MDS Digital

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a Hispanic advertising agency that’s currently expanding to the Latinx community. We do advertising in Spanish for all disciplines including broadcast, social media, and events. My position is SVP and creative director of production.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MDS Digital?

The agency was struggling with the vendors we were working with when I came in, and some of our biggest challenges were tackling social media and digital marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Some of the first things we did were revamp the website, establish our relationship with existing clients, and develop everything related to social media. The initial project was key to basically helping me develop the process to streamline everything, especially the quality of the work.

The web revamp was pretty quick as all they did was take our existing website, and update it — we then redid the website altogether. They used WordPress and tapped into a bunch of little plugins, so that we could manage the website ourselves instead of depending on MDS Digital.

While we did the logo ourselves, they helped us with the design and the implementation of the elements — they're key in helping our brand and making sure we’re staying true to our culture. Additionally, we manage our own social media channels, but we do consult with them whenever things are trending.

After that, we started working on an original project where we experiment with AI. Together with MDS Digital, we’ve been developing a meter that would react, gauge, and read people’s emotions based on their Twitter feeds. We ended up using that program on our website where we would give a hashtag to the AI, and it’ll gauge the reaction of Hispanics in the US — an emoji would come up with the expression such as fear, laughter, and joy.

What is the team composition?

There could be anywhere between 3–5 people depending on the project. There is a project manager who makes sure things stay on track, but the ones that really tackle the project, get involved in the details, and build the content of whatever we’re working on are the integrated producer, art director, copywriter, and accountant.

How did you come to work with MDS Digital?

I met the founder of MDS Digital at a prior agency, so I brought him on board when I came to the agency. I wasn’t directly involved with the department they were working with, but I’ve seen the work that was coming out of there and it was good. I met the president, took their business card, and did a follow-up when I got out of that agency — we kept in touch and as soon as I was able to, I gave them a shot. Six years later, we’re still working together.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably invested more than $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in June 2015, and it’s still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re our strategic partners so the feedback is always great. We’ve reached the point where we chat with them yearly, and share our objectives for the following year — they’re part of our planning team for all things social media.

How did MDS Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform excellently. They make sure that the team stays on, they respond quickly, and whenever there’s a curveball, they stay on top of it and adjust. MDS Digital always meets expectations and sometimes goes above and beyond.

We’re constantly either Zooming, chatting, or sending emails — whatever it takes and whatever’s more efficient. Sometimes, the president stops by when he’s in town.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What distinguishes them is the quality of their work and their understanding of the culture. We’re in the US so it’s important to understand the US Hispanic and Latinx audience, so it’s not just about creating content, it’s about understanding the culture of our target audience — and they do that very well.

MDS Digital knows what they’re doing and who their audience is. We choose to work with them because it’s easier for us to brief them on any projects, to make sure we hit our target audience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They cover all the bases so if you ask me if they could be producing larger content like a production company would, they probably could if that’s something they want to do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that MDS Digital is onboarded properly, listen to them, and give them the proper time to analyze whatever you brief them on. When they come back with a proposal, listen to them, especially on timings.

On top of that, if you can avoid putting pressure on them, do it.