Kvaba Interactive

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re building various solutions to help our users communicate better. Currently, we’re developing a messaging and calling mobile app. I’m a marketing manager for Central and Eastern Europe.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kvaba Interactive?

We’ve worked with them on various projects, initially addressing their illustration skills. Our platform provides stickers that people can use in their conversations, and we’ve worked with them to build several sticker packs for different occasions specific to our user markets. 

What was the scope of their involvement?
We initially worked with Kvaba Interactive on sticker packs, and then we continued with game and chatbot development. We started building more complicated campaigns with several elements, including stickers and a chatbot.
We had a campaign in 2019 where a game was built into the chatbot, making the experience more engaging and entertaining for users.
The last campaign was for Halloween in several markets. We built an interactive virtual reality room that interacted with the chatbot. It was a very holistic experience.
What is the team composition?
We’ve worked with 5–6 people from their team. I have two main points of communication, but I know that there are usually more people working on our projects. 
There were at least four people working on our last project, including an illustrator and 1–2 developers.

How did you come to work with Kvaba Interactive?

We have multiple trusted partners on record in their region. We also have an office in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Kvaba was one of the outstanding agencies on the Bulgarian market, both in terms of portfolio and presentation. We assigned them a sticker pack as a test, and we took it from there. 

How much have you invested with them?

It depends on the project. The price depends on how many markets are involved, if the solution requires a chatbot or a custom AR solution. We also have case studies on some of the projects, and they’ve made videos as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Kvaba Interactive 2–3 years ago, and we’ve done a lot of projects since then.

In general, we don’t have ongoing contracts with third-party service providers. We work with them on different projects, which come from different departments in our company. At this point, they don’t have any ongoing work with me. I think they have a project with a colleague of mine now, in another part of the world.

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

We’ve seen only positive feedback about our work with Kvaba so far, and this is why we keep it going. They have outstanding illustrators, and we’ve had an easy and smooth collaboration.

The results very much depend on the project. A sticker pack could be for an occasion like Christmas, or for a partner, and they cannot be compared. Christmas is an occasion celebrated by a lot of users, so there will be many more downloads than on a sticker pack made for a partner. 

We look at results in terms of the overall performance of the campaigns: how they built the chatbots, what suggestions they made, what user flows we had (whether they were easy and engaging enough), whether we achieved our goals, and whether the partners and clients were happy. 

Right now, we’re at a stage where we understand each other’s expectations, way of working, and goals. We’ve built a consistent and integrated relationship, beyond them just being a service provider.

They understand why we want to do something and how we can go the extra mile to do it even better. Even when we don’t have a concrete campaign or brief to work off of, they’ll come up with ideas and just start the conversation. 

How did Kvaba Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

Kvaba Interactive is a trusted partner, and we’ve worked with them a lot. We maintain communication with just two points of contact, which helps with alignment and project management.

Since we offer a communication platform, we use it with Kvaba as well. That tool is used for ongoing communication, where there’s a working group for any troubleshooting. However, the main channel for official communication is email.

We use project management tools internally, but not with Kvaba. We have a shared folder where we keep track of projects. We build project timelines, make sure that all the right people are included, and track progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their attitude is impressive — I admire and highly value their proactiveness. If we have an issue, they’re very flexible and generally open to having a conversation. They take ownership of what we’re doing. They don’t just provide a solution. Kvaba builds the solution with us.

Even if we don’t have ongoing work, they’ll reach out to us with great ideas. I usually find a way to implement their ideas, especially if it makes sense for us business-wise.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Now, I appreciate the learning process we have. Last year, we identified an important metric that wasn’t tracked during the campaign. It took a lot of additional development afterward to add this tracking. They learned from this case and noticed the issue the next time.

If there’s something we’ve learned during one campaign, we’ll put it in the next one to make sure we’re doing it better than the last time.  

I think they have a huge folder with our name in their office where they stack things that could be helpful for us. We go through it together, and even if we miss something once, we won’t miss it next time.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should be open to suggestions and start an open conversation. The work between a company and a service provider goes beyond the brief, and it’s important to communicate beyond the meetings. 

Kvaba can give a lot. They’re a creative force that can help everyone. You just need to reach out with concrete ideas. Clients should know what they want to achieve and give the team the space and freedom to achieve those goals.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a manager at 121 Agency, an experiential marketing agency based in Sofia, Bulgaria. We have a lot of international clients in the beer, supermarket, and IT fields.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kvaba Interactive?

We approached them to help us build a Christmas activation for a local shopping mall. We utilized AR technology to build a large, interactive advent calendar. We asked Kvaba to produce the app component of the activation.  

What was the scope of their involvement?

In that project, Kvaba developed an iOS and Android app that allows people to point their phones towards the respective date on the advent calendar. Then, they could see if they’d won something or not. They built everything from the ground up, and made English and Bulgarian versions of the same app.

Since then, we’ve worked together on other activations. We created one for a beer brand that involved VR. It was an in-store stationary bike where a user could cycle in different environments through VR glasses. Customers who purchased more than one item could experience this activation.  

What is the team composition?

We worked with 3­–4 team members.

How did you come to work with Kvaba Interactive?

Since we’re part of a small market, we knew each other. We were familiar with their tech expertise and experience with larger clients.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent approximately $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on various projects through June 2017–July 2019. It’s an ongoing partnership that operates on a project-by-project basis. We have another project coming up in December.

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

Their work has allowed us to meet the goals we’d set. For the mall’s Christmas activation, we measured the number of app downloads and gameplays. For the beer project, we looked at the number of game plays that were directly tied to in-store sales. We’ve been very happy with Kvaba’s work, so we continue to rely on them for different projects.

How did Kvaba Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been amazing. Kvaba Interactive managed to deliver the products to us within our tight deadlines, which was crucial. Since client approvals are often delayed, we’re often under pressure to organize, produce, and implement the activations on time. Despite that, their team has consistently delivered sophisticated technology in a timely manner.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re always looking to create amazing, innovative technology, and we feel that we’ve found a great partner. They’re proactive in expanding their knowledge; they partner with big-time clients, attend international events, and work to educate themselves on different markets. Their proactivity and experience have been hugely beneficial for our partnership.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really, because I can’t recall anything specific. We didn’t have any major issues.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re great in their execution. When it comes to anything tech-related, they’re a phenomenal partner to have.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We develope education software. I'm system administrator and Co Founder in company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Kvaba Interactive?

To develope special module for Kinder gardens in Bulgaria

What were your goals for this project?

The module is made from scratch and its brand new. Everything was done on time. Coordination of the project was easy and given the good distribution of the project the debugging work was very short. Pefect job.

How did you select this vendor?

Kvaba was recommended to us by our clients who worked with them on other projects

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

LMS for kindergarten. Making personal assessments of children. Absence reporting functionality. Compliance with national requirements of the IT project.

What was the team composition?

PM, Devs, QAs. 7 people work for this project.

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

This one is the main modules in our portfolio. This module was very important for the company.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

One word. Perfect.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

It was easy to communicate with them, and they only had to spend a small amount of time for bug-fixing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nope.