Marker Seven

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a biopharmaceutical consulting company partnering with pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients as well as the venture capital community. I oversee our digital and interactive services department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Marker Seven?

The first time we used them we were working on an internal process that was working for us but it could’ve been better.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We presented them with our old PHP, MySQL tool and asked them to make it better. We had an internal vision and they turned it into reality. Their work has included UX/UI database design and has expanded over the course of time. Our company is based in San Francisco and I am on the East Coast which can make it a challenge to convey project vision. I work with my primary contact to make sure MarkerSeven understands the project. When they understand the project, they work on a solution for us. Their first attempts at a solution are very well done, which is very unusual. It’s hard to find a company that understands what we do, and because of that, we’ve built a great relationship with Marker Seven.

How did you come to work with Marker Seven?

I received an introduction through one of our company partners.

How much have you invested with Marker Seven?

A few hundred thousand over the course of multiple projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve completed many projects with Marker Seven. The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have been able to track client usage and we’ve had over 100% increase. The work they do for us is complex, and being able to take that and make it easily understandable to our clients. It’s an area where Market Seven has proven to be quite adept.

How did Marker Seven perform from a project management standpoint?

If there’s a problem in the project, they let me know right away. They’ve been able to meet deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about Marker Seven?

It’s been a good experience. They’re very full-service oriented. They’re realistic about what they’re good at. Many times an agency will say they can do something when they really can’t, but Marker Seven is not like that.

Are there any areas Marker Seven could improve?

I can’t think of anything now.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The company does registration housing for large citywide conventions. I no longer work for the company, but I was the executive director of technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Marker Seven?

We needed to do large itineraries for no cost registration. We had conventions where they would have full-on sessions to poster sessions. Sometimes there were 8,000 sessions in an 8-day period with 10,000 attendees, and we needed a way for people to plan their schedule and register their attendance for the non-cost options. Our in-house team was working on our internal product, so we needed to augment our team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We built a separate itinerary registration schedule for these medical associations. We were able to connect to our clients and draw in their information and populate the itinerary that would then feed the clients’ mobile app for their conference. The project was built on Drupal and was branded every year. We could change the graphics, and we could align each conference with each client. It could also add appointments to a calendar. On the backend, it allowed us to understand attendance, traffic flow, how many seats were needed in a room, etc. It was like a content management system where we could manage and fix things easily ourselves. We built off of that a second system where we could do straight e-commerce for add-ons to conferences like a fun run or t-shirts or tours. We gave them the requirements, and they built everything from scratch. 

How did you come to work with Marker Seven?

I’ve worked with them since 1999 at several different companies. They have helped to solve some tough technical and marketing challenges. When they met with the owners of the company, they were very impressed with Marker Seven. I wouldn’t continue to work with them if they didn’t deliver. We originally found them online.

How much have you invested with Marker Seven?

We spent between $50,000 and $200,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in November 2013, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Over the course of the time we worked with them, they touched a couple hundred thousand attendees in the conferences we were managing. 

How did Marker Seven perform from a project management standpoint?

They were fantastic. I bench other project managers against theirs because they were so good. I worked with a woman named Maggie, and she did such an amazing job. There are a very few project managers who operate at her level. The other project managers and technical team are very good too.

What did you find most impressive about Marker Seven?

Patrick and John get involved and ask good strategic and tactical questions in the beginning to help keep the project smoothly. They’re really good at moving between different verticals. They have always delivered on time and on budget for me, and that is huge in the IT world. I continue working with them because I can depend on them.

Are there any areas Marker Seven could improve?

I don’t have anything negative to say. I can call them any time to ask for a resource, and they are able to find someone for me even if there’s nothing in it for them.

BACKGROUND

Could you describe the business you formerly worked for regarding your experience with Marker Seven?

It was an equipment and solutions provider in the renewable energy space.

What was your role there?

Director of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge you were attempting to address when you approached Marker Seven?

We were trying to change the industry perception of us as a small, regional supplier into the global supplier that we actually were.

Did you have any specific goals in mind for that?

When we were looking at the metrics for success, it was to establish more credibility with potential customers. I think we achieved that. 

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of the project that they did for you?

We had gone through a rebranding process. They took our visual guidelines and our new brand attributes and translated that into an updated website for us.

Did they migrate the old content to a new content management system?

We started completely over. There was nothing salvageable from our existing website. It was completely greenfield. The new content management system was Drupal.

Did they provide training and support on how to use the website and how to edit the content yourselves?

Yes. There was an in-person component at their office, and there was an online component as well. They provided training documentation.

How long did the project take?

It was about six months in 2012.

What was your process for selecting Marker Seven with which to work?

I came from a technical consulting background. I was evaluating firms on their project management methodology, their technical aptitude, and outside of that, their ability to understand how brands need to be translated to digital.

In terms of the size of the project, can you provide an approximate cost or personnel work hour figure?

We spent about $85,000 on the project. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of their work?

We ended up signing about $80 million worth of work from a customer that prior to our branding and website project did not think we were large enough to work with them. We built the new website, we made some key hires, and we were able to present our story in a better way.

How would you describe Marker Seven’s performance?

It was great. Excellent project management.

Was there anything you would consider special or unique about their services or approach compared to other companies you may have worked with?

No. They’re just a really great team.

Are there any areas that you think they can improve on or that you would do differently?

No. They did a good job.

BACKGROUND

Could you describe your company and what you do?

We are Human Needs Project, an NGO [non-governmental organization] that builds infrastructure for people living in slums. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

When you approached Marker Seven, what was the business challenge that you were trying to address?

We were trying to come up with a simple way of describing our mission for a website that would integrate this very complex holistic approach to development. We needed someone to help us make our work visible and understandable to people who do not usually frequent this type of activity.

Did you already have an existing website?

We did, but it was a website that we had developed with local labor from the slum where we work. One of our important positions is that we want to use local labor when at all possible. But, in view of our first world collaborators, we needed to get a website that represented fairly our very high technology standards that we use when we’re actually building these utility centers. 

SOLUTION

Can you tell me a little bit more about the scope of the work that they did? Did it include design, developing, training, support?

Everything. They did design, and they did conceptual design. They did a lot of consulting on how we were going to get this message out and what would work for us, how to divide up the messages and organize all of the knowledge that we have and that we’re using.

Did they also do the backend development?

Yes.

How long did the website take to be developed?

It was a process that was a little bit long, because we would run out of money every so often. So, they carried a lot of the actual development for free. They really did carry most of the cost for this.

When did you start the relationship with them?

Salesforce had donated their services to us. So, we met Marker Seven through Salesforce. From there our relationship developed. That was probably two or three years ago.

This is not something we had the money to do, even. So, this was something that was offered up really generously from Marker Seven, and they really led that charge.

Do you remember when the website was launched?

It was launched last year [in 2013].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, do have any metrics or feedback to indicate the effectiveness of their work?

We don’t use these types of metrics. They’re extraordinary, and they did an extraordinary job in very little time. I am just over the moon for their work.

Everyone comments on how beautiful the site is. Every single person we’ve worked with has sent me emails saying what an extraordinary site, and who did it and can I get their number.

Is there anything you would consider special or unique about Marker Seven compared to other companies you may have worked with in the past?

I don’t know that I can compare them, in that they are in a class of their own. They are incredibly proficient. They are also very, very talented. They’re using the best, newest technology. The design level, the quality of the collaborators and the insight of the creatives that they’re collaborating with is at a completely different level than anyone that we’ve worked with before.

In retrospect, are there any areas that you think they can improve upon or that you would do differently?

No.