Human

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work as a marketing communication project manager in the coatings industry.

For what projects/services did your company hire Human, and what were your goals?

We have been working with Human for a while now. They are constantly working on improving the online interaction of our users with our products through digital channels with the goal of increasing our product sales and brand awareness.

As we are an international company, the challenge at one point was to help users from different countries with different legislative regulations to find the product that suits them best.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We go way back. We started working together on other projects because they came highly recommended by our acquaintances. Since then, we have a monthly retainer with them for various projects and activities.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We have been working with them on multiple projects. We do day-to-day consulting regarding our digital activities. They are responsible for the content maintenance for our websites. They provided us with creative solutions for the Google Display Network and other private ad servers. They support us with video production as well.

They have also developed an interactive app which helps our customers to easily find the best solution for their needs without wasting time or money. During the planning phase, they created 2 prototypes and tested them on real users.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There are a lot of people working on our projects based on the project specification. We always have a Project manager who is our main point of contact and is managing resources on the development side and coordinated projects and deliverables. Different professionals were and are working on our projects, based on the project needs. For example UX & UI designers, frontend and backend developers, and data analysts.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The new version of the Web App created by Human, after just 6 months after the launch gained 35 000 visits, compared to 7500 during the same period the year before. There were 8000 product impressions and 2500 potential buyers directed toward distributor locations.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Communication worked well. Their willingness to push ideas even further has helped to build a better overall experience. Over the year we have changed different project management and design tools. The timeliness are different depending of the goals of the projects and planned accordingly.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Human has a very proactive approach and they tend to find a solution for every one of our challenges, they actively propose improvements and new solutions that can improve current solutions.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We often operate with more than 1 agency for different purposes. The part where HUMAN could improve in client /agency communication when it comes to other agencies and partners collaboration working for the same Client. This is of course 2 way street and requires all parties willingness, but is very beneficial for the Client.

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company is the leading industry association with some of the best Croatian agencies as our members. We organise the Days of Communications, a national advertising festival featuring industry competitions (Effie, IdejaX, and Young Lions), our HOWtoWOW marketing academy, BalCannes regional marketing agency showcase and numerous other projects.

For what projects/services did your company hire Human, and what were your goals?

In the mids of the Covid-19 outbreak, we wanted to create an action in support of the economy and to create a more positive tomorrow! There are a lot of things we look forward to come back to when all of this is over and #jedvacekam (cro. can't wait) was born. Together, we wanted to raise awareness of the importance of creativity in business and prove how much it can affect the well-being of all of us. We wanted to motivate people to publish messages about what they can't wait to do when the quarantine is over, and at the same time they were invited to support their local brands. We needed an online platform to make it come alive.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We have a long history of working with Human, and honestly we didn’t think twice.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

After defining the course of the campaign, goals, and objectives, Human took over the site design and development. They've developed an online generator for the content we needed and carefully crafted it to work seamlessly both on desktop and mobile. The backend was handled through Firebase which allowed us to tweak the app on the go. The website was up and running in a week.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Human was incharge of the whole platform and about 11 people were involved in the project. Project managers, designers, Head of Creative, Frontend and Backend guys... Even the CEO stepped in.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

It was a short term projects, but we had a pretty big engagement on the website during the peak of the campaign. 9% of all users created their message and the bounce rate was only 33%. But most importantly, we showed that creativity makes a difference! We made the whole country a creative agency, and every brand a big brand.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The project had to be done fast and free, but Human made it their priority. The platform was planned, designed, developed and tested in just a week.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

How much they get involved in every project. We know we can always count on them and that we are in safe hands.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None that I can think of at the moment.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Podravka is a global brand, established in 1947, present on over 50 Markets and 5 continents. We are one of the leading companies in SouthEast, Central and Eastern Europe. Headquartered in Koprivnica, Croatia, we operate today in two main business segments: food and pharmaceuticals My current position with the company is Director of Digital Communication Department

For what projects/services did your company hire Human?

We have been working closely with Human for the past 12 years, on numerous digital projects. Apart from envisioning, designing and developing our most notable platform coolinarika.com (the leading culinary platform in the region), Human was involved in tens of landing sites, digital campaigns, web and mobile applications, concepts and digital solutions of all kinds. This company is our go-to vendor in the digital sphere.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals were:

• creating a No1 regional online cooking community
• building a base of returning registered users
• building an online repository of user created content: recipes, images, videos, articles and blogs etc
• promoting Podravka products and enhacing sales
• raising brand awareness in the region

How did you select this vendor?

Starting with smaller projects many years ago, we have gradually built our relationship up towards the present. We are now involved in 4 major projects with Human as a vendor They won us over with their expertise and broad skillset. Human has supported our company with equal success in consulting, planning, design, development, copywriting etc. They are a truly versatile company

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We are now involved in 4 major projects with Human as a vendor Coolinarika - our flagship user facing project, a leading regional culinary portal (4 million users during May 2020) Podravka.hr - company website, with various global multilingual variants (podravka.de podravka.si podravka.ru etc)

Lino.eu - brand website ofr one of Podravka’s top brands Podravka.io - a smart online data repository system. This is not a website but a headless API based application for various user facing applications Numerous smaller landing pages, campaigns and digital projects

What was the team composition?

As for the composition of Human team working on Podravka projects, it was composed of strategists, consultants, frontend and backend developers, projecta managers, designers, copywriters and data analysts. All areas have been covered when it comes to building versatile and multilayered digital projects.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Working together with this company has given us a feeling of having all angles covered in terms of our digital footprint. They have been and still are a reliable partner for Podravka for in consultancy and guidance as well as planning and execution.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

In terms of Project management they have been reliable and trustworthy, adjusting to our company’s procedures but also influencing our digital department in multiple beneficial ways, speeding up the processes and bringing value to the table. Methodology used has been traditional waterfall for many years, but we have switched to Agile project management lately and this has greatly benefited our projects

What did you find most impressive about this company?

There are three major areas where we have been most impressed:

Versatility - Human was able to contribute in all major areas and with a high degree of professionalism and responsibility. From strategy to design and development, they have always delivered up to their usual high standards

Ability to adapt - no matter the project size the services rendered were always of equal quality. Samo goes for project velocity and sudden changes in tack that may have come from our side unexpectedly. His company is able to adapt to new circumstances, and adapt quickly

Data driven approach - there is no guesswork in any of the projects. All recommendations have been made with solid data in the picture. This is one of the reasons why results stay impressive to this day and why we plan to keep up with this mutually beneficial relationship

Are there any areas for improvement?

One thing that comes in mind is that we would like Human to grow thus enabling us to plan larger projects in the future. Ability for higher project velocity and scope would benefit our relationship even more

Please describe your company and your position there.

Croatian Association of Communications Agencies (HURA) is the leading industry association with some of the best Croatian agencies as our members. We organise one of the best creativity festivals in the world - DK Festival.

For what projects/services did your company hire Human?

We needed a website for our association that would represent the new visual identity of our biggest event, DK festival, which is one of the biggest communications festival in the region and named one of the best events in the world by the British Excellence Association.

After 8 years it was time for rebranding and we wanted to hire someone from the outside to help us create something that would represent our work in a proper way.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a website that is easy to use, provides most of the information about our services, products and team in a completely new visual way that reflects the identity of our festival. To communicate our event to existing and new delegates successfully.

How did you select this vendor?

They are one of the most awarded Croatian agencies. Previously we had worked with Human on various projects and considering our good professional relationship, we reached out to them because we had no doubt in their creativity and work ethic.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We internally decided that we should rebrand our biggest project that we do at HURA and an independent designer created the new visual identity, which is a very clean, B&W and monochromatic design that reflects both sides of the communications industry, the good and the bad.

We worked with Human on transposing the design onto the web site and they were there for us every step of the way. Once the backend was done, our team worked closely with theirs to make the web site experience as smooth as possible for the end user. At the end, they provided us with all the materials they worked on so we implemented CMS ourselves.

What was the team composition?

The project team had about ten people, developers, designers, project managers, creative director, etc. We were assigned a project manager that worked with us through the whole project. All the communication went through her.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Project was finished at the beginning of 2020 and it helped us broaden our audience with its sleek and intuitive design.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The workflow was very effective because we always felt like we could reach out to the vendor whenever we came across a problem with the project. The communication channel was always open so the relationship proved to be quite successful. process and that there is someone to lead us and suggest changes and improvements if needed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are very experienced in digital design and their creativity in creating the final product impressed us the most. Also, as mentioned earlier, the professional relationship was something that will surely keep us coming back to them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

At this moment nothing comes to mind. We would like to work with them again because the cooperation was so successful.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a tourism solutions agency.

What challenge were you trying to address with Human?

We needed to have a website designed.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We collaborated on wireframes and mockups. Human designed the website and worked with our internal team on the backend and coding. 

The website lists our recommendations, and users can make reservations at cheaper prices, holding to an idea of a community of smart travelers. The team has done more projects with us, including making another full webpage, including design.

What is the team composition?

There were 4–5 teammates involved in meetings, and more people work on the projects. 

How did you come to work with Human?

We interviewed candidates, and we were impressed with some of the work that Human had done, which contributed to our decision to choose them. 

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent $130,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around September 2016, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

The projects have been very successful. From their work on the website, we saw big results in terms of fewer phone calls from guests for information because the website makes it easy to access information. In our current project, we believe we’ll reach our goal of 10% conversion.

How did Human perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Asana. Communication has always been good, but it gets better with each project as they get to know more of what we want and understand each other’s ways of working. Human always meets their timelines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do quality work that is well worth the cost.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve seen much improvement in their organization and communication over the course of our engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to know what your goals are in order to convey them well to the vendor. That helps produce better results.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Slaven Ivan Kalinski, Portal and Webshop Development and Operations Principal in A1 Hrvatska, I am Product Owner of web - www.a1.hr A1 Telco is the second-largest telecom in Croatia, a part of Telekom Austria Group.

For what projects/services did your company hire Human?

When we started our collaboration, the main goal was the optimization of our sales process. Their job was to make sure we get the best online results in order to drive leads and increase our online revenue.

What were your goals for this project?

Rebranded site (1000+ pages) Attractive & modern responsive design Optimization of shopping funnels for better conversion rates

How did you select this vendor?

Because of top references and projects Human did on Croatian market.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They are continuously improving user experience on our website in order to drive leads and increase online revenue. They did some impressive work on the hardest part of a telecom’s website - the checkout funnel.

They introduced new features that helped the users and our business tremendously. Recently we went through a full rebranding and Human helped with that too. They are also a big part of our smaller projects like online campaigns and microsites. Human also helped us build Lappsus, an app that helps you improve your knowledge of the Croatian grammar.

What was the team composition?

Human team dedicated to A1 includes 7–8 individuals including a project manager, a tech lead, several developers, designers and a data analyst.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

In terms of their impact on the business, we have a 235% rise in the volume of leads, 89% increase in online sales and a rebranded website optimized to the fullest.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Telecom offers are complex and A1 is not the exception. A project this big means a lot of teams and departments need to be included, which steered us into using the agile approach. Human organized workshops, worked in sprints and tested hypotheses on focus groups. They were timely with meeting their deliverable every sprint.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The fact that they are very knowledgeable and will likely be able to improve the quality of your product. They are always focused on the end results.

Are there any areas for improvement?

...

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Muvehida Halilović, Project Manager of Her Way at Alviral. Alviral is a digital marketing agency and content publishing house with dozens of sites and millions of visitors. With herway.net, our mission is to help Millenial women navigate personal relationships and build self-esteem. We have the US, German, French, Danish, Swedish and Finnish version of the website.

For what projects/services did your company hire Human?

We hired Human to do a complete transformation of our website herway.net. We wanted to do a rebranding first, so Human translated our wishes and ideas into a beautiful new online identity that will make the platform more recognizable and will create the best experience for our readers. Also, together we have decided to split the project into two phases. They have made small fixes on the website right away and run AB tests in order to improve the performance of the existing website (and bring fast benefits), while the new website is being built in the next phase.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to make our page more user-friendly, to ensure better user experience, and to create a design that will be noticeable and memorable, the design that will represent what we do.

How did you select this vendor?

Human is a well-known company so it was an easy decision.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

In the discovery workshop, Human helped us find crucial pain points, guided us to solutions, and, after the scope became clear, split the rebranding and redesign project into phases, so we could get benefits fast. After the workshop, which helped us define the scope of work, we have started the first phase of the redesign project. Human first helped with quick design and performance fixes on the current page. They also ran two A/B tests in Google Optimize in order to find out how our readers consume our content, and to help us get more page views and clicks. In the next phase, that starts soon, Human will implement the new design through the frontend and backend.

What was the team composition?

The team composition changed depending on the stage of the project. Since the planning phase, there were around 8-9 people involved in the project. Project manager, data analysts, developers, designers and even the CEO.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We are in the middle of the redesign project, so we can’t talk about the numbers yet. But even the minor tweaks they did on our current website are starting to show results (more page views and clicks).

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was a great experience working with them. In the planning phase, it was no problem for them to travel to our city and organize a workshop. They are also very responsive and available whenever we need them, through any channel.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

First and foremost, the redesign they did for our website. They really have an eye for a clean, simple but effective design. It was love at first sight!

Are there any areas for improvement?

The team spirit and how well they took care of the project impressed us. There’s very little that could be improved as they offer optimal service and incredible value. They truly care about the project. They’re also wonderful people to work with. I couldn’t ask for anything more. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

A1 Telco is the second-largest telecom in Croatia, a part of Telekom Austria Group. I currently work on position of a Portal and Webshop Development and Operations Senior Specialist as Product owner for company website and additional brand site.

For what projects/services did your company hire Human?

We hired Human to help us ease the onboarding process for the new employees. They helped us plan the project, design the interface and to develop the frontend part of the application.

What were your goals for this project?

The process of onboarding new employees can be very stressful, so we wanted to crate a better experience for them and to fully digitize the process.

How did you select this vendor?

We have a long history of working with Human and they delivered some award winning projects in the past for us.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We wanted to come to an end of the endless paperwork a new employee faces during the employment process. Project manager, UX/UI designer and frontend developer from Human helped us make a simple interface. A new employee is now able to a follow a step by step user data questionnaire and easily find out what papers need to submitted.

What was the team composition?

Project manager, UX/UI designer and frontend developer.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The project is still ongoing and the focus is on testing and optimisation of the application. The project was launched recently so we are still gathering the data.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

During the years of working together, we have built quality relationship between our two companies. We had one point of contact, the project was delivered on time and we are very much satisfied with the guidance of the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive is how they are not focused only on the project specification, but they always encourage new discussions, are very transparent and always have our goals on their mind.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement. But Human is well-aware of that, so at the end of every project, they always do a retrospective to gain feedback for improvement.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO and cofounder of Gencove, a genome sequencing startup based in NY.

For what projects/services did your company hire Human?

We hired Human to build interactive web frontends for our ancestry analysis and relative finder tool.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to engage our end-users. By adding a visual and storytelling layer to our genome sequencing service we wanted to showcase the complex nature of our business in a more user-friendly and interactive manner.

How did you select this vendor?

We got in touch with Human via an acquaintance which recommended them as one of the best web agencies in Croatia.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They were involved in planning and giving a creative concept based on our available data sets. We've provided them with the data and some desired outcomes and they gave us a visual and storytelling narrative for our end users.

After defining the concept and the UI design, Human developed a front-end web application based on our defined technology stack which we then connected to our API.

What was the team composition?

The team changed depending on our engagement but we generally worked with a project manager, a designer and a frontend developer building our front-facing app.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

55% of users have opted into the newly created experience, 10% of all users have made at least one friend and 29% of participants have discovered one first-degree relative. More qualitatively, the visualizations are loved by users and are still in production today.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Human was very well organized, responsive, and detail oriented. Every step was transparent, with a clear path to the final solution.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to grasp a completely new technology (applications of genome sequencing technology) and transform that understanding into a great visual product in a timely fashion.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is very little to improve. Honestly, it was a very positive experience.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a CEO of tech company specializing in providing services and development in marketing tech, analytics and big data industry. Our company has about 50 employees and we serve clients and partners from various industries (E-commerce, Travel, FMCG, Tech, etc.) and countries (predominantly US and EU).

For what projects/services did your company hire Human?

We needed a website for our company that would better represent what we do. As we are operating for over 13 years, we wanted to hire someone from the outside to help us create something that would represent our work in a proper way.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a website that is easy to use, provides most of the information about our services, products and team, plus, make it easy for potential new customers to reach out to us.

How did you select this vendor?

We had previous contact with Human through our clients and knew how they work and what were the results. As we wanted no compromise solution done on time, there was no doubt that we want to try these guys out. We didn't look for other vendors. We wanted to (finally) work with them!

Describe the project in detail.

Once we got in touch with vendor, we wrote down the specification, provided written guidelines and then let them to lead us through their process. Within first few weeks we received mockups that were almost from the start the stuff we wanted. In the next few weeks we worked with them on refining those mockups, providing additional information and content we missed to write down initially. When project was almost done, vendor provided us with all the materials that they worked on and we continued with implementation of CMS.

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a project manager that worked with us through the whole project. All the communication went through him.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Project was done in Q1 2017 and still looks fresh and represents what we do. We even decided to redesign another website with the same vendor based on this experience.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Quite effective -- easy to communicate, they use basically the same tools as we do so we didn't have any problem along the way. Work was done on time and we always felt they think about each step of the process and that there is someone to lead us and suggest changes and improvements if needed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Higly experienced team, their work really looks crisp and on the spot, they always find a way to make stuff that will stand out. Based on our previous experience, we would say that the most important thing was - delivery on time.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Can't think of anything crucial, we were quite happy with our cooperation and will use their services again.