Crowd

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of Entertainment Media Partners, a consulting firm that guides clients through the difficult landscape of Hollywood. Through our relationships with the Hollywood and international media communities, we provide cost-effective, world-class expertise in scripted and documentary feature films; television; web-based content; and virtual, augmented, and mixed reality.

We have a strong track record in nonprofit/for-profit partnerships, values-driven content, and social impact media.

For what reason(s) did your company hire Crowd?

I needed to unify the online presences of my three discrete business properties.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted to implement marketing best practices across all three brands and tie them all together in a way that allowed them to play off of and help each other.

How did you select this vendor?

I needed an agency that brought a breadth of experience to the table—both as an agency and in terms of the individual team members. I also wanted a boutique offering to ensure that I was never going to be just a number.

Describe the project in detail.

Crowd has has helped me reach my goals by designing new websites, managing social media, email marketing, and providing general marketing guidance.

The initial stages included in-depth discovery meetings (both in-person and remote). We dedicated time to make sure both sides clearly understood each of my businesses' models, what what was lacking, and what could be done to fill any gaps. They provided the collaborative environment I craved in which both sides were free to offer opinions and criticisms without fear of conflict.

What was the team composition?

My main point of contact has always been their managing partner, but we operate in a system that allows for all parties to freely communicate with each other.

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

I love the brands they developed, as do others; I continue to get positive comments. All social media has grown significantly; and substantive, engaged traffic to all of the websites has been more than expected. I can't really complain about anything.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They provided great online tools that made the collaboration process very easy, and they were always extremely responsive.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

It's the people. They're brilliant, personable, organized, and nice. It's easy to find very talented people, but not so easy to find talent that are also great people.

I was also impressed with the level of research they brought to the table, as I was with their level of responsiveness. Plus, I value their no-nonsense, straightforward honesty. They execute, test, learn, and do. If something doesn't go well, they own it, analyze it, and provide options for improvement.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They need to grow their team so there is less of a burden on individuals. That's a good problem to have, however.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

First Street Napa is a restaurant, retail store, hotel, and lifestyle development in downtown Napa. We’re building 45 shops and restaurants, a 183-room hotel, along with office space. We have a partner based in Texas, and their leasing team, property development team, management team, they’re all helping work on the project. We also have a local team of 5 people, plus the hotel staff. My name is Nicole Mori, and I am the director of marketing and communications for the project.

What challenge were you trying to address with Crowd?

We had a B2B challenge of making our property seem relevant to potential retailers and restaurants, and convince them to sign leases. Secondly, once we would reach the point of rolling out to the consumer, the challenge was determining what the campaign would look like, and making sure we are a distinct, must-visit destination in Napa Valley. I do have a partner in Texas working on the marketing side of the project, but I’m mostly by myself locally, so I needed the support of a bigger team, which is what Crowd has been to me.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Crowd was signed on to do many different things, some of which started already, and some planned for the future. In terms of the B2B scope, we have made office leasing brochures, one-sheets, website content, e-blasts, and are working on developing our online presence on Yelp, Facebook, and so on, namely figuring out what it should be once we’ve opened. Crowd will handle all the creative for this, once we’ve launched.

They’ve created signage for us, coming-soon graphics, promotional items, and will be handling the entire gambit of what the marketing will be for our project. Crowd will probably redevelop our website, and create a more user-friendly responsive version through which we can geofence the property and ping people, giving them relevant sales and promotional messages when they’re on-site.

Crowd has been great in terms of helping with content development and branding. They came up with the tagline we’ll be using in our consumer campaign, which I love, but can’t reveal yet. Everything will be tied to this specific tagline, and they’ve done a great job of fleshing it out and helping us determine what makes sense to tie into it.

They’ve made recommendations along the way, including the creation of profiles for the people in our area, who might stand out in the B2B situation. For example, chef Charlie Palmer has signed on to the project, with his eponymous stake. We are also collaborating with a local well-known grape grower, as well as with the owners of a local wine bar, whose testimonials about the area will be featured in our brochure. We have also talked about making a video in the same vein.

How did you come to work with Crowd?

We reached out to 10 different agencies, and met with 3 after they submitted their proposals. Crowd stood out in terms of creativity and through their unique way of looking at our circumstance. I liked the fact that they had a bit of experience in this specific industry, and more in the travel and tourism space. We didn’t want to simply look like a shopping center, and we really are a destination, and more of a lifestyle center. Crowd presented some ideas around which we collaborated, honing in on what we were looking to do.

The first consideration for me was their ability to stand out creatively. I loved what Crowd had done with the creative for Saint Helena, California. Another factor was their accessibility. I knew that Crowd had helped some people in the local market with a project, and they travel to the area frequently. Being the single person working on this project, I needed to have reliability in an agency, and not have to wait a full day to get a response or a deliverable. I reached out to Crowd’s references in order to make sure of this.

How much have you invested with Crowd?

The cost of their work has been between $50,000 and $60,000. We work on an hourly basis, with a set number of hours per month. This is great, since I have an issue with traditional retainers.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Crowd one year ago. We plan to continue the collaboration until the launch of the project, and possibly on an ongoing basis. We will be working with Crowd until at least 2019.

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

It would be hard to provide metrics, given where we are right now. We’ve signed leases, but I couldn’t say with certainty if it was because of the materials made by Crowd. I definitely think that we’ve gotten very positive feedback in terms of leasing brochures and materials. People in the industry are generally wowed by them, and are always commenting on how professional and unique they look. We’ve been told that ours is one of the nicest brochures people have seen, which makes us happy. In terms of quality of work, Crowd has delivered what we were asking, and, if we requested something specific, like a header for the B2B and B2C e-blasts, they hit the nail on the head, and were flexible in terms of design. Some designers can be sensitive about recommended changes from a client, but Crowd is not like that at all.

Crowd hasn’t done much with our website yet, but we plan to develop a completely new page using their services.

How did Crowd perform from a project management standpoint?

My main point of contact in the U.S. filters most of the work through his designers and whomever else he needs in order to get the job done, but I also have communication with the resources themselves. We meet in person anytime someone from Crowd’s team is in town, every couple of months. They haven’t specifically come out for our project yet, because there hasn’t been a need for it, but, when we do have the need, it will happen. Other than this, we communicate through email and phone. They also use Skype, but I don’t have such an extensive need for it.

What did you find most impressive about Crowd?

Their level of sophistication in terms of design profile is strong, and it’s definitely a distinctive factor about Crowd, compared to other designers and agencies I’ve worked with in the past. They have a good sense for sorting through the clutter and figuring out what’s right for my project. This is helpful, especially since I don’t have all the time to do it. They are timely, professional, friendly, and generally great to work with.

Are there any areas Crowd could improve?

They’re a couple of hours ahead of our time zone. We’re on the West Coast, and Crowd is based in Detroit. Still, they’ve brought more West Coast designers in since we started working together. This was the only issue I had with Crowd.

They’ve definitely stepped up their U.S. presence. Since Crowd does have designers and other resources in agency offices in the U.K. and elsewhere, I can send out urgent requests at 8 p.m. and have the agents there take care of them. I’m not sure if this is standard practice, but it’s a nice option to have in case we’re in a pinch. Not everyone has this ability.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce, a business organization located in the middle of Napa Valley. We handle destination marketing and promote businesses to visitors.

What challenge were you trying to address with Crowd?

At the time, we had a dated website that was not producing the results we wanted, especially for the branding of our town. It wasn’t functional and didn’t emulate our vision. We needed a better website that represents who we are.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Crowd built the new site from scratch. As a Chamber of Commerce, we have so many partners and members, and we also needed to have a database as a way to find those people. They were able to build that functionality. We use WordPress to manage the site.

We’re also a destination marketing organization, so we needed the website to have 2 faces. We needed a website for general visitors, but we also needed a second side of the website to function for a business audience. The visitor-facing website is StHelena.com. At the top of that site, there’s a navigation button for the Chamber of Commerce, which serves our local business community and offers information about the perks of living and working here.  

Crowd provided marketing and strategy once the website was launched and prepared our brand guidelines and style guides. They also offered some SEO content and digital ad strategy and campaigns, but these efforts were limited by our budget. Their campaign ideas were all fabulous, and we did use a campaign they created: “small town, big experience,” as well as “big style,” “big wine,” and “big taste.” That became our major campaign, and Crowd provided all the creative work to support it.

How many resources have been assigned to your project?

We talked to 4 points of contact on a regular basis. My former marketing director interacted with Crowd on the daily basis. Tod [Managing Partner for North America, Crowd] was our overall account manager. We had another contact for the design and actual website. Within those teams, there were probably 2 other people.

How did you come to work with Crowd?

Crowd reached out to us, and the right person from our end took the call that day. They’d done work in Lake County and contacted us through a referral. After some initial research, we hired them.

How much have you invested with Crowd?

We spent close to $30,000. We believe it should have been closer to $80,000. They provide a monumental effort for very little money. We don’t have a huge marketing budget since we’re a town of 5,000 people. We were their first project in Napa County, and they wanted to get a foothold here. We paid much less than the site’s worth.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place in 2015 and was completed in 6 months. We continue to use them for our creative items, updates, and templates. 

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

All of our metrics are up. People are staying on the site longer. They drill down at least 3 times further into the site than they did on the previous site. Plus, we now have SEO and a blog. That’s made a huge difference in our organization. We get compliments on the design all the time. The new site is beautiful and definitely gives a sense of who we are.

We struggle here in Napa Valley. We attract a lot of visitors but are a small town with a 2-lane road. Adding three million people to our 2-lane road is a lot. We’re about managed, quality, sustainable tourism. We aren’t worried about quantity as much as quality, and Crowd made our website reflect managed tourism. Our infrastructure can’t afford massive volumes. We’re not a family destination. Our hotels are $400–$700 a night or more, so we’re less interested in having people drive up for lunch than having them stay and spend money in stores. They captured our unique perspective on tourism in their design. The site’s elegant and upscale.

How did Crowd perform from a project management standpoint?

Everybody did really well and communicated clearly. The time difference created some difficulty since they’re in England, so we worked through early mornings or late nights. Other than that, we didn’t have any problems.

What did you find most impressive about Crowd?

They were willing to work within our limited budget to create a strong relationship. They wanted to branch into Napa Valley while giving us what we needed. They have an impressive ability to recognize and respond to who we are.

Are there any areas Crowd could improve?

We think that we can improve our SEO, but we decided what to do there yet. The site looks beautiful and is user-friendly. In hindsight, I’d ask them not to overdesign. We had a microsite that they helped us with that needed a "call to act on." We needed visitors to buy something, but the site took them through too many pages before the opportunity to buy. We are working together on that for this year and expect it will be much smoother.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Plastic Oceans Foundation has produced a film called “A Plastic Ocean,” and we raise awareness of the global impact of plastic pollution. I’m the executive director, and I manage the global distribution of the film as an educational tool.

What challenge were you trying to address with Crowd?

We created the film and they helped increase the global presence of the film using social media. The unique ask was to also leverage the film distribution with the foundation at the same time. One usually goes down a film distribution route, rather than just a foundation route. We asked them to try to create a strategy to have the two come together.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We originally had Crowd help with developing the foundation’s website. They also developed a website and digital presence for the film, separate from the foundation. Strategically, they also offered to bridge the two. They showed how the foundation could utilize the film online, promoting the film as a way to achieve our mission, as well as giving further reach to the film. Crowd not only helped with developing those websites, but also with the promotion strategy, content creation, and means of tracking the reach of the film. The foundation was able to keep track of it on the backend. They worked on our social media and newsletters. Every time the film was screened as a community event, they also generated visual and written content for us to constantly promote and leverage the film for the foundation.

They designed everything on the website. We only provided the basic content about who we are and what we’re hoping to achieve. They always made it much more aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly. When we tried doing it ourselves, it was a standard template and not very visually pleasing. Crowd has been critical in making it a lot more streamlined and user-friendly. We provide facts and Word documents, and they take the time to make infographics for us and things users can click through easily.

We were working at a global level and trying to meet everyone’s demands in different countries. They were always accommodating with scheduling and timing. Other teams we’ve worked with would give an hour window and that’s it. Crowd was very accommodating, which obviously helped us as we were trying to figure out what we were doing.

How did you come to work with Crowd?

We know Crowd through other film projects they’ve done, working with a producer we use. We knew they had experience in documentary film, and they came recommended.

How much have you invested with Crowd?

We’ve spent around $20,000. That’s a fraction of what it should have cost for the amount of work they delivered.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our contract with them started in July of 2016. It’s a year contract, but in the 9th month, I agreed to increase their scope and budget. We will continue to work with them until the end of this year, and we’ll revisit it at that time.

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

We’ve definitely increased our Facebook likes by about 25% since they started. Twitter and other social media have increased as well. More importantly, our traffic has increased by about 600% on our website. One could say it’s Crowd, but one could also say they’ve spiked because we went on Netflix, and the film directs everybody to the website. The website inspires better confidence now. We definitely have a lot more traffic to those sites since Crowd has been involved.

I believe the foundation and the film have been merged effectively. This is where Crowd went above and beyond. They’re learning with us, and they’re willing to make modifications along the way. 

They’ve done a great job on the aesthetic side. We came to them wanting to bring the two components together in a way that didn’t look like two separate websites. They were critical in bringing both the film and the foundation under one umbrella and making it look seamless on our website. They were able to visually put it together and simplify the website so it looked cohesive.

They were proactive in figuring out what to do. For both of us, it was a new development. It’s a space that’s not typical. From the producer’s side, normally I would have it go down a typical film distribution route. I also have experience with foundations, which run separately. This was a learning curve for both of us in how the foundation could help the film and vice versa. Crowd was always very responsive and flexible as we figured out the best synergy. They went above and beyond.

How did Crowd perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been very good. They’ve been responsive and met the timelines they created. There were a couple things that were delayed a bit, but I take some responsibility. They might not have been clearly defined, or perhaps Crowd didn’t know what to ask since it was a new scope. I’d say that 95% of the time, they always met the timelines. If not, they would accommodate our scheduling to understand the scope and really deliver the best they could.

The project management is always done through Asana. The person I work with directly, Todd, is very flexible. If I feel like texting, Skyping, or calling, he figures it out. I do whatever is convenient for me, and he has been very responsive.

What did you find most impressive about Crowd?

They stand out because it truly does feel comprehensive. When you think of social media, some people will only think website, Facebook, and social media platforms like Twitter. Crowd had unique ideas and devised a holistic strategy. As we grow with social media, we’re looking for different aspects, whether it’s planning for events, coming up with different designs for your events, to make better social media content.

You need that more comprehensive marketing beforehand—PR and visual development that is more comprehensive. Crowd offers that, right down to helping with blog development, the writing aspect of it, and developing logos and imagery. They have a design team that starts early in the process. In the end, you actually have a good website, as well as the content and information for social media. Other organizations just care about the website and then leave you to deal with the planning involved in promoting the brand. 

Are there any areas Crowd could improve?

The only improvement I would ask is one I’ve experienced from working with other companies as well. From a layman’s perspective of social media, you don’t necessarily know exactly what to do. There’s a need for clear questioning of how the strategic part of it is going to be. Sometimes you need to be guided, but maybe that’s too big of an ask. It would be helpful for them to provide more questioning to really tease out the strategic plan from beginning to end. Sometimes I’ll have a vision, but I’m not exactly sure how the actual social media world will fit into my idea. It’s always helpful when a service provider is able to articulate what they do, so it’s a little easier to bring my ideas to fruition.