Brllnt

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the founders and the chief solution architect for Data Society. I oversee our technology team, data scientists, and software developers. I also handle our business development teams, so sales and marketing departments also report to me. 

Our company has two main lines of businesses and types of customers. Half of what we do is provide data science training programs. We also build custom software solutions, such as search engines, risk models, and process automation tools with respect to documents and texts. We also have two customer bases, namely Fortune 1000 companies and the federal government. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Brllnt?

We were fortunate enough to grow quickly over the past few years. In fact, we grew 20% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the business had been doing well because there was market demand for everything related to AI. Then, we reached a size where we needed to look the part. As a result, we hired Brllnt to do a full rebrand of our company’s brand voice, website, and logo. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the beginning, Brllnt interviewed us to understand our values, identity, business, and purpose. In other words, they tried to get into our heads and hearts. Then, they ran a number of design-related questions that helped us find our true north in terms of our brand’s look and feel. After that, they converted our ideas into visual concepts. Using such ideas, they created color schemes and determined relevant shapes to us. They asked us how our logos fit together and what such symbols mean. 

Once we determined the brand’s look and feel, we figured out their implications in the language that we used. Simply put, Brllnt worked on helping us find our brand voice on our website. They wrote a bunch of copy and articles to populate our blog. The team built a design for us to implement and created templates that we could use in various assets, such as PowerPoint presentations and Word documents. Overall, they went top-to-bottom in reimagining our brand from the website to the logo and assets we used with our clients. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Melanie (Founder & Chief Visionary Officer), who marshaled the resources of everybody. A creative writer, a UX designer, a project manager, and a graphic designer were also involved. Overall, they provided a wide range of skill sets on the team. 

How did you come to work with Brllnt?

I met Brllnt seven years ago when both of our companies were just starting out. We did our website back then, but we couldn’t afford them because they were too expensive for us. I just had a few pointers from them. At that time, I already liked what they had to offer. We received a few bids and proposals, and theirs was the best and most expensive. 

Over the years, I ran RFPs for our clients. Having seen proposals from a variety of firms across DC and San Francisco, I thought that Brllnt consistently had the most creative designs. Melanie had a creative eye in terms of fonts, colors, and shapes — she had a truly brilliant mind for those things. As a result, when I had a meaningful budget to spend on our rebranding effort, I thought about working with Melanie and her team. That was how we decided to hire them for this project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $160,000 on Brllnt’s services over the past year on a variety of projects. 

What is the status of this engagement?

This project lasted from November 2020–June 2021.

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

We received a lot of compliments for our website. Previously, people would call us after looking at our website and ask us to explain what we did. On top of that, we’d never had a lead on our website in seven years. By contrast, we’ve received 13 leads from it last week. In other words, our ability to tell our story clearly has truly improved. 

Another interesting anecdote was when we kicked off a project with a major Fortune 100 company in December 2020. We already won the contract and started doing work. Then, our client called us to present ourselves to her boss, who wanted to know who we really were and why they hired us. I suspected that she went to our website and wondered whether our organization was real. Around 6–7 months later, people started calling us; they were interested in our services. I asked them how they found us, and they said they looked at our website. They thought we were a big and established company. All of that came out of the work that Brllnt did within a few months. 

Further, this wasn’t the first time we tried to redo our website or branding. In fact, we’d spent untold amounts of money redesigning our website in 20 different ways. When we decided to bite the bullet and spend a bunch of money for it once, Brllnt delivered this success to us. Given that, when we wrapped up the project, we knew we’d want to do more with them, though we didn’t have the money yet — I hope I can do that with them soon. Overall, I’d love for them to get bigger as they continue to exist so we can continue working together.

How did Brllnt perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was great. They’ve been around for a while, so they had their processes on rails; they were totally smooth. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Brllnt was truly thoughtful about designs. I’d seen other agencies whose designs only looked fine. By contrast, Brllnt’s websites and branding campaigns always popped and captured my attention. In other words, their strength was that they were truly powerful from a creative standpoint. They truly understood how to handle different design elements, be it space, geometry, colors, letters, or fonts.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Remember that Brllnt isn’t a company that you hire when you have a small budget; they’re a company you hire when you want to look like a million bucks. Moreover, you have to know what you want. On top of that, know who you’re designing for; this will help them get in the head of your customers. They’ll dig into that because they won’t design things just to make them look pretty.

If you come to them and say that you simply want something pretty, you’ll get that. Whether or not it has an impact on your company will ultimately depend on how well you know your business. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO for a financial services software provider. We make solutions for consumer lending and mortgage compliance.

What challenges were you trying to address with Brllnt?

We hired Brllnt to help us launch our company. The work included web development, marketing, branding, and UX design.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our work together started with developing our brand voice and key messaging for the company. Their team built our website and created a brand guide for our developers to follow. They helped us design the user interface for one of our newer software products. They also provided design updates for our older apps to bring them in line with our brand. 

They’re continuing to work with us on social media strategy, marketing collateral, and other needs as we launch new products and services. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with at least 8 people. We have a few primary points of contact, but additional specialists come in to work on different tasks. 

How did you come to work with Brllnt?

I met one of their principals at a networking event in DC. At that point, we’d tried a few other marketing companies that hadn’t worked out. We decided to give Brllnt a try. We started with a smaller project and grew our relationship from there. 

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve invested somewhere between 1 to 1.5 million dollars. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in mid-2017, and our relationship is ongoing.

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

Their work is very high quality. I particularly like their designs. They’re creative and have come up with interesting ways to modernize our brand. They’ve rolled with the punches, and we’re doing better now than we’ve ever done. 

How did Brllnt perform from a project management standpoint?

In general, they’re good project managers. It was a little hard to manage approvals, but we settled on a roadmap and calendar of their activities that we use to manage and review their content. We’ve got a good balance now. We’re using Google Sheets and Google Docs to share work. They use their own design tools to share their ideas with us as well. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They helped us prototype a new app from scratch and they worked independently, which was impressive. They’re also passionate about improving the user interface and experience. They’ve shown that they’re not afraid to be bold in coming up with creative themes. 

We throw a lot of different things at them, and they’re always willing to work with us and adapt. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Brllnt is a young firm, so they’ve been a little slow to get into the headspace of our industry sector. At first, we weren’t sure how much content we should provide them, but we’ve reached a happy medium now. 

They could also continue to do a bit more QA, especially when junior staff is working on projects. In addition, sometimes they seem to brush aside some of our comments which is common with those in the creative industry. I’ve brought up these concerns to them though and have seen some improvements. None of this has been cause for me to want to find a new vendor. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Be thorough in scoping and encourage iterative development of ideas and designs. Be interactive and collaborative.