Clearly Blue

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the research and policy officer for an NGO working in the food security industry. We work with international organizations and offer online-ecosystem services in our country.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Clearly Blue?

We needed help to train some West African NGOs on how to access and use dividends in the food security and nutrition industry.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with Clearly Blue on the design of a technical guide for NGO training that we developed internally. The training guide has an online video course format, which Clearly Blue has helped us design and create video scripts for different models and topics.

We initially had 15 topics in total, out of which we selected 10 for making 2D animated videos, and Clearly Blue helped us elaborate the 10 storyboards and scripts in English. These videos are between 3–6  minutes long, averaging four minutes.

We’re working with another partner to create the videos, and they’re working on the scripts and storyboards produced by Clearly Blue. Still, Clearly Blue is providing them assistance and direction.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with around four people from Clearly Blue, and we have two main contacts for coordination.

How did you come to work with Clearly Blue?

We have an international partner working on this project. They referred Clearly Blue to us and contacted us with them. We also received another proposal, but we chose Clearly Blue because we liked their work, and they had great feedback from other clients.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent roughly $6,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first got in contact with Clearly Blue in October 2021, and we were supposed to end the project in December of that year. However, we faced some delays internally. The engagement with Clearly Blue was paused then, and it restarted in January 2022.

Clearly Blue has already finished all their deliverables. We plan to finish video production by the end of March 2022, so they will continue to assist our partner until then. Still, they’ll continue to assist us with video creation and other content production for our courses.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very satisfied with Clearly Blue’s work. The videos they’ve helped us create will keep learners more engaged, making for a good learning environment. Overall, working with them has been a great experience, and we look forward to working with them again in the future.

How did Clearly Blue perform from a project management standpoint?

We were facing some delays on our side initially, and we notified Clearly Blue’s founder about it. Their responsiveness was great because we were able to negotiate a four-month extension on the project.

We use email and Zoom meetings to communicate. I also have the WhatsApp number of the person in charge of project validation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Clearly Blue is available and proactive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They clearly understood the spirit and idea we wanted to convey from the beginning.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Take into consideration the level of availability and involvement that Clearly Blue will have. Additionally, leverage their suggestions during your collaboration with them. During our collaboration, they’ve provided us with a lot of ideas to improve different aspects of the guide.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the AVP of marketing for Careernet, a talent acquisition company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Clearly Blue?

Our team was relatively new, and I was assigned to build our whole marketing team. Our marketing strategy was focused on content marketing, and that was where we partnered with Clearly Blue. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started our engagement with Clearly Blue by identifying our requirements. Our initial contract lasted for six months, and then we moved on to a bigger and longer-term engagement. We clearly defined their scope of work and had discussions with the team to figure out which scope areas they could deliver. From there, we started executing the scope of work. 

At present, we have a collaborative partnership. Our engagement has 3–4 aspects. In one aspect, they have a certain set of deliverables; they provide us with long- and short-form content on a monthly basis. The other aspects are related to marketing, communications, and thought leadership content. They also create content calendars for us. 

What is the team composition?

We interact with three account managers from Clearly Blue. They ensure that the work is done by their panel of content creators. 

How did you come to work with Clearly Blue?

I had previous associations with Clearly Blue, so I knew about their work. They were a customer of my previous company, and we worked on product marketing media and videos. That was why I decided to hire them for this engagement with Careernet. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $60,000–$65,000 per year on this engagement. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement started in January 2020, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Clearly Blue’s quality of work is great; we’re happy with their deliverables.

How did Clearly Blue perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is one of Clearly Blue’s strengths. They have a clear management process, which they define in advance, so the engagement has gone smoothly. Since our projects aren’t complex, we’ve been able to manage them using simple spreadsheets until now. We’ve discussed using other tools, though. If the relationship continues to grow, we might consider using more tools in the future. 

To communicate, we use a combination of various methods. We have weekly meetings with the account managers. New requirements or any content that’s up for review are shared via emails. Meanwhile, our day-to-day communications usually happen via WhatsApp. If we’re doing anything urgent, we give them a call. The team is highly accessible and approachable. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Clearly Blue’s content creation services are impressive. Other teams claim to be great in terms of content creation; they say they can do anything in terms of content. However, that’s not always the case with them when it comes to actual implementation. Those teams sometimes lack depth in terms of knowledge; they might not even understand our needs. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. They’re already on their growth journey; they’ve expanded their services to include branding, which beautifully combines with their content creation services — content can be transformed into branding solutions. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Remember that what goes in is what comes out. You need to clearly define your requirements and spend time with Clearly Blue to help them understand your organizational and industrial needs. That way, the results of the engagement will be much better than you expect. Our experience with them has been great; I highly recommend using them as long as you prepare your branding and content requirements. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and co-founder of EdSanta Education, an educational technology company focused on building learning and upskilling solutions for enterprises, individuals, and various higher-education institutions. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Clearly Blue?

We brought on Clearly Blue to be the content development arm of our company. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Clearly Blue develops content to fit all of our needs, from customer communications to website marketing. Their team helps with content creation for our courses, press releases, and print and digital marketing campaigns. For each project, my team conveys our needs and requirements for Clearly Blue to build a content strategy on. Clearly Blue’s team also handles our social media marketing; their team drafts social media calendars and crafts content for social media posts. 

Additionally, Clearly Blue is developing mockups and designs of our product’s UX/UI. The Clearly Blue team goes above and beyond for some projects — they’ve created wireframes for our product features.

What is the team composition?

In total, we’ve worked with five teammates from Clearly Blue, including the CEO and co-founder, Chief Learning Officer, content creators, designers, and several account managers. 

How did you come to work with Clearly Blue?

I met Clearly Blue’s co-founder at an event and saw some of their work. Their services fit my needs, so I set up an initial trial period and was impressed with their delivery time and the market’s response to the content they’d developed. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invest $3,000–$4,000 a month with Clearly Blue. In total, I’d estimate we’ve invested around $150,00–$200,000 with Clearly Blue. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Clearly Blue began in October 2017, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I completely rely on Clearly Blue to deliver content that meets my needs. Clearly Blue’s work is spotless — there is never a comma or hyphen out of place. We’ve always been able to reach our target audience of senior-level executives with the content Clearly Blue develops. Additionally, their design skills are fabulous; we’ve been championed as one of the companies with one of the best UX/UI product designs on the market. Clearly Blue’s women-run team has a lot of industry experience, and our investment in their team has been excellent. 

How did Clearly Blue perform from a project management standpoint?

Clearly Blue always delivers on or before our deadlines. They’re clear about their timelines and will let us know if our timelines are unrealistic. Unlike other firms, Clearly Blue always follows through on their delivery deadlines — they don’t make false promises. 

We’re currently using Asana and Trello to manage the project, and through those platforms, Clearly Blue provides us with daily updates. We also have biweekly progress calls to discuss project updates.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Clearly Blue’s quality of work is absolutely outstanding. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be helpful if Clearly Blue provided a larger variety of services. Other than that, I have nothing for Clearly Blue to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d advise customers looking for content services to set up a trial period with Clearly Blue — they’ll never fail to deliver high-quality products on time.