Marketbridge

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sr. Director, Marketing of a healthcare technology company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We combine technology and clinical resources to simplify risk adjustment coding for healthcare providers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire CommCreative to accomplish?

• Increase awareness of and preference for us among our provider group prospects.
• Increase awareness of and preference for us among our payer prospects.

SOLUTION

How did you find CommCreative?

Online Search

Why did you select CommCreative over others?

Experience in ABM

How many teammates from CommCreative were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

CommCreative developed an account-based marketing strategy aimed at our target prospects. We worked together on messaging; Comm developed the creative for multiple channels. They prepare media plans, place the media and handle all tracking and campaign reporting and analysis. 

Comm worked quickly to ramp up and meet our deadlines, launching channels incrementally to get the campaign in market. They have tested and optimized messaging on a regular basis, as well as media buys. They manage the process of refreshing creative as needed, based on results.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We calculate ROI monthly and see returns of 300%+ on a regular basis. We know awareness of our company is increasing, based on the increase in branded searches. Content downloads are generally 150+ monthly. Through content syndication, we add 100 contacts or more to the data base each month.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We asked for a very quick ramp up, signing a contract in May and having a campaign in market by mid July. Comm learned the business quickly and operates with an effective project management system. We rarely have to ask what's happening with a project. Comm's account service team is proactive.

What was your primary form of communication with CommCreative?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We found their knowledge and experience with ABM to be very strong and not easily found in other agencies we talked to. They have many relationships with strong vendors. Whether it was content syndication, a survey vendor or an email append service, they have access to the resources we need. They are very strong in campaign tracking, reporting, and analysis.

Are there any areas for improvement or something CommCreative could have done differently?

Content creation is less of a strength, although as we've worked together longer and the team has become more familiar with our account, we've seen that improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a former executive for an electronics manufacturer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CommCreative?

We hired them to help us with our web strategy and to develop and launch our social media channels.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CommCreative has developed a strategy to help us with awareness, promotion, and consideration of our brand when working with B2B clients in our division. Initially, we provided them with a thorough brief. We had an in-depth onboarding process to help them understand our business and our key stakeholders worldwide so that they could build relationships with those stakeholders. 

From there, CommCreative has helped us grow our social media channels. They've also designed an analytics framework to measure our B2B activities with global companies and consumer engagement. The team has helped tie those together to determine the overall impact of our brand. 

They've also helped us develop and manage content for our nine international websites in local languages. CommCreative also manages our organic and paid social media marketing (SMM), primarily on LinkedIn, which is our primary channel for engaging with companies. 

In addition, CommCreative has helped us design our account-based marketing activities. They developed a pilot project and deployed it for selected original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide. On a few occasions, we've had resource shortages due to maternity or medical leave, and CommCreative has picked up some incremental work where they've acted as a team member and filled in some roles for us. 

What is the team composition?

We've typically worked with 3–4 key teammates from CommCreative. However, depending on the tasks, the team has occasionally grown to seven members. Overall, we've worked with account executives, client executives, creative directors, digital marketing specialists, and research and insights specialists. 

How did you come to work with CommCreative?

We found CommCreative through a recommendation from someone in our team who had worked with them at a previous company. We went through a very thorough vetting process of several agencies before choosing CommCreative. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've paid them less than $1 million annually. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around July 2016. Although I left the company, their engagement with CommCreative is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

During my time working with CommCreative, our most significant metrics were our business results. Sharing web content that triggered interest from OEMs we weren't working with was important t us. The company has added seven new global OEM customers thanks to CommCreative's digital and social media campaigns. These contracts are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and CommCreative has been a key partner in that success. 

CommCreative has also helped increase our LinkedIn followers and engagement significantly. Within a year to a year-and-a-half, we doubled our LinkedIn followers. Moreover, CommCreative has done a really nice job of filling in roles when needed and supporting our global team. 

How did CommCreative perform from a project management standpoint?

CommCreative is very disciplined and thorough in their project management. The team is super responsive, friendly, and easy to work with. They collaborate nicely with the internal team; I liked working with them. 

During my time collaborating with them, we used email to communicate and had meetings through phone, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and face-to-face. I don't believe in using many apps for content and creative work; human interaction is far more efficient. I preferred weekly or biweekly meetings face-to-face, and CommCreative accommodated me. This approach helped with efficiency and effectiveness — they got the work done right the first time. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really liked working with CommCreative's teammates — they were great. I had a really good alignment with them, and the excellent results they've achieved for business performance have been a direct reflection of our partnership with the team. 

While many agencies talk about being partners, CommCreative demonstrates true partnership through their behavior and culture. While I was in the company, we worked together as one team, and that's rare because we worked with other agencies, and CommCreative was one of our strongest relationships at the time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

During our time working together, they learned a lot about the global industry we worked within, including markets, consumer needs, tools, and interactions. They could continue to work on becoming more global and understanding different market needs in how they engage with digital and social tools. This isn't a problem but an area of opportunity for CommCreative. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

CommCreative is a smaller agency, so you must be mindful of their capabilities, reach, and scope and recognize that they can't be a giant agency. Ensure you're aligned and manage your expectations accordingly. 

Additionally, invest in building a relationship with them from the beginning based on human engagement and interactions. Get to know each other's teams and businesses. Put in place governance and oversight to ensure you're managing the relationship in a practical manner. You don't need excessive management, structure, or dashboards — just ensure you're working towards the same objectives and delivering on them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO at Guidehouse, a global consulting firm made up of about 12,000 consultants in over 50 locations around the world. We primarily focus on public sector consulting, and we do complementary commercial consulting in our adjacencies such as public sector and commercial health. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CommCreative?

We were established a little over three years ago and were spun out as another company’s public sector consulting arm. Then, Guidehouse was bought by a private equity firm. A year later, we acquired a commercial consulting entity to complement our public sector work. We retained Guidehouse as our primary and master brand. After that, we recently acquired a third company. 

Given our brand’s relative newness, we needed an agency to help us launch our brand, position us with buyers, and create a targeted, almost-surgical digital advertising and lead generation campaign. That way, we could enhance our brand awareness in the market and continue to support the accelerated growth we were experiencing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired CommCreative to do a targeted public sector campaign when the buying season was ramping up. We wanted them to prove they knew what they were doing, so we asked them to launch a campaign within that timeframe to maximize opportunities. 

In parallel, we also hired a large branding agency out of Silicon Valley to come up with our messaging framework and create a new tagline; we also worked with them around creative and branding aspects. However, after six months into the relationship, our team saw that they weren’t the right firm for us, so we quickly terminated our contract with them. 

After that, I turned to CommCreative and gave them a whole new scope of work apart from the public sector campaigns. After two weeks, they came back with visual concepts. A week after that, they came up with one primary direction that we presented to our C-suite members. In less than two months, we launched our campaign across all media.

So far, CommCreative has handled tasks in SEO, social media marketing, PPC ads, and email content development. The team has also conducted creative sessions with us. Three of their creative directors have reviewed different concepts with our team, while their creative people ensure our messaging and brand visuals are aligned with each other. 

Going forward, we’ll complete the enterprise campaign in November 2021, but CommCreative will continue to support us with advertising and marketing strategies. We’ll also expand into other areas and international markets since we expect to have more clarity around our strategies and priorities at that point. 

What is the team composition?

We work with 5–15 people from the CommCreative team, including their project managers and CEO. 

How did you come to work with CommCreative?

We put together an RFP to find an agency that understood both the B2B and B2G spaces. Our team also wanted an agency that understood demand generation and branding. Given that, we interviewed about five agencies, which we narrowed down to three companies that included CommCreative. 

To elaborate, I didn’t know anything about CommCreative when I found them, but I liked the fact that their website prominently talked about how they were supporting clients with accountability. Other agencies promoted their visual products, but we also needed results that align with our business objectives and not just to look pretty. With that in mind, I had an interview with CommCreative’s CEO and explained our business to her to ensure that our teams were culturally a good fit. I also wanted to ensure she understood the B2G space. 

In comparison with other vendors, CommCreative had the best ability to focus on results and give us demand generation strategies. Our company needed that to both kickstart our market campaigns and educate our internal teams. That was how we started working with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $1.8 million. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2021, and the engagement is ongoing. We hit the market with the public sector campaign in July 2021. Then, our team gave them the enterprise campaign and launched it in the middle of September 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been tracking the performance of our ads, and we’re seeing a 300% increase in CTRs. The media representatives we’re working with tell us that they’ve never seen that kind of response before. Such success is a result of CommCreative’s effective work in terms of aligning our strategy with our target buyer types. They also create curious headlines that the market is responding to, so we see strong results. In some areas, our ads’ traffic has increased by 5,000%. In other words, we’re seeing unbelievable results. 

I want this to carry on for six months. That way, we can truly look at their impact on our pipelines. Our team needs time to gauge the true performance and effectiveness of our campaigns. Nonetheless, we’re happy with the results and placement of our strategy, which has been resonating in the market with our buyers and customers. 

Anecdotally, I can’t say enough great things about CommCreative and their ability to dive into the deep end of the pool with us. They’ve taken on a complex challenge that we’ve put in front of them. The team has had to work with existing guidelines made by another agency, but they’ve pulled it forward into a creative campaign. In turn, that campaign gives us elegance and represents our brand with leadership and the potential to disrupt the market. 

In other words, this challenge has been a high-stakes one, and they’ve taken it on with complete precision like a well-oiled machine. On top of that, I’ve never had any concern about their deliverables. The team is well-buttoned up and professional, and their delivery is on time — we never have any pushback on any delivery date. Moreover, they negotiate with all media providers on our behalf, which is great because our company has a small team that focuses on our day-to-day operations. 

How did CommCreative perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly calls, and we collaborate with two of their project managers. I personally adore them because they’re buttoned-up and professional. When we’re on a call, they’re quick to respond with the correct information. I also get reports on our agenda prior to getting on the call. 

Moreover, the CommCreative team is resourceful as they bring ideas to us, and they understand the limitations of our budget relative to our goals now and in the future. On top of that, they help educate our team on new technologies and ways of thinking about customers’ digital journeys. Their resources also help us understand the channels and solutions we can deploy to continue achieving that surgical precision that we need. 

Overall, I’ve never met a team that’s more professional in account management. I couldn’t be more impressed with the project management that they use for our group and their timeliness in terms of communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I have an emotional connection with CommCreative because they’ve worked with me during a career-defining moment. As a CMO, I’ve made a promise to bring our brand to the market, and 10,000 people have been looking up to me. We’re supposed to be in the marketing during the buying season, and I’ve given the project over to CommCreative with a lead of faith. 

Fortunately, they have integrity as they try to understand our goals; they’ve also done everything in their power to exceed our expectations. They’ve strived to do it in a shorter amount of time — their turnaround time has been incredible. The team works 24/7 to get us where we need to be, and that shows me they’re a true partner and that they’re in the trench with me. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

CommCreative is an incredibly brilliant team; they’re a gem, so give them a chance. The team will exceed your expectations in performance, timing, strategic thinking, and creativity.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a retail cooperative that manages marketing, creative, public relations, and social media services for approximately 1,500 retail stores in the flooring, kitchen, and bath space. We’re a full-service retail flooring company. I’m senior VP of marketing and advertising at the company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CommCreative?

They’ve been engaged in creative and marketing campaigns. We’ve also used them on the digital front for SEO.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Using a retainer-based model, we started our relationship with them for creative collateral material to reposition and reinvigorate our brand messaging. That was our total engagement, but it’s grown over the years. Their work on our campaigns includes television, radio, outdoor, in-store marketing, print, and more. They’ve also done all the associated media planning.

As we developed a close relationship, we started using them on other fronts, such as web redesign, SEO strategies, local paid search, digital marketing, and content marketing. We just engaged them to start doing creative work for another one of our brands.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with a team of about 6–7 people. They have a larger team, but we’re typically working with our account coordinator, the VP of accounts, an executive creative director, the president of the agency, and some strategic partners. 

How did you come to work with CommCreative?

I was looking for a team to replace the prior ad agency that we had for about 17 years. I found them while looking at creative partners that other agencies used. I liked the style and look of their past work, so I reached out. To move forward, we interviewed about 7–8 agencies in the RFP process. From our top three agencies, they were the top competitor. It was a pretty exhaustive process.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’re spending north of $1 million each year across all of our departments on their work. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since around September 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We look at them as incredible partners to our brand. What started as a very strong relationship blossomed into an excellent partnership for our brand. One of our big metrics is brand awareness over time. Our brand impressions and awareness have increased since we’ve engaged them, and we believe that’s a direct result of the creative work they do. We also track website engagement and what people are interacting with. We’ve seen improvements on that front as well with them as a partner.   

How did CommCreative perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re one of the best agencies I’ve ever worked with. They exceed all of our project management expectations. In fact, they’re often reminding us of upcoming deadlines before we even remember them. They’re timely and always on top of things. We’ve expanded a lot of their work, so we’re on multiple calls each day with them.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their style and sensibility in relating to our intended audience stand out. Additionally, they’re creative thinkers that take strategic approaches to problems. While this is their first major engagement in the flooring space, they quickly got up to speed and understood our customers. They understand our store owners and dealers’ needs as well. 

Their ability to maintain open communication with us is impressive as well. They’re able to keep us updated on all the projects occurring. When it comes to deadlines and execution, the communication side of their agency is excellent.    

Are there any areas they could improve?

We continue to look forward to their growth as an agency into service areas we may need. I couldn’t have asked for more from their team, so I don’t have any criticisms. I wish them success in growing their business as we grow our own.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. From optimizing building performance to improving safety and enhancing comfort, we drive the outcomes that matter most. Dedicated to protecting the environment, we deliver our promise in industries such as healthcare, education, data centers, and manufacturing. As a Senior Marketing Manager my responsibilities include delivering value to our customers, communicating our security offerings in a way that shows how we deliver value into the market and providing communication tools for our field organization as the help customers protect people, places and spaces that fuel their business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CommCreative?

-Brand awareness -Digital marketing strategy -Content creation -Demand generation -Growth projects

What were your goals for this project?

-Communicate our value proposition into the marketplace and reinforce same with customers -Grow sales via lead generation -Support initiatives for organic growth

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

-We had a line of business that had been working with Comm Creative for many years and they highly recommended the agency.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The Comm Creative team worked with us from strategy to execution on the projects listed below. Their team became an extension of our team. -Brand awareness -Digital marketing strategy -Content creation -Demand generation -Growth projects

What was the team composition?

- Strategy support - Creative director - Account management - Digital marketing specialists - Copy - Project management/production - Media

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our business saw a significant increase in brand awareness in the first three years. Comm Creative successfully built our transactional business lead generation platform that increased lead flow and conversion rates by 5-6 % annually resulting in a significant impact to sales. Together we turned around a growth initiative that had previously failed and as a result of our combined efforts became a key revenue driver.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow process between our teams was dynamic and seamless. Due to our size and complexity we place heavy demands on our agency partners and the Comm Creative teams commitment to our success and exceptional client services kept our projects on track, running smoothly and delivering results.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team has a thoughtful and deliberate marketing and strategy planning process. It is evident that the agency team is committed to our success. We always get top quality work from the Comm Creative team versus other agencies we have worked with in the past where it was clear the work was reactive or thrown together at the last minute.

The Comms team combines digital marketing, branding and messaging expertise and worked hard to understand our business, sales process and solution portfolio. This is why the day to day process was fluid and why we benefited from a continual ROI from our marketing investments.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We used SharePoint to store files but a tool like Basecamp might provide a better project management platform and file repository for a large firm like ours with many varied and complex projects.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the vice president of marketing for Maplewood Senior Living, which is a luxury senior living developer, owner, and operator.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CommCreative?

I initially brought CommCreative on as a branding agency for the Maplewood Senior Living brand. Later, we brought them on for the branding of our new segment called Inspir. We were in the process of starting development on a significant project in New York City. It was going to be the luxury, international brand of our original brand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For the more recent project, their team helped me organize the project and figure out what the brand would look like. They created strategic plans. I felt that I was almost part of their team because I was feeding them the information that they used to create the brand. We collaborated on the market research. We spoke with people and went down to New York City to met with people.

Their team created a name and identity for the new brand. The entire brand was called Inspir with modern senior living as the master tag. 

They helped to open up a sales office. Their team created signage, kiosks, and sales tools. They created floor to ceiling signage that mimicked the views that folks would have. We called the office a leasing gallery to make it more upscale. They helped to make the leasing gallery look and feel as the building would look and feel. Their team created brochures and brought on a creative team to shoot a video too. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with five people on average. Over the course of the project's entire scope, we probably worked with 10 people.

How did you come to work with CommCreative?

I was new to my role at Maplewood Senior Living and found them because we needed support for our entire brand. I looked at the competitors that I respected, which is how I found CommCreative.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $200,000–$1 million on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with CommCreative in September 2011 and their work for Maplewood’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were very successful and I was happy with the results. When prospective clients came in, they understood that this was not a traditional senior living operator. Clients understood that we were grander and more upscale. That came from the overall brand awareness and execution.

How did CommCreative perform from a project management standpoint?

Their overall communication was good. I appreciated my time with the owners of CommCreative because that was when strategizing took place. I was able to pick up the phone and call them. They were always available and took care of any concerns that I had immediately.

We were merging with another company that was difficult. CommCreative came to New York City on a number of occasions to meet with us and this other company. These were extremely challenging meetings with lots of opinionated people but CommCreative always did well. Their team had a great ability to communicate at every level.

What did you find most impressive about them?

CommCreative uses the best of the best resources. Everything that we did had a strong result. They were always able to execute properly because they had vendors who were able to do that work. When it was time to shoot the video, they hired a strong creative team and producer. It wasn’t the least expensive option and it wasn’t the easiest to work with them, but they had the best results. At the end of the day, that's what I cared about.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. I had a great relationship with them and still do.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

YMC is a niche high technology suppler to the bio-manufacturing industry. I am the CMO where I direct marketing strategy globally.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CommCreative?

We compete against 800 lb gorilla's who can beat their chest louder than we can yell so CommCreative helped to amplify our voice and persona to get our customers' attention. And we needed to go from a regional to global player. (BTW - while I am my present company 7 years, I used CommCreative for at least another 7 years while I was at GE (yes, that GE). They redid our website, created ads, developed brochures and ran social campaigns - pretty much the gamut of creative services.

What were your goals for this project?

We have "evolved" through 3 owners in 7 years and we needed to re-brand, yet maintain a presence with big look and feel during several major new product launches. Changing brand images, generate awareness and mostly leads. Most recently I am relying on CommCreative to manage strategic awareness projects.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Experience with them in my previous role at GE Healthcare showed that they had the 360 degree single source staffing - I don't have the time to deal with multiple specialist firms. Each year my needs are different (website one year, brochures another, re-brand guides the next and so forth).

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They listen intently to my goals for the year and also to where we have heartburn. While I bring some specific tasks to the table, CC always brings other perspectives to add to the potential mix. It'll come down to budget what we prioritize. Then then scope the detail with timeline and we go from there.

What was the team composition?

As already noted, my marketing needs vary year to year and thus the value of a comprehensive creative firm like CommCreative. Project dependent certain staff / specialists step up to take a lead role yet they have a group of individuals supporting them to provide touch point perspective making the outcome a peer reviewed exercise.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The number of years I have employed CommCreative speaks well of the success I have had as a result of the project I have run with them.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I appreciate the regular touch points CC sets up.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They listen. Our technology is not easy to interpret - even for experts in our field and they take the time to understand. Sometimes there is a miss but never have we not gotten to where we needed to be.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Improvement could be on our side - I have management that has no clue about marketing and the greater impact we could have if the budget reins were not so taunt. I'd like to have the ability to let the full capabilities of CommCreative be unleashed on our business.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a SaaS-based network performance monitoring company. We sell to technical IT buyers, and my team and I are responsible for: messaging, content, product marketing, demand generation, events, public relations, and website strategy/execution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CommCreative?

We hired CommCreative to help us establish and refine our messaging, create a new home page to reflect that messaging, and then build out our demand generation strategy accordingly. At the time, we had very limited internal marketing capacity, and so CommCreative was essential to helping us get up and running quickly.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to create messaging that appropriately targeted our buyers without being too "speeds and feeds" focused, and we needed to ensure that we could relay that message clearly via our website. A key outcome we were looking for was to ensure that buyers could distinguish AppNeta in the marketplace and that they understood the value we offer. In addition, we needed to ensure that we could weave this messaging strategy into our demand generation programs, which also needed significant overhaul. Ultimately we measured success of that component by the leads and pipeline value these programs drove.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I had worked with CommCreative previously at another tech company and was incredibly impressed with their capabilities and skill. What really stood out to me was not only how comfortable they were working with very technical products with complex value, but also how seamlessly they worked with my internal team(s). While I had worked with CommCreative before, I still brought them in to meet with my team and with our CEO. Not surprisingly, they were just as impressed as I was with CommCreative, and it was a no-brainer to move forward.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

This project involved:

• Messaging
• intake meeting, brand manifesto, boiler plate copy, messaging hierarchy, etc.
• Home page redesign
• copy and creative for new home page
• Demand Generation strategy
• covering paid search, display, LinkedIn, direct mail, intent data, and email nurture
• Demand Generation execution
• email nurture copy, paid search management, display adv creative and media placement, ongoing reporting, measurement, and optimization, etc.

What was the team composition?

I've worked closely with an Account Manager, the head of strategy, and an agency partner -- all of them are outstanding. (And I requested them personally after having worked with them before.) We also work with several other people on their teams who are also great. The team is very consistent and we have not had any turnover in terms of the people we work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

These programs have been hugely successful. In our first four months of this new demand generation strategy, we saw MQLs increase 50% month-over-month. In addition, we increased our pipeline over 150% in the past year. Beyond that tangible impact, belief and trust in marketing across the organization has never been higher.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

This is really a strength of CommCreative's. They're so open to working however is best for us. I requested that we skip the formal presentations and instead just work as one integrated team (rather than in a formal agency-client way) and it's been fantastic for us. They're adaptable, flexible, and very open to feedback.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I think it's incredibly impressive how CommCreative is able to really get in the head of the technical IT buyer. They quickly come up to speed on technical products and can come up with simple messaging that truly resonates. This is rare, in my experience.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Honestly, I don't have a whole lot to say in terms of areas for improvement. CommCreative has been exceptionally receptive when I've offered feedback along the way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the vice president of marketing programs at Gomez Inc., a SaaS provider. The company investigates platform errors and makes sure end users have the experience that was intended.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CommCreative?

We wanted a medium-sized agency to help our demand generation programs. We needed help finding all our company’s audiences and suggest strategies that would deliver leads to our sales team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CommCreative developed a whole demand generation strategy, which was a mix of direct and digital marketing including keywords to leverage our GoogleAds account. First, their team came in and acquired an understanding of our audience. Then, they produced a strategy that involved different channels for lead generation including trade shows, direct marketing lists, and emails. We worked with their team to buy those lead delivery programs. They guided the programs, discussing any vendors, assets, and resources needed. For example, if we wanted to participate in a tradeshow, CommCreative would discuss signage and booth design.

One of the biggest programs they helped us with was to design and launch an industry event, which was the first event focused on web experience issues. Their team developed educational sessions and exhibitions. They helped create the invites and the event guides that were handed to participants. It was a very large project. If CommCreative wasn’t in the mix, we would’ve never been able to pull it off.

What is the team composition?

We worked with an account executive, a project manager, a designer, a digital specialist, a PR person, and a Google Ads specialist.  My main point of contact was Joanna (Agency Partner and Strategy, CommCreative). Since we had a small marketing team, CommCreative was my go-to for questions about strategy, results, and optimizing the programs for better results with our limited budget. They became a trusted advisor quickly.

How did you come to work with CommCreative?

A colleague recommended CommCreative.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $500,000–$1 million with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together between September 2007–April 2009.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The programs we purchased from CommCreative worked. Our team was happy with the results, especially from the forum. Their team was instrumental in marketing the event. They helped generate revenue, which was the main reason we brought them on. We received excellent feedback from inside and outside the organization for our lead delivery.

Since we had a small team, they definitely helped us with efficiency. CommCreative became an extension of our marketing department. Wherever my career has taken me, I’ve continued to work with their team because I was so pleased.

How did CommCreative perform from a project management standpoint?

CommCreative was there for me every step of the way. They gave me proactive reports on where we were in terms of budget and results. They were excellent communicators. As a high-tech firm, we required near real-time accessibility. Their team accommodated our needs. We were extremely demanding of their team’s time. They understood the mentality needed to provide services in the high-tech industry. We were thrilled. CommCreative was an excellent team, which I came to trust and rely on.

What did you find most impressive about them?

CommCreative was a skilled partner. They care about helping the client do better. I never got the feeling that they were out to collect fees. Their team took ownership of the project and wanted it to succeed. They understood that sometimes an agency has to go above and beyond to get the job done, which they always did.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wouldn’t have continued to work with their team had they not been able to deliver successfully on every single project. Since our initial collaboration, I’ve worked with CommCreative on multiple projects. Every time I have a project, I insist on having them on my team. I wouldn’t think about working with another agency except for CommCreative.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to pick and develop trust in the team. Have open and continuous communication with them. Since you’re bringing an agency with expertise and a new set of eyes on board, listen to their advice.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Marketing Manager, responsible for development and execution of marketing strategy and plan.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CommCreative?

We initially hired CommCreative to help us refine our value proposition and messaging in early 2015. Since then, we have had an ongoing retainer agreement with them. We have also hired them for help with naming a new product.

What were your goals for this project?

With a marketing department of 1.5 people, we needed an agency that we could partner with to support us in a broad range of initiatives, from strategy development, advertising, PR, digital marketing, trade show support, and more.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were looking for an agency that had a lot of experience in the B2B healthcare industry. It was important that the agency have a broad range of capabilities. We also had a budget, so we needed someone who we felt delivered value. Most importantly, we needed an agency that was easy to work with and that felt like an extension of our company. CommCreative met all of these requirements and more.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We have worked with CommCreative on a number of initiatives, including creating a marketing plan and budget, advertising, trade show strategy and execution, writing and deployment of press releases, content development and deployment, webinar development & promotion, and more. We provide our business goals, marketing objectives, and budget to CommCreative, and they work with us to develop initiatives with measurable results that help us achieve thse goals.

What was the team composition?

We always have had active participtation from the partners of the company to lead the creative and strategic direction. We interact regularly with 3-4 members of the team, but I know there are many more working behind the scenes. I have always felt that we have access to any member of their team if needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Since working with CommCreative, our brand and our presence in our market have strengthened significantly. Our website traffic grew 55% after investing in key digital marketing activities with them. On average, our leads have grown 15%.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Project management is outstanding. The communication is frequent and specific so there are never any surprises. We really feel like they are an extension of our team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing about CommCreative is their people. They have put together an extremely talented group of individuals who are fun and easy to work with. Their work is superb. Our leadership team can be tough to please sometimes and they manage to impress them with almost every project and presentation.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I really can't think of anything. Superb quality, projects are usually on-time and on-budget.