Illuminate

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the digital marketing executive for Bremont Watch Company, a luxury watchmaker. Our watches are all handcrafted in the U.K. I oversee all paid digital platforms, manage all campaigns, and control budgets and spending. I manage the relationship with Illuminate to ensure the implementation, quality, and cost of campaigns. If a campaign is underperforming or certain challenges aren’t performing as expected, I work with them to come up with plans to boost the performance.

What challenge were you trying to address with Illuminate Agency?

We were looking for some help with paid advertising. Our goals were to generate leads to our site, such as brochure requests and boutique appointments, and to increase traffic at our boutiques and retailers. We do not sell on our own web platform. Instead, we rely solely on our retailers and on traffic into our own boutiques.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us with our paid digital platforms, which included paid search, display, and Facebook and Instagram advertising. They support us on campaign builds and advise us on how to achieve our goals. Historically, we have never had a four-year plan for our paid work. We hold lots of events, promote our retailers through paid channels, and often implement ad hoc campaigns with two weeks’ notice. Illuminate handled that very well.

We are currently working with them to run evergreen content across the majority of our year-round paid channels, which will serve as a foundation for our ad hoc campaigns. For example, we will work with them to create some specific campaigns for a big event that we have coming up soon.

They excel at understanding our goals, advising us about the best way to achieve them, and design strategies to drive traffic into our boutiques. These were things I personally didn’t know about.

What is the team composition?

We were assigned one project manager, who left in December. We now have a new project manager.

How did you come to work with Illuminate Agency?

We were working with them prior to me joining the company.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend $1,690 per month with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2016 and the work is ongoing.

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

For the campaign to drive traffic into our boutiques, we wanted to try and reach as many people as possible. We made close to 100,000 impressions on social media, which we couldn’t have managed without their advice.

How did Illuminate Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

They have been excellent. Historically, we throw campaigns at them and ask them for a two-week turnaround. They have handled that well.

Communication has been excellent. They keep us up to date about what is going on and inform us about the status of their work. I know that I can email or call them and ask for a progress report at any time. We hold weekly calls with the project manager to discuss results, and I am in daily contact with him over email as well. They also provide us with a weekly report.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their general knowledge base and familiarity with the paid platforms that we use is impressive. Their ideas are fantastic. They suggest things that I wouldn’t have known were possible.