The Branded Agency Inc

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a tech company. We work on physicalizing digital collectibles in Web3 and blockchain technology.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Branded Agency Inc?

We wanted to build a specific system, but we needed a bit of direction in terms of frontend development and branding.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Branded Agency Inc helped us create our general image and branding guidelines. They also did some strategy work for positioning, but they mainly focused on branding. Initially, they had a standard set of questions, and we filled them out as best as possible. They worked on typography, fonts, web design, and some of our app design. The team mainly used Figma for the designs, and we kept the development side in-house.

What is the team composition?

Quincy (Managing Partner) was our main point of contact. He managed the team and made sure all the deliverables were on time and with the quality we needed.

How did you come to work with The Branded Agency Inc?

We found them online. I listed a job offer that specified we wanted someone that could help us in Vancouver, and they were one of the first to reply. We had a video call and hit it off right away.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $25,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2022, and they finished everything by September 2022.

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

Although we’re in a challenging market, The Branded Agency Inc did an excellent job and ensured we had the proper guidelines for future endeavors.

How did The Branded Agency Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

We both had our systems, but we were quite organized, so the project went smoothly. They’d tell us immediately if something was taking more time; they didn’t beat around the bush or wait until the last minute, which allowed us to move our timelines with enough breathing room.

We mainly talked through phone calls and chat channels like iMessage and Telegram. Additionally, we had video calls through Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They delivered everything just as they promised, and the quality far exceeded the money we paid.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We work in an intense environment, so it would’ve been beneficial if they’d laid out a few options for the target audience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

With any marketing or branding agency, it’s good to have a clear product in mind before engaging. Having a clear focus on what you want to accomplish will help a lot with the deliverables so you don’t change things on the way.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We create unique workspace accessories to help people create an environment where they can do their best work. I'm the Founder and CEO.

For what projects/services did your company hire The Branded Agency Inc, and what were your goals?

Initially, we hired The Branded Agency to consult on our brand strategy and update and refresh our brand identity and website. We then followed up with a 90-day branding and marketing retainer to continue building out our Shopify website, create marketing funnels, run our facebook ads, create Amazon EBC listings, and develop influencer and media partnerships. We continue to work with The Branded Agency as needed.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I had a call with Quincy Samycia to discuss our brand strategy and his insight and perspective on our brand strategy was unique and intriguing. He shared some of The Branded’s work with me and I compared it to work we had done with other branding agencies and could very easily see the value he was offering. So, we hired them and we couldn’t be happier!

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

The project started with a brand audit, which convinced us that we needed to adjust our brand strategy, rebrand, expand into new product categories and develop new marketing initiatives. We started with our brand identity and guidelines, this included logo usage guidelines, color palette, color pairings and color hierarchy, typography, typography pairings and type usage, photography guidelines, rendering guidelines, packaging guidelines and social media guidelines. We then realized we needed to update our logo as it wasn’t in alignment with the brand we were trying to create, so we did a logo redesign and updated our brand guidelines.

We then worked with and consulted the branded agency on our product expansion strategy, they did some research and we could see there was a gap in the market for an affordable, premium-quality desk accessories brand. I began to work with my in-house team on designing and developing these new products while The Branded Agency began working on our new Shopify website. The new website was built with an existing premium theme Shopify template, from there we customized the product pages, collection pages, and other pages. After completing the website, The Branded Agency created a marketing funnel that was supported by Facebook and IG ads to test some of our new products and offerings. The Branded Agency was also doing influencer outreach and PR outreach to develop new partnerships for HumanCentric.

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

I worked closely with Quincy Samycia, he was our project manager. On occasion, he would bring other team members (Graphic designers, web designers) onto a call.

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

The Branded Agency provided us with a new brand positioning strategy and identity, website and direction. HumanCentric has transformed since working with The Branded Agency, we’ve expanded into new categories and markets and are making good headway with our brand's growth.

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

They were extremely responsive and organized. I felt like I was the only client.

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

Quincy is one of the more outstanding people I have ever worked with in terms of honesty and putting the client's needs before his own. Truly great to work with, exceptional responsiveness. And, last but not least, just a really good person. Makes a huge difference.

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

I think there could have been more effort to understand and become an expert on our products, however, I do understand that we were trying to accomplish many things and had a limited amount of resources/budget.