BrandWerks

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the communications manager for ASTP, an association of professionals in Europe who work in the field of knowledge transfer.

What challenge were you trying to address with BrandWerks?

We wanted to rename our association, and the branding we had was very old. We needed a new look and feel for the more modern organization that we aspire to be.

What was the scope of their involvement?

BrandWerks created our branding assets, developing a logo, a tagline, and more. They delivered three deck options of ideas. We consulted our board and committee to narrow it down to one dec. BrandWerks then went through the deck.

We went back to them for final changes and amendments to color, typeface, and the actual integration of the logo. After that, they delivered the final logo and materials.

What is the team composition?

I dealt exclusively with Adam (Founder). He had a team of designers working on it, but he was the front person for all the work, which kept it streamlined and manageable.

How did you come to work with BrandWerks?

We were looking for some months for graphic designers. We had quotes from a few based in the UK and the Netherlands, but I felt their prices were very high.

A student from Hong Kong who was working with us suggested that we look at Hong Kong. He researched 3–4 design companies and found BrandWerks. When looking at their designs online, I liked that they’d taken serious and traditional companies and given them such a clean design.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about €9,000 (approximately $10,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed the contract in November 2018 and finished in February 2019. A lot of the time was taken by our democratic consultation process with our membership. BrandWerks actually worked really quickly.

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

The final results were absolutely beautiful. We launched our logo at our membership conference in 2019, and we still get regular feedback about how happy our members are. The colors and expression of the brand have really helped us seem modern and dynamic in a dry field. Our brand is also easily identifiable on social media, speaking without words.

How did BrandWerks perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked closely with BrandWerks despite our time zone differences — we’re based in the Netherlands while they’re in Hong Kong. We had calls every two weeks. Adam is really sociable and easy to work with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was important to me that we spoke English during the project. Adam speaks English fluently and understands design and what we mean very easily. He’s both a great communicator and a great designer. It was also important that he understood what we meant because many of our members are not native English speakers. We needed something image-driven so that everyone could see what we meant without words.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It was an all-out great experience. I run a very small team and manage all the communications for our organization so it was a heavy job for me to manage this project. It was fantastic to have a company that I could trust to deliver and understand what I was saying. Whenever we wanted changes, they never gave us an argument or problem, always happy to take ideas and run with them.

Any advice for potential customers?

Trust BrandWerks because they know what they’re doing.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of GoSkills.com. We offer online education courses for career advancement.

What challenge were you trying to address with Charlton Studio?

We wanted to rebrand our logo.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They reviewed our previous logo and all of our marketing assets. Then they put together some proposals and outlines on ideas for a new logo and a new concept and took it from there. They also created a little animation for our brand and intros and outros for all our videos.

What is the team composition?

I think we worked with three people. I interacted with Adam (Founder, Charlton Studio).

How did you come to work with Charlton Studio?

I’d heard of them locally and I thought they were a good fit. I thought Adam was a good designer, as I’d seen his previous work, so I was keen to try them out.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent 70,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $9,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April–December 2018.

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

We’ve received lots of positive feedback with no negative comments at all. Everyone loves the new logo along with the animation and the intros and outros for all our videos. We’ve heard from our customers and our instructors, who reached out to us and said how much they loved it.

How did Charlton Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent communicators and they managed the project well. We stayed in touch through Slack, email, and phone calls. They made us feel like we knew exactly what was going on at each step. They took on our feedback and addressed all our concerns at every point throughout the process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their output was excellent. We were really happy with the final product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re very satisfied.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate what you want and any concerns you might have. Charlton Studio is really good at addressing all your concerns and making sure that you get exactly what you want.