Noble Studios

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an educational nonprofit. We train teachers on how to use gardens and hydroponic systems to teach STEM in schools across America.

What challenge were you trying to address with Noble Studios?

We needed help rebranding our company and redesigning our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we did a rebranding. We had several brainstorming discussions around our story and where we want to take the company. Afterward, we worked with their design team to redesign our WordPress website. In parallel with our web redesign, we worked with a third team to redesign our logo. They also worked on the SEO for our site.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a team of sixteen people, including BC (CCO), Somer (Solution Architect), Erin (Client Success Manager), Gabe (Project Manager), Jill (VP of Strategy), Christine (Senior Creative Designer), Razib (Creative Designer), Cody (Creative Designer), Stephanie (Creative Designer), Gabbi (Associate Creative Director), Will (Web Developer), and Stephen (Web Developer).

How did you come to work with Noble Studios?

We found them via a word-of-mouth referral. They’re based in Nevada and they seemed awesome.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $116,000–$120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in April 2020, and we finished in December 2020.

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

They did an excellent job reflecting our branding and where we’re going. We’re confident we can grow into the brand they’ve created for us. We got very good feedback from our sponsors and our schools, too.

Initially, we weren’t crazy about the logo but they went back and re-did it till we were satisfied.

We have an area on our site where teachers go to show their students videos, which looks much better than before; teachers really like it.

How did Noble Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really great. We had a project manager and he always kept in touch with us. We met all the team members regularly. We communicated via Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their passion to really understand our story was remarkable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, their process was very streamlined.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to hire them! It was a fun process. Re-branding can be a nerve-wracking experience. They didn’t shy away from it at all.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the University Relations/Marcom Director at USAC, a nonprofit study abroad organization with programs in over 50+ cities around the world.

For what projects/services did your company hire Noble Studios?

Project included: Sitemap, Wireframes, Design, Component library, Front-end integration.

What were your goals for this project?

1. Improve conversion rate on applications and leads;
2. Improve content and flow of information;
3. Address common questions and reduce general email FAQs;
4. Visually align with brand and a young (college-age) audience;
5. Mobile-first design

How did you select Noble Studios?

We sent an RFP to three well-known and reputable firms in the Reno area. We ultimately chose Noble Studios due to their reputation, skill/expertise, prior working experience, and the fact that the owners and multiple other employees had studied abroad with our organization during their college years.

Our business is complicated and we felt that their study abroad experience would help in the process.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we selected the vendor, we had a series of discovery meetings. We were in the middle of updating our brand colors, fonts, etc, and they helped us refine that. As a matter of fact, they designed a colorwash feature that we ended up using in other marketing materials.

Prior to the RFP, we had completed user research and evaluated/edited our content so we produced a sitemap internally; however, we asked Noble Studios to review and validate it, as well as offer any suggestions for improvement.

Because we offer over 50 programs, the work focused on creating the framework of layouts, templates, and components that could later be used to build out individual program pages. We also requested a more robust, “mad-lib” search function.

What was the team composition?

Noble’s team comprised Client Success Manager, Project Manager, UI/UX Designer, Web Developer, Digital Marketing Manager, Digital Marketing Specialist and others behind the scenes.

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

Post-launch customer surveys demonstrated that we met the goals for the project. Overall, the users like the more modern design and user experience.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had weekly client meetings early on and then as indicated on the project timeline. They are pros with project management, and were flexible when we had to extend a few deadlines due to our very small internal team.

We also mutually agreed to extend the final handoff as we worked through bug fixes. Somer Athari, Client Success Manager, and Jarrod Lopiccolo, CEO, were available and open-minded when issues needed to be escalated.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are a well-oiled machine with honed project management skills. They are willing to listen and work through complications. Their design ideas matched our younger demo.

Are there any areas for improvement?

As with any complex project, inevitably there will be bumps in the road. My advice is to refine and tighten the scope of work so expectations are met on both sides, as well as ask clarifying questions along the way.

As an example, we should have been more specific on our criteria for responsiveness of the site. Our internal team also felt that the fixes for the final QC took longer than expected.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of sales and marketing at Ventura Visitors. We operate in the region between LA and San Francisco, along the coast of California. A lot of smaller DMOs, hotels, and attractions work together to market the region as a whole.

What challenge were you trying to address with Noble Studios?

We realized that, as members of the Central Coast Tourism Council, we weren’t effectively marketing to the east coast. Our mission was to increase our exposure and generate some sway in that region. We hired Noble Studios to serve as our marketing agency to fulfill it.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Noble Studios created a new brand identity for us. They did some research and realized that our tagline and logo weren’t resonating with the east coast market. They then generated creative content and assets for us to utilize on our digital platforms. These included landing pages and banner ads that target different audiences. They helped manage the backend of our website.

What is the team composition?

We had around 3 contacts.

How did you come to work with Noble Studios?

We put forward an RFP, and the members of the Central Coast Tourism Council all did their due diligence in increasing its exposure. There was a small committee that filtered through the responding vendors who shortlisted three companies. Noble Studios was among them, and upon interviewing them, we got a great impression. They were creative and enthusiastic, so we decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe we spent around $175,000 for their media buys, as well as their management.

What is the status of this engagement?

We selected them in early 2019 and launched in October of that year.

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

We were ecstatic with the results they drove. We saw a surge in digital traffic, with New York being the number one source. Thanks to their work, web traffic from the east coast exceeded regional and instate traffic.

Additionally, in most check-ins, Noble Studios delivered above and beyond what we thought we would be receiving from them.

How did Noble Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent. They were always clear about a timeline and next steps. The team always made themselves available and responded quickly to questions or issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Having worked with a handful of agencies in my career, I felt that Noble Studios never came across as a typical agency. They were very available, responsive, and thorough in their deliverables. They expressed a real commitment to our success and were always looking out for our best interests.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. They presented a wide array of ideas to us, which we appreciated because it indicated how creative they were getting to increase our brand exposure. While this isn’t something we can fault them for, it felt frustrating at times because we didn’t have the additional funds to execute all their ideas.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just be very clear about how much money you’re willing to spend. Set those expectations, because otherwise, they might come up with excellent ideas that are too expensive to execute.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a traditional destination marketing and management organization that oversees marketing for a business improvement district. We’re a non-government nonprofit organization, and I’m the executive director.

What challenge were you trying to address with Noble Studios?

We acquired a URL with massive organic search value, so we wanted to search out a creative design agency for SEM, SEO, and maintenance.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started the engagement with a site audit, informing our board that the site was strong and showcasing areas for further improvement. They optimized the current site with new content, repurposing it at a much lower cost than we would have been able to do otherwise. 

We’ve leaned on them for SEO and PPC work. Their understanding and involvement with the site allowed us to reduce and eliminate our other marketing partner, so we could move all of our digital marketing and display advertising work to them. They’re assisting us with Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Youtube. Additionally, our display advertising is programmatic and has been retargeted around on that. 

What is the team composition?

We have four resources staffed to the project at any given time. That includes a client success manager, a PPC specialist, and a creative lead. There are also about two people working on the maintenance end of projects. 

How did you come to work with Noble Studios?

There was an RFP that went out prior to my involvement in the organization. We were considering several agencies at the time, but many of them felt that we’d have to create an entirely new site. Their team was confident that we could retain our current site, without the costly undertaking of building a completely new platform. We ended up shifting our investment to their team because of their interests and successes in representing our organization. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since about November 2015.

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

Our site has seen exponential growth over the last few years. We’re looking for a new hosting company because of how much our traffic and volume have increased. Clicks to the site and overall traffic have continued to improve. Since I arrived at the company two years ago, our organic and paid page views have increased by 40%. It’s great to see that continued growth on a mature domain and site. It’s been a team effort to accomplish that growth.   

How did Noble Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

There’s great communication and are responsive when we run into issues. They’re a solutions-oriented team that keeps us focused on high-impact efforts. We appreciate that.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their teammates are experienced and tenured, making for seamless transitions with regard to staffing. There’s a true feeling of partnership and ownership when working with them. They feel like an extension of our team.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re adaptive, especially during the pandemic. We appreciate their willingness to say no when we suggest something that isn’t in our best interest.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They have several different areas of talent.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run our paid social media programs. We’re a B2B company that sells software to the infrastructure space. Our products help engineers, architects, and designers, design, build, and manage their assets within major infrastructure projects.

What challenge were you trying to address with Noble Studios?

There were two challenges. First, was we needed to scale our team. Second, we wanted to bring in an outside perspective to keep our in-house team appraised of what other companies and outside vendors are doing from a paid media perspective.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They do paid media management for three of our business areas. Specifically, their work revolves around media strategy, execution, and reporting for social ads, display ads, and SEM.

What is the team composition?

Three people are directly supporting us.

How did you come to work with Noble Studios?

I’ve known the folks at Noble for a very long time, dating back to 2011 or 2012 when I worked with a previous company. I never worked with them directly there, but when I came to my company and decided that an agency was going to provide the best path to scaling our paid media activities, I thought of Noble and their industry experience. They went through a rigorous RFP process and came out on top.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $60,000­­–$90,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since May 2019.

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

We’ve been working with them for over one year and I’m very glad we went with them. Their work is very intertwined with ours as an organization so it would be tricky to attribute our success directly to them. But, on a recent collaboration, we dramatically increased the number of leads per week we received due to agile marketing, which Noble Studios has been a strong partner on.

How did Noble Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re strong in this regard, but we also had to work with them from time to time to ensure we’re all aligned. There are a lot of moving pieces so we have to have seamless communication. Their management is phenomenal overall. One place we’re working with them on is streamlining communications around that project management to scale, as we increase our scope of work with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Three things come to mind. The first two are skill and expertise, no doubt. Those things can exist in many organizations but what really sets Noble apart is their commitment to client success. They’re willing to go the extra mile with us to make sure the partnership is strong and that the results are there.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only issue is minor — and, to be clear, they’re already working with us on this. As I mentioned, we have to continue to refine our communication around project management as we scale our engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To have the most success, be open and honest and treat them like a part of your team. That broadly applies to any agency relationship, but with their strong talent and personable approach, it rings particularly true. A company that’s walled off or works in a once-removed relationship with an outside agency won’t have a ton of success, I don’t think.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of a fintech data aggregation platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Noble Studios?

Noble Studios was brought on for random projects before I joined the company. The current role they provide is that they were brought on for SEO and SEM efforts for our website on a full yearly contract. There are different projects that come up that we give them, but that’s the main one.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They make sure everything is run correctly from a technological standpoint. They manage our Google Analytics and report every month on how our site is doing. They manage our SEO, tracking our site, proposing a list of up to 500 keywords that we’re interested in, and suggest content to drive that search engine traffic.

They also manage our SEM ads. They suggest what to create, write the copy, and then we take the actual copy in-house, approve it, and send it back to them to post. They also manage our blog writing efforts.

Also, they test our site for optimization and for conversion. Other projects they’ve done on the side are things like they redesigned our website last year on Drupal.

What is the team composition?

We deal with at least three people each week with Meghan (Client Success Manager) as our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Noble Studios?

I don’t know how they were initially brought on for projects because it was before my time, but they did such a great job so I brought them on for SEO and SEM work.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent upwards of $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began work in July 2015 on other random projects, and the relationship is ongoing.

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

They substantially improved our SEO performance, SEM performance, and conversions on our site from traffic to leads. These are the main metrics we look at when assessing their performance and they’ve continually surpassed their past performance year over year.

How did Noble Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication and ability to meet our deadlines are great. Meghan has been fantastic at ensuring excellent communication and timeliness. They’ve also had excellent consistency without people moving in and out of our project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a pod arrangement. We interact with three people, but they have a pod behind them who have other expertise that can help their work. Because of this system, whenever they come back with a recommendation it’s thorough and well thought out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any areas of improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You get what you pay for. The quote might be higher than you like but it’s because they provide a thorough, high-quality job every time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of marketing and public affairs for the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority. We’re the governing body of two airports.

What challenges were you trying to address with Noble Studios?

When we hired them, we’d recently brought in a lot of additional flights and air service. However, our client base wasn’t aware of the flights we’d added. We wanted to increase public awareness of the new airlines and flights.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They put together a series of digital marketing campaigns targeting customers in our geographic region. They ran ads on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They ran multiple ads at once to determine which performed the best. The process was flexible, and they continued to adapt the campaigns based on performance. 

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of 2–3 people regularly, but we’ve worked with as many as seven. 

How did you come to work with Noble Studios?

We put out an RFP for marketing firms in our region. We weren’t necessarily looking for a digital marketing firm, but Noble Studios swayed us with their presentation. They made it clear that they understood our airports and the digital space. 

How much have you invested with them? 

We spent $285,000 per year for the first two years. We froze our campaigns this year in light of COVID-19. However, we’re currently running a smaller $80,000 campaign to highlight our response to the pandemic and the safety precautions at the airport to make our customers feel safe. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2017, and our work is ongoing.

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

We saw an increase in the number of passengers and an increase in bookings as a result of the campaign. We did surveys of our customers prior to working with them, and after we began our engagement. The knowledge of our services increased as a result of their work. Our web traffic also increased. 

How did Noble Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Their performance is outstanding. The level of communication and the measurability they demonstrated is impressive. They tracked the campaigns and shared analytics regularly. Prior to COVID-19, we met in-person regularly. Now, we hold our meeting electronically. 

They also gave a presentation on their work to our board members, and I think they did a fabulous job explaining the work clearly. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very easy to work with. They understand that not everyone has a strong knowledge of digital marketing. They took the time to explain the importance of digital marketing to our team. Their communication was amazing. They feel like a partner. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no negative feedback. I’ve highly recommended them to others in our area. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Take advantage of their ability to educate your team, especially those who aren’t in the marketing department. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Newport Beach & Company, a marketing agency. We handle all marketing for the city of Newport Beach, for tourism, restaurant association, television station, economic development, and city events.

What challenge were you trying to address with Noble Studios?

All of the things we manage has their own websites, social media channels, budgets, and goals. The websites have different needs, objectives, and audiences, so we hired Noble Studios to manage those websites for us and paid search efforts. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

The primary services are website maintenance. They’re currently reskinning my website with a new brand identity system, but within the next year, they’ll be building a new site from scratch. They’re also building a different website for me now, handling the creation, launch, and maintenance.

Our main sites are run on WordPress, but they’ve done some fantastic work lately creating a web app to run on top of a site. It’s an AI-based web app that serves as a mobile concierge for the destination. In conjunction with Noble Studios, we’ve set up geofences around the destination and when anyone enters that location, the web app pops up. They created the backend system from scratch to answer questions based on past search history within our website. 

We’re adding a chatbot to that system in the second phase of that project. The chat function is a third-party plug-in that Noble is installing within the AI system to make it more functional. We’ve worked on them on quite a few other functions for the websites. 

They also manage our SEO and search engine marketing (SEM). They manage PPC efforts for all of the websites to drive traffic. For the paid search, they manage our paid advertising on Google Display and make sure it’s all in sync to drive traffic to the sites. They centralize all of the media buying and digital marketing for all of the websites under their company. 

What is the team composition?

Jarrod (CEO & Co-Founder) is heavily involved in our account, participating in brainstorming sessions and creative portions. We also get support from their CCO and creative director. Day-to-day, Erin (Account Services Coordinator) works with us. An SEO/SEM specialist and backend maintenance person work with us, too. At any time, we have about five people working with us but it changes with the projects we have. 

How did you come to work with Noble Studios?

They were already working with the organization when I joined, so I’m not sure how we found them. But, when I’ve worked at other companies, I usually change to my preferred provider and I have never changed agencies since starting the work with Noble Studios. I’ve stuck with them even though I didn’t find them because they’re one of the best out there.

How much have you invested with them?

Though our budget has reduced due to COVID-19, we were spending up to $150,000 per year. Certain projects added costs on top of that rate. With everything involved, we’ve likely averaged close to $200,000 per year. 

What is the status of this engagement?

They’ve been working with us since July 2013 and our engagement is ongoing. 

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

We presented the AI-based web app at an international conference this year and it’s fantastic. It’s a great, user-friendly app they built for us. The creative director has been great at taking my brand identity and putting it across the sites. In the beginning, we were seeing a really high bounce rate on the concierge app, but they were able to quickly change the navigation and ensure users got results quicker.

How did Noble Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re fantastic. They anticipate my needs in advance which is really great especially during this time of COVID-19, which has impacted tourism. Our budgets are severely slashed and I have an existing retainer with them that they’re allowing me to use into the next year.

They’re very flexible with payment and project flow, allowing me to shift hours to other projects depending on the priority. They are a responsive team and are absolutely amazing people to work with. They are truly an extension of my team. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their bench strength of having wide-ranging clients is the first thing that stands out. They aren’t just pigeon-holed in one industry. They have a wide perspective, even within the tourism industry. This means we get a wide array of ideas and there isn’t any groupthink. I appreciate their work isn’t cookie-cutter designs — everything is unique and specially made for us. 

They have strong relationships with clients so they are seamlessly integrated with us. They’re fantastic at communication, timeliness, and ability to pivot quickly. 

Their digital strategy skill makes them the best at what they do. They’re extremely analytical and able to look at trends and issues to make a better product. The work is constantly maintained, updated, and improved because of them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing to say against them. Even though they are based in a remote area, they come to us fairly often.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t hold back on giving them information about what you’re up to. Don’t pigeon-hole them and make sure they understand what you’re doing on the PR and advertising side. The more they understand your business, the better they’ll be. If you silo them into one category, they won’t perform as well without all the information. Make sure they’re in line with the other agencies you work with.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Bethink. We’re a place where people go to meaningly reflect and have experiences that promote community thought and engagement on what they’re working on within.

What challenge were you trying to address with Noble Studios?

I knew it would be important to have solid footing in who we are, how we’re presented visually, and how we’re presented contextually from an overall brand and ethos perspective. We hired them to help with designing the brand identity and messaging content strategy that everything will be based on. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

For this specific engagement, they’ve taken our loose vision and concept to come up with an overall brand guide. We’ve gone through many working and brainstorm sessions, going through several exercises to come up with purpose and vision statements. We’re working to come up with personal characteristics of the brand and eventually a brand book. 

What is the team composition?

Primarily, I work with Jill (VP of Strategy & Insights) and BC (CCO & Managing Director). 

How did you come to work with Noble Studios?

I’ve worked with Noble Studios on and off for the last 10 years. Since I know they have an ability to listen and see the true vision of the brand, I’ve worked with them in the past on branding projects. This was the first time I’ve worked with them on creating a brand that didn’t exist, so I chose them based on past experience.

How much have you invested with them?

For our first engagement, we fell into the range of $10,000–$50,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked together since August 2019. We wrapped up the brand book but have reengaged them for overall marketing and communications strategy. 

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

At this stage, since we’re a startup, they’ve created possibilities and opportunities for us. We have a clear internal and external communications strategy based on the characteristics and tone of the brand. Their work has given us the ability to speak to our brand’s purpose. They have a unique talent to help people achieve and realize their full brand potential. 

How did Noble Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very responsive. They have a nice mix of having a structure while allowing for organic development. A nice thing is how pivots can happen as necessary while the structure remains and deliverables come within a firm timeline. We have a mix between in-person meetings and Zoom calls, with the usual email and occasional texts. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s the people on their team that make them stand out. Even though not everyone needs to be on the phone every time, their process allows for depth and richness that is communicated to the whole team at the right time. With their team, I don’t feel any gaps between their departments. They not only provide great creativity and insights, but they also communicate seamlessly internally. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Originally, the concept was so ill-defined in our mind while the purpose and vision was so strong. Because of this, at the beginning, they were a bit too concerned about how I intended to use it for ROI as opposed to just getting started. Their concern was great because they cared about how we’ll monetize it and I assured them we’d work through it, so we kept grounding one another in a good way. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re not committed to understanding the depth of your brand, they’re not for you. If you’re looking to phone it in and just want something basic, other teams can do it quicker and cheaper for you. 

What makes Noble Studios stand out is the depth and richness they’ll give you. If you’re committed and willing to take the time, they’ll give you something incredibly useful. You get what you give. If you’re not willing to give, you shouldn’t waste their time. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a logistics group.

What challenge were you trying to address with Noble Studios?

Originally, we hired them to redesign our logo and help with our website redesign. As we began that work, we took a deeper look at our branding needs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, they came in and got our workers engaged in a focus group, which analyzed our brand, and engaged them to learn about our brand. From that information, they redesigned our logo and our website.

Then, they took a deeper dive on the frontend with the brand formation and made us “brand bible”, with details about our aesthetic. Now we’re in the final stages of completing the website.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a dozen people, including designers, branding specialists, content creators, and web developers.

How did you come to work with Noble Studios?

I had hired them at a previous company I worked for. They were easy to work with and did an excellent job.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2019, and our work is ongoing.

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

The feedback has been excellent and we’ll do a formal brand launch next month. People really love the new look and feel already.

How did Noble Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re on time and on budget. They’ve even done some add-ons that were outside of the original statement of work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their relationship building really stands out. They’re also flexible and have been very upfront with what they can and can’t deliver. They’ve had great communication and their work is excellent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to invite them into your business. Don’t put up any walls and let them pick up the culture of your organization. From that, they’ll do much better work.