DeSantis Breindel

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of corporate marketing at Infoblox. Infoblox is a company that unites networking and security operations teams, data, and platforms to help protect networks and keep them up and running with 99% uptime.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We have been in business for 23 years without changing our visual appearance. We occasionally adjusted the messaging in our verbal brand but had kept our visual brand the same since the company was founded. We hired DeSantis Breindel to help us with our branding. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

We brought them our new brand guidelines and asked them to help us further. They did our booth design for a double-decker booth that we were going to unveil at the world's largest security conference, which had about 40,000 people attend. It was the first time we unveiled our new brand, and they helped us choose the visual imagery accompanying the launch. 

DeSantis Breindel created a Motion toolkit and helped make our videos more consistent. Previously, employees across the company made videos and didn’t have clear outlines for consistency. DeSantis Breindel also assisted us with developing our animated brand launch video. This video explained what we were doing and how we went to market.

The video also brought our new messaging to the forefront and was used to unveil our new logo. DeSantis Breindel created the video and took care of the music, sound mixing, and production, but we provided the voiceover. 

We already had our website, but it almost felt like we were starting from scratch. We went through our homepage with them and told them what we liked about it, what didn’t matter to us, and what we wanted them to reimagine. There were a lot of sections that we worked on together to figure out what needed to change. Using Figma, DeSantis Breindel created a mock-up and redesign for our company homepage, website takeover, and about us page. 

We also contracted them to do a brand activation campaign and develop some ideas that we could continue throughout the next year to bring our new brand to life. We ran our social channels ourselves, but they gave us a strategy for things we could do.

What is the team composition?

We had different groups of people from their team. We started off working with Howard (Co-CEO) because I had worked with him in the past. We had two different project leads, including Debbie (Program Management); we also worked with Dru (Co-CEO) who was responsible for the creative overlay being consistent across both projects.

We worked with two copywriters, someone who handled the Figma files, and another individual that created the video. 

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

I had worked with them in the past. We hired DeSantis Breindel because of their creative thinking, ability to push the envelope on ideas, and overall demeanor. Though we liked another company’s logo more, we wanted to partner with them to activate our brand.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent between $100,000–$125,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from January–April 2023, but we intend to work with them again. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We did an on-site survey at the conference where we unveiled our rebrand and asked people to do a survey about the rebrand. There were 125 surveys completed: 95% of people loved the new brand direction, 85% liked the new visuals, and 95% said the brand messages were believable and compelling. 

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

They met our deadlines and stayed on budget. We had a tight turnaround because we wanted to go live at a conference and needed more help than we thought we did. DeSantis Breindel never said no and always worked with us. 

They were also flexible with us on how to apply the budget to get the most that we could out of the process, even if some of the changes were smaller. We typically communicated through email, Google Drive, and had weekly calls.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Howard, Dru, and Debbie are definitely people I would shout out. Their web designer was really good at her job as well. Debbie was always available via email, and anytime people from our company reached out to her for a file she sent it immediately. She went above and beyond to work with us because she was really committed to our project.

Dru was instrumental in her ability to listen to our needs and know when we were happy or unhappy with something or needed to try again. She seemed to care about whether or not we were happy with DeSantis Breindel's work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are a creative powerhouse with a broad skill set and creative spark that helps a company stand out. They definitely brought the right people in to complete the job, but kept connective tissues between various jobs.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think they could have stronger copywriters who understand cybersecurity to make less work for the customer.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do a good job when creating your brief, and let them know what you’re looking for. Give DeSantis Breindel the messaging documents, but don’t assume they will read them and interpret them how you want. Spend time on a call with them to discuss the messaging, your company culture, and your style so they don’t have to do everything based on trial and error.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a commercial real estate investment management firm. I manage the client business, product development, and mergers and acquisitions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We needed their team’s branding expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the beginning, we provided all of our existing collateral related to our current and aspirational brand. DeSantis Breindel conducted focus groups and interviewed our task force, investors, and clients to understand our firm and its strengths. 

They developed some refreshed content, including taglines and mission statements, for our website and other promotional materials. They worked on our logo, color schemes, and digital branding.

DeSantis Breindel’s process was iterative; they regularly ran concepts by our task force for feedback.

We recently brought DeSantis Breindel in on another project that involved rebranding our product’s marketing materials.

What is the team composition?

The team morphed as the project went on; we worked with a solid ten teammates throughout.

Initially, we worked with their senior team. Then, we worked with their project management, graphic design, and web teams.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $300,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from Q2 of 2019 until February 2023.

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

I knew one of the principals there. We sent an RFP to three different firms and selected DeSantis Breindel because they seemed like the best fit.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We got a ton of great feedback on DeSantis Breindel’s work. There weren’t measurable metrics, but internal and external stakeholders loved the new brand.

How did the company perform from a project management standpoint?

The budget crept up a little bit, but the project management was good, and deadlines were met. We used email, Zoom, Google Meet, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Skype, and live meetings to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their professionalism, knowledge of the industry, and understanding of the competitive set made them stand out. DeSantis Breindel was also flexible and adapted to follow our directions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I can think of.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Having a clear idea of what you want the engagement to be will help.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a software company. We’re currently in the bootstrapping phase, so we’re doing a lot of consulting work. We’ve just started our software sales.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We were trying to present a product in a way that was different from how legacy IT software companies worked. We wanted to introduce a concept that would lead to the product itself, so it was more like branding work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DeSantis Breindel worked on a microsite for our product. They did everything from soup to nuts, working on the initial concept. We initially engaged DeSantis Breindel for another consulting opportunity; they listened to what we were trying to accomplish and helped us to explain it better. Then, we brought them in with that approach. DeSantis Breindel discussed how we’d do everything conceptually and then got the core details to put them in a graphical context to build the microsite.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Howard (Co-CEO), Leesa (Experience), an account representative, a creative person, and a technical person. 

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

We went through Google and looked at shops with experience with branding for fintech.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with DeSantis Breindel from July–December 2022. We might do a re-release later because we’re going to some conferences this year, so we’ll probably do a cleanup. If we do that, we’ll do it through them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We released the microsite on a Monday, and we’d already got a partner by Friday, so we didn’t end up actually announcing it. As a result, we haven’t brought it to a lot of social media. We’ll share it on LinkedIn in the future, but not for a while.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

The account manager primarily ran the project, and the team effectively stayed on target. They had a great level of experience, so they understood what needed to get done by which date. Overall, the team’s depth was excellent.

Most of the communication was done over Microsoft Teams and Zoom, but we had one meeting in person in New York. We had a client there, so we brought some of our team to meet up with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DeSantis Breindel had strong leadership, and they were capable of taking the project from the initial discussion to completion. Moreover, they weren’t obscenely expensive as other big shops are. Overall, DeSantis Breindel was specific to our space, comprehensive in their work, and price-appropriate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything off the top of my head; we had no complaints. I initially was concerned that a couple of people might be a bit wet behind the ears for the level of work we were doing, but it didn’t turn out that way. Since I’m from the finance world, I wasn’t used to their casual approach, which created a bit of trepidation for me. However, everyone knew what they were doing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come to the table a bit more prepared. It’s easy to expect your marketing people to do everything for you. However, there’s an aspect of understanding what you’re trying to achieve, so you need to sit down and discuss it in greater detail before starting.

Additionally, if you can, I recommend doing your first two meetings in person.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a former executive for a health technology platform. My company was a pre-initial public offering (IPO) high-growth startup in the health technology space, selling solutions for hospitals and health systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We were trying to understand our overall brand awareness among our target audiences and build out brand behaviors. Our goal was to ensure that everything we were doing as an organization was a reflection of the brand's personality so that we could build that through everything we do.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

As we thought about brand awareness, we initially went to DeSantis Breindel to help us put together a thoughtful approach to measuring our current brand awareness. Throughout this initial stage, they focused on understanding our current state, collecting a lot of information, and doing interviews with internal and external stakeholders. To help them with information gathering, we provided them with research documents, user personas we had built, information about our competitive landscape, and documents regarding our overall strategy.

As part of this process, DeSantis Breindel also collaborated with us to develop a list of questions to assess different elements of our brand and compare them to various competitors in the space. Once that survey was articulated, they conducted the survey, collected the results, and shaped that information into a narrative that they were able to deliver to our executives. This deliverable included a current state brand awareness assessment and some recommendations regarding where we could go for phase two of this project.

After the assessment period, DeSantis Breindel worked with us on building certain attributes of our brand that could help us resonate with our core audiences but also were reflective of our true culture. This part of the project also included some stakeholder interviews, which we structured into key committees across the company.

Moreover, DeSantis Breindel ran several workshops and did various brainstorming activities to identify some of our key brand behaviors. This process helped us generate ideas and collect some feedback. After that, we took some time to refine those ideas, consolidate the feedback, and articulate our brand behaviors. Ultimately, they delivered a report on our brand behaviors.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 6–8 teammates from DeSantis Breindel, including creative strategists, researchers, and account management team members. 

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

When we were shortlisting companies that focused on brand awareness work, an executive from another company recommended DeSantis Breindel. Once we understood their capabilities, we decided to work with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked from December 2021–March 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

DeSantis Breindel’s work was valuable. It gave us a lot of insight into how to formulate brand and campaign language, as well as how to talk to our constituents. Additionally, it helped us refine our message to the market and better position ourselves.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

DeSantis Breindel was very responsive and managed the project very well. However, I felt that the project went long in both phases due to some scheduling issues on our side. Our entire engagement was mostly virtual. We had a lot of meetings through Zoom and communicated via email. If there was ever an in-person meeting, I wasn’t part of it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DeSantis Breindel’s communication style was great. They had great strategic insight, which they brought to the collaboration. Moreover, they were very organized, and their presentations were quite compelling and engaging, which was great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We spent a lot of time iterating on certain aspects of the project, such as the messaging around brand behaviors. I felt that we iterated a few too many times, which dragged the project on. Still, most scheduling delays were caused by our inability to get our external interviews scheduled, so that wasn’t DeSantis Breindel’s fault.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t have any particular advice regarding working with DeSantis Breindel. As with any other agency, you need to have a strong team dedicated to the project internally so that you can work collaboratively with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing at Vesttoo, a fintech company with an insurance risk transfer platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We reached out to DeSantis Breindel to develop our corporate and investor-facing messaging and brand positioning.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When DeSantis Breindel came into the project, we already had our branding, brand voice, logos, and colors, so they didn’t do any graphic development. Still, they reviewed our assets and agreed that they were good. Then, they helped us conduct qualitative interviews with our potential clients and internal stakeholders to better understand where our brand should be positioned regarding its tone, voice, and corporate messaging. In total, they interviewed over 20 people.

Ultimately, DeSantis Breindel delivered a long messaging handbook detailing where our brand has opportunities to shine, which spaces online can feature our company, and how we can take those opportunities to get more people to talk about our brand. In addition to that, they conducted a final workshop with senior executives.

Some of our competitors are technology-focused, and others are purpose-focused. For this messaging development, we decided to focus on our people instead. Thus, this handbook contains the core messaging for both our corporate and investor-facing sides. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with five people from DeSantis Breindel in total, and we collaborated on a daily basis with three of them, including a project manager and some writers.

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

They were recommended to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–April 2022. The process took about four months, and we went through a follow-up process for a couple of weeks afterward. However, this was just phase one of the project, and we want to work with them again for the next phase.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were very impressed with DeSantis Breindel’s deliverable. I’ve presented the handbook on various occasions, including our advisory board meeting with our management team, and we’ve all been very pleased with it because our new messaging is clear.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

DeSantis Breindel’s project management was very clear. Their team was very responsive, always on time, and clear about what they needed and when. We communicated via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were very happy with the entire process overall.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything DeSantis Breindel could improve on. Initially, there was a little back and forth regarding legal constraints because we were under heavy regulations and had to be careful. Still, those challenges were normal.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a department VP for a life science organization. I sit on the commercial side of the business and co-lead our corporate brand. We do various things, including clinical trials, biospecimen studies, regulatory and FDA approval support, drug manufacturing, pricing, value studies, and other tasks related to launching and sustaining drugs in the market.

We’re currently expanding our capabilities, products, and services, and we’re looking to bring new drugs to the market. We also want to bring new therapies into the market that will leverage all sorts of capabilities, including technology, data science, and service-oriented opportunities like consulting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

Our company has been built through acquisitions; considering our current expansions, we’re continuing to formulate our story. Thus, we hired DeSantis Breindel to help us understand how we can better tell our story to avoid coming across as a very fragmented company. We were better known for one of our smaller brands, so one of our goals was to be known as a comprehensive company for all of our services, from R&D to manufacturing and commercialization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DeSantis Breindel has conducted a branding exercise to develop our verbal and visual identity. They’ve worked with us to understand who we are currently in the market and who we are internally.

DeSantis Breindel’s work mostly focuses on helping us understand our current state with clients and employees, as well as the market we want to be in. They’ve also helped us discover how to best position our services and talk comprehensively about what we can offer other organizations and life science companies.

For this exercise, we initially provided DeSantis Breindel with our existing company assets. For example, we had over a dozen social media sites for our different service lines, so they looked at those to understand our voice and presence in the market and see how we could integrate and tell our story.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with around 10 people from DeSantis Breindel, including project managers and their two co-founders.

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

We found them on a web search. When we started our branding work, we put together criteria in the form of a checklist containing what we were looking for. Some individuals on our team nominated firms they already knew, but we also looked for other firms on Google to read reviews and see what other service providers had to offer.

When we found DeSantis Breindel, we were very impressed with their offering, so we included them in our RFP process. Their team knocked it out of the park with their presentation, and we knew that they were the right partner for us. They showcased what they were able to do by providing us with a very real, tangible, and comparable case study, which gave us confidence in their work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very satisfied with DeSantis Breindel’s work.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

DeSantis Breindel’s project management is excellent. They’re highly responsive, organized, collaborative, and game-oriented. We’ve really enjoyed working with them, especially with their project managers. We have virtual meetings every week, and we’ve also had four in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DeSantis Breindel’s customer service and partnership orientation are outstanding. We’ve had a lot of stops, starts, and redirects over the last year, and they’ve been highly accommodating to our changing needs, acting as a true partner as we continue to figure them out. They feel like an extension of our team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have consistent and ongoing communication with them. Additionally, being straightforward and honest is critical, especially when you face internal challenges, so treat them as a true partner.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a global venture capital firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We wanted to develop and strengthen our brand in terms of logo, visual identity, voice, and personality.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DeSantis Breindel provides us with branding services. First, they did upfront research and spoke to various internal and external stakeholders. In those interviews, they got our stakeholders’ perceptions of our target audience, who we were, how we matched up to the current brand, brand associations, their vision for the brand, and how we compared to our competitors. They took those learnings and put them together into general findings they presented to us. 

From there, they started developing our brand strategy, including our overarching brand idea, voice, and positioning. The team constructed our lead message, tagline, and experience principles, which refer to how we bring the brand to life. That led to the visual identity; they created our logo, color schemes, typography, and illustration. 

We’ve started a new contract with DeSantis Breindel to help us activate against the brand in terms of making our website and business templates like Zoom backgrounds or PowerPoint presentations, social media images, and other assets. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with around 10 teammates from DeSantis Breindel, from strategists to account managers to designers to copywriters. Some teammates have come in and out of the project, like the people who worked on the upfront strategy and research. Other teammates have been consistent throughout, and now that we’re moving into the activation phase, another group of designers will be working with us. 

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

I had researched various branding agencies and came across a piece of research DeSantis Breindel put together on venture capital firms and their branding, which brought me to their site. I narrowed my search and reached out to different agencies; we met with them and got their scope of work. 

Ultimately, we decided that DeSantis Breindel was the right agency for us because they specialized in B2B brands and leaned towards financial services and healthcare industries. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $200,000–$300,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around December 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was supposed to take six months, and it has taken over a year because we’ve had many changes internally, and DeSantis Breindel has been very patient with us. Since the new branding isn’t live in the market, I can’t share any metrics yet. 

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

They deliver items on time and are responsive to our needs. We primarily communicate via email and weekly meetings. We’ve also had some larger presentations. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

DeSantis Breindel’s focus on B2B brands distinguishes them from the competition. They had a better understanding of us and our needs than other agencies focusing on B2C brands. Due to this approach, DeSantis Breindel understands our company’s landscape well. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their first or second pass at our visual identity missed the mark because they took it too far. They took a few rounds to hit what was right for our brand in terms of design. However, we got where we needed to and are very happy with the result. Overall, they’ve been really happy with DeSantis Breindel. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared on your side. DeSantis Breindel hits their deadlines and moves things forward; in some ways, their decision-making has been faster than what we’ve been ready for. While they haven’t tried to push us along faster than we’ve been comfortable, they’re ready to move and jump headfirst into a project. 

Therefore, make sure you’re ready to jump in, too. If you want an internal team working with DeSantis Breindel, figure out who’ll participate and who the key decision-makers will be. This approach will help you keep moving on track because DeSantis Breindel is ready to live up to their end of the bargain to keep the project moving.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a consulting firm in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. We represent our clients and help them execute built environment works across many sectors and service lines.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We were planning an acquisition in the UK, so we were looking to engage a branding firm that could help us assess the brand equity of our firm and the firm we were looking to acquire. Then, we needed them for the key branding platform and messaging we would use moving forward once we completed the acquisition and became one firm.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DeSantis Breindel started with a research and immersion phase, including quantitative and qualitative research. We gave them background documents such as collateral and proposal, marketing, and communication materials from both territories we operate in for them to compare and contrast how we perform in each marketplace. We also gave them a list of our competitors in both regions. 

Using that material, they learned about who we were as a firm and our acquisition company and did competitor research. They also did a quantitative survey and analysis to help us understand how our clients make decisions and procure our work. Their research aimed to get the foundation of what our brand and the acquisition company’s brand meant and how they could come together. 

We used many of the materials they prepared in that initial phase to create a deal announcement, and then we acquired the firm. From there, DeSantis Breindel worked on brand strategy and architecture. They led a brand development workshop and developed our brand platform and architecture, focusing on who we should be. The team helped us examine how we talk about ourselves and our personality. 

That work became the foundation for the next phase, which involved our brand’s verbal identity. The team defined how branding concepts translate into words we could use in all of our marketing and communication materials. They developed this so that the way we talk about ourselves would be personalized depending on the market. Part of that was looking at whether we would change our name. 

Alongside the verbal identity, they also worked on our visual identity. They designed a new logo based on the name we moved forward with. The team also created all the assets that go along with a logo from a font and color perspective. They also delivered the types of applications for the logo from a design perspective. DeSantis Breindel created a complete brand guideline for us to use moving forward. 

After the brand guideline, we continued to work with the team on some of the implementations for our brand. Currently, we’re building a new website which we will launch in January 2023, and DeSantis Breindel acted as our design lead before the start of development. They helped us with UX design, site structure, and strategy. The team also helped us from a content perspective for some key pages; they helped us write copy and develop ideas. 

What is the team composition?

We had two project directors because our first one left the firm while wrapping up the branding portion. We also worked with Daniel (Managing Director), Dru (Co-CEO), designers, and a researcher. 

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

I did a lot of research about branding firms and agencies and collected 10 proposals. From there, I narrowed down the options, and we interviewed and vetted four different firms. For us, it was really important to find a partner with mergers and acquisitions experience from a branding perspective. We selected DeSantis Breindel because the team was extremely smart and strategic, and they understood branding beyond the other firms we interviewed. 

Moreover, they had just completed some branding work for one of our consultants. We looked at some of their materials from that project and thought they were well-rounded. We also had synergy in connecting from an intellectual perspective, so we knew they would do a stellar job for us. Their research resource was impressive, and their design team was stellar in terms of their aesthetic and how they approached the work, which was another determining factor. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from July 2021–September 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The branding DeSantis Breindel helped us establish reflects who and what we are much better than our current branding. Although we haven't launched the brand yet, we're seeing a positive impact in how we prepare to integrate and incorporate their work into the content we put together. We've changed how we bid on projects and talk about ourselves, down to small things like slides or the types of items we select. Overall, everything feels more sophisticated and more in line with our brand. 

Moreover, I thoroughly enjoyed working with the team. Our first project director was fantastic; we could have direct conversations with him. He was amazing to work with from a strategic perspective. Their quantitative survey person was also a hoot because he was very analytical and knew his stuff, which was really inspiring for our technical folks. 

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, it was a great process. Since our assignment was during the COVID-19 pandemic, most of our communication was virtual. However, we still formed a great connection with the team. Halfway through the process, we visited their office and met them in person.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, processes sometimes take a little longer. For the most part, they delivered everything on time for our first deadline in October 2021. We had a good baseline of how we would move forward, and then we had the luxury of extending the additional work. For the website, we had a tight design timeline so that we could get into development on track to launch in January 2023, and they met every single deadline. Not only that, but they also ensured that we met our internal deadlines and provided input when needed. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality and intelligence of DeSantis Breindel's people throughout the process were really enjoyable. Usually, we can get caught up in our work, so it was rewarding to take the time to think through strategy and how that will affect us moving forward. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wish the first project director hadn't left at the end of the branding process. We would have benefited from the continuity of that relationship we'd built over 6–8 months through the website design. That's not to say that our new project director wasn't effective, but the rapport was different because they weren't part of the negotiation for the scope of work. As a result, our collaboration wasn't as fluid as before. 

Additionally, I would have enjoyed the strategy team weighing in on the website more often. Because our project director was different, some information got lost in transitioning from one team to the next. We had to remind them of things we had discussed during the research and strategy phases, which ultimately affected the site's structure. I even had meetings with team members to ensure they were up to speed and reminded them to talk to their colleagues. This was all a disadvantage of not having someone who was part of the research and branding processes when implementing a specific component like the website. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to seek out partner-level engagement, which I really enjoyed. The strategy came from the higher-level people, so having Daniel on our calls drove the strategy work forward. From a design perspective, we were lucky to have Dru come on board some calls as well, and it was clear she was driving some of the processes. They gave some great opportunities to their more junior teammates to contribute and lead some meetings, which was fantastic, but having them there and engaged made all the difference.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and the CMO of a professional reinsurance firm. We provide capital and risk management services to the life insurance industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Briendel?

We’ve worked with them on a number of initiatives over the years, beginning with our initial capital raise and making a large impact on the market. When we went through a name change and rebrand, they developed a new logo for us and worked to raise brand awareness. Our most recent project began last year: a second capital raise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DeSantis is updating our website for this second funding effort, and the work is broken up into two phases. First, they brought new imagery and an updated homepage to the site. Our goal was to create a more modern look that would appeal to potential investors. Secondly, they were tasked with building out a more robust content hub on our site. This is an ongoing effort.

Finally, we’re having them develop a full set of brand guidelines that will inform all of our communications and be consistent with the look and feel of our website. In terms of tangible deliverables, this phase includes new PowerPoint templates, Word document templates, and more.

For various regulatory reasons, we’re precluded from using social media, so they didn’t post any content on social for us. What we do is provide them with specific content that we want to use to describe our products and services, and DeSantis fine tunes those from a messaging and communications standpoint.

To do this, they spent a lot of time learning about who we were, our customers, and our products. They also dove into our web presence and those of our competitors.

We did have an existing web page, but it was a one-page solution that we completely trashed to rebuild from scratch. The changes to the web site included drilling down on pages that we could add more content to, rather than only providing users with a high-level overview of our company. There are now specific pages for different products and lines of services.

What is the team composition?

We worked with quite a few groups from their company, including their two co-CEOs, their branding team, and their web development team. In total, we’ve interacted with around 8–10 people.

How did you come to work with DeSantis Briendel?

We found them through basic web searches for firms that strictly operate in the B2B market. We work exclusively with large multi-national companies, so I wasn’t looking for someone with mostly consumer products experience. I saw that DeSantis had already worked with a number of large, credible firms that we do business with.

One factor that made them stand out was their partnership approach. They sought to understand us as a business and learn about what we were trying to accomplish to ensure that they had the right kind of expertise.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost is around $200,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since September 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s difficult to report metrics in our business, but one of the important independent validity measures we have is our perception in the industry, as derived from an insurance industry survey. Senior executives at life insurance companies are asked detailed questions about their perceptions of the reinsurers they work with, and while we are a small, relatively new firm, we had the highest recognition and business capability scores out of the entire industry. The messaging and consistency that DeSantis has brought is certainly part of this success.

How did DeSantis Briendel perform from a project management standpoint?

I would describe their project management as very thorough and focused. We develop timelines at the beginning of each project, and if there’s any variation, we reassess and establish a new timeline going forward. We’ve made the most efficient use of our time, which is highly important, as this is not our primary business. They’re very sensitive to our bandwidth.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their approach to the project as being true partners with our business stood out amongst our perception of other firms. DeSantis didn’t come with a prepackaged approach; they customized their services to fit what we were trying to convey.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t really have any critiques, but they weren’t the most cost-effective option. We did get the value we paid for, however.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as transparent as possible in helping them understand your business so that they can do the best work possible for you. If you hold information too close to the vest, then they won’t have what they need. DeSantis can’t read your mind and know what’s most important to your customers. They’re very open to customizing their approach to your needs, to take advantage of that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing at a group of companies that supports alternative investment markets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSantis Breindel?

We were trying to address the fact that we didn’t have a clear and concise way of describing our business, as it’s very complex. DeSantis came in to do top-line corporate messaging, and then we rehired them for two follow-up projects: to re-message a fintech division in our company and to develop a new website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, they executed a series of interviews with our executive team, external stakeholders and consultants, and a few journalists. This research then informed our description.

They’re a very creative team, but the most important ability they displayed was their skill with analyzing, understanding, and retaining information.

What is the team composition?

Across the three projects, we’ve worked with several directors, account managers, and junior team members. There’s also been a design team accessible when necessary.

How did you come to work with DeSantis Breindel?

Even though we did a fairly vigorous branding agency study, we found DeSantis through personal contacts. They had broad expertise in our sector and had a history of distilling each of their clients' messaging into accessible, engaging content.

What is the status of this engagement?

The branding project ran from April 2020–January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They described a very complex business with a number of opaque systems in a very clear, concise way. The resulting messaging was snappy, but still attuned to the polished expectations people have of the institutional investment industry.

DeSantis did a great job through all stages of the project, from initial research and message creation through to building a consensus from our internal senior team. Only minor tweaks were required.

We haven’t launched the first messaging project yet because they’re still working on our new website, but I can say that the middle project — the fintech design project — went really well. The brand’s prospect and readers viewing the content have multiplied by around 7,000%.

How did DeSantis Breindel perform from a project management standpoint?

They were also strong in project management. Even though they had a large team, we were never inundated by emails; everything ran through their project manager.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Even though we had turnover of team members from project to project, DeSantis retained a lot of information. They know as much about us as a company as we do. They also have an atmosphere of intellectual rigor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They got us everything that we needed on time; the main issue was that we didn’t get them what they needed on time during the messaging project. Despite that, they still did their best to keep us on schedule.

The only area for improvement would be in the still ongoing website design project. They could have offered us a stronger opinion on what they believed would be the best look, rather than only providing options and letting us decide. We’re not experts, and I would have liked them to use a stronger hand in making recommendations.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be ready with existing research and what you want to get out of DeSantis. They have a voracious research team and will require a lot of information. The sooner you have that on hand, the quicker your project will proceed.

We’ll definitely work with them again because of their ability to listen and tune into our needs.