BrainWorks - The Growth Agency

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the CEO of the economic development agency for Greater Moncton called 3+ Corporation. Now, I’m a full time professor at Crandall University in Moncton where I teach business and management courses.

What challenge were you trying to address with BrainWorks - The Growth Agency?

I worked with them on a number of different aspects of increasing the visibility of the economy of our region.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Generally speaking, I hired BrainWorks to produce videos highlighting economic development stories in our community. Their writers also help us with narratives for storytelling, events, activities, and presentations to politicians or other business leaders. I typically put my notes together, then, they help me frame it as a story.

They provide graphics work including promotional materials, one-page materials or multipage materials, helping us with the look and feel. They design some PowerPoint presentations and other types of presentations and make sure they match our corporate branding are consistent and pleasing.

They also redesigned our website, creating a new WordPress site, and combined what I am doing in other areas of marketing communications. It is an informational and promotional site with some toolkits for particular audiences. They took the existing content and developed the information further with a better understanding of who our audience was to match the clients’ needs.

What is the team composition?

I work with two main people, Brad (President) and Kathryn (VP of Project Management).

How did you come to work with BrainWorks - The Growth Agency?

I was introduced to BrainWorks in 2016, and I chose them because I really liked how they expressed to me that they really cared about what my customers thought, not just what I thought. It gave me a better understanding of the value and the supply chain for my business. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent around $100,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January 2017. Even though I am no longer working with the company, the project with BrainWorks is still ongoing.

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

We don't have any quantitative metrics, but through anecdotal evidence, we are very pleased with the products and we hear from our clients they liked the products as well.

How did BrainWorks - The Growth Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

BrainWorks used Basecamp where to track specific activities and deliverables and captured their results and goals. Besides that, most of the communication was done through email or phone calls.

We also had idea sessions where I went each month with ideas of what I wanted to do or what I was thinking. I met the team and we tried to figure out what would make sense, what the story was, and who my audience would be. Then, their team, including the video producers, came up with ideas and drafts of their thoughts to start producing, make changes and have the final product.

I was pleased with their ability to get the job done and their project management skills in the background.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive aspects of BrainWorks are their flexibility, stick-to-itiveness, and creative spirit.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There's nothing I can think of for BrainWorks to change or improve.

Any advice for potential customers?

If people are looking for an agency that is flexible, has a number of different skills and assets, and appreciates some wackiness from time to time, then BrainWorks is the right agency.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of research, innovations, and change management at a K-12 learning institution. We have 37 schools, 16,000 students, approximately 1,300 teachers, and a staff of 3,000. 

What challenge were you trying to address with BrainWorks - The Growth Agency?

Our district is very forward-thinking, and we engaged with BrainWorks due to similarities in our values, innovation, and change management. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We use their knowledge, ideas, and expertise to build a powerful brand. The team has already conducted vision planning and thinks of ways on how we can grow the organization.  For example, the BrainWorks team has also helped us conduct the Atlantic Education Summit. 

They’ve created videos, designs, and other collaterals that allow us to market ourselves better. Furthermore, the documentation we’ve created aims to inspire others to do the same thing. At the end of the day, part of our mission in the education sector is to prepare for the future of our students. As such, we have to craft innovative stories on how our students can contribute to that. Our recent project is geared towards transforming education. 

What is the team composition?

I work with everybody from their team. 

How did you come to work with BrainWorks - The Growth Agency?

We saw that they were very supportive, receptive, and innovative, so we decided to partner with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $20,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in January 2014, and it’s ongoing. 

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

They encourage us to think outside the box while remaining realistic of our community needs. BrainWorks’ strength lies in its powerful and strong capabilities when it comes to assisting us. They’ve definitely allowed us to push the boundaries for our organization. More specifically, they have helped us craft a story one after another to allow us to create an avenue where we can share our message. 

They are an excellent and inspiring group to work with. Moreover, they are fair in terms of pricing. 

How did BrainWorks - The Growth Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

BrainWorks is open-minded when it comes to feedback. The team shows their outputs so that we can ask them for edits if we have any requests. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their organizational leadership is groundbreaking. They’ve really inspired us to do things differently.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think there are any areas to improve. They’ve always delivered well and have been improving and striving to meet our needs. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They really do their homework before meeting you. BrainWorks is extremely smart and you are going to learn a lot from them. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for one of the largest municipalities in my province. As the director of tourism and events, I’m responsible for all community events, festivals, and event attraction activities within the city as well as our municipal tourism efforts.

What challenge were you trying to address with BrainWorks?

We typically have a large in-person celebration to honor National Canada Day at our riverfront event zone. It’s a free event that welcomes about 10,000–15,000 people each year. However, we faced gathering regulations in 2020 as a result of the global pandemic. We needed a way to translate that celebration into a digital experience.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

BrainWorks collaborated with us to create a virtual celebration for our guests. There were three main components that I’d like to highlight.

First of all, our municipality was selected as a featured city in partnership with a government agency that focused on Canadian heritage. As part of that, we were responsible for delivering a five-minute segment with very specific guidelines around talent representation, language, and creative concepts so that we could fit within the overall national broadcast.

BrainWorks worked closely with both our team and the government agency to develop our municipality’s video segment from beginning to end. They did the entirety of the video concept and took the lead on liaising with a lot of the talent as well. The team was then involved from recording to post-production to delivering the files for broadcast. 

Secondly, they assisted us with our local virtual Canada Day component, which was delivered through our Facebook channel. It was a similar concept to the national broadcast: we identified the local talent that we wanted to highlight, and BrainWorks assisted with the filming, editing, and delivering the run-of-show digital event. We offered virtual talent throughout the day, culminating in the national broadcast.

Last of all, we worked with them to develop an entire social media campaign around the local and national broadcast. Our goal was to create awareness and ensure that people were consuming the broadcast on July 1st.

What is the team composition? 

There were four key members who worked with us directly from a client service perspective. We started the conversation with their president to pitch this as a partnership opportunity, and their VP was involved for creative and strategy. Our main agency contacts were a content and coordination strategist and their VP of video since our project was so video-heavy.

How did you come to work with BrainWorks?

We were familiar with their work. BrainWorks had done projects for us in our communication departments as well as our partners throughout the city. We thought that they’d be a good fit for this particular project because they had a strong track record in video production, and they were able to deliver projects to the quality level required for national broadcast.

How much have you invested with them?

It was somewhere between $45,000–$55,000 CAD (approximately $35,000–45,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The timeline was very tight. We started talking to them in April 2020, and the actual project took place between May–July 2020.

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

The government agency was extremely satisfied with the final product, and they accepted our video segment for the national stage. As for our local show, our initial analytics showed that our reach was about 95,000. Each post averaged about 16,000. I should also highlight that the program was delivered in both of Canada’s official languages — that means an entire English program and an entire French program.

How did BrainWorks perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was one of the areas where they excelled. They were extremely responsive and detail-oriented, which was great for such a requirement-heavy project like ours. From day one, the team was positive, keen to be involved, and solution-oriented. There were a couple of times when we had to make quick changes due to our requirements, but I was never worried about BrainWorks’ ability to deliver.

We relied on email and text to coordinate most of the project. At the onset, we did have a number of virtual meetings (especially when the feds were involved) to make sure that everyone understood the project needs. Dropbox allowed us to share and proof files quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have an impressive suite of capabilities and invest in high-quality video. From a client standpoint, their responsiveness was great. They’d get back to us very quickly — almost to the point where we’d think that they were working on things all the time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The first creative concept that they brought to our agency partner definitely had some bumps in it. However, they adapted quickly to the feedback and flipped the concept into something great. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re big thinkers who like to push your ideas to be creative so that you get what you want. With that in mind, it’s good to have a solid understanding of your goals for the project. Identify areas where you’re willing to go above and beyond and where you want to keep things more streamlined, and they’ll deliver that.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Pierre Battah Leadership Inc is a leadership development practice. I am the pricipal and offer public speaking, training and executive. coaching.

For what projects/services did your company hire BrainWorks - The Growth Agency?

Brainworks was retained to provide a number of marketing deliverables to support the launch of my non-fiction book Humanity at Work, Leading for Better Relationships and Results published by LA based Wonderwell Press and distibuted in Canada, the US, UK and Australia.

What were your goals for this project?

To launch the book during a pandemic with top shelf marketing including a brand identity for the book, a number of design elements for online use and the production of eye-catching videos, to support the launch.

How did you select BrainWorks - The Growth Agency?

Brainworks came very highly recommended from a number of their discerning clients that I spoke with (unbeknownst to BW) and primarily because of the recommendation of a seasonned marketing advisor who understood BW's offerings and that of their competition.

Of equal importance to me was the credibility, stellar reputations and community mindedness of their principals Leblanc, Hawkins and Basham.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Discovery of how my brand would intersect with the book and discovering the book's brand; production of a style guide in keeping with the book title and cover design from the publisher, design of various on line and print elements and production of 6 videos including a book trailer.

What was the team composition?

VP Creative and Strategy Kathryn Basham was the point person and was ably assisted by Rita-Anne Malenfant though it was evident that co-founders Leblanc and Hawkins were intimately and actively involved behind the scenes. 3 members of the video production team were equally involved as were designers.

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

The series of videos were stellar, and widely impactful in the launch getting the traction on social media we were seeking.

The design elements and subsequent online and print elements supporting the book continues to receive rave reviews form clients, partners and my audiences.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

OUTSTANDING! They were uber responsive, on time and on budget and incredibly receptive to feedback and brought a sense of urgency while keeping a keen eye on quality.

Their attention my project, arguably a very small project, was exemplary.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are head and shoulders above the rest in all matters of client service, the creative work was ingenious and clever and they represent the very best in community engagement and social responsibility. I received far more value than the amount of my investment would have typically warranted.

Are there any areas for improvement?

BW delivered everything during the initial throes of the pandemic and did so exceptionally well. I cannot think of how it could have been done any better.