id8

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Reflective Apparel. We manufacture and sell ANSI high-sensibility safety apparel.

What challenge were you trying to address with id8?

Originally, we needed help with branding consulting.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first hired id8 for branding consulting, but after that process and our discussions with them, we decided to extend our collaboration and make them our marketing arm. Now, id8 works seamlessly with us as an extension of our internal team. They continuously help us with any type of marketing literature, and they’re in charge of our new product lines’ branding, logo design, and marketing communications as we launch them. Their marketing efforts also include advertising strategies, such as Google Ads and email blast campaigns.

What is the team composition?

Lindsay (Senior Project Manager) and Hannah (Project Manager) are our main points of contact.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $200,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2020, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

We measure the success of id8’s work by seeing our revenue growth. Whenever we launch a new campaign, we tend to see our sales increase; that’s how we know that what we’re doing together is working.

How did id8 perform from a project management standpoint?

id8’s project management is great. My VP of sales and marketing and myself work closely with them and communicate with them multiple times per day. We have a weekly Microsoft Teams meeting for updates so that everyone is in line with the project, and we communicate via email back and forth constantly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the aspects we like the most about id8 is that they’ve learned our business and understood what we’re trying to accomplish. They’ve been working for us for so long that they know what we’re going for and what we want. Thus, as they continue to build out new communication, it is very easy for us to collaborate without explaining our goals every time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I can’t think of anything that id8 could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Lay out your goals from the beginning, tell id8 what you want to accomplish, and don’t be afraid to tell them no. They have a lot of different resources, but you’re free to use them as you please. As long as you’re clear on what you want from them, they’ll work right on that lane very well.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing communications manager at Builders (formerly known as Builders Insurance Group), a property and casualty insurance carrier. We serve 17 states and are quickly growing. Our core product is the worker's compensation and general liability, while other of our products include package, umbrella, and builder’s risk.

What challenge were you trying to address with id8?

When I was hired in 2020, my boss was looking for some versatile communications talent. However, we hadn’t formally had any in-house communications team. Thus, we were looking for a broad skillset of external talent to assist us with branding, document design, content creation, social media management, and more — the full gamut of communication services.

The first key initiative that my boss wanted me to spearhead was the rebranding of our company, so we set out to find some candidates that could help us with this endeavor.

What was the scope of their involvement?

id8 helped us with our rebranding project. In the beginning, we had an extensive research process, which id8 managed brilliantly. It involved market research and interviews with our key customers because we wanted data to support our branding strategy and brand identity development.

Then, we moved into the actual brand strategy development process. For the brand strategy, we identified who we were, who our buyer personas were, what our positioning was, what the augmentation behind our positioning was, and which data supported that.

We also created a very extensive brand platform deck, and we used the data from our research to inform it. It contains all of our findings and conclusions, as well as the strategy around our brand.

After that process, id8 used that deck to build our brand identity. This next phase included a name change, a new logo design, the development of our first-ever extensive brand guidelines, and a wealth of new logos, assets, and templates to support our daily branding across our different departments.

Following our brand identity development, id8 helped us develop a brand launch plan, for which they provided us with a lot of strategic guidance for launching the brand internally and externally. Additionally, they developed all of the assets needed to support that launch as well. We’ve already launched our new brand, and id8 is now our general branding partner.

What is the team composition?

id8’s core team has five people, including Kriston (President), who was very involved in the early stages, Eric (Brand Strategist), and Morgan (Graphic Designer), who is our lead designer. We’ve also worked with Lindsay and Hannah (Project Managers). Additionally, we’ve worked with other people in supporting roles.

How did you come to work with id8?

I have a very strong bias toward local branding partners. Thus, I searched the Atlanta area to find the right partner for us. After interviewing a number of agencies, we narrowed them down to two, one of which was id8. I found id8 specifically on a site that had done a compilation of the best branding agencies in Atlanta.

When I found them, I really liked their website, so I reached out to them. They developed a very extensive proposal for our rebrand, outworking the other agencies tenfold before even signing the contract.

Ultimately, they were chosen by our board of directors to work on our rebranding project. One of the reasons we chose them was because they showed the capabilities to handle the rebranding project from beginning to end.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2020 and launched our new brand internally and externally in October 2021. The project would normally have taken about 12 months, but it was extended due to the pandemic. Still, our partnership is ongoing.

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

Since launching our new brand, our issued insurance policies have increased by 20% and our submissions by 6% compared to the previous year. The great thing about those increases is that the majority of the newly issued policies have been for other industries.

In the past, we worked predominantly for construction companies, but our rebrand objective was to show that we did more than construction insurance. These early results are very promising, and they’ve shown us that the rebranding was successful.

How did id8 perform from a project management standpoint?

id8’s project management is excellent — they’re very strong in that regard. They have very sophisticated and talented project managers capable of keeping everything on track.

What did you find most impressive about them?

id8’s versatility and agility are outstanding; they have a great research arm, impressive strategic excellence, and great creativity in designing branding assets. A lot of other agencies don’t have the research abilities and competencies that they have.

id8’s strategic excellence is worth mentioning by itself. Eric’s strategic guidance has been priceless throughout our engagement, and we rely heavily on him. On top of that, their consistent quality work sets them apart from other agencies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

For me, the biggest area in which id8 has room for improvement is in their content creation, but this issue is rather specific to my own skillset. I’m a writer, so I’ve noticed that they don’t have resources necessarily better than me at content writing. However, I have very high standards in that regard, and those issues might not be present when working with other clients. Still, it would be good if they grew their network of writers and content professionals to improve in that area. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as involved in the project as you can. They’re great at what they do, but our combined expertise has helped us a lot. Thus, my best advice would be to facilitate a synergy between id8 and you to get the best possible outcome.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the assistant city administrator and chief public information officer at the City of Alpharetta, a municipal organization.

What challenge were you trying to address with id8?

We're a fairly old organization, and we've enjoyed great success over the years in recruiting business and the industry to our community. However, as times change, positions and markets change as well. We found ourselves in a spot where we needed to reinvent and reintroduce ourselves to better fit our emerging role as a technology center.

We needed a company that could help us re-envision our site to help us appeal to a younger market and help us focus more on quality-of-life type of issues that are driving business location decisions today.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially approached id8 to create a new brand identity for the city and redefine our story for economic development. They helped us identify and define our brand position and message, including the logo marks and colors that help communicate that message and that voice.

They did all the work for us, including developing the initial concepts in market strategy to defining the brand and then creating the tools to implement the brand from the logo marks and colors through to advertising.

The scope then rolled from brand development to the implementation of that new brand through things like advertising, development, and the launch of a new website. They built a new WordPress site for us, which is our economic development site. They will be handling the site’s maintenance, and we also plan to engage them for various other marketing and positioning needs.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Lindsay (Senior Project Manager), Eric (Brand Strategist), a couple of graphic designers, a web designer, and some developers.

How did you come to work with id8?

We were out in the market trying to find a smaller boutique firm. Metro Atlanta has a lot of marketing firms of all sizes, and finding one that was a perfect fit for us in terms of size, approach and general culture was important to us.

id8 had done some work for a couple of other communities that caught our eye, and we did have a referral from somebody who had worked in one of those communities and had spent time working with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $55,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.
 

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

The new position is just really starting to roll out, but already we're already seeing very positive responses from the local business market and our residents. We're also gaining attention and traction from the types of new market economy businesses that we were really hoping to attract. 

The smaller and midsized startups and innovation-type companies, which were our target for this, are also responding to our new positioning very well. Our calls and interest are up in location and investment within the community. And this is coming at a time when, coming out of the pandemic, it's very competitive to try to get business investment because companies are in an age where remote work is more prevalent than ever. 

Their investments are fewer and farther between, and what they are looking for in locations is very specific and very limited in where you're going to be able to find it. This new campaign has definitely helped us draw the attention we needed to overcome this problem.

How did id8 perform from a project management standpoint?

Id8 has been outstanding in terms of project management. Their ability to coordinate with their team effectively was absolutely second to none. 

We typically communicate through the phone, email, and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

id8’s attention to detail and to our relationship and needs keep us coming back to them. We’re also really impressed with their ability to listen, understand who we were, and help us capture and communicate it. We were having a hard time defining who it was we were based on our persona, and they were able to successfully capture that and put it into a story that was not only understandable but also appealing. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The one thing that I would say is maybe they could have pushed us harder. I think they could have pushed us a little more in terms of stepping outside the box a little more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very open with them in terms of telling them what it is that you're trying to achieve and really spending the time to reveal your culture to them.

Share with them what is important in terms of your values and who you are. Listen a lot because they are incredibly talented. We were blown away by the talent that they brought, so listen and follow their direction because you're going to get outstanding results.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m responsible for the business development area of an industrial firm. We do surface engineering and equipment rebuilds. We also sell polyurethane wheels manufactured by Raeder Vogel.

What challenge were you trying to address with id8?

We hired id8 to develop our marketing and branding strategy.

What was the scope of their involvement?

id8 is responsible for our marketing strategy and implementation. We had conversations with them to figure out what wanted to accomplish. They then reached out to some of our customers to better understand our business. Since then, they’ve designed a marketing strategy and helped us implement it.

They’ve developed five different industry landing pages for our website. In addition, they’ve built mailers and five different blogs that we post on LinkedIn and our website. Their team also helps with SEO.

What is the team composition?

Eric (Brand Strategist) and Jess (Senior Graphic Designer) are the ones most involved in our projects. Kriston (President) coordinates all of the efforts.

How did you come to work with id8?

They were referred to the head of our organization. We looked at their capabilities, and after interviewing them, we decided they were the firm to go with.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $23,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started conversations with them in September 2020, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

It’s too early to see tangible results. However, we expect to start getting results in about 90–120 days. We’ll measure the success of this engagement based on how many people reach out to us and how much ROI and revenue we generate. In terms of working with id8, they’ve been great, and their work is high quality. Eric and Jess have leaned in well and listened to us.

How did id8 perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through email and phone. They coordinate everything so well. I’m not certain about the tool they use, but I’m very pleased with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The creativity they bring to the engagement is high quality, and their project organization is solid.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Some members of our team thought that things were bumpy at first. However, everything started running smoothly as we went along.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The best thing somebody could do to equip id8 is to have a good understanding of their business and communicate their ideas as soon as possible. The more raw material you give them, the better they are at putting their creativity into it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a Commercial Low Voltage company. We design and install access control, security systems, structured cabling, A/V, and life safety systems for commercial construction projects, including multi-family housing and apartment complexes. I’m the office manager.

What challenge were you trying to address with id8?

We’ve grown quickly — going from 5–6 employees to 20–25 over the course of a few years — and we’re beginning to work with bigger and bigger general contractors. Our website was basic, and we wanted to update it to reflect our growth. Also, there’s a new technology that fire codes require in buildings (known as ERRC or DAS) that not many companies are installing — it’s extra wiring and technology for radio communication during emergencies — so we wanted to rebuild our website to spotlight this new technology.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project included messaging work that helped us to describe what we do and position ourselves positively in the industry. The first deliverable is a brand blueprint.

Another part of the project is a logo refresh for us. We asked id8 to come up with some ideas after they got to know us and did some interviews, and then they delivered a new logo design we are very happy with.

They’re also doing our website, which is being finalized right now. This includes professional copywriting.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with around seven people in total, including the owner, a project manager, and Julie, the creative director. Julie took on the project manager role when our first resource changed positions. There have also been two different copywriters throughout our engagement, as well as a web designer or two.

How did you come to work with id8?

I researched 4–5 different companies and chose id8. On our phone call, the owner was friendly and knowledgeable and immediately assessed my needs, responding with a ballpark quote on the call. This was important, as we didn’t have any idea how much a project like this would cost. id8 kept in touch, and I introduced them to my boss and our management team, and everyone was comfortable with them. Their professionalism stood out — they had enough people to get everything done that we needed. Other companies I talked to would have had to outsource to other companies, and we wanted a package deal in-house.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $20,000–$25,000 so far. We will engage them for ongoing maintenance as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since August 2020. We’re in the final stretch, and actually we had to delay the finalization of the website because we’re transitioning our web hosting provider from one company to another. A second vendor is handling that piece and id8 is working closely with them to minimize the delay.

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

We received valuable feedback from both customers and employees as a result of the deep dive interview process id8 ran. Our employees found id8 professional in that setting as well.

They have always delivered what they said they would on time.

How did id8 perform from a project management standpoint?

They sent an outline at the beginning that showed us what the project would be like and have since kept me informed about upcoming meetings. They set up all our conference calls and even come to our office when we need to meet in-person. Primarily, we communicate over the phone and text. They are quick with callbacks. I give them an A+ for communication.

Our work is very technical, so we ended up having to do a lot of copywriting ourselves to ensure things were described accurately.

The project managers keep things on track.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are experienced and professional. Kriston (President) has been in the marketing industry for a long time — maybe 20 years — and she’s put together a team that does a great job. They learned about us from the bottom to the top before making their suggestions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

During the copywriting phase, we realized the copywriter didn’t grasp our tone and word choice as well as we thought they did when we were interviewed on the phone, so we made a lot of edits to the copy. This delayed the project, at our request, but id8 was very flexible.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You will be in good hands. id8 is going to guide you through the process and project manage it. Kriston knew right away what deliverables we needed, and they’ve been true to their word. They haven’t tried to upsell us, either.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of an independent insurance agency. We do a lot of merger and acquisition activity as well as fund a strong organic growth program that focuses on the development of newly-emerging producer talent.

What challenge were you trying to address with id8?

We needed id8’s services in building our website. There are a lot of complexities around compliance and when we bring on new agencies for the onboarding process. Our team needed id8’s help in handling all of that.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our initial engagement involved a complete overhaul of our primary website. That was a pretty big project because we had to migrate all of our content, including photos and staff information. Now we’re in the update and maintenance stages. id8 handles the onboarding and linking of new agencies that come in. We don’t always brand them under our company, it depends on where they are and what their local community expects.

Their team also does our marketing. That includes announcements around acquisitions with press releases. Our producer development program uses some of id8’s services to develop marketing and point of sale pieces. These pieces can be used in a variety of ways to support some of the programs that they work on.

What is the team composition?

The team composition is constantly changing and depends on what we’re working on. There are three sets of teams encompassing a web, external marketing, and point of sale team.

How did you come to work with id8?

One of id8’s founders was in a mentoring group with one of our producers. He recommended we talk with them and after doing so, we became acquainted with and selected them.

How much have you invested with them?

We invest between $10,000–$50,000 a year. It depends on what happens in that specific year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership began in June 2017.

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

Our internal team is very satisfied with id8’s work. They’re responsive, open-minded, and easy to work with. The website has a different, new look and feel, which we’re very happy about. We didn’t want it to look like other independent agencies’ platforms.

Overall, we look at impact based upon a number of factors. For press releases, we look at the pace and rate in which they get picked up. However, a lot of that is just happenstance. Our website and a lot of the compliance work we do is required. Therefore, it’s good to be out there and on top of things. For the point of sale pieces, we require the development team to quantify the ROI. So far that’s been a huge investment for us and that return comes pretty quick.

How did id8 perform from a project management standpoint?

We correspond through email and conference calls. Overall, we’re pleased with how they perform. Communication is always a challenge between the people executing the tech or marketing request and the user. There’s always a gap around language and those kinds of things. However, our engagement has been typical of almost any engagement I’ve ever had with a similar relationship. id8 does just fine.
 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re fresh. In other words, they aren’t steeped in our industry and that really helps.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re a small shop, so I think they do really well with the resources they have.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you clearly communicate on a regular basis. That goes for any engagement.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president of a software development company.

What challenge were you trying to address with id8?

We were looking to do a complete rebrand of our company’s collateral.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope included the website, company brochure, estimate brochure, and our business card. It was pretty straightforward. Before making changes to the site, id8 was able to provide us with wireframes or sketches.

What is the team composition?

Two people from their team worked on the project.

How did you come to work with id8?

We have had a long relationship with id8. We knew them years ago.

How much have you invested in them?

On this most recent project, we spent between $15,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around January 2002, and it is ongoing.

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

It is hard to say apart from us being satisfied because this is graphic design work. We aren’t measuring numbers or bugs per page so I can’t quantify that easily.

How did id8 perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve had a few challenges, but overall, it’s been very good. We mostly communicate through phone calls and emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We trust their work and the people we know there, so I think that helps us out. I don’t know how others work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I think they are fine. I think we would want to focus more on digital design, but they do that now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Over-communicate.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner of a law firm, and we’ve been around for 50 years.

What challenge were you trying to address with id8?

We were looking to update our website. Essentially, we wanted to create a website that reflected who we are as a firm. Our former one didn’t reflect who we truly are.

What was the scope of their involvement?

id8 redesigned our website. They handled all of the visual aspects, and we handled all the content. Although we already had a website, their work was basically from scratch because they had to change a lot of aspects.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people from their team.

How did you come to work with id8?

A colleague referred them to me. We had used a couple of other companies that failed to deliver the results we wanted. Our team was searching for a new vendor to help us.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from July–October 2019. They’re not a formal part of our firm, but they’ve really become a part of the team. id8 is an asset that’s available whenever we need them. I’ll reach out in the future if we need help with branding or marketing.

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

Since the project's completion, the feedback we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive. This is not just from people who knew about us before, but from new clients as well. We’ve had a number of different clients tell us how much they like the website. What’s more, we feel it’s a true reflection of who we are as a firm. Our team is very pleased with the work id8 did for us and would definitely work with them again.

How did id8 perform from a project management standpoint?

They were more than just excellent, they were exceptional. id8 was extremely responsive and always met deadlines. They asked the right questions and did everything possible to help us along the way.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The id8 team really took the time to get to know us and understand our values, culture, and mission. In doing so, they were able to deliver a website that truly reflected who we are as a firm.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I really don’t think there are. I’m a very critical person because of the nature of my work and my personality, but there’s nothing they could’ve done to improve their services.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The individuals at id8 are extremely competent, highly qualified, and know what they’re doing. The biggest advice I could give is to listen to their recommendations. They do this work for a living and truly care about what they do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of a nasal and sinus care product company.

What challenge were you trying to address with id8?

 Our previous brand name was a challenge; no one could pronounce it. We had a tough time trying to articulate our value proposition and what distinguishes us from some of the other providers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first deliverable was changing our brand name. We also wanted to convey what it meant and effectively resonate with millennial women purchasers.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 2-3 people from their team.  Brandi (Marketing Coordinator) is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with id8?

Brandi knew of our product and cold-called us.

How much have you invested with them?    

We've invested $7,000 – $8,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in November 2019, and our engagement ended in December 2019.

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

We got on the shelves at CVS, like we wanted to, but we began selling when the pandemic started so that sales data is all skewed. Our online sales did see an increase of 300%. In the past, we couldn't work with Walmart because our packaging didn't clearly convey what our product was. After we presented the new packaging again, they immediately engaged with us.

How did id8 perform from a project management standpoint?

I give them an A. They're very responsive and many times we ask them to do things under strict timelines. If you put them under pressure, they'll meet the demand. We typically communicate via email and phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their work is fresh, relevant, and their eye for what a company needs is spot-on. I love their professionalism and attentiveness. They run a tight ship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could give a broader range of options for pricing structures.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would wholeheartedly recommend them for a project. Id8 is a good design and marketing company, but there are skillsets that they don't do internally which they outsource. My advice is to be aware of what's being outsourced and what's internal.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is Sava Senior Care. We’re a nursing home company. We manage over 200 nursing homes throughout the United States. I’m the senior manager of training and development.

What challenge were you trying to address with id8?

We’re always doing innovative things for our nursing homes, and id8 does our employee experience portion, which includes posters and all the fun stuff we do in our buildings.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have thousands of projects we’ve done over 15+ years. At a high level, we have two huge culture programs in our company: one for our nurses and one for our CNAs. Julie (Creative Director, id8) and her team have created a game board for both of our programs, and they produce all the material for them: pamphlets, game pieces, the boards themselves. They also create all of the postcards we send to employees, all the thank you cards and welcome cards. From soup to nuts, they designed it, and always send us three concepts to choose from. Their work is distributed through all of our locations. Every one of our employees works with id8.

What is the team composition?

I know the entire team. Julie is my main point of contact. We wouldn’t want anyone but her.

How did you come to work with id8?

We found them through word of mouth. Someone recommended them to us a long time ago.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together every day since 2005.

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

One thing I can say is that they give you several concepts to choose from. And at least one of those concepts is always absolutely perfect. I feel like they take the time to learn their clients and delivered exactly what they’re looking for. They’ve hit the nail on the end every single time in the past 15 years.

How did id8 perform from a project management standpoint?

I give them 199% out of 100%. When they say they’re delivering, they’ll deliver a few days early. We communicate over the phone, email, and in-person – every way possible. They have no problem coming into the office and sitting with us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their creativity and innovation stand out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not one thing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Whatever project manager you choose, it’s very important to learn one another’s style. That will help them know what to create for you. Maybe send them some samples and talk them through things.