Havas Canada

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for the SOQUIJ, which stands for Société québécoise d'information juridique." Our organization publishes decisions from the judicial and administrative tribunals of Quebec.

What is your position and responsibilities? I am the coordinator of marketing, and I am in charge of communications, sales, marketing, and product development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with TP1?

We were looking for an agency that would handle all of our digital and non-digital communication efforts and help us launch marketing campaigns to our desired audience.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They provided us with a lot of marketing strategy, which helped us create different marketing campaigns. For example, one of our campaigns that we launched with TP1 was to promote our products to the younger generation of Quebec.

We are also engaged with TP1 in revising all the articles and blog posts featured on our website as well as revising our subscription magazine in order to maximize the message we are conveying to our audience.

How did you come to work with TP1?

Our communication coordinator did some research, and we sent out an RFP [request for proposal] to a number of agencies. We also had a partner company tell us that they had a good experience working with TP1.

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

We have a retainer with them for around $150,000 [USD] per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2014, and the contract we have with them is valid for three years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project, is there any feedback you can share?

TP1 has a very good understanding of the issues we were trying to address from the beginning. TP1 knew what we wanted to do and how to approach it. They also presented the results from our marketing campaigns in a very efficient manner. For example, after an AdWords campaign, we would sit down with TP1 and look at the traffic generated from our campaign and see what good results came from the initiative, and what were the areas we needed to improve in.

What distinguishes TP1 from other providers?

My favorite thing about them is that you can immediately acknowledge that they are a group intelligent people. Their team members are sharp and terrific at their job.

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

Like with any agency, there are a few bumps and obstacles you need to face early on but, overall, it's been a great relationship.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a group of two national museums in Canada – the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum.

What is your position?

I am the manager of digital interactives and audio/video as well.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with TP1?

We were looking for an agency of record. We do a number of web projects throughout the year, and we needed a company to work with us to be able to deliver these projects quickly.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They've assisted us in our public websites; from one-off landing pages and small microsites for special exhibitions, to developing some touch-interactives for special or temporary exhibitions. It's all been done with HTML5, CSS.

How did you come to work with TP1?

We sent out an RFP [request for proposal] for multiple companies to bid to become our agency of record.

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

It varies from less than $10,000 to more than $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been collaborating with TP1 for around four or five years, and the relationship is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Most of our sites have good usability and user experience, and that drives in higher traffic to the pages, more page views, and more time on site.

How did TP1 perform from a project management standpoint?

It's very similar to other firms. A lot of it depends on the change of scope and so on. TP1 managed the projects well. Most of the time, they followed our required milestones and delivered on time.

What distinguishes TP1 from other providers?

They're quite flexible. They've got a number of good contacts to be able to build teams on the fly. They are also close to us. They're based in Montreal, which is about two hours from Ottawa and provides us some good flexibility to be able to meet for larger projects and get things going.

Is there anything TP1 could have improved or done differently?

I think maybe having a little bit more of the tools to be able to assist in developing more touch-interactives. They're getting into it now, but it's brand new for them. We're getting into more touch-interactives in our physical exhibitions, so as they gain more experience, I think they should have more expertise in that area.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a trade and commerce organization in Montreal, Canada, of about 100 employees. We are working for the development of economics community and business community in Montreal. We have services for world trading, networking, developing a partnership in Montreal as well as in Quebec in general. We do more than 200 activities or events a year, from little networking events with 100 to 200 people to more showbiz events in the evening with 3,000 or 4,000 people.

What is your position and responsibilities?

In the past, I've been manager of the information technologies, and manager of marketing. I've since moved on to a new vice president position, which is in charge of all the events.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with TP1?

It's been about eight or 10 years since our first project, which was a web development mandate. We had to start a new service for our business. It was for students from outside Canada who were coming here to study in Quebec. We had to make a website to they could easily get a sense of the things like the culture, what we're eating, and the cost of living. We wanted this site to help the students integrate into the community easier and faster.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The scope was mainly web development. For the initial project, we needed a good UX [user experience] to give us a better way to put information in front of the people that needed it. The scope of their work has evolved in time, and they have won other open bids for other projects with us, not necessarily related to web development. The most recently projects were more related to digital marketing and social media. Web development is a part of the more recent projects, but they were hired more in a manner of developing a campaign and positioning some issues for Montrealers.

How did you come to work with TP1?

It was an open bid for a website development mandate.

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

The biggest project we had with them was around $75,000. This was a more complex project that included planning and doing everything on social media, making a microsite. They had a big mandate to build an innovation digital process for an initiative to revitalize our Montreal social community and corporate community.

What is the status of this engagement?

We still continue to work with them. For the last two years, they've worked mostly on web development, integrated with marketing and digital campaigns.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

For the last project, one of the key features we needed was a group that could have a good relationship with a lot of people and a lot of partners. We were not the only clients. There was also the city, the government, the social community, and the businesses. In that respect, they were very good.

Then, we needed something new, and we were looking for innovation to help our campaign and the tools that were designed to help everybody in the community. To that effect, they were also good. TP1 was able to do something that had never been done before, or to take something that exists and present it in an innovative way. We were all happy with that.

As for the numbers, looking at whether we reached what we expected for the campaign, they've also met what we were looking for. This project was going very fast, and I think they could have put on the brake one or two times during the process and say, "We know we have to go fast, but we have to put some key indicators of our performance before moving on." They've met the expectation, but the expectations were not that clear at the beginning.

How did TP1 perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed well in this area, especially when we didn't perform that well. They were good to help us get things done. Also, they're pretty structured. The project managers know what they're doing at every step of the project, and that's pretty reassuring. You can trust them.

What distinguishes TP1 from other providers?

They don't necessarily do what we ask them for. They are not afraid of telling us, "OK, that's what you think you need. Let's look at it in a different way. Let's just brainstorm and see. Maybe your need is not exactly what you think it is." They help us think out of the box, and they can go pretty far with it.

We feel that they want to help us avoid mistakes, even if we pay them for it. I'm pretty sure that, if we ask for something that they think isn't good for us, they will possibly refuse the project. I think that's something I haven't seen with other agencies. Sometimes, it can be a bit frustrating for a client to understand that the agency is looking out for your best interests, but I think it's a good quality.

Is there anything TP1 could have improved or done differently?

They've got pretty good content marketing for their own agency, which becomes something you just like even if you don't use their services.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I'm part of La Roche-Posay, a brand that belongs to the L'Oréal Group.

What is your position?

I am the brand director of La Roche-Posay Canada

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with TP1?

The company has been working with TP1 for three years now, before I was here. The first project was the development of a microsite for the sun care part of our business. The marketing team was looking for a digital platform to educate consumers about the differences between UVA [ultraviolet A] and UVB [ultraviolet B] rays, so they could raise awareness about the harmful effects of UVB rays, and how our product was better than our competition in this area.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They came back with a fully dedicated microsite with a design that was unique in the way you navigated through the system. It was very educative, but playful at the same time.

I expanded the relationship from just being a digital agency, to having TP1 be my advertising agency. We don't advertise in TV or print. I only invest in digital, so I wanted to do more than just websites, landing pages, and microsites. I also wanted to use videos. Progressively, the relationship has evolved from being pure digital to a broader marketing and advertising agency.

When I came on board, they added a new section to the microsite, and developed 20-second YouTube videos to promote the site. I saw the potential to expand into a broader partnership. Now, we are developing a series of videos, behind which I put paid media. I really invested more into a full advertising campaign, rather than just a pure educational digital activation. 

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

I would say the average project is between $80,000 and $100,000, including the video and microsites. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship started about three years ago [2012] and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The user experience for the first microsite was amazing – the time spent on the site was about six minutes, which is extremely rare. For the sun care line, we've almost reached one million views for the video on YouTube and Facebook. It's currently at about 920,000. In terms of awareness, which has been my big mandate, it was quite successful.

Traffic on our site is also up 18 percent, reaching about 200,000 unique views. We are now using the digital advertising campaign to also gather emails and build our database. Since the beginning of the year, we've acquired about 12,000 emails. We want to reach 50,000.

How did TP1 perform from a project management standpoint?

You need to be very flexible with the timeline, especially when it goes out of their comfort zone. They are much more comfortable and good at delivering things on time when it is pure digital development like a landing page or a microsite. They are not as good at developing the video portion, where they are involving a production company and other partners. Coordinating all that is more difficult for them, and they are not as good at respecting the deadline as they usually are.

What distinguishes TP1 from other providers?

I think they have strengths in their strategic planning at the beginning of a project, to lay out the strategy, what the ecosystem is going to be, and having a clear vision of where we want to go. Whenever I was very nervous about something, or I was predicting problems in a certain area, they always found a solution that met or exceeded my expectations. So, TP1 is very good at problem solving. They were good even in terms of big issues where I thought we were doomed. They were able to find a solution and make it happen. They impressed me a couple of times on this.

Is there anything TP1 could have improved or done differently?

They could improve in the areas of organization and structure. I think they are lucky that I'm a lenient client, because I'd rather have the highest quality. I'm OK to let it go a little bit past the deadline. I think they could be more efficient in the way they manage the relationship and the process with their clients. For me, the flip side of being a young, creative startup agency is the fact that it's not very well structured.