Ghost Note

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the communications manager at a national nonprofit organization where we work on economic, racial, and climate justice.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ghost Note?

We hired them to help us with rebranding. We needed a new name, website, and visual identity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ghost Note did a discovery process with questionnaires, focus groups, and a couple of interviews with friends of the organization. They presented their findings and drafted a brand framework for us to send our feedback. We reviewed, edited, and finalized the new brand framework, which included our brand story, personality, and values.

Additionally, they are creating a new WordPress website for us. They are helping us develop a resource library, different campaign spotlights, and other features in different programs. They use adobe Adobe XD for the wireframe on the website. Also, their team presented new brand names but we ended up using the one we came up with. They’re leading the visual identity and logo design too.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with at least five people from Ghost Note, and we have a project manager who is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Ghost Note?

We accepted proposals from three agencies and interviewed our top two. We liked that Ghost Note had a range of different clients, from corporate and nonprofit to NGO sectors. We also liked the fact that they were a people of color and black-led agency 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Ghost Note in February 2020, and the partnership is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve gotten feedback from the brand framework they’ve done. They understood who we were, and the messaging and narrative they’ve used have been helpful. 

On the other hand, when they presented the brand names, they presented two at the same time for us to choose one — although, for our process we needed more options to work through. We chose one name from the ones they sent. Unfortunately, we ran into some trademark concerns, and they didn’t have intellectual property (IP) or trademark specialists.

How did Ghost Note perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve been happy with the project management on the process of developing the website, the sitemap, and the wireframe. Ghost Note uses a specific project management tool but I’m not sure about the name. They maintain a very clear timeline. We have weekly video calls and communicate a lot by phone and email.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ghost Note has a really talented team of developers, designers, and creatives. The quality of their work has been really good. It’s been a long process due to COVID-19 and the delays we’ve had choosing a name. However, they’ve been flexible with us, which has been great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve had some turnover of people working on our account, so less turnover would be better. In addition to that, having more diligence on brand names and IP issues. 

Any advice for potential customers?

I suggest that people have regular standing meetings, and be comfortable picking up the phone or emailing whenever they have a question.