The Creative Exchange

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

At the time I was working with The Creative Exchange, I was the Social Media and Content Manager with Afloral.com. I managed all content, our community outreach, and social media projects as well as influencer campaigns.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Creative Exchange, and what were your goals?

I was heading out for maternity leave and we not only needed someone to handle our day to day social while I was gone, we were looking to find someone who could take our Social presence to the next level.

SOLUTION

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

Their SEO on-site must be great because it was one of the first results when doing my research online while looking for an agency. I scheduled a discovery call with Anna the CEO and founder and felt an immediate connection.

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

TCE handled our social media platforms (IG, FB, TikTok, and Pinterest for a time) and helped with our organic digital strategy. They provided some general graphic design, copywriting, and social strategy for our social channels while also helping to manage the brands community. TCE also helped manage our paid social ads for a period of time.

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

Aaron was our main point of contact and acted as our account manager. Communication with Aaron was typically excellent and even during non-office hours, I could reach him with no issue for any pressing matters. Anna also jumped in on occasion to help with any larger matters. We were assigned a dedicated copy, design, video, and creative team to help execute our strategy.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I truly believe that through any hiccups we may have experienced while working together that this agency helped bring the Afloral social media presence to the next level. They were punctual on most deadlines and very receptive to feedback.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Once given some direction and specific deadlines, the TCE team met or exceeded expectations in most cases.

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

I liked the energetic, creative team. They were extremely easy to work with and always a pleasure to meet with during our weekly/monthly touch base calls.

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

There is nothing additional that I would add for improvement to the team that I haven't already discussed with them during our time together.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the director of sales and marketing for Ondule' Wine. We are a new premium wine brand out of Napa.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Creative Exchange?

We hired the Creative Exchange to help build our social media audience.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to increase followers, visibility and ultimately sales for our brand. The challenge has been that because of the high price point, our customers are not traditionally active in social media. But, this market is important for us in planning our expansion.

SOLUTION

How did you select The Creative Exchange?

I researched many different companies from traditional advertising agencies, individual "posters", branding specialist and more. I chose to go with the Creative Exchange because Anna Sullivan was very responsive to all calls and emails. Their price was fair for the services we needed. Also, they had the ability to expand their services as we needed. I knew we would not outgrow them and have to search for another company. They have been able to do everything we've requested.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Their in-take was very thorough and really made us focus on our positioning and identity and what was important to us as a brand. They have provided us with fresh images, social postings, contests, and collaborations.

What was the team composition?

They have a great team in place, all of whom are readily available. I had been concerned about working with a company across the country due to time zone differences. It works out great because when I start my day in Los Angeles, they have already been at work in New York and I can jump in. I actually wonder if any of the team ever sleep because I get emails at all hours!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our Instagram following starting with less than 200 people. In 6 months, we're up to over 1,000!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow between teams has been terrific. They have a variety of tools in place that have helped our team and theirs to be on the same page- literally!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We are impressed that the company is comprised of young, sharp, and driven professionals. But, they still exude warmth, humor and although they take the work exceptionally seriously, they don't take themselves too seriously. They keep it fun!

Are there any areas for improvement?

This is extremely rare for me to say, but I can't think of areas in which they could improve. Amazing!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and the president of Snacks Partners International. Our flagship brand is MEDBAR, a line of Mediterranean gluten-free, ancient-grain-based savory or sweet bars. The business was founded a couple of years back, and we officially launched in October 2019. We’re based in Austin, Texas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Creative Exchange?

When we were starting the company, we first worked with a local creative agency. We felt the need to move into new advertising avenues, social media especially, and we looked at what was going on in the market. We were also looking to find what we could do over a sustained period of time, instead of just having hit-and-run campaigns

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were clear on what our marketing strategy was and what types of consumer profiles we wanted to go after. As such, we ended up eliminating some of the services The Creative Exchange offered in their proposal. We had a couple of iteration sessions in order to focus on just social media. They’re serving as a conduit for all the ideas and messaging we wanted to put forth.

Around 70% of the work is on Instagram, followed by Facebook. We’re rolling out TikTok now.

What is the team composition?

They assigned a project manager to us, and Anna (CEO) was more like the project leader. The manager scoped the work and put it into action. After that, Samantha (COO) became our go-to person for The Creative Exchange. We had calls with her to review what had been done and what was and wasn’t working. I know that there are other individuals in the background, whom I didn’t have a chance to talk to.

How did you come to work with The Creative Exchange?

One of our founders knew Anna and recommended that we get in touch. Based on her skillset and how she looked at social media overall, I felt that she could bring added value to our company. This was before I even got a chance to look at her team members.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost between March–September 2020 will be around $24,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I had my first call with Anna around November 2019, and the collaboration officially started in March 2020. We’ve just renewed the contract for another five months, until January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We wanted some very simple metrics in the start, and we talked about our followers base, engagement level, and consumer-generated content. We focused on these for the first six months of the relationship. We had some points of distribution across Austin at the time, but we were an unknown brand at a state level. Our focus was to enlarge our follower base, and we set some targets for that.

The Creative Exchange emphasized quality over quantity, so it wasn’t just a game of numbers. We monitored the level of engagement and looked at what type of content generated it. They helped us fine-tune our narrative, particularly in terms of recruiting the right influencers. Initially, we were going through a wide net of influencers, and we then focused on seeking a certain profile, and the ones we recruited have been working for us ever since.

How did The Creative Exchange perform from a project management standpoint?

With the exception of one or two instances where there was a miscommunication on one of our ends, The Creative Exchange has been on completely top of the work. We have multiple communication channels, including Slack. Old-fashioned as I am, I prefer using the phone. I can call Samantha whenever there’s an urgent matter, and they’re always responsive. They’re available all the time, and I get responses even over the weekend.

They use a content management tool called Loomly, which allows all of the team to collaborate. I can see all the individuals making edits, proposals, and so on.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our initial agency is focused more on classic advertising, and they had just one person in charge of social media. We determined that having only one person who understood that part of our advertising was a risk for us. They’re still our agency for packaging design and the like, but we decided to find another partner for social. It proved to be right, because that person left the agency in May 2020.

With The Creative Exchange, we can talk to Anna, Samantha, our project manager, and others. We feel that all of them are on the same page. They’re tuned into what’s trendy and what works, and they’re willing to experiment. As an example, I got curious about TikTok after seeing my kids use it, and I knew that it generates buzz and had a lot of eyeballs on it. I was wondering whether companies use it.

I discussed it with Anna, and, next thing I knew, they came back with a proposal for testing what it would mean for our brand. I don’t know of any brand that’s been able to monetize the use of TikTok, and it proved to me that they were willing to experiment and that we weren’t in a dogmatic relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They decided on a distant setup before COVID started, so their team is now spread across the US. That’s a good thing, but I don’t know how many alignment forums they have internally. There have been times when I had contact with two different people and found that there may not have been that much alignment between them, so I was the one bridging the gap.

Secondly, there are a lot of unknowns in the social media field, particularly in terms of ROI. This is an area where I haven’t seen much tangible data to support this type of discussion, aside from numbers of followers and likes and engagement ratios. To put it simply, there should be a more accurate measure for how we’re spending our dollars.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They need to be transparent and forthcoming, and open about the challenges they’re facing. I saw an openness from The Creative Exchange, which wasn’t just about the billing drive but more about how they could help.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are an indie beauty company distributed in major mass retailers: Ulta, CVS, Target.com, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Creative Exchange?

Social Media Strategy, Content Creation, Social Listening, Special Projects

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to:

• refocus our brand messaging and story to be more engaging and authentic to our values
• product education
• increase brand awareness

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were looking for an agency that could be innovative, quick on their feet and flexible. Most importantly, they needed to work within our budget. The Creative Exchange ticked all these boxes.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Created a social media strategy plan by:

• analyzing our current social media
• researching our competitors and analyzing their SM strategy
• audience identification
• content approach
• visual strategy 
• activation guide
• mapping out channel strategy

Day to day: content creation, daily engagement, optimization, analytics and paid ads

What was the team composition?

We have a 3 person team and they are always collaborative, flexible and creative.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Since using TCE, our social media presence has improved and much more aligned with our values but also our target audience. We have significantly increased our engagement and increased the number of unique visitors to our site.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication is always clear and prompt. Planning campaigns has been very easy and enjoyable. TCE is very good at responding to feedback.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They can come up with some very creative solutions and are able to be flexible at the drop of a hat.

Are there any areas for improvement?

With any new agency, it takes time for both teams to figure out how to work together. But so far we are happy with the work and results.