A boutique brand strategy agency
Global Brand Works is a small but mighty branding agency. Founded by Caroline McNally and Shannon Riordan, Global Brand Works specializes in translating Brand Strategy into Brand Actualization – in other words, we help clients bring the brand to life throughout an organization, internally and externally. Whether you need to launch, recharge, redesign, or completely reinvent your brand, our experienced leadership and custom approach will get you there.
From start-ups to established global brands, an aligned organization delivers a consistent and compelling brand experience and a shared sense of purpose, which produces better business results. Our specialties are:
Brand Platform
Brand Architecture
Employer Brand
Internal Brand Activation
Design (logo and visual identity system)
Messaging and Brand Story
Focus
Portfolio
PayPal, SFMOMA, Equinix, Kettle Brand Potato Chips, Appnovation, LifeLock, Bank of the West, American Express, GoGreen Agriculture, Charles Schwab, HRMI, Pro Unlimited, Sutherland, Veritas, State Street Global Advisors, Yodlee, Vantiv, Paychex, Vesta, Xpanse by Xponent, Aliro by Lendkey, Monticelli, Newsbreak, Katie Raffetto Interior Design

Development of the Employer Brand
Development of the Employer Brand entailed extensive global quantative and qualitiative insights, competitive report, internal surveys, interviews, and workshops. We delivered talent acquisition values, benefit pillars, personas and messaging, which is now live on their new carreers page.

PayPal - Internal Brand Activation
PayPal is one of Global Brand Works' biggest and most consistent retainer clients. Initiatives include: Brand Governance, Value Proposition Messaging, Brand Story, Internal Communications, Internal Brand Training, Onboarding Content Development, and Naming. Here are some examples of our work:
Example
Example
Example

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Brand StrategyInternal Brand EngagementResearch (Internal and External)Strategic Consulting, advertising creative (here is an example of a recent successful campaign)

Kettle Uprooted - Naming and Visual Identity
Kettle brand chips needed brand support leading up to the launch of their line of vegetable chips. Global Brand Works provided not only the lighthearted and memorable name, but also the brand's architecture, logo design, and packaging design.

Developing a brand from scratch: Aliro by Lendkey
We created this brand from scratch: Research, Brand Architecture, Naming, Logo Design, Animaiton, Visual Identity, and Guidelines.
Find the full story here.

Sutherland - Rebrand
Sutherland came to Global Brand Works to help take their corpporate branding to the next level. Global Brand Works provided Brand Strategy, Customer Insights, Logo Redesign, Visual Identity and Guidelines, Brand Book, PowerPoint Template, and Business Card Design for the brand.
Find the full story here.

Creating a new brand - Xpanse
For this disruptor brand we developed everything from scratch: research, brand architecture, name, logo, logo animatin, and visual identity.
Find the full story here.

Developing the brand for Livin' Quality
For this "brand in a box" client, we developed the brand strategy, messaging, logo, visual identity, and guidelines.
Find the full story here.

Appnovation - Rebrand
ResearchBrand StrategyMessagingBrand ArchitectureLogo RedesignVisual Identity & Guidelines
Find the full story here.

HRMI - Branding
Brand StrategyLogo DesignVisual Identity and GuidelinesBusiness Card Design.
Find the full story here.
Reviews
the project
Naming Convention Architecture for Fraud Detection Company
“They worked hard to tailor their services to our exact needs.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the SVP of marketing at Vesta, an AI platform that provides fraud detection for e-commerce companies.
What challenge were you trying to address with Global Brand Works?
We hired Global Brand Works to lead a project; we needed them to build a product-naming convention. They also had to deliver the final names for those plans. We wanted to standardize how we named our products and solutions. Our team was all over the place, so we needed their help.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Global Brand Works collaborated with our team at a global level to create a detailed architecture for how we could name our platform and all the products, services, and solutions associated with it. In other words, the expected deliverable was an entire naming convention architecture. They also had to provide the first round of names for our primary set of e-commerce fraud detection products.
Beyond the main deliverable, they also did an extensive amount of direct market research. They ran surveys and detailed one-on-one sessions with companies that were potential purchasers of our products and solutions.
What is the team composition?
We worked with three people from Global Brand Works, including a project manager.
How did you come to work with Global Brand Works?
I’d known Global Brand Works in the past since my previous company engaged them. We decided to move forward with them in this project because they had the domain expertise in the market. They had an extensive list of fintech customers, meaning they truly understood our space.
Moreover, we could deal directly with their principals and the people who owned and managed the agency. We weren’t pushed down to the third- or fourth-level person. Global Brand Works was highly engaged with us from the start, and we dealt with the principals from day one. Finally, we also liked the reviews of their work from the references they provided.
How much have you invested with them?
We invested around $100,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The project lasted from June–December 2021.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Our success metrics included the time to deliver; we had a fairly rapid timeline, and Global Brand Works met it. We didn’t want to have a project that exceeded 5–6 months, and they exceeded in delivering within that timeframe.
Another success metric for us was the deliverables. We wanted to ensure we had a full architecture and a series of names — the team delivered both of them. Finally, we also checked their quality of work and understanding of our potential customers’ needs. They were enormously successful in terms of these.
How did Global Brand Works perform from a project management standpoint?
We didn’t use any project management tool; we managed the project through Google Documents. It was difficult for us to use third-party tools because of our PCI compliance. In terms of communication, the frequency of our meetings depended on the phase of the project. Every phase had a series of milestones.
At the minimum, we talked to Global Brand Works once per week to discuss our progress. Sometimes, we engaged them 2–3 times per week. We’d also done calls and interviews 2–4 times a week.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The Global Brand Works resources were extraordinarily great listeners. They had a solution for every problem we presented to them. They didn’t push back. Instead, they worked hard to tailor their services to our exact needs — that was crucial for us. Many other agencies had cookie-cutter strategies.
Moreover, the team was extremely thoughtful in what they do. They had a deep understanding of branding, and they applied that to our company. On top of that, they could extract the best out of a diverse group of stakeholders. We threw them a number of stakeholders — ranging from CEOs to product managers — and they were all impressed with Global Brand Works. They extracted the information we needed, and they delivered that in an extremely impressive way.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, there weren’t any. I couldn’t speak highly enough of the way they truly understood our needs and produced meaningful results.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Sit down with Global Brand Works and have a thoughtful onboarding process. Set metrics, build goals, and define your expected outcomes. That way, you’ll ensure that there’s no disruption in the timelines or process even when you do a changeover in the middle of the project.
the project
Branding & Marketing for RV Solar Panel Company
"Their strategy focus empowered them to nail down our brand and authentic story."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We’re a startup that makes unique solar products for the recreational vehicle industry. As a very small company, I’m the head of operations but all four people on staff do everything.
What challenge were you trying to address with Global Brand Works?
We hired their team to help with our initial marketing and branding.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We signed up for their “brand in a box” program, which takes a company like ours with nothing and develops a basic brand strategy, along with some associated deliverables, including logos, messaging, stories, color schemes and artwork.
Global Brand Works started off doing in-depth interviews of our industry, figuring out where we fit in, who are competitors are, what those business are doing, and what our authentic message was compared to other peoples’. They also helped with positioning.
What is the team composition?
I work with Shannon (Partner & Co-Founder) and Carolyn (Partner & Co-Founder). They’ve brought in experts at different stages for tasks like market research and graphic design.
How did you come to work with Global Brand Works?
I don’t recall where we found them specifically, but we liked their “brand in a box” program. It fit our company as a startup at our stage.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent around $40,000–$50,000 with them.
What is the status of this engagement?
We’ve been working together since March 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
In the first 60 days after launch, we had almost $1 million worth of pre-orders. Our lead database now contains almost 10,000 people interested in our products. All we have to worry about is executing on delivery.
We were most likely a painful customer, as we changed our minds a lot and went back and forth. The engagement was supposed to run for three months but ended up taking six. Global Brand Works stuck with us and saw the work through to the end.
How did Global Brand Works perform from a project management standpoint?
They excelled at holding meetings and keeping schedules on track. We were 99% successful, I’d say. The only reason they schedule was extended was that our side kept flipping things, but Global Brand Works was very gracious.
We communicated almost entirely online, through Zoom, Google Meet, and email.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They were highly focused on two things: strategy and competitor research. Their strategy focus empowered them to nail down our brand and authentic story we were attempting to tell. Researching competitors helped us know how we matched up against others in our industry.
Are there any areas they could improve?
If anything fell short, it was us — taking too long to give feedback to Global Brand Works.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Follow their program; it’s sound, straightforward, and logical. We ran into trouble when we deviated from it, which extended the timeline. It would have been more efficient to stick to their curriculum if you will. Global Brand Works has a lot of experience. The result speaks for themselves.
the project
Brand Personas & Employer Survey for Talent Acquisition Firm
“Global Brand Works delivers a true sense of partnership.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the director of a global talent acquisition marketing team.
What challenge were you trying to address with Global Brand Works?
I realized we needed to start marketing to candidates the way we market to customers. I needed an employer brand to help us find what we wanted to do in our marketing campaigns.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They helped us define our employer brand values. They also helped us define three persona profiles, one for each of our major lines of business that we hire for. They recommended a process for how to build a brand story and personas. It was founded on deep listening and being able to collect insights to inform employer brands.
It started with a listening tour of our leaders with a confidential conversation. I provided leaders that represented different regions and different parts of our organizations. They conducted confidential phone conversations asking them different creative questions. The team also did a competitive and best practices audit. We decided to have them audit seven key companies that we work with. The team audited their talent brand strength, and how their content performs. It allowed us to see that some companies are heavily investing in the recruiting marketing space.
Next, we did an external candidate quantitative survey. They managed the survey that helped us learn what we think of ourselves, what our competing companies think of themselves, and what candidates would look for at our company. We did it regionally across three global projects. They summarized all three steps. I held the workshop and input sessions with key employees across the board at the company, which represented a group of 15 teammates globally.
Then, the team worked with us to create an employer evaluation survey. We asked some partners of our own internal team that does employee surveys to validate the findings that we had. Not only did Global Brand Works lead the milestones, but they captured the data.
How did you come to work with Global Brand Works?
I found them via a word-of-mouth recommendation. I interviewed them for a project that I was too small for and they needed a larger audience. I liked that it was a smaller agency and that it was women-owned. The two founders are professional women that have spent many years running brand organ. It seemed like a really good fit.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent just around $100,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in August 2020, and we wrapped up in February 2021.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I appreciate the fact that they proposed this six-step process and put it together. They’re fantastic. They’re always engaged and have resources that help them. They went above and beyond anytime that I asked them to. They’ve always been a great partner. In fact, my corporate team recently brought them on to be their partner.
How did Global Brand Works perform from a project management standpoint?
They kept me on track, which I needed. I was very honest, and I needed their help. The team kindly helped me make my work the best it could be. We communicated via Zoom and text.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Global Brand Works delivers a true sense of partnership. I knew the project was just as important to them as it was to me. The team almost became an extension of my team. They reach out and become very collaborative.
They’re happy to raise flags if they think there’s a concern. There were a couple of times where the scope of this project got too big; they were able to tell me that I needed to reconsider some things as the owner of the project. As a result, the project was much more successful.
Are there any areas they could improve?
As with any vendor, it took us a little while of working together. It probably didn’t help that we never met each other in person because of COVID-19. There was never a concern that they weren’t going to deliver.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
When you hire a small agency, it’s all about relationship building and transparency. To get the best out of that relationship, you need to be inclusive and honest. Make them your trusted advisor in this process, they will align with that quickly.
the project
Brand Management for PayPal
"They were personable, willing to listen, and committed to our success."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the former senior director of branding at PayPal.
What challenge were you trying to address with Global Brand Works?
Wanting to increase the bandwidth of our global brand team, we hired them for brand training, brand governance documentation processes, and other brand management disciplines.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They started out by speaking with stakeholders at PayPal to better understand the onboarding process. That allowed them to design an internal onboarding module for the brand that organizes how we get new hires acclimated and educated to our company. They wrote the module in three different formats. They delivered a webinar, a training presentation deck, and a PDF, all of which worked together.
Following that effort, they focused on brand governance, looking after the consistency and usage of our brand. Based on their findings, they trained people on how to execute brand governance across the business. In that effort, they helped all of our business units around the globe.
At the time, we had a centralized brand organization and wanted to better centralize marketing for discipline and consistency around managing the use of our brand. The bigger objective was our own brand goal which was to be a top-100 global brand. Eventually, we were aiming to be a top-50 global brand.
Managing audience understanding of the brand and fostering internal pride for the brand were both achieved through their onboarding module and brand governance work.
What is the team composition?
I worked with Caroline (Co-Founder) and Shannon (Co-Founder).
How did you come to work with Global Brand Works?
They were referred to me by a colleague in consulting. He used their services to get high-quality brand work done quickly. The real selling point of Global Brand Works is both Shannon and Caroline had backgrounds in working for a large matrix organization in both marketing and non-marketing capacities. They seemed to have empathy for clients, strong marketing decision-making skills, and the ability to execute thoroughly on a budget.
They really share the mindset with organizations like PayPal, understanding how effective marketing can turn habits into customs and the difference marketing makes for a brand. That mentality helps the brand, employees, our evaluation, and customers.
How much have you invested in them?
We spent between $200,000–$500,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started the collaboration in March 2015, and they're still engaging with PayPal. They helped with different projects throughout the years as well.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We used to give surveys at the end of every training session and seminar on brand engagement. After their work, we received predominantly top-box scores. The brand session was usually the top-scoring session at the onboarding training, and we also received positive feedback on the webinars.
Our team did brand engagement sessions cross-functionally, but they always scored highly for usefulness, effectiveness, enjoyment, content, and purpose. Those were the five areas that we measured.
How did Global Brand Works perform from a project management standpoint?
They're very flexible and understand that timelines can change our end. Because of that knowledge, they expressed empathy for our decision-making process. They're also skilled at devising creative solutions to problems. Depending on our timeline and budget for specific work, they're able to offer a range of solutions that give the business flexibility.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They are like part of the team, working in our office, and striving to understand our overall business processes. In that effort, they were close with the HR team to ensure the onboarding module aligned with their vision.
Throughout, they took a great sense of ownership in their work and the success of stakeholders. They were personable, willing to listen, and committed to our success. From the start of the engagement, they were standout team players.
Are there any areas they could improve?
There were times when they could have been more proactive about the next step of a project rather than waiting on a brief from us. To be fair, they were trying to be considerate of our budgets and timelines in waiting for our signal.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
They were brilliant at giving us instant bandwidth, behaving like part of the team. Their ability to largely onboard themselves to the project and company took the worry off our shoulders.
Because they're a small agency, there isn’t an enormous amount of wasted overhead. Both Caroline and Shannon can add a sense of seniority to the project and also know every brand hack in the book for companies wanting to stretch their dollars. Their resourcefulness is great for clients on a budget.
the project
Employee Brand Activation for Financial Wellness Company
"Global Brand Works was a true partner for our brand activation project."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I work for Chevron Federal Credit Union, and I'm the head of marketing.
What challenge were you trying to address with Global Brand Works?
We are launching our new brand in January, and my team was really focused on updating and making changes to our website. I realized I needed outside help to do the internal brand activation.
We had recently done a new brand strategy and redefined our two distinct brands. We operate as Chevron Federal Credit Union and Spectrum Credit Union, and we contacted Global Brand Works to help us with internal employee brand activation
What was the scope of their involvement?
The scope of the project was to create a series of presentations around why the brand is important and why it’s important that people be brand ambassadors. We set up five different employee engagements which we did monthly.
We have a monthly meeting with all of our employees where we educate them on the brand, brand strategy, how they are involved in the brand, how they can live the brand, the difference between a brand and taglines, and our value propositions.
Global Brand Works put together all of the educational pieces for us and then encapsulated the whole thing into a training module that we could then use as we brought on new employees. Those employees can get all of that training in one training module.
What is the team composition?
I worked with Caroline (Co-Founder) and Shannon (Co-Founder).
How did you come to work with Global Brand Works?
I met Global Brand Works at a conference where they showed me some work they had done. It was interesting that there was an agency that specialized in helping people do internal brand activation.
I talked to them and they were going to do exactly what I needed. They had a system in place and had all of their recommendations, so I knew that it was going to be really easy for me.
How much have you invested in them?
The five sessions and the whole package cost $25,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
I started working with them in July 2020, and we are finishing the project in December 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We didn’t go in with any specific KPIs. With 300 employees, we know that everyone has consumed the information which is great because we have a way to test that. We got so much positive feedback from our employees about how much they enjoyed the branding education, sessions, and exercises.
We spent an hour a month working with them and they did all the work. It hit me that if we had done this on top of everything that we were doing, it would have been impossible to get this level of quality of education.
How did Global Brand Works perform from a project management standpoint?
Global Brand Works was extremely responsive. They always followed up, and if they were going to be late with a deliverable, they would send me a message that they needed more time.
The communication between our teams was really good. I always heard back from them right away. We mostly talked via Zoom, and we used email. We didn’t use any project management tools.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They were truly experts in this brand activation. There are a lot of agencies that do branding that could probably do this work, but what I liked about Global Brand Works was that they had done this many times.
They have a system and they know how to take someone who doesn’t know anything about branding from nothing to something. I am happy to have found an agency that specializes in this.
We didn’t have to take the wheel at all. The team had all this great stuff off the shelf and made suggestions about doing certain exercises. Global Brand Works was a true partner for our brand activation project.
Are there any areas they could improve?
It would've been good to have a shared folder system. We were sending some big files back and forth, and I think it was more on our end where we couldn’t receive them so we had to figure out a way to get these files back and forth because there were videos embedded in them, but that was a little glitch. With some of our other agencies, we use Basecamp or Google.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Go in with a strong sense of where your employee base is now and what they need to learn and where they need to go. You need to have a really good sense of where you want to start and how you want your employees to act or behave at the end.
Global Brand Works will then come back to you with all the different things that they could do for that type of employee pool.
the project
Branding Strategy for Security Software Company
"The experience from the team is fantastic, and they did a very good job making sure this was as seamless as possible."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
Malwarebytes is a security software company that serves both consumers and businesses with endpoint security and protection. I am the VP, Global Demand Generation and Experience which leads brand, campaigns, demand gen/field marketing, and creative services.
For what projects/services did your company hire Global Brand Works?
We needed assistance articulating our brand strategy, including all attributes, characteristics, narrative, and direction. .
What were your goals for this project?
We required quick action, a team that had a solid breadth of experience, and the flexibility of a group that could act as an extension of our internal team. The deliverables were a documented brand strategy along with written corporate and business-it narratives.
How did you select this vendor?
Their experience ranges from large and small brands, technology and packaged goods and everything in-between, demonstrated Global Brand Works' ability to apply rigor along with strategic and bespoke adaptation to true brand articulation. I have worked with Global Brand Works in the past, and knew their capabilities were just what Malwarebytes needed.
Describe the scope of their work in detail.
We hired Global Brand Works to lead us in a rebrand with a super-fast timeline. They developed an approach that gave our senior leadership confidence in the process and outcome. From the start, they quickly understood our culture and the requirements for the project. To lay the groundwork for the initiative, they conducted a competitive audit, a best practices report, a listening tour, and facilitated an inspirational workshop which resulted in a distinct and precise brand strategy. That was the foundation for our new, flexible visual identity.
Because of their insight and knowledge, we now have the useful and practical tools to grow and protect our brand: mission, equities, benefits, personality, story, purpose, key messaging by target audience, and visual identity guidelines. Shannon and Caroline are also fun to work with – they are more like an extension of our team rather than an external agency!
What was the team composition?
I worked with both founders, Caroline and Shannon.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
We had great feedback from the executives, who really valued both their experience and the "outside in" perspective. Additionally, our roll-out of the new visual identity has had high praise throughout the company.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
We did put in some time to articulate the process, and the timeline associated. We made sure we rolled that out to all involved executives, which was essential given the busy schedules. Once we had the key components and decisions, the back and forth with the agency went really well.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
The experience from the team is fantastic, and they did a very good job making sure this was as seamless as possible. They also did an outstanding job project managing it all to keep things on track. Finally, they are professional and diplomatic. With brand work, it can be an emotional time with strong opinions-- they navigate this very well.
Are there any areas for improvement?
None the comes to mind.
the project
Visual Branding & Naming Services for Global Tech Project
"Their team showed flexibility, accommodating changes along the way."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I am the Branding Manager for a Global Standards Industry Organization.
What challenge were you trying to address with Global Brand Works?
We needed a very demanding, globally acceptable naming and visualization for our global technology product.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We hired Global Brand Works to name and visually brand an exciting break-through, global technology product. It will be used across multiple industries in potentially every country in the world. GBW generated an abundance of viable options that ranged from evocative to descriptive, and a very impressive thorough report for the finalists. It helped us evaluate the output in terms of trademarking, domain availability, social media handle availability, pronounceability, and readability.
What is the team composition?
There are about 10 people working on our account.
How did you come to work with Global Brand Works?
We awarded them the work as they offered the most value for the project.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent between $10,000-$40,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started to work mid-2019, and collaboration is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Their thorough final report helped us to successfully decide what names to carry to legal review and pass it for most of the names.
How did Global Brand Works perform from a project management standpoint?
They were on top of the project and were very fast and professional. They also showed flexibility with changes on our side. They did a very good job with time management. We had some F2F meetings, but also communicated over web calls. They worked fast and professionally to deliver a very thorough report. The team showed flexibility, accommodating changes along the way. They did a great job with the global scale of the project. My advice would be to be open about your needs and communicate everything needed for them to offer ways for navigating through the changes.
What did you find most impressive about them?
All the options they gave us were great. They were very thorough with their reports. Their team showed flexibility, accommodating changes along the way. They did a great job of thinking about a global audience.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, they did a great job.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Be open about your needs or changes along the way. They will accommodate as long as you communicate everything as needed.
the project
Brand Governance for Global Fintech Company
"They're very creative and flexible in their approach and have great relationship building skills."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I oversee brand engagement and governance for a global tech company headquartered in San Jose, California.
What challenge were you trying to address with Global Brand Works?
We wanted to address internal challenges of creative brand governance and improve our overall brand ranking.
What was the scope of their involvement?
I briefed Global about our challenges and goals and they performed an audit of a number of our employees for greater understanding. Through their research and findings, they helped us develop a strategy around brand governance, which led to a curriculum for workshops and education modules rolled out internally. They applied their strategy within our set budget and provided us with thorough information to report back to our senior executives, communicating data and financial proof points supporting the importance of such work.
What is the team composition?
I worked directly with their founders, Shannon and Caroline.
How did you come to work with Global Brand Works?
A colleague of mine had worked with them previously and recommended them. I liked that they had a lot of experience with large corporations and an understanding of the challenges those corporations face when it comes to disseminating information internally.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together around July 2016 and the work is ongoing. There are so many components to it that it's hard to set an end date as we continue to grow and evolve.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
There's been a significant uptake of internal engagement within the company. Over 90% of employees understand and engage with the brand.
Our global ranking has also improved from a brand perspective. They've helped create a new way of engagement that never existed before—that's been huge.
How did Global Brand Works perform from a project management standpoint?
They're very responsive and organized when it comes to tracking budgets. They continue to deliver great work under mounting pressure from our team. I appreciate their level of collaboration and can-do attitude.
Caroline and Shannon complement each other perfectly. Shannon is quick, tactical, and nimble, while Caroline is very diplomatic, wise, and good at explaining the big picture.
What did you find most impressive about them?
We refer to them as our ninjas, because they're so agile. In large companies, it can be very difficult to get things like this moving, but Shannon and Caroline have the depth of experience in this industry to pull it off. They're very creative and flexible in their approach and have great relationship building skills. They feel like a part of our team and have been proactive in producing great work throughout the relationship.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No.
the project
Branding & Naming for Human Rights Nonprofit
“The team is lovely to work with and consistently hit the mark.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m one of the co-founders of the Human Rights Measurement Initiative. We’re a globally-distributed, nonprofit organization that produces measures to track the human rights performance of countries.
What challenge were you trying to address with Global Brand Works?
We needed branding and a name for our organization.
What was the scope of their involvement?
I initially had a discovery call with Caroline and Shannon (Partners and Co-Founders, Global Brand Works) where I explained our initiative. They then set up some calls with other team members and researched the branding of similar organizations, producing a short document that basically summarized what we are pretty accurately.
They developed our brand from the very beginning, reviewing the purpose of our initiative. From that point, we started the logo development in which their designer came up with several logo design options. We picked a couple of them to refine, ending up with a very short list, and eventually chose the one we wanted to go with.
What is the team composition?
We worked with Caroline and Shannon, as well as someone who helped with names. There were other people contributing to the work, but I didn’t engage with them directly.
How did you come to work with Global Brand Works?
I knew Shannon through mutual friends. At the time, we didn’t have much funding, but I contacted her to see if they would be able to help us. We set up a call as she wanted to know a little more about the project. She spoke to Caroline about it and they decided to do the work pro bono.
How much have you invested in them?
The value of their work was between $30,000–$50,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked with them from February–April 2017.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Since launching our website with their branding, we’ve attracted more philanthropic support from international organizations. Everyone who sees our branding thinks it is good and we have had a lot of positive anecdotal feedback.
How did Global Brand Works perform from a project management standpoint?
They were fantastic, easy to work with, and met their deadlines. Since the project ended, I’ve followed up regarding little things such as little tweaks to our website and they’ve given us really good feedback.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I really like the way they work. They have a real seriousness but also a friendliness that goes with it. They’re also very approachable and smart.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I can’t think of anything. It was a wonderful experience.
This review was updated by the client on February 19, 2020. The original star ratings were: Overall – 4.5, Quality – 4.5, Schedule – 4.5, NPS – 5. New content is below:
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with Global Brand Works?
Global Brand Works originally developed the logo for our organization. We’ve recently contracted them again to continue evolving our brand with our organizational development.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
They primarily focus on building out our brand architecture. Since the first engagement, we’ve developed a new product called Rights Tracker, which is a separate website. But the site only has our logo with “Rights Tracker” next to it, so we wanted to develop the brand properly.
Global Brand Works suggested multiple options to pursue, including rebranding our organization entirely as “Rights Tracker” to positioning it as a separate but connected brand. Other approaches would be to make the logo a wordmark.
We’re now at the stage where we’re narrowing down our options to the top two. Then, we’ll work with our designers to create mock-ups for the Rights Tracker website before making a final decision.
At the same time, we’re also revamping the Human Rights Measurement Initiative website, so Global Brand Works is liaising with our developers and designers there, too.
What is the team composition?
We're still working with Shannon (Co-Founder, Global Brand Works) and Caroline (Co-Founder, Global Brand Works), and now there’s Lori (Creative Agency Account Manager, Global Brand Works). They also have a number of consultants who give input on different parts of the project, but we don’t meet directly with them.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve probably spent close to $30,000 this year. The consultancy work has cost about $2,000 per month. As for the brand architecture work, it’s been about $10,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We brought them on the project in December 2019 for the Rights Tracker rebrand, and things will be ongoing for the foreseeable future.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
It’s too early to talk about results, but it’s been really great. The team is lovely to work with and consistently hits the mark.
How did Global Brand Works perform from a project management standpoint?
The communication has been the same as before. I primarily engage with Shannon over Zoom, which allows us to share our screens and run through the different options.
the project
Designs, Branding & Messaging for Consultancy
“I valued the collaborative aspect of the project; they incorporated our ideas and made us feel heard.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m a co-founder of a Design Barre. We’re a construction and design consultancy based in San Francisco.
What challenge were you trying to address with Global Brand Works?
We’re a new business, a so we needed resources to help develop our branding messages and materials.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They developed a brand package for us, which included our key messages, designs, and overall strategy. In the beginning, they walked us through the steps of the process to clarify project requirements and establish meeting times.
Next, we brainstormed some concepts together before they provided us with an initial brand package to look over. We corresponded with a few back-and-forth exchanges, tweaking the plan to ensure that their messages felt appropriate for our business.
Finally, they advised us to conduct a few focus groups with our mentors, previous clients, and target demographic to gauge the look and feel of our branding. This helped to solidify the final package.
What is the team composition?
We worked exclusively with one of their co-founders.
How did you come to work with Global Brand Works?
At the time, we considered two other agencies and received a proposal from one them. However, a mutual friend referred Global Brand Works to us, and we felt comfortable with their recommendation.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent between $10,000 and $25,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
Their work lasted from December 2017–March 2018.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Although we haven’t launched our business yet, we think their branding looks good and reflects our company values. They were mindful of our budget and worked within our means. They gave us a reduced package based on what we could afford, and we were completely satisfied with it.
How did Global Brand Works perform from a project management standpoint?
Over the course of the engagement, we met four times in person and communicated via email every other day.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I valued the collaborative aspect of the project; they incorporated our ideas and made us feel heard. In our business, we try not to tell people what to do and, instead, want to work with them, listen, and give feedback. That was precisely how they worked with us.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Nothing comes to mind.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Customers should ask a lot of questions, take notes, and really understand what they’ve signed up for.
The company praised Global Brand Works’ ability to meet their rapid timelines and provide all the deliverables they needed. The team’s work was top-notch, and they showed a deep understanding of the end customers’ needs, ensuring that their outputs met expectations. They were also great listeners.