halfGenius

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Valentino is a luxury fashion group with stores worldwide. We are based in Rome and have couture men’s ready-to-wear, women’s ready-to-wear, the secondary younger line. I am the social media worldwide digital communications manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with halfGenius?

We were creating content specifically for use on social media that was in relation to our biggest standalone store worldwide at the time. It was a big investment for the company, and on a communication level and a visibility level, the content was important. They were trusted with the creative concept production and deliverables of content for our social media platforms which are YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

We have our own in-house team, but they only provided fonts and maybe some copy. The concept, production, creativity, and execution were from halfGenius.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a store opening on Madison 5th Avenue in New York — at the time the biggest store in the world for my company — and they created a time-lapse film. They were on-site when the store was in the construction phase and continued to move the camera around to get the shots needed until they had a finished product. They also created video content for the in-store cocktail and after-show parties.

The challenge they had was the location. It was a building site under construction, so the challenge was the logistics and coordination with all the various teams. They rose to the challenge, and their videographer was excellent. The end footage was approved immediately. There was no need to go back and forth or have re-edits. The timing was essential, and they delivered it on time and to the brief. In the end, we were all very happy.

During 2008–2012, they also created a custom designed YouTube channel for us, as that was when YouTube still allowed custom channels. They have since taken all those down, but they designed an innovative and custom-built channel for us.

What is the team dynamic?

Rachel [President, halfGenius] was the project manager.

How did you come to work with halfGenius?

We met at a digital conference in Austin, Texas. They presented me a deck with some creative ideas and I really liked them. They were approved internally and then we moved forward to start collaborating.

We vetted other companies and we have our own always-ready set of collaborators, but in our field, we like to mix it up a bit and not always stay with the same people. It’s important to get a different perspective every now and then.

How much have you invested with them?

They were competitive and the value for the quality/quantity ratio was a good match for us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on this project in April of 2014 and the video was completed in December.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were happy that the video was approved immediately. There was no back and forth edits or changes to be made, so they understood the brief, the company, the aesthetic, and our DNA very well because usually there are edits to be made.

How did halfGenius perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent; always accommodating and available. I could not fault that in any way. We communicated through emails and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The availability, flexibility, and ease of communication was impressive. They definitely go above and beyond to satisfy our needs, and the speed of the execution was perfect.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could maybe pitch ideas for other platforms. But at the time of the request, that might have been a harder sell.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If they could share as detailed a brief as possible up front, that always helps the provider. They’re extremely pleasant to work with.