Assemblo

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Mainstreet Australia, a nonprofit organization that supports retail strip shopping centers that are part of precincts or malls. We collectively advocate on behalf of these places to local councils. We work mainly in Victoria. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Assemblo?

We needed help with a national conference we were hosting. We engaged Assemblo to help us with our marketing reach.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Assemblo acted as our marketing agency, assisting with ticket sales and getting messaging out there regarding our speakers. They came up with a full marketing strategy that lasted four months.

From the get-go, they engaged with us. They spoke with us and asked us who our target market was. We started with a kickoff to announce the conference's existence. Then, we followed up every 2–3 days with more social media ads. The team created certain posts that would probably engage more with councils, and we spent a bit of money on them. Then, it went out nationally.

They also upgraded our website, which had a countdown to the conference. Everything was interconnected, and Assemblo tracked all the data for us. Then, post-campaign, they supplied us with a full debrief of the reach, how many posts they created, and what posts reiterated back to ticket sales. They also did some design work for us. 

We focused on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Everything else we did in-house, and they led all the marketing from Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Not to mention, they secured an interview with ABC Radio when we were in Hobart.

What is the team composition?

We were lucky to have the full support of the whole team, but there were two key drivers: James and Steve, the founding directors.

How did you come to work with Assemblo?

They came from a recommendation. They had been working with some centers that were members of ours. We were following a lot of their socials and could see there was some good pickup there that was hitting the right target market. For us, it was a bit of a no-brainer.

Moreover, they attended some of our functions. We shared good conversations over the last 2–3 years. It wasn’t until last year that we could see the benefit of engaging a company like this. Assemblo had worked on similar campaigns, so we contacted them, and they recommended a work plan.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $30,000 AUD.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May–August 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We absolutely saw such a huge spike in ticket sales. Our engagement increased tenfold. In fact, we received over 180 attendees, whereas we normally got around 100–120. We definitely think the marketing did that. It reached as far as New Zealand and Singapore. There was even interaction from the UK, so it definitely had a global interaction.

Besides, the process was great because we could see where the ticket sales came from during the campaign. We automatically related that to the campaign because we had never really invested in a marketing component for the conference in previous years. We had just done it ad hoc.

We had a great partnership with Assemblo. We will definitely look to use them again in the future.

How did Assemblo perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great. We were probably getting more updates than we anticipated. James would come and give us an update. When he saw that certain posts may not have the ideal reach, he would come back to us and propose a new approach.

They were very supportive and constantly uplifting. The communication was great, and they were always extremely prompt with responses. If we had meetings and needed an update, they would have something for us within a few hours. They were just a really good, easy company to deal with.

James is an extremely professional operator. I’ve worked with him on other projects as well. This one is quite bespoke, and the area that we work in is very bespoke. It is only a small industry, after all. Not to mention, we mainly communicated via email or phone calls.

Overall, Assemblo was extremely professional and constantly kept us updated. They sent us weekly reports regarding rates, ticket sales, and online feedback. Their reporting was also great since we could share it with the committee.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The customer service is outstanding. They were always available to take a call and give us updates when we needed them. We’re not marketing geniuses, but they made it simple for us to understand and get the best outcomes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t fault them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go for it, 100%. Just be clear with your brief and what you’re trying to achieve, and Assemblo will do very well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

As Manager of the Camberwell Traders Association, my role is to undertake the marketing and business development of the 700 retail and professional service businesses within the boundaries of the Camberwell Junction shopping precinct

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Assemblo?

The challenge we faced as a local shopping area was that Covid-19 had locked down Melbourne and our businesses were suffering.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal of this particular campaign was to help revitalise our hospitality businesses who had been so severely affected during the lockdowns.

We also wanted to remain engaged with our local community and show how our retailers had been able to adapt their businesses to be able to continue to trade in some capacity and in new ways.

SOLUTION

How did you select Assemblo?

Assemblo is our ongoing marketing company and we work together on our calendar of events and marketing strategies.

Describe the project in detail.

For this project, we looked at a total marketing campaign focussed on the abundance and diversity of our food offer and how this could still be accessible to the local community through takeaway, takehome, click and collect tor home delivery.

The messaging was conveyed through print, direct mail, video, digital advertising, social media and professional articles posted online and our website with links to specific businesses.

What was the team composition?

Assemblo utilised their creative team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The campaign achieved fantastic results. Our businesses were very happy that we were able to continue to support them and help them to keep trading. Our community loved that we were helping small business owners and they became particularly connected to supporting local businesses during this time.

We judged the results primarily through positive feedback and the number of traders that got involved in the campaign as well as feedback from the community.

There were 60,000 unique pageviews to the campaign articles, trader directory, and website during the campaign and over 100,000 complete playthroughs of the promotional video across Facebook and YouTube with 700,000 impressions reaching more than 260,000 unique people on Facebook alone.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have had a long and solid relationship with Assemblo since they first started locally and have since grown into a full service, city-based agency. The directors still work with us personally, understand the dynamics of our organisation and are always happy to roll up their sleeves and help out, even with local events.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

There is clear communication between their team members and us, they will give and take advice and stay on time and on budget which is important to us and as a not for profit organisation.

Are there any areas for improvement?

N/A

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Matchbox Pictures is a film and television production company that creates content for streaming companies and TV broadcasters. My position within the company is production manager. I report to the head of production, manage the day-to-day ongoing tasks, and handle the marketing for different shows.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Assemblo?

We had the second season of a show that did well in the first season. However, the season had 30 episodes, which isn’t normal for TV shows so it’s quite difficult to keep viewers interested. Therefore, we engaged with Assemblo to work with us on the second season to swiftly generate awareness of its return. Additionally, we also wanted to increase the audience, because we knew it was going to be a challenge to get people to watch 30 episodes to catch up to the second season.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project Assemblo did was manage all our social media accounts. They created and manage all the content that ran on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. We worked closely with them to get the correct voice and feel of the show to talk to the fans. This led to them responding and engaging with our audience on our behalf. 

They also ran paid campaigns on Google and YouTube. No print advertising, it’s all done through online marketing and advertising.

What is the team composition?

We worked initially with James (Founding Director) and it was a really great relationship. We also worked with another content creative when we had to approve content.

How did you come to work with Assemblo?

We chose them at random for another project where they completely delivered. They did so well that it was a no-brainer to go back to them. While we knew that they were slightly riskier because they didn’t have a huge background in marketing to the TV and film industry, they still did really well for us on one of our shows.

Even though this wasn’t their usual line of work, they just know what they’re talking about. They’re just really good at finding an audience and talking directly to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent close to $100,000 AUD approximately $78,200 USD)

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from March–November 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saw an increase in what we call viewer ratings on the free-to-air ratings — which was extremely rare to have for a show’s second season. There was an increase in viewership not only at the start of the show, but also midway through it. This means that somehow, they found a new audience, got them to catch up on the episodes, and watch the shows live as they were airing.

We had a 27% increase in season one and season two. Apart from that, we had an 86% ratings increase in our target demographic, which was the 25–64 age range. 

How did Assemblo perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication was great. They sent weekly emails keeping us up to date with what they were going to do the next week, and how the last week performed. They also regularly check in with phone calls, saying they could change anything or do anything differently.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really good with data. They’re very nerdy and geeky and if you tell them what you want to hit, they will go and find all the data there is to find on your specific topic — They really do their research. They will use that to talk to your audience, which is really interesting because other companies often cast really wide nets and then see who bites.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. we just really love working with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to set up a lot of calls at the start. We did a lot of calls to get on the same page and to really understand how they work. This also helped them understand what our show was about and what we do.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I am the Digital Marketing Officer in the Small Business Victoria branch of the State Government of Victoria, Australia. I manage marketing campaigns and projects of a digital nature. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Assemblo?

We were trying to outsource the coding of a website. We wanted to build an ongoing relationship with the chosen agency to consult and build future websites. Small Business Victoria does not have the in-house capability to build websites. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of the work and Assemblo’s involvement in greater detail.

They were tasked with turning a design into a working website. Through consultation, they needed to create a solution that could be achieved in the time and budget constraints typical of government campaigns. They consulted in the design phase, filled in the gaps with their own initiative, and then built the site. They also provide web hosting and ongoing support.

They were consulting during the planning phase through to implementation, which is important in government campaigns since we seek outside opinions to make tactical decisions.

How did you come to work with Assemblo?

I had previously worked with Assemblo at a prior company and had invited them to be part of the process. They were selected based on their prior work portfolio and the solution they pitched to our idea.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

Small Business Victoria’s digital engagement budget is quite sizeable, running in the millions. For this type of project, we usually expect a range from $10,000–$50,000 per campaign, plus ongoing costs.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first project with Assemblo was started last year in June of 2016 and concluded in September of 2016. A follow-up project took place in January of 2017, and there are two more projects in the pipeline for June through December of 2017. Our ongoing retainer for services is per financial year from July to June.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What are the results of the project, and are there any statistics or metrics you can share?

The project was very well received and won an internal award for excellence for its part in the Small Business Festival digital project. The campaign accounted for 30% of our web traffic during this period, versus our projected KPI [key performance indicator] of 10–15%. It beat all the projected KPIs.

The website received praise from stakeholders, including a rare review from a government minister. No customer survey has been run at this point, but the campaign received a lot of social media shares, far outstripping our other campaigns up to that point.

For the few months the campaign was running, it was often brought up in conversations when referring to “good government web projects” and received praise from skeptical management. Good government web projects are quite hard to come by, so this was an excellent outcome and buy-in from internal stakeholders with sway to approve future projects.

How did Assemblo perform from a project management standpoint?

Assemblo was friendly and helpful. They were given the near impossible task of coding the website in two weeks (due to government approval processes and the fight it took to get to payment) and were able to do this. Frequent communication was necessary to clarify design aspects and to make on-the-fly changes, all inside the complicated government procurement and approvals process.

What distinguishes Assemblo from other providers?

They’re able to take initiative to fill in the gaps that we wouldn’t think about and to work towards a tough deadline.

They did not get upset even though government projects can be tedious, which was commendable. This is pretty rare from a government supplier. Usually, they aren’t quite as kind or will charge us gratuity for the trouble. It is refreshing to have a supplier that understands we’re not trying to be troublesome on purpose, but the public pressure means we have deeper processes that take more time.

Is there anything Assemblo could have improved or done differently?

No, we have had nothing but a positive experience.