Creative Juice, LLC.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of Worxbee, a virtual executive assistant company. We have a list of contractors across the country to pair with corporations, retired executives, and nonprofits.

What challenge were you trying to address with Creative Juice?

We were going through a company rebrand, and needed help with a new logo and website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They determined our logo, and built our website in WordPress. They made the site look and feel fresher. They moved us away from our original model, which looked too much like a bank, and helped represent our evolution as a company. They solidified our design aesthetic, and made sure information was properly conveyed and easy to navigate on the site. They identified the images we could use, and added a calculator function to help clients estimate their costs, both in terms of time and money.

What is the team dynamic?

Our main contacts are either Octavia [Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Creative Juice] or a project manager. I’ve worked with several different designers and project managers, and the size of the team changes based upon the project and the phase we’re in. I alert them when we have a big project coming up, and Octavia connects me with the team members who will work on it.

How did you come to work with Creative Juice?

I’ve worked with Octavia since 2011, before she founded Creative Juice. We both attended the same college, so when I needed a graphic designer, I asked a representative there for recommendations. He sent me three options to review, and I liked Octavia’s style. She checked all the boxes, and I felt comfortable with her.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $15,000–$20,000, or perhaps a little less.

What is the status of this engagement?

I have a monthly retainer with them to make sure everything on the website is updated and functioning properly.

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

We get compliments on our brand and our website. Our clientele isn’t always the most tech savvy, so their impressions are most heavily influenced by the site’s aesthetic.

Octavia understands the message I want to convey, and I trust her team to produce a user experience that fits my vision. Their level of design expertise is high, and I don’t have to micromanage them.

How did Creative Juice perform from a project management standpoint?

Octavia was responsive, and I liked her questions about my company, even before we started working together. We spoke weekly, and communicated heavily via email. At one point, there was a team member who wasn’t producing quickly enough, but Octavia intervened and corrected the situation. Other than that, we’ve had no issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very agile. As a startup, we need someone who can be quick and make things happen. When we suffered a hacking attempt, they were responsive and corrected the issue.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Your aesthetic will determine who you work with. Take the time to research and understand the branding questions you will be asked, and be willing to let your creative team make suggestions.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing and communications director of the Black Women’s Health Imperative.

What challenge were you trying to address with Creative Juice?

We needed rebranding and a redesign of our website, changing the look and feel of it.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted Creative Juice to help us come up with a new visual identity. That consisted of our primary logo, the visual identity, and logos for several of our programs in our nonprofit as well. We changed the color palette and design elements. They created our new stationary kit with our business cards and letterhead, and also created our new brochures, press kits, and PowerPoints. They assisted us as well with the creation of an outdoor pop-up banner and the creation of broadcast and digital materials that include an opening and closing graphic sequence with music that we can use for any videos that we create.

We were so happy with the way we were able to work together that we also brought them onboard to do the rebranding of our new website. That is the project we are currently in the middle of right now. They’re primarily using WordPress, and that is something we’ve been wanting to do because WordPress integrates with so many tools that we use and it’s more user-friendly than our current platform.

How did you come to work with Creative Juice?

We had a request for proposal, and we sent it out to people whom we know work in the marketing industry. We didn’t originally have a relationship with them, but someone that we knew did and referred them. They submitted the proposal, and we judged them alongside the other proposals that we received. We were most impressed with theirs and decided that we wanted to go ahead and move forward with them.

We wanted to work with a branding agency because we wanted to change our overall brand, and we needed experts in branding to help us with that. When you go to an advertising or marketing agency, they already want you to have that done and ready to go, so you can already give them the direction to proceed from there. However, we needed some direction on how to really change our branding, so that’s why we decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with Creative Juice?

To date, we’ve invested $35,000, and the website could be an additional $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started initial conversations in October 2016 about what the final contract was going to look like.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We haven’t officially launched yet since we’re waiting on the website to be completed. Internally, the feedback has been mixed, but I think it’s only because it has been a change. Like any change, it takes people a while to get used to something new. They understood that it was something that we needed to do, but it is so different from what we had before that it’s taking team members some time to get used to it. The real test will be how our external audience reacts to it. We’re just waiting for Creative Juice to complete the website design so we can do a larger scale rollout of the rebrand.

How did Creative Juice perform from a project management standpoint?

They are exceptional with project management. They use Mavenlink, which is an online project management tool, and all of our conversations happen there. Any files that need to be shared between the two of us are uploaded in Mavenlink. It’s a one-stop shop; nobody is having to dig through old emails to find what’s due and what’s not due. You can also track and see what percentage of each task has been completed. Even if they don’t say how close they are at being done on a logo, you can look on Mavenlink and see that they’re 80% done, so I can expect the first version to be given to me in a week or so. They’ve been very proactive in reaching out to us to make sure that we don’t have any outstanding questions or additional needs. I give them high markings for that.

What did you find most impressive about Creative Juice?

I’ve been most impressed by their ability to continue to build the relationships with their clients. For example, they sent us a nice little holiday care package. They also sent us a welcome package after we signed the contract to show their excitement about working with us on the project, sending us a little more information about their organization, how they work, and how we can work well together. There are other organizations that do the work and do a good job, but they go the extra mile and do things that are unexpected, which are things that stand out the most to me.

Are there any areas Creative Juice could improve?

I don’t think so. I haven’t really had any complaints at all. They’ve been excellent. If there’s any improvement to be made, it would be for us on the client side. On our end, there are things we could have done better. They’ve been able to roll with the punches and continue making any adjustments necessary without complaints.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Creative Juice?

I would recommend having a very good idea of what you’re looking for so that Creative Juice is able to do their best work. Some things are harder to change once you’re in the middle of something. As long you do your planning and prep work on the front end, it makes it easier for them to dive in and then give you the things that you’re looking for.