The Evoke Group

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the concept director of a magazine and publish company called Missouri Life.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Evoke Group?

We were looking for a production partner to produce one of our television shows.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The genesis of our relationship was they produced our television show, but our relationship with Evoke was a bit more fluid over the years working together. They handled the production, post-production, and digital distribution aspect of the project.

We had sponsors for six episodes of our show, so we needed Evoke to come in and provide us with assistance in the actual filming, interviewing, voiceover, and graphic work. We highlighted the area of what we wanted to cover, but they came in shoulder-to-shoulder with us and were involved on a creative level as well.

We also worked with them on a documentary project and digitally distributed tons of content throughout our YouTube channel. Moreover, they helped us create targeted ad campaigns on Facebook, and provided us additional web support with their link-building services for the pages on our website.

What is the team composition?

For this specific project, I worked with 3–5 people. They were Austin (Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder), Will (Video Director), Adam (CEO & Co-Founder), Michelle (Digital Account Coordinator), and one other team member.

How did you come to work with The Evoke Group?

I knew Evoke because a freelance photographer who shoots for the magazine worked with them on some projects in the past. He found out we were looking for new production partners and he recommended that we use them.

What we felt was really special about them was that they could handle both the video production and distribution side. Evoke had the capabilities to see the project through from start to finish, not only creatively, but also in getting our name out there, and attracting an audience. We were excited about what they did and felt that it was good as any other business. The ability to mesh all those services together with one partner was huge.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of the production and distribution was about $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January 2019–April 2020.

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

We went from 50–200 subscribers to about 1,400 now, which is a huge benchmark that we were all hoping to get. In terms of views, from the time we started uploading content, we had earned about a quarter-million views and thousands of hours of time watched, so we felt really good about that. That was our target range for the investment we were putting forward.

Furthermore, we also had a Facebook campaign that garnered somewhere in the neighborhood of two million impressions for the TV show. The series did win a regional Emmy, which was a pretty good benchmark for the quality of the product itself. We also won a Navigator award, which further speaks to the quality of the content Evoke was providing us.

How did The Evoke Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed really well and we had no complaints on that front. We were in communication all the time and had an intimate business relationship with them throughout. Obviously, when it came to video production we were working around other people’s schedules as well, so taking that into account, everything went smoothly and on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

If we had to pick one, it would be their passion and love. They got really excited about this project, and I think it afforded them the ability to work in slightly more creative ways.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really don’t have anything to say because we really liked working with them. We worked with them on a lot of projects because we felt confident that they were going to do a great job. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

From my experience, everybody from Evoke did a good job, and they were competent professionals. We’re obviously passionate about the storytelling aspect of what we do, so bringing what we did into a video format was a really big challenge for us. 

What I would say is to be more passionate about the project you’re going to be working with Evoke.