Bolt Brasil

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Take.net provides services for the telecom industry, especially in the mobile space. We're a high-value service company that provides various kinds of services for the five major telecom companies in Brazil. The company has been in existence for about 16 years, but has never had a marketing department. I've been here for 10 months and have been trying to structure the company's marketing department to help the company take the next steps the CEO and the board are looking for. This marketing will involve only Take.net and not our work with the telecom companies.

Right now, we are marketing only a white label product. But, we are trying to launch at least two products in partnership with the telecom companies, but it's to be a Take.net product, not a white label product. The company wants to develop its own products, and that's why they decided to build a marketing department. Before that, the telecom companies we were in partnership with did all the marketing.

What is your position?

I am the marketing manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Bolt Brasil?

The primary challenge was to make the Take.net brand more widely known in Brazil, especially in the B2B [business-to-business] and B2C [business-to-consumer] markets. Up to this time, our brand was largely unknown in Brazil, except in association with the telecom companies.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The first thing they did was to do a brand awareness diagnosis with both the telecom and B2B companies. We were trying to find out how the market viewed us as a company and as a brand. The results were great and gave us plenty of insights as to how to do business.

After that, Bolt Brasil built a brand pyramid, which shows all the values and attributes that our brand has. This will help in brand recognition and give us direction in how we should communicate with our clients and with the market.

Bolt Brasil also developed a new brand image for the company, which was approved in December [2015]. Now, we are making plans for launching the new brand and the new identity of the company. At the same time, we built a new website and developed guidelines for social media, for brand persona, and for the brand identity of the company. In parallel with all this, Bolt Brasil developed names and identities for our two new products.

How did you come to work with Bolt Brasil?

Actually, my team has been working with Bolt since before I started working at the company. Our CEO had done the research about what agencies the company might work with and had hired Bolt just when I was starting with the company. I wasn't here during that process and didn't participate in that decision.

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

We have spent somewhere between $10,000 and $50,000 working with Bolt Brasil.

What is the status of this engagement?

The majority of the work is finished. The only thing that is left now is the layout of the new website. The final presentation about other media, brand persona, and guidelines for social media is scheduled for next week [January 2016].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics, or other feedback from your work with Bolt Brasil?

I don't have any results yet because everything is so new. I'll certainly have more information in one or two months – a better sense of the results of what they have developed. What I do know is that before working with Bolt Brasil, all the company had was a brand from the '90s, a brand that no one recognized. We now have a more modern brand, one that expresses what the company is today and expects to be in the future.

What distinguishes Bolt Brasil from other providers?

What we like about them is that they worked together with us. They consulted with us, but did not come back and tell us what we needed to do. They used a process that involved me, the board, and the CEO in building an understanding of the brand, the values of the brand, and the position of the brand. They involved us in developing the brand, the brand persona, and the website. They involved us and, at the same time, guided us.

When they delivered the final product, everything was in Portuguese, which makes a lot of sense. They are extremely creative and have extensive experience in the market and with other companies. They brought a lot of experience to the table, so we could understand how things work. This has given us a feeling of security about their work. We felt safe about what they are trying to build with us.

It's almost as if they are a part of the company. By the end of the process, they came to understand who we are and what we do. I don't think they have ever worked in our field but, by now, they are almost as expert in the field as we are. They really get inside the client. They try to understand not only what the client wants, but also how the client's market works. They immerse themselves in the world of their clients.

They are always taking notes. In one meeting, I asked them why they are taking notes because it was supposed to be just a presentation meeting. They said that they were trying to understand us. They were trying to understand the culture of the company, how we react to things, who we are, and what we like. They were after that level of understanding of the company. I think that's why they almost became a member of the company.

Is there anything Bolt Brasil could have improved or done differently?

I think there are two things. First, we changed our CEO during the course of their work, so the CEO who hired them is no longer with the company. I've been trying to tell them that they need to create a bond with this CEO, like the bond they had with the CEO who hired them. At the beginning, they didn't pay attention to that because they were already working here. They had me as their major contact in the company and had close relationships with one or two members of the board. They didn't try to get close to the new CEO, but I think a closer relationship with him would be important. My sense is that they have recently begun to do that and that the situation is going to improve.

Second, we experienced a bit of a delay in the project, which was largely our fault. I think Bolt Brasil could have put a little more pressure on us to deliver information more quickly so we didn't slow down the schedule of the project. I hoped they could finish everything in December, but that's not going to happen until the middle of January. It's not that bad, and we've talked about this and now things are speeding up. It's just two companies trying to learn from each other and learn how to work with each other.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company is Montele Elevadores. We are a leading manufacturer for accessibility and home lifts in Brazil. We have been in business for 32 years and have installed more than 10,000 units in the country all around the country.

What is your position?

I am a co-owner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Bolt Brasil?

We are known for our work with accessibility lifts. We have about 300 people. The accessibility niche is such that it's still not very well known by every construction company and architect in Brazil. We always invested a lot in IT [information technology] and marketing to improve our visibility and reputation. We were looking to have a great website and print materials to represent our brand better and extend our online reach.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Bolt Brasil provided a lot of design work for us. Their main task was to take an established 30-year-old company and modernize it while still keeping our old image.

First, they designed our commercial website. They didn't do any back-end integrations, but instead focused on the front end. They kept our logo and our taglines, but they brought new, very creative content to us, using new colors and designs to revamp what we already had.

They also did a lot of print work for us, including a catalog, and did a great job at keeping the esthetic consistent between the two products. I'd give them a perfect score for the finished design.

How did you come to work with Bolt Brasil?

Bolt was referred to us by one of our partners that handles photography for our elevators. We knew of Bolt because they are the main advertising agency that works with Fiat in Brazil. Fiat has a strong presence in our city, so we decided to go with the agency they work with. 

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

We spent between $10,000 and $20,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in early 2014. They delivered the print catalogs and website at the end of that year. This year, we are working to update the website with a new elevator that we added to our product line.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The conversion rate on the website has increased since we updated it last year, and we have received a lot of positive feedback on our website from our customers. Our leads have significantly increased since we launched this project.

How did Bolt Brasil perform from a project management standpoint?

I'd give them an eight out of 10 for project management because I still believe they are still facing certain problems that a company faces when it transitions between a small agency to an enterprise one with large clients. Overall, they are great.

What distinguishes Bolt Brasil from other providers?

Bolt Brasil does great work, and I really like that they are very professional. Often, in advertising, you have to deal with really young, inexperienced, and occasionally amateurish companies and employees. At Bolt, you don't get that. The key thing about Bolt Brasil is that they are young, creative people, but you are not dealing with kids. You work with established professionals. Their creative leaders are very proficient at what they do and have a great record of delivering results.

Is there anything Bolt Brasil could have improved or done differently?

I can't really think of anything.