did you select this vendor?

Our app developer recommended them.

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

We generated over 100 media placements, some key strategic partnerships, social reach in the millions, and saw some great business growth. They also played a key role in helping us reshape our vision for it to be more marketable.

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

We had a brand manager, the CEO, 4 or 5 publicist, and a social media person assigned to us. I'm not sure beyond that who else worked on the account.

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

We've seen growth in the core and new business. We've had a significant uptick in traffic. We've seen an increase in brand recognition.

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

There is a biweekly meeting and once they are properly orientated to a campaign direction we get results quickly.

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

The flexibility, brainstorming, and collaborative nature. I liked that I could grab the CEO anyday for a conversation.

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

Sometimes its important to ensure clarity has been achieved before going full speed into a direction.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Global Advisor for an HR company.

For what projects/services did your company hire The Ascendant Group, and what were your goals?

I was interested in building my personal brand.

How did you select this vendor?

I heard the CEO speak on a webinar and decided to reach out to explore a conversation.

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

They developed a brand message for me and then created a web site, book proposal, social media, and did public relationship. They then ended up securing a book deal for me with a major publisher and marketing the book.

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

I worked directly with the CEO, a couple of the brand managers, and their head of entertainment who is a literary agent. I know they had several other people work on the project. All together I had a team of 8-9 people.

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

They secured for me multiple national media hits, a book deal with an advance, best seller for the book, my LinkedIn and Facebook accounts grew by a collective of over 25,000 (initially being under 2,000).

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

They were good on email, we had strategy calls, and the team was available as much as I needed them.

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

I was impressed with their unique ideas, flexibility, and commitment to success.

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

I can't think of anything. I renewed multiple times, have referred them, and plan to work with them again.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO. Three Squared, Inc. is a Detroit-based architecture and design firm whose revolutionary technology uses steel cargo shipping containers to build eye-catching and resilient mixed-use spaces, condominiums, and apartment complexes faster and more cost-effectively than traditional construction.

For what projects/services did your company hire The Ascendant Group?

To help us announce our hiring of Eric Lloyd Wright the grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright as our chief architect. It expanded into several engagements over six years as they helped us grow our social exposure, publicity, and helped us do our seven figure raise.

What were your goals for this project?

To get exposure for our firm as a budding company entering the Cargo container building space.

How did you select The Ascendant Group?

Through our network at CEO Space. We vetted several companies and Ascendant demonstrated a high level of drive, expertise, and uniqueness.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The Ascendant Group has been with us from pre-revenue to generating a significant pipeline for us through securing PR with USA Today, ABC News, and Huffington Post.

We've also utilized them to generate meaningful leads on LinkedIn. Much of our 7 figure raise and several of our clients came from the exposure we received. Even after our formal engagement we periodically comeback to Ascendant for special projects and I consider them among my most trusted advisers.

What was the team composition?

We got great engagement from the CEO as well as having two publicists, two social media people, a designer, and another Senior Partner at the company working on our behalfs.

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

Seven figure investment raise Multimillion dollar contract signed Exposure on ABC News, Yahoo Finance, USA Today, and placement on reality TV show on HGTV

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent they were proactive in their thought process and collaborative.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are always are thinking about the next thing. The positioning work that was done was pretty clever. I would have never thought about positioning my role as CEO and the company overall in the way they did.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They learned a lesson about extending themselves to far and I learned it as well. We did some SEO work with them which isn't their sweet spot but we trusted them. I learned to lean on people to do what they do best.

Which in Ascendant's case is already so many great things brand strategy, PR, design, advising, and social media. I should have been satisfied with that.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Director of Project Management for Control and Data Protection company that Spans Across all Industries.

For what projects/services did your company hire The Ascendant Group, and what were your goals?

Ascendant did a brand retreat and developed a brand strategy that included communication plan, positioning, and our pre-launch approach.

How did you select this vendor?

The market research company we were utilizing recommended them.

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

They came to our office and did a 5 hour workshop to get to know our executive teams perspective on the business and market. They then analyzed market research data, had follow up discussion, and presented a comprehensive plan that took us up through launching the business.

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

We worked with:

• the CEO
• chief brand designer
• a Senior brand manager
• some of the PR and social team

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

A clear communication strategy that helped us see a bigger picture for audience, monetization strategy, and detailed road map to help us position the launch of our product.

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

They ran a tight timeline and communicated any time there was adjustments to the plan.

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

They were creative, flexible, and collaborative throughout the engagement.

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

No

Please describe your company and your position there.

We have a rapid response antibody platform and a solution for antibiotic resistant bacteria

For what projects/services did your company hire The Ascendant Group, and what were your goals?

We had developed two very compelling innovations and needed support in developing a corporate brand identity, generating media attention, setting up social media, and creating strategic relationships.

How did you select this vendor?

We heard about them through a Harvard Business School recommendation.

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

We started with a brand strategy and then from there they developed three web sites for us, developed social presence, secured major media, and secured a 25 million dollar business deal for us with a company out of Egypt.

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

We worked with half a dozen people including two publicists, the CEO, a Brand Manager, and a Brand Designer.

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

The 25 million dollar deal we secured provided a 10X ROI. In addition, they created branding assets that have proved helpful as well as strategic advisement on positioning.

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

Even when we were not communicating they were. Their style was extremely proactive and results-oriented.

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

The versatility and improvisation skills. They've provided practical solutions for every challenge.

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

There was a vendor they recommended wish I in retrospect hope they had vetted better.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We offer an app that helps to track inappropriate content on computers.

For what projects/services did your company hire The Ascendant Group?

We had experienced a lack of interest and engagement around our product and were looking for ways to spur that.

What were your goals for this project?

To increase our exposure via media.

How did you select The Ascendant Group?

They are a top ranked firm in the region and provided a very common sense approach to the engagement.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They helped us secure TV exposure that had us be seen in over 100 U.S. markets and strategically grew our LinkedIN in a way that we got engagement from organizations that wanted to partnership with us.

What was the team composition?

We worked directly with a Partner at the company and he had a couple people work underneath him. We did not interact with them.

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

Request to partner with organizations in our industry and media coverage that positioned our business for success.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was excellent. Everything they said they would deliver they did and we actually ended up asking them to pause the social work because we were getting overloaded with requests.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The straightforward communication and straightforward results are impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I cannot think of any.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO

For what projects/services did your company hire The Ascendant Group?

They were hired to develop a brand strategy, conduct a photo shoot, grow my LinkedIn, and launch a web site

What were your goals for this project?

To launch the speaking division of my company and begin building a personal brand.

How did you select The Ascendant Group?

I was referred by a long-time friend that had great success with them.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They developed a web site direction and then built a web site. They developed a direction for a photo shoot, conducted the photo shoot, and then touched up the photos. They developed specific brand positioning for my business. They built a LinkedIn campaign that has generated dozens of great leads and converted into business.

What was the team composition?

It included 5 team members. Including a Partner in the business, a couple of brand managers, a designer, and a social media person.

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

I generated multiple deals from the LinkedIn work and I feel very confident in the visual look and feel of my brand.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

There are multiple people I worked with and everyone gave a great deal of energy and it was a good experience.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The overall emphasis on monetizing the brand and wanting to pull the best out of me. Both of these were very impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Just communicating more in terms of status updates.