Huia

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Shure provides microphones, wireless systems, headphones, and other professional audio products. We are based in Niles, Illinois, and have offices in more than 140 countries. I work for the Latin America division, which has 2 offices, one in Miami, and another one in São Paulo, Brazil, where I am currently located.

I am the Digital Marketing Manager for Latin America. I handle the company's websites and social media.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Huia?

We had an 8-year-old website which was a translated version of the US one. It was outdated, and couldn't feature some regional elements, given that it shared its structure and updates with the US version. We didn't have the autonomy to develop new pages or web projects on our own, given that we always had to conform to the site's structure. The business challenge was to develop a new platform from scratch using a custom CMS.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We didn't have a specific team from Huia working on our project. They involved different professionals, depending on the needs and steps of the work. During the wireframing process, Huia involved user experience specialists within their team. When coding started, we worked with frontend and backend developers. The general size of our team was of 8 people.

How did you come to work with Huia?

As with any project in our company, we ran a request for proposal, looking for at least 3 vendors. I knew of 2 companies but needed a third, so I asked for a referral from a friend, who put me in touch with Huia. We had a briefing, scheduled some calls, and explained our business needs. We received a draft of the proposal along with a timeline from the candidates. Huia was our third choice at the beginning of our process, but they ended up winning because their quote was great and the draft of work I saw was impressive in terms of design. 

How much have you invested with Huia?

The total cost of our project with Huia was above $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Including planning, we started working with Huia in 2015. The website launch took 8 months of development. We have an ongoing project with Huia for minor improvements and additional page creation. We plan to continue our work for at least 1-2 years. We generate briefings for every project, and Huia provides us with individual quotes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We currently have a general website for our Latin America division, as well as individual websites for Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, which are independent of the US site. We have 100% control of our web properties.

Generally, we sell our products to distributors who, in part, sell to stores. We recently had a big website launch, which was the first time that an audio manufacturer in Latin America displayed suggested retail prices on their site. It had a good impact on the market.

We are still implementing Google Analytics in order to get an idea of site visits and page views. In general terms, I have very good feedback. We have a much more modern and user-friendly website, able to showcase our products and information, and are able to ensure that other regions, like the US, Europe, and Asia, will be able to develop their own sites. Latin America was ahead of other regions in this respect, and we've set high standards. Our website has been receiving good feedback overall, and our CMS is easy to update and intuitive.

How did Huia perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of achieving goals, Huia did well, but they could improve with respect to timelines. It's hard to predict a web development schedule because things can go wrong, but Huia could have been more assertive.

Huia has maintained a good relationship with our US digital marketing managers, and they're definitely a company that we will keep working with.

What did you find most impressive about Huia?

Huia is very engaged with our brand, and have come to understand our product lines, which isn't easy. When we need them, Huia is a company that we can trust to achieve goals.

Are there any areas Huia could improve?

The only point of improvement is timeline prediction, but Huia always made an extra effort to meet tight schedules. Planning ahead would be better for all of us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Tramontina is a household utilities manufacturer based in Brazil. We produce almost anything related to the home, from cutlery to furniture. I am the Marketing Manager of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Huia?

We needed help with development for our in-house technologies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Huia has been a long-term partner for our company, providing development for our e-commerce websites as well as layouts for newsletters, banners, and so on. All of our websites are integrated with our custom system, which sometimes makes it difficult to integrate third-party platforms. Huia has always assisted us in this regard. We use a Magento e-commerce platform and our websites were built using PHP.

We have kept contact with 5 developers from Huia, and they've provided us with an account manager who takes part in our meetings and acts as a primary contact.

How did you come to work with Huia?

We received very good comments about Huia's technical abilities from a sister company of theirs that we used. We had a few meetings explaining what we needed and Huia's team provided the right answers.

How much have you invested with Huia?

The total cost of Huia's services has been around $300,000 for our website work. We have worked on separate projects ranging from $20,000 to $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with Huia for 3-4 years. We have 3 ongoing projects, including an e-commerce platform and another website. We are also discussing future work with Huia.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I don't have any metrics for their work, but we've always received good feedback on everything created by Huia. Our marketing department has worked with Huia on a number of projects for the company and always received good comments on our banners and layouts. Huia is a very creative team. Our website has around 8,000 visits per month.

How did Huia perform from a project management standpoint?

Our account manager from Huia is a technical person, which led to good quality and fast work. Anytime we have a problem, even on a Saturday afternoon, we can call Huia. They were always available to us and willing to provide a good solution. Huia always delivered on time.

What did you find most impressive about Huia?

Huia stood out in terms of technology expertise. They were always the best choice for our company during any complicated development, which is the main reason for continuing the partnership.

Are there any areas Huia could improve?

No. Huia has done everything we've needed from them.