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    Boston, MA
    617.262.4800

Building deeper human connections.

4.8
2 reviews

Forge is a strategic brand, advertising and digital agency focused on forging deeper human connections between people and brands. We develop meaningful brand positionings, advertising and multimedia content, plus digital and social experiences to drive awareness, business growth, and long-term brand loyalty.

 
Undisclosed
 
$150 - $199 / hr
 
10 - 49
 
Undisclosed
Show all +
Boston, MA
headquarters
  • Forge Worldwide
    142 Berkeley St., 4th Floor
    Boston, MA 02116
    United States
    617.262.4800

Portfolio

Key clients: 

Cisco, Friendly's Ice Cream, Johnson & Wales University, Emerson Hospital, Boston University, Harvey Building Products, Herb Chambers Companies, Rockland Trust, Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, Isenberg School of Management, Iron Mountain, Decas Cranberries.

Reviews

4.8
2 reviews
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Brand Identity Project for Health Care Provider

"They really showed their passion for helping our organization.”
 

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
Project summary: 

Forge Worldwide provided brand management strategy and identity services in order to unite a number of sub-brands under one story. This included everything from logo creation to powerpoint branding.

The Reviewer
 
10,000+ Employees
 
Boston, Massachusetts
Senior Director of Communications at Spaulding Rehabilitation Network
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Forge produced outstanding work to ensure a seamless transition. Their customer-focused mindset kept communication at a personal level, and their innovative ideas and hoisting approach made their work effective. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for Partners Continuing Care, which includes Spaulding Rehabilitation Network and Partners Healthcare at Home. These are organization that provides post-acute or non-acute care for patients within the Partners HealthCare system.

What is your position?

I am a senior director of communications for the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Forge Worldwide?

We had several, but I would say the largest ones were improving our brand identity, and reputation awareness.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They provided research and guidance that helped us make some decisions on how we were going to market our organization within the larger Partners Network. From their perspective, they helped us streamline or extend the Spaulding brand on the Spaulding side of the service line. We had several inpatient and outpatient centers throughout the greater Massachusetts area that had been branded separate names because of previous owners. When we came together, we kept those names, but that quickly became confusing to the public. Forge helped us figure out the best way to unite our assets under one brand. Specific deliverables included brand architecture overhaul, brand statement and purpose, identity everything from logo and stationary to PowerPoints and fact sheets.

That was primarily their work with Spaulding. On the home care side, we had similar challenges – relatively unknown organization within a very competitive space, and had started to go to market with different sub-brands that were confusing to the overall story. Where Forge came in is, they provided guidance, leadership, and insight, but then research and recommended steps that, ultimately, were reviewed by our executive team.

How did you come to work with Forge Worldwide?

We had a very competitive process. I think we reached out to four vendors including Forge at the time. We selected the four vendors based on size and scope, to try to give us a different scale of what we could end up with as results. I think where Forge held a lead role was first a genuine interest in our business that was conveyed in several ways, during their presentation as well as on a personal level. They were clearly engaged and interested in helping us grow as a company.

I think almost more importantly was the innovative approach they took to figuring out how to update our brands in a holistic manner that went beyond simple brand collateral and brought us into the modern health care market.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was several hundred thousand dollars.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What distinguishes Forge Worldwide from other providers?

Forge Worldwide demonstrated their interest in the business. They really showed their passion for helping our organization. That is maybe easy to do for a health care organization, but I've actually seen them display similar behavior or leadership with banks and other non-health care arenas as well. I feel they excel at honing in on the personal experience of the customer and ensuring that their interest always remains paramount. Other companies may demonstrate the same commitment, but I feel like their legacy has been that they've gone above and beyond. It was just a great relationship.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

I'd say the relationship that was established, allowed for pretty honest feedback when necessary. The very few times that I've had to be in that position, it usually had to do with delays in deliverables. That happened very rarely.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
    There were a few minor delays...
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

Marketing and Advertising for University's School of Business

"Our business results are promising since we started working with Forge Worldwide."

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4.5

Quality: 
4.0
Schedule: 
4.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
Project summary: 

Forge Worldwide provided marketing services to increase awareness and reputational capital in order to promote the MBA program. 

The Reviewer
 
200-501 Employees
 
Boston, Massachusetts
Director of Marketing at University School of Business
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Forge’s work has been extremely well received and the MBA program has significantly grown its number of applicants. Currently Forge is beginning work on a branding campaign of the entire school. 

BACKGROUND

Please provide us with a brief description of your company.

I work for the business school of a large public university. The school was founded 1947, and has more than 42,000 alumni in 86 countries. We offer Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)-accredited courses to 4,800 students on campus, online, and in blended formats. The school's 3,400 undergraduates major in seven business disciplines, including industry specialties in sport management and hospitality and tourism management. Our 1,400 graduate students earn Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.

What is your role at the company?

I am the chief marketing officer, reporting directly to the dean. I directly manage a team of five FTEs (full-time employees), 10 to 15 student workers, and indirectly manage and approve the work of all academic departments and administrative groups across the business school. I also liaise with the university to coordinate marketing and communications efforts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge that you were trying to address when you approached Forge Worldwide?

Our initial business challenge when we approached Forge was figuring out how we could grow our most important revenue generating programs, particularly our online MBA program. Since then, we've begun looking into how we can build awareness and reputational capital across a number of key audiences, including academic peers and alumni.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of the project, and can you describe the specific services they provided?

We have worked with Forge for about 18 months. They are managing our largest advertising budget for MBA recruitment, which includes creative development and production and media planning execution and measurement. They also have developed the creative campaign for a few other programs here, but without the ongoing media maintenance. We are planning to engage with Forge to start a new awareness campaign for the entire school. 

What was your process for selecting Forge Worldwide?

We found them through a recommendation from a colleague. We met with Forge and another communications partner, and we felt Forge was a better fit based on our initial discussion around our strategic needs.

Can you give us a general estimate of the size of the project in dollar terms?

The cost was upward of $500,000.

What was the timeline of the project?

It's an ongoing engagement. The current work we're doing with them is a look at our school's brand and positioning. That work is on a three-month timeline.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project, and are there any metrics you can share?

We are still establishing a baseline for our MBA recruitment advertising, but recent results indicate that we are increasing our reach in a highly efficient way. Our business results are promising since we started working with Forge Worldwide. All responses to Forge Worldwide's creative work have been nothing but positive.

Is there anything unique or special about Forge Worldwide that really makes them stand out? 

We selected them in part because they indicated that they wanted to find partners who were willing to share as much data and information as possible. They want to build strong business case studies. Their greatest strengths are their great culture and smart people. You can tell they are all happy to work there and they like what they do. Their accounting people are very engaged and efficient, and they work hard to offer strategic business solutions. They are very thoughtful about using our budgets smartly. Their chief creative officer, Rob Stewart, is a very smart and strategic thinker with great experience. I like the way he thinks. He gets the big picture and knows where we need to go with our brand.

Looking back on the project, do you have any constructive criticism? Is there any area that they could improve or you would do differently?

We have had some executional hiccups concerning some of our digital display campaigns and how they were tracked and measured. To be honest, I think our team shares some of the responsibility, too. My main critique is that Forge was a little too nice and should have been more forceful in saying what specific technical requirements we needed and not assumed that my team would know. To their credit, they have taken steps to amend this in the future.

4.5
Overall Score
  • 4.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 4.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer