Branding, Mktg, Advertising & Graphic Design for Airport
- Advertising Branding Graphic Design
- $200,000 to $999,999
- June 2018 - June 2021
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"They professionally and promptly dealt with project scope shifts and last-minute changes with kindness and efficiency."
- Transportation
- Oakland, California
- 201-500 Employees
- Online Review
- Verified
CIRCA provided an airport with branding, marketing, advertising, graphic design, and creative development services.
CIRCA helped the client improve brand equity with an 83% overall favorable rating and boost traffic with multiple sustained new air service route outcomes. The client's parking enterprise also saw market share gains and increased revenues. Moreover, the vendor's work won awards internationally.
The client submitted this review online.
BACKGROUND
Please describe your company and position.
I am the Aviation Marketing Manager (CMO) of Oakland International Airport
Describe what your company does in a single sentence.
Oakland International Airport is the third busiest airport in California.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
How did you find CIRCA?
Competitive procurement process
Why did you select CIRCA over others?
- High ratings
- Close to my geographic location
- Pricing fit our budget
- Great culture fit
- Good value for cost
- Company values aligned
How many teammates from CIRCA were assigned to this project?
2-5 Employees
Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.
Circa Now provided comprehensive creative development, graphic design, branding, marketing, and advertising services for the Oakland International Airport.
SOLUTION
What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
During the contract period, including two extensions, with Circa Now, the airport saw rising traffic numbers with multiple sustained new air service route outcomes. The airport's parking enterprise also experienced market share gains and increased revenues.
Improved brand equity is reflected in an overall favorable rating of 83% for the airport among the local Bay Area population, the highest of any area institution. Circa Now's work was internationally recognized, winning numerous awards during their tenure.
Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?
Yes, no execution delays were experienced at any time. They professionally and promptly dealt with project scope shifts and last-minute changes with kindness and efficiency, often within the original budget.
What was your primary form of communication with CIRCA?
- In-Person Meeting
- Virtual Meeting
- Email or Messaging App
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
The team Circa Now, including the extended team, is "avant-garde." They keep it real, keep it fresh, and keep it moving. They have a great understanding of trends in the field and are able to interpolate that with client goals and objectives. The ability of the Circa Now team to work with even our most unusual goals and go from ideation to production to execution is outstanding.
Are there any areas for improvement or something CIRCA could have done differently?
No.
UPDATED REVIEW
Brian Kidd
Aviation Marketing Supervisor, Airport
Transportation
501-1,000 Employees
San Francisco, California, United States
$200,000 to $999,999
Feb 2015 - Ongoing
Project summary
For an ongoing partnership, Circa designs and executes an airport’s digital and print advertising deliverables. Projects include targeted mailings, magazine and Facebook ads, billboards, and tension fabrics.
Feedback summary
Since working with Circa, the airport has seen a 31 percent increase in passenger activity over the course of two years. The team works in tandem with airlines’ complementary efforts to maximize impact and reach. Designers consistently offer excellent customer relations and creative new ideas.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I work for the aviation division of an international airport. We have a staff of 250 employees and an annual budget of $150 million.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with Circa?
Lacking relevant in-house expertise, we try to contract out most of our advertising. We've occasionally worked with other vendors, but wanted to have an actual agency in our tool kit. We've used Circa on a variety of applications, from minor projects to major campaign redesigns.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
Circa designed and produced ads for two of our major campaigns. Each one had about 18 months of shelf life and aimed to promote our business locally, nationally, and internationally. One of our most important clients is a major college's athletic department. They created all the in-venue advertising deliverables to fulfil that contract. Onsite displays of all shapes and sizes included backlit signs, backdrops, tension fabrics, and even billboards. Recently, we featured ads on train exteriors and interiors within our local rapid transit system.
Our strategy incorporates both traditional and digital marketing tactics. We place print magazine ads primarily in local and airline industry publications. Postcard mailings help us promote our free parking to targeted demographic groups. To reinforce our message, we also used online avenues like Facebook ads and email blasts. Circa has proposed some radical ideas that encourage us to think outside our comfort zone. Although we haven't executed as much on those, we appreciate their creative approach.
What is the team composition?
We typically work with 1-2 team members from Circa on any given project.
How did you come to work with Circa?
Circa responded to our RFP. As a public agency, we have a laborious process to get to the finish line. They committed, prevailed, and ultimately won that competition.
How much have you invested with them?
We've spent about $200,000 for design. That figure does not include production costs.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in February 2015. As part of our ongoing relationship, they’re preparing to wrap a train car for the first time ever. Circa is currently executing the concept we sketched out.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
This might be correlation rather than causation, but our airport is up 31 percent in passenger activity since Circa came on board. They've helped us operationalize many creative concepts and briefs. Their ads are always featured front and center and work in tandem with the airlines’ complimentary advertising efforts. We try to use different channels and approaches to avoid duplication. Whenever our airport gets a new nonstop flight, we have a robust marketing program in place to kick it off. We're still building awareness of our airport as an alternative to our main competitor.
How did Circa perform from a project management standpoint?
Although Circa is a smaller shop, they always make us feel front and center. Their work for other clients can sometimes delay response times and we're not very patient. Given our short fuse timelines, they've done a good job of juggling commitments and meeting our deadlines. We’re a fairly challenging customer with sometimes unrealistic expectations and they've done their best they can.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Circa takes a genuine interest in your business. They really want to work as partners, which is always appreciated. Dave [Founder and Creative Lead, Circa] regularly sends us pertinent articles. This level of engagement lets us know that he's thinking about our business and ongoing challenges. It's nice to know they're invested in our success rather than just trying to sell us individual ads.
Are there any areas they could improve?
As is common for design agencies, they often want to offer a better strategy than what we request. That's part of their role. Unlike many of their clients, we have a clearly defined objective and need execution, not reinvention. We’d rather have one excellent version than three potential options. It's not the most creative process, but it's the nature of our business. They've tried to push us outside the envelope and we haven't always been receptive to that. That’s probably been a bit frustrating for them. While this is not necessarily Circa’s fault, it can occasionally cause some friction.
RATINGS
Overall rating: 4
They’re responsive and easy to work with. They always listen to the customer and try their best to get efficiently get work done at a fair price.
Quality: 3.5
Certain projects can be mundane and don't allow much opportunity for them to show off. We didn't really stretch them much.
Cost: 3.5
They can be a bit expensive for short, simple projects. They offer competitive rates and a great value for larger campaign designs.
Schedule: 4
They always complete our challenging tasks within short timeframes, even if that requires working over the weekend. We really appreciate that.
Willing to refer: 4
They fall between a sole proprietor outfit and huge ad firm. If you want a smaller, avant-garde firm, they’d be a good match.
RATINGS
-
Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
"Positive results to award winning work."
-
Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
"Met or exceeded all deadlines."
-
Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
"Competitive costs, real value for money."
-
Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
"Have and would recommend without reservation.