Jackpine

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of a technology company. We're a brain-computer interface company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Jackpine?

Our product vision and value proposition were maturing and I wanted to promote the vision with the Jackpine team with the further articulation of the vision going forward. I was interested in a long-term connection, as I've been in this industry long enough to know that you're in a good spot if you can find a branding, marketing, and advertising firm.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided advertising, branding, product marketing, and serve as a full marketing and communications firm. They did everything from copy, to visual imagery, with customer casing, as well as other forms of stakeholder casing.

What is the team composition?

I've worked with 10-20 members of Jackpine's team at different points in our relationship.

How did you come to work with Jackpine?

We're both located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, so that's how I learned of their services. I've worked with quite a few professionals over the years and wanted to work with a company that was youthful and with whom I saw a long-term connection.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested hundreds of thousands in their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in 2015, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

I'm more than satisfied with the results we've been able to achieve with Jackpine. They're far and away better than we would've been able to achieve anywhere else.

How did Jackpine perform from a project management standpoint?

They've been great. They never make ridiculous promises and we're never were in a position where they missed anything important because they let us down.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They've got a talented team, especially the founders. They're very versatile, articulate, observant, and funny.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It's not what they could improve on, but they could just be more engaged in helping more youthful greenshoe Ottawa Canadian tech companies.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to get started with them on 1-2 projects rather than starting with the entire portfolio, just to learn if working with them is for you.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a manufacturer of hardware and software for multimedia content distribution, and I'm the VP of sales and marketing.

What challenge were you trying to address with Jackpine?

We hired them originally to refresh our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They redesigned and redeveloped our Drupal website. It's a B2B client-facing platform. They redesigned how the products were accessible, and added a better look and feel to the site. We have them on a retainer to do more work with us, since our scope has expanded since that initial web project.

Now, they design graphics for our major trade shows, mailing templates for us, they maintain and redesigned our product specifications for our product datasheet, helped us with design and signage for our new headquarters. They also did logos and created a different website for our larger corporate entity as well. Finally, they've been helping us with product design, panel design, and product naming.

What is the team composition?

We had four people from their team working on the project. There was initially a salesperson involved, but we mainly worked with their president and the main designer. They interfaced with a developer that we didn't have contact with.

How did you come to work with Jackpine?

They came to work with us through a competitive RFP process, which they won. They were invited to the RFP because I was aware of some work, they'd done through a community board that I'm on.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested $60,000 – $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in 2018, and the work is still ongoing.

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

We've gotten really good feedback internally and externally.

How did Jackpine perform from a project management standpoint?

They brought in an account manager, which was great because we have a lot of projects running in parallel. Sometimes, everyone is busy, and things slip through the cracks, so it's nice to have a dedicated account manager in-house.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most important thing about them is the startling originality and the sheer talent of the design. I've worked with designers in every job I've had, and I've never seen someone take a design brief and come back with something that's useable immediately. I'm astonished that so much of what they provide is usable right out of the box. For example, they created a logo for one of our products and encapsulated the concept perfectly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We've only gone back and forth on communicating what the bills are for. Whenever I do complain, they're very responsive. I'm extremely happy with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They're exceptional communicators, they're committed, and on top of that, they're responsive and have fair pricing. The quality of work is top-notch, so you should trust them. My real advice is to think about other things you could have them do because now we have them working on a large range of our software and hardware. They really are brave and are willing to go beyond other things outside of design.