Cultivate

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

We exceeded our goal. We had an extremely successful campaign. We raised more than $1 million from the first gala. Their video was a part of that. We raised over $600,000 from our closing party, and they were part of that.

People who saw the first video that featured one of our students still talk about her and the story that they told. Cultivate encouraged us to focus on one individual and they helped us land on a great story. It was extremely effective.

How did Cultivate perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re transparent about the process. They articulate immediately at the onset of a project what the timeline looks like, what the budget constraints are going to be, and how they’ll work within them. They’ve always met their deliverables.

On a couple of projects, we had some artistic differences on editing style at the very end. Nonprofit organizations tend to have a layer of collaborative review, which means many people give their feedback, resulting in more rounds of edits. It can be challenging for third-party vendors to go through that process. Cultivate has always taken it in great stride and communicated clearly what the impacts will be on deadlines. They’ve worked hard to make sure that we’re able to deliver what we need to deliver. I appreciate that.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I enjoy their openness to take direction and to modify designs or ideas. For the most part, they present fantastic thinking. I’m always impressed by what they present as initial concepts. When we make changes, they’re normally just tonality issues to make sure that we get our audience exactly where they need to be and meet them where they’re at.

They bring a unique perspective. They understand the mission, identity, core tonality, and sensibility of an institution quickly. That’s something you can’t get easily from a lot of vendors. In nonprofit worlds, it’s especially important when you’re working on fundraising.

When they interact with important people and deal with the sensitive matter of those personal stories, they work with our people in a way that helps me build the relationships with those individuals long after the video is completed or our work is done.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve been expanding their focus to not just do video production. The direct impact is they’re professionalizing their work which involves having more people on site and on shoots, which expands their costs. Working with them to work with our budgets so that we don’t need so many people on every shoot would be helpful.

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

We were extremely satisfied. Our logo is recognizable and reflects our mission. We use it across six different campuses (we also changed the outdoor and indoor signage). We, as an organization, have a more uniform look and our graphic design team can work more efficiently now because they know what the design limits are.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive and met their deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're a fun team to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open about who you are. If they have a true picture, they'll do a great job.

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

The app was really the clincher for us. We were a preferred app for anything that was related to bridal. Being featured in the AppStore gave us a tremendous amount of credibility when we were talking to jewelers. It was really professionally done, and they did a remarkable job on it.

Our sales pitch was built on this campaign and it was the core of our selling strategy. It had a dramatic impact and it turned us around. Once we brought the program to mobile, we were growing at 30% a year.

Cultivate helped us open a lot of doors by putting together a campaign which was anchored by the app, making it really easy for consumers to get pricing. It was at a time where a lot of jewelers weren’t publishing prices, and they made it easy to see what diamonds were selling for. It really helped us a tremendous amount.

How did Cultivate perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed really well. We came to an understanding with them that once we agreed on the outlines of the project, we would have the discipline of stepping back and limiting the number of changes and not asking a ton of questions. We relied on them to execute the plan. We were an important client to them, and they were an important client to us, and it worked well. They hit deadlines. There were times when we went back and tweaked things, but overall, it was a really well-run team and they did a great job for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We felt really comfortable with them. Their work made a substantial difference, and they really did an amazing job for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were a very young team, and a lot of the meetings were very casual. I realized that is how things are today. Sometimes it was an adjustment for me, but that was the market I was after. I don’t fault them, and there isn’t anything that jumps out that they can improve on.