Find clarity in chaos.
Major Tom is full-service digital agency that’s been purpose-built to help organizations thrive in an increasingly complex landscape.
Our industry-leading specialists have been hand-picked from across the globe. We’ve been serving our partners from our offices in New York, Toronto, and Vancouver since 2000. We combine the top-level strategy you’d find at an established consultancy with the implementation and technological capabilities you’d find at a leading agency.
Made up of some of the brightest minds on the web, we humanize modern marketing, cutting through the noise to bring clarity to our clients.
The marketing landscape is constantly evolving. Every day there are new technologies, new opportunities, and new tactics you can employ to engage with your audience.
But knowing where to be and how to act can be overwhelming – being everything to everyone isn’t always the answer. Instead, the key is to change perspective. To take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
We believe in focus. In cutting through the noise to find clarity.
It’s about doing the right thing, not just anything. We work to understand the entire scope of an organization so that we can not only recommend the right solutions, but implement them consistently across all mediums.
By taking a strategic approach we’re able to help organizations see the whole forest before picking the right trees: identifying the channels, tactics, and technologies that will drive your business forward.
headquarters
other locations
Focus
Portfolio
L'Oreal, Denny's, Sleeman Breweries, Orkin, New York University, Holt Renfrew, Clarins, Pirelli Tires, HSBC Bank, Expedia, Fairmont Hotels, Cirque du Soleil, KLM Airlines, Air France, W Hotels, Topshop, Staples, NBC Today Show, Red Bull, Bulletproof Coffee, Westin Hotels, COBS Bread, Loeffler Randall, Illesteva, Motion Picture Association of America, Mission Hills Winery.
Major Tom wins 2020 Canadian Search Award: Retail/eCommerce (PPC)
The Challenge:
Roller Rabbit is a feel-good company that looks for the joy in life. With the in-house marketing team focusing on their expertise on creative production and product development, they needed help to leverage Roller Rabbit's digital marketing to its full potential.
A 25% budget cut and issues tracking their revenue data challenged Roller Rabbit's paid media campaigns. They partnered with Major Tom to create a well-thought-out strategy. The goal was to build brand awareness and create campaigns designed to grow revenue.
The Solution:
Major Tom completed a full audit of data from analytics, CRM, and other third-party sources to make recommendations for success. With the full audit completed, Major Tom was able to create a data solutions that gave all team members confidence in reporting accuracy.
Then, Major Tom developed an integrated paid media strategy to generate strong ROAS and awareness of Roller Rabbit collections. By leveraging targeted, high impact channels such as Facebook, Google Ads, and Microsoft Ads, we were able to best reach their target audience. Data revealed an interested audience that hadn't previously been tapped into who were then included within the strategy.
By reviewing historic data, we were able to shift spend focus onto the highest converting categories. We then segmented and created re-marketing audiences based on this data to encourage conversion by targeting relevant users.
The Results:
- Increase in paid-media generated revenue: 95%
- eCommerce conversion rates increased by over 176%
- Exceeded transaction goals by: 98%
- Paid media ROAS on Google: 775%
- Paid media ROAS on Facebook: 1124%
Blending AI and advertising to drive aggressive growth
*Google Premier Partner Awards Finalist for SEO Excellence*
Zolo is a leading tech-powered brokerage empowering consumers with data, knowledge, and the best agents to create a seamless and stress-free real estate experience.
They set Major Tom the goal to drive 2x year-of-year (YOY) growth.
So what did we do? We had them trending towards YOY growth of 2.6x.
Learn how we achieved this alongside a cumulative CPA 60% below the initial goal, 35% increase in conversions and 10,000+ signups a month by watching our case study video.
COBS Bread
COBS Bread hired Major Tom as their strategic digital agency for North America to provide strategy on both consumer marketing and franchisee recruitment. Our job: lead all digital marketing and advertising for COBS and build their new website.
We overhauled COBS’ account structure to increase the efficiency of their paid campaigns. We then implemented an integrated digital marketing strategy to increase product awareness and encourage product offer downloads, to ultimately drive users in-store. In-depth keyword research determined top targeted terms for SEO and site content. Their site was strategically built to cater to both customers and potential franchisees.
Results
- Their new website has received a prestigious W3 Award
- Sales are up 5-10% for promoted products
- Cost per voucher redemptions for consumer products is bypassing direct mail initiatives at $3-5
- Cost per franchise leads are decreasing MOM by 30-40%
Loeffler Randall
Loeffler Randall is a luxury fashion brand headquartered in NYC. They wanted to acquire new customers and deepen their connection with their current audience. Their challenge to Major Tom: Expand their presence while reducing return-on-ad-spend (ROAS).
We started with a comprehensive discovery process. Understanding the full spectrum of their digital marketing, we tailored a strategic solution that complemented their current activities. As a Google Premier Partner, our early access to beta programs allowed Loeffler Randall to benefit from new opportunities before others.
Some of the highlights from our campaign include:
- Increased transactions by 20% & increased ROAS by 40% while reducing YOY spend by 30%
- Increased conversions by 152% & cross-device conversions by 36% while reducing cost per conversion by 37.7%
- Generated 20%+ in additional revenue from campaigns representing an increase in ROAS of 71.9%
Brewing a user-centric website for innovators in decaffeinated coffee
The Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee company has created an innovative decaf coffee process. They came to Major Tom in need of a platform that effectively migrated their existing SEO, improved time on site, communicated their brand persona, and redesigned their UX.
Our process involved thoroughly understanding Swiss Water; we conducted extensive workshops, stakeholder interviews, research, and facility visits.
Our multidisciplinary team then created an intuitive and visually compelling site that immerses users in Swiss Water’s brand. The site is committed to a user-centric design which reflects Swiss Water’s commitment to providing customers with an unparalleled experience, regardless of where they are in the buying process. We also created a custom Google Analytics configuration to track specific metrics, ensuring the site delivered as intended.
Results:
- Increase in total page impressions: 120%
- Drop in bounce rate: 45%
- New store locator tool used in the first few months: 130,000+
Furnishing a Canadian property management website with user-friendly features
Hollyburn manages and operates thousands of commercial properties and rental apartment communities nationwide.
Knowing that searching for a rental property can be stressful, Hollyburn wanted to rebuild their website to make it as user-friendly as possible. With this in mind, Major Tom was tasked with creating an intuitive, fundamentally useful property management website.
Making a website intrinsically user-friendly meant shaping the platform in response to actual user behavior. With a strategy-first approach, we began by conducting an in-depth analysis of the organization and performing extensive research with web users.
We discovered two notable things: there was a desire for improved UX and users were shifting through high volumes of data while on the move. High-performing mapping and search functions, particularly on mobile, was key.
Our team meticulously redesigned the Hollyburn website, making it user-centric and task-focused. Every aspect of the search is geared towards allowing users to browse available units with ease. The adaptive site is now task-orientated on mobile and functions like a native app.
Results:
- Increase in organic traffic: 78%
- Reduction in bounce rates: 25%
- Website awards won: 4
Evolving the message to inspire a new audience
Cirque du Soleil is the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. The Montreal-based entertainment company is famed for delighting audiences with mesmerizing theatrics alongside a sophisticated performance.
Widely known among English-speaking fans, Cirque du Soleil wanted to expand their audience for the Vancouver production of Totem. They came to Major Tom to craft a campaign targeting Vancouver's Chinese-speaking population.
We developed a Chinese-specific landing page and then launched an engaging campaign using Weibo, Facebook, and YouTube, part of which involved influencer or Key Online Leadership (KOL) outreach.
Platform-specific tactics include:
Weibo: Created 40 posts, gaining 550 followers and ran a contest.
Facebook: Targeted 68,000 Chinese-speaking Facebook users within Greater Vancouver.
YouTube: Promoted Totem with a trailer video that received nearly 500,000 impressions.
KOL outreach: Invited Weibo influencers to attend a VIP performance that resulted in shared experiences across social media and directed traffic to the Chinese-specific landing page.
Media buying: Launched a campaign that utilized 2,500 Chinese websites on Google Display Network. Purchased prominent ad real estate on key websites that had a relevant reader base, reaching over 300,000 highly localized Chinese media consumers.
Google: Targeted “Vancouver events” related terms and branded Chinese keywords which generated 524 ticket sales with a conversion rate of 30%, with ROAS at 255%
Results:
- Website visits: 16,000+
- Decreased bounce rate: 29%
- Total tickets sold: 1,250+
- Online conversion rate: 6.2%
- Campaign ROAS over: 10x
Reviews
the project
Advertising for Luxury Hotel Chain
"I am always impressed by how knowledgeable this team is."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I work in digital marketing on a regional level within a large luxury hotel chain.
For what projects/services did your company hire Major Tom?
This was a search/display ad campaign. 6 of our hotels partnered with local attractions/operators to create a destination marketing hub and offer room packages for different Pacific Northwest experiences.
What were your goals for this project?
Impressions, clickthrough, website visits - mainly to a US audience.
How did you select this vendor?
We have worked with Major Tom on a number of search and display advertising campaigns. Abdulah, Tina and team do a great job of listening to what we're trying to accomplish, who our demographic is and then creating a campaign around it using their expertise. We always receive timely updates, prompt answers to any questions. These are never "set it and forget it" campaigns - they are always checking in and optimizing as we go along.
Describe the scope of their work in detail.
Creating customer profiles, setting up our search and display campaigns based on our project outline.
What was the team composition?
Worked with our principle Account Manager, Abdullah Al-Ghoul, but also had some contact with his manger and Major Tom's VP as well. Great team to work with.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
All of our benchmark goals were either met or exceeded. Far more ad impressions than we had hoped for.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
Lots of communication, easy to work with. Abdullah was always super quick to reply to email, requests, etc. Always a pleasure.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
I am always impressed by how knowledgeable this team is. They always know about the latest in digital marketing, particularly what is going on with Google, etc. And they are always happy to share those learnings.
Are there any areas for improvement?
Major Tom is a little on the pricey side - but you get what you pay for. They certainly can deliver the results that they say they can.
the project
Digital Advertising & Social Media Management
"I am really impressed by their knowledge and their ability to manage multiple projects at once"
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
We are a real estate developer with in-house marketing and sales teams. We are a local developer with over 30 years of building experience in Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, and Los Angeles.
For what projects/services did your company hire Major Tom?
We hired Major Tom to manage all of our digital advertising and corporate social media channels.
What were your goals for this project?
Our goals were to increase exposure for the communities we were currently selling, build up our follower base on social media, and increase engagement across all platforms.
How did you select this vendor?
I have worked with Major Tom before, but had not engaged them in a few years. I had heard good things about what they had been up to since we last worked together, and wanted to give them another try.
Describe the scope of their work in detail.
Major Tom manages all of our digital ads. This means they create all of the copy for our Google ads. As well, they select the media buy based on our target audience, and work with our digital ad design partners to advise on ads they think will resonate the most. They also manage and create all of our social media content. That means creating a content calendar and managing it on a daily basis.
What was the team composition?
I work closely with the principles of the firm, as well as with various project managers and project coordinators.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
We have been able to increase our follower base on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook over the durations of the campaign. Engagement is up across all of our social media channels. We are receiving impressive registrations through our online campaigns, and they are increasing every day.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
The project managers communicate very well and are extremely easy to work with.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
I am really impressed by their knowledge and their ability to manage multiple projects at once.
Are there any areas for improvement?
Nothing notable.
the project
Web Development for Fireplace Manufacturer
"Efficient communication and responsiveness are Major Tom's superpowers."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
Montigo is a North American residential and commercial fireplace manufacturer with locations in Langley BC and Ferndale WA. My role is Marketing Manager. I have been with the company 3 years.
For what projects/services did your company hire Major Tom?
Initially, website design, development, and SEO. Once the first phase of the website redesign was complete, Major Tom has provided ongoing support through monthly monitoring and a few smaller projects to improve site function.
What were your goals for this project?
We needed a website that would allow us to serve our B2B customers and also provide a secure support library for them, and also appeal to consumer, architects and designers.
How did you select this vendor?
I was not involved in that process, I was hired after the contracts were already signed. That said, I strongly believe that the people involved in the decision chose our vendor very well.
Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.
We started with developing a sitemap to create the architecture of the site. Once the sitemap was approved they moved on to wireframes and worked with us to make sure the site was going to work for each of our audiences and provide the best user experience possible. After wireframes they worked on the overall design of the site.
Once we had the full workflow and design approved, development began and we were able to review periodically throughout the process to make sure we were on track. Testing was very thorough and performed at multiple steps during development. After development, we worked closely with MT to edit and update our content to current SEO standards.
What was the team composition?
I have had one main contact throughout our relationship, Ben Van Exan, who has been an incredible support. Other members of the team would come and go as required, but we always work with the same core designers and developers.
Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?
Our old website, which was about 10 years old, had been experiencing a 10-20% decline in traffic each year over a period of 4-5 years. The effect the new site had on traffic was immediate and dramatic.
Overall, our first year with the new site saw a 36% increase in traffic and more than 400 user account requests from our dealers. Three years later, traffic is still increasing every month and we have 650+ user accounts. We also get a lot of positive feedback from our dealers and consumers alike.
How was project management arranged and how effective was it?
Project management was extremely effective. I was key contact for my company, and I only communicated directly with my account manager except during review presentations and collaborative meetings. This allowed us to streamline each step of the process and keep communication fast and efficient.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
Efficient communication and responsiveness are Major Tom's superpowers. I am never left hanging without answers. Issues are detected and addressed quickly. Email and calls are always answered within the hour (usually within a few minutes), which is greatly appreciated.
Are there any areas for improvement?
I have no suggestions for improvement. I am 100% happy with the service we receive, and am very happy to moving into yet another project with Major Tom. I know our needs will be met or exceeded.
the project
Digital Advertising & Web Dev for Fishing Club
"The team at Major Tom is always ready to help you solve your needs."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
The West Coast Fishing Club, Marketing Manager
For what projects/services did your company hire Major Tom?
Digital advertising and web development and maintenance
What were your goals for this project?
We built a new website with Major Tom about 5-6 years ago, and we have ongoing business with digital advertising. We wanted to elevate our brand awareness along with increase leads and new business.
How did you select this vendor?
We have been working with Major Tom since it was Drive and 6s. We liked the fact that they were a small boutique agency.
Describe the scope of their work in detail.
Major Tom helps with regular web maintenance and works to make any adjustments and creative needs we require on our website. Major Tom also helps on the advertising side, with Google, ultimately driving new leads to our business.
What was the team composition?
I work with the web development team as well as the advertising side, the account managers and executives.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Through testing of new advertising campaigns, over the past three years, our new business leads have significantly increased and have resulted in new bookings. Even though our website is dated now, we still get many compliments from our guests on how easy it is to navigate and use.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
On the web side it has always been very seamless as we use the project management tool, Done Done to track projects. It keeps everything super organized, is deadline driven and keeps a trail of your conversations. The Major Tom team is also very on top of any requests I have had and responds right away.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
The team at Major Tom is always ready to help you solve your needs whether it's web development related or advertising and business goals.
Are there any areas for improvement?
Over the years we have had multiple account executives managing our account which has lead to a few hiccups in the handover, however overall we still enjoy working with Major Tom.
the project
Web Dev for Home Builder
"They are always great to work with, we communicated easily and they always understood our end goal."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I work for a home builder who builds single family and multi-family homes in Calgary, Edmonton and Texas. I am the graphic designer for the multi-family division.
For what projects/services did your company hire Major Tom?
We worked together to build the main website for our multi-family division. They took our vision and developed the website in WordPress so that we can maintain the website in house.
What were your goals for this project?
Goals were to attract customers and give them all the information they need about our products.
How did you select this vendor?
We have been using them since before I joined the company. They were recommended by my manger at the time and have worked with them since.
Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.
They helped develop and launch our websites. They created the website in WordPress so that we have the ability to maintain the website. If there are any issues we cannot do ourselves, we are in easy contact with them to get things fixed and or added. They also help with SEO.
What was the team composition?
Depending on the project, there were about 3-5 people working on the project. There is usually 1-2 project managers that would help delegate the tasks.
Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?
Sometimes we have short deadlines, they are always accommodating and get the work done on time or sometimes even quicker.
How was project management arranged and how effective was it?
Project management was always great. They get the work done and on time. They had set me up with a communication/project management site (DoneDone) to keep me up to date with all projects and issues.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
They are always great to work with, we communicated easily and they always understood our end goal.
Are there any areas for improvement?
I can not think of any improvement at the moment.
the project
Digital Marketing Strategy for Restaurant Chain
“They’re a genuine group of people that are relatable, approachable, and genuinely interested in our business.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the VP of marketing for a restaurant chain.
What challenge were you trying to address with Major Tom?
We’ve worked with Major Tom on all our digital initiatives over the last 4–5 years. We’re an operation-heavy business that operates restaurants and serves guests in our stores. At the time, understanding and being present in the online space was our main challenge.
We needed to build a strategy around engaging our guests online, mainly through social media. When I joined two years ago, bandwidth and resourcing were the biggest obstacles as the online space continued to grow.
What was the scope of their involvement?
When I started with the company, I took over the overall social and digital strategy. Major Tom serves as our arms, legs, and ears in the digital space. They help us track ads, run campaigns, and execute on our strategies.
Major Tom supports our social media strategy, website presence, and PPC advertising. Beyond that, they used SEO techniques to make sure our site was tagged properly for its major priority areas. They troubleshot errors or issues to keep our site listed properly in searches.
Along with writing good copy and helping us create great content, they focus the majority of their efforts on our metadata. Major Tom identified and fixed crawl and indexing errors. They’ve helped us ensure we had best practices in place internally. After kicking off with an initial audit, they’ve helped us bring those efforts back in-house so we can manage them independently.
What is the team composition?
I’ve mainly been in touch with our main account rep who acts as the project manager. I can contact them about any of our work, from SEO to social or paid media.
Our secondary rep provides tactical execution. He takes part in all our calls and relays all the details to our team.
How did you come to work with Major Tom?
I don’t know how they were chosen because I wasn’t here at the time we initiated our partnership. They have a good reputation in Vancouver, and I’ve used their services at two companies I’ve worked for previously. I’m sure they were found by word of mouth.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Major Tom around 2014. Our collaboration is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Major Tom came up with paid strategies for promotional campaigns like gift cards, which have increased sales annually. The team contributed significantly to that success by getting the word out.
They support us with all our hiring ads as well. While I don’t have specific metrics for this, many of the candidates that show up at fairs mention seeing our ads online. We’re reaching the right number and type of people with Major Tom’s campaigns.
How did Major Tom perform from a project management standpoint?
We’ve had two teams switch over, but the consistency of project management has been very reliable. Brief templates they provide help us properly convey our needs to their team. They’re also very good at requesting the materials they need to get their job done.
Along with monthly meetups, we hold weekly calls over Zoom. I’m the main contact person on our end, and I use Slack and email to convey our requirements.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re a genuine group of people that are relatable, approachable, and genuinely interested in our business. The majority of the time, it feels more like a partnership than a transaction.
Whenever I work with Major Tom, I know they’ll give us their best service and provide everything we need for the right business reasons. I never feel like I’m troubling them, or something’s too much to ask. The process has never felt robotic.
Are there any areas they could improve?
As our reactive business changes and evolves, we’ve struggled with resourcing in the competitive restaurant industry. I wish they could have more people on standby for when I need requests finished quickly, but those periods only tend to last a short amount of time before things go back to normal.
the project
Paid Advertising Campaigns for College
"We don’t feel like we’re part of their mix of clients—we’re made to feel like a priority."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the digital marketing specialist at Seneca College, a postsecondary institution in Ontario, Canada. My job is to coordinate paid campaigns to drive domestic enrollment.
What challenge were you trying to address with Major Tom?
We hired Major Tom to co-manage our campaigns and expand them so that we could reach the student audience more effectively.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We task Major Tom with managing and optimizing our digital marketing campaigns across paid platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram. In conjunction with that goal, they are responsible for web and landing page development, running social campaigns, and writing copy to make the most of our budget and drive enrollment toward a performance goal established by the college.
What is the team composition?
We mainly keep in touch with our account manager.
How did you come to work with Major Tom?
They participated in an RFP several years ago. They proved to have the most experience in a competitive environment, which has won them a contract that we've renewed each year since.
How much have you invested with them?
We spend about $50,000–$100,000 CAD per year ($37,000–$75,000 USD).
What is the status of this engagement?
Our engagement began in 2014 and remains ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Their work is making our performance more efficient. When they took over the campaigns, they made significant improvements in the quality and success of our PPC marketing efforts.
How did Major Tom perform from a project management standpoint?
They’ve become more responsive to our feedback with each passing year. We started with good communication, but now we feel it’s as good as we can ask for.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I can’t imagine that we are one of their larger clients, but they treat us very well and are very attentive. We don’t feel like we’re part of their mix of clients—we’re made to feel like a priority.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I think we could benefit from more data courtesy of Facebook or Google’s users, but that data is either not available or requires a shift in that industry. It’s not necessarily something that Major Tom could improve.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Projects will be more successful if there are clear objectives and expectations.
the project
SEO for a Marketing and PR Firm
"They’re very knowledgeable and proactive with recommendations."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I am the director of marketing at Pierpoint Communications, a marketing and PR firm with offices across Texas and New Jersey. My role is to manage Pierpoint’s marketing as well as some client-side marketing. I manage all paid media, including our website.
What challenge were you trying to address with Major Tom?
We wanted to draw more leads. I wasn’t satisfied with our paid search agency and thought we could do better.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They helped us revise our paid search and SEO strategies, then redid all of our campaigns and keywords for a new launch. SEO services included metadata and title tags. They currently manage our strategies.
What is the team composition?
We worked with two people on a regular basis.
How did you come to work with Major Tom?
I had worked with Major Tom at each of my previous companies and I was impressed by those engagements. Our team liked them personally when we met with them, so the choice was easy.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent $10,000–50,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in March 2018 and the engagement is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We’ve tracked our qualified leads through the platforms they’ve given us, and we’ve seen a steady increase throughout the engagement. We can track through our website and paid search, and we have call tracking on the website as well.
How did Major Tom perform from a project management standpoint?
They’re organized and communicate mostly through email. We call them biweekly for updates.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re very knowledgeable and proactive with recommendations. They have a strong understanding of bidding, keyword optimization, and ad copy.
Are there any areas they could improve?
We would always welcome more ideas and suggestions of what we could be doing.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Customers should ensure the team remains engaged and proactive with recommendations, along with maintaining effective communication.
the project
Digital Marketing for Education Company
“They were very professional and made themselves available when we needed them.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm a director of marketing at an education consulting company.
What challenge were you trying to address with Major Tom?
We wanted to put our best foot forward for our university partners. We worked with another vendor on digital marketing, but we didn't receive the strategic advice we needed, so we started looking for a new vendor to help us.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They've built landing pages for us and oversaw keyword strategies and Google Ads, including Search Network and Display Network. They helped us choose the platforms that were most suitable for an education sector. They also helped us with remarketing and forecasting expectations for the lead generation. In addition, they did budget forecasting and presentation development to help us secure client investments.
How did you come to work with Major Tom?
We were considering them because of their experience and professionalism. Also, I knew a contact at Major Tom, so I was confident they'd do a great job.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent more than $200,000 including ad buy.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked with them between December 2016–December 2018.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We tracked the efficiency of their campaigns, cost per click, and Google impressions. The increase in lead generation was dramatic and we did see the translation of leads into sales. Their work has definitely contributed to the growth of our business.
How did Major Tom perform from a project management standpoint?
They were very professional and made themselves available when we needed them. They gave us regular reports with all the updates.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They're not a giant agency, but they're big enough to provide all the resources you need.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Based on our ad buy, their management fees were a bit too high for us. It got in the way of closing a couple of university campaigns. Consider your overall budget, and what percent management fees should be compared to the total.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Consider your budget and your management fees before you make the decision.
the project
Digital Advertising for Bakery Franchise
“They really understand the digital space, and they’re always up to date on the latest trends.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the VP of marketing and franchise recruitment for COBS Bread. We’re a bakery franchise with 111 locations across Canada and one in the US. Our parent company is Baker’s Delight, which has 650 locations across Australia and New Zealand.
What challenge were you trying to address with Major Tom?
It had been several years since we’d worked on our website. We recognized a big opportunity to update our brand identity and reputation and make a better first impression on first-time customers. We were looking for a vendor to help us overhaul the site.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We initially brought them on to rebuild our new website, but the Major Tom team has since become a trusted partner for all of our digital communication initiatives. Our brand has a lot of different messages, so one of our biggest challenges was making sure we got the right message to the right audience in the right way.
Our relationship with Major Tom began with several discovery meetings to help them develop a good understanding of our brand. It was clear that they’d done a bit of research before, which we really appreciated. We walked through both the consumer and franchise sides of the business to establish goals and objectives to assess our performance. Once we were all on the same page, we worked closely with the Major Tom team to finalize a digital strategy. Because they were involved from ideation to execution, they were able to make sure that each component of our strategy aligned, setting us up for a good return on our investments.
Their team also helped us improve our franchise recruitment efforts by changing our approach. We implemented an overall umbrella strategy with a targeted approach or each specific city. We schedule monthly meetings to lay out our priorities and targets for each location. This new method helps us drive leads and identify more quality candidates.
Also, Major Tom also came up with new and creative ways for us to capture consumer data and information. For example, we tried advertising on several new platforms and applications for a promotional campaign for our scones. By pulling information from a variety of sources, we were able to get a better understanding of our audience and how they hear about our business. Basically, we can get tangible metrics without launching our own loyalty platform.
We’re still working closely with the Major Tom team. They help us with every advertising campaign, from kick-off, to execution, to wrap-up. We have interim meetings throughout to assess our performance and make necessary adjustments. The team is also managing our SEO, PPC, and social media outreach efforts. They’re currently working on creating and launching a US version of our website as we continue to expand our market reach.
What is the team composition?
Tina (Group Director of Media, Major Tom) is our lead account manager. She’s fantastic.
How did you come to work with Major Tom?
Before partnering with Major Tom, we had professional relationships with a number of agencies for various aspects of our business. For example, we worked with a separate vendor for franchise recruitment initiatives then we did for customer-facing components. We felt that consolidating all of these partnerships would be much more efficient. By working closely with a single team, we’d be able to establish a more cohesive and stable communication strategy and digital presence. We went through a rigorous RFP process to analyze different candidates’ capabilities. Ultimately, we chose Major Tom to lead our digital efforts.
How much have you invested with them?
So far, we’ve spent about $100,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in April 2017, and it’s an ongoing relationship.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I primarily track our sales growth, and they’ve generated spectacular results from my perspective. Over the last few months, we’ve seen higher in-store sales numbers than we have in a couple of years. We’re bringing on twice as many franchises than we did last year. We’re identifying about 60% more leads, and our consumer base continues to get stronger and stronger. All of these results are a testament to the effectiveness and quality of Major Tom’s strategies.
Specifically, we’re tracking how many of the customers that visit our stores can be traced back to our digital advertising efforts and the return on our advertising spend. Both of those numbers are gradually increasing. As our partnership continues, Major Tom pushes us to try different channels and approaches to increase visibility. Ideally, we want to identify the type of person that visits our bakery, how they found out about us, and why they decided to visit.
How did Major Tom perform from a project management standpoint?
We have a lean internal team, so we really value and rely on our relationship with Major Tom. We have an open and transparent partnership. We can count on them to keep us on track. They send reminders whenever necessary. Overall, they’re bright, smart, and easy to work with. We meet with them outside of work every few months to strengthen our rapport.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I really appreciate their proactive and direct project management skills. If they think we’re headed in the right direction or if we need to increase funding, they’ll let us know. They really understand the digital space, and they’re always up to date on the latest trends. The Major Tom team likes to push us to try new things, which is great. There are very few lulls in their service, and I trust that they’re steering us in the right direction.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Major Tom merged with another agency to handle the web-focused side of their business. As they continue to grow and expand, they should make sure that their culture resonates across the entire organization. They need to staff people that share their values and skill level to assure their clients feel supported.
The ads met or exceeded every benchmark set by the client, including increasing ad impressions. Major Tom works closely with the client, ensuring effective communication and collaboration. The team delivers quality results and passes on their knowledge.