Obviouslee

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the dean and professor of the University of South Carolina College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management. The University of South Carolina is a public university offering academic programs, research opportunities, and a vibrant student experience to over 40,000 students.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Obviouslee?

We needed help creating a master marketing campaign for the college and activating a brand marketing spend for that campaign. We also needed help creating a sub-campaign for our sport and entertainment management programs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Obviouslee has created a full campaign for the college, including creative, digital ads, storytelling assets, dashboards, and advice on digital spending and ROI. The team has also done the same for a sub-campaign. The larger campaign has included a brand video.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 2–5 teammates from Obviouslee.

How did you come to work with Obviouslee?

We found them through a referral. We chose them over other options because they were close to our geographic location, had a great culture fit, and their company values aligned with ours.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent an amount we’d like to keep confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2024, and the engagement ended in summer 2026.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen YOY website performance, new followers to multiple channels, and key events that have resulted from the campaign. For example, we’ve seen thousands of new followers and a 5X increase in web traffic YOY.

How did Obviouslee perform from a project management standpoint?

Obviouslee’s project management has been professional, creative, innovative, on time, and excellent overall. We’ve communicated via in-person meetings, virtual meetings, and email or messaging apps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Obviouslee’s creativity and flexibility have been impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing they need to improve. I would engage them again for any future projects we need completed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a tennis tournament promoter.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Obviouslee?

We needed their marketing expertise. We wanted help driving brand awareness and ticket sales, creating digital branding, and marketing the tournament.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Obviouslee began working with us during our first year. They asked a series of questions about our goals and how they could help build our company. At that point, we only had a logo, and our brand identity wasn’t very strong yet; they helped to strengthen our brand identity and streamline our brand guidelines. Obviouslee identified anomalies within our existing brand information. Then, they created a document laying out the brand guidelines and their enforcement.

We worked with another agency that handled social media, but Oviouslee managed digital ad creation, strategy, and optimization via Meta and Facebook. Obviouslee was also responsible for our Google Ads.

Obviouslee partnered with a third party for marketing and other groups to generate brand awareness.

After the event, they produced recaps.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 5–7 people from their team, including Kyler (Sr. Marketing Manager), Arielle (Director of Event Marketing), and Marta (Digital Coordinator).

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $100,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in August 2022, and this year’s contract ended in April 2023. We plan to work with them again next year.

How did you come to work with Obviouslee?

We really liked the look and feel of the Credit One Charleston Open, another tennis tournament, and found out that Obviouslee was the agency responsible. We felt like they did a great job designing the marketing and communication pieces, so we reached out to them. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We sold 89% of our tickets and ticket packages. Obviouslee’s campaigns performed better than industry standards; they did a great job with the digital ads. The quality of their work was higher than anything we could’ve generated on our own, and their knowledge of ideal delivery timelines and strategies was helpful.

They also grew and developed our owned audience and increased tournament awareness. They brought a lot of experience, and their work was always on target; their materials landed well with our audience and made us look like a more seasoned event company than we were during our first year. 

The partnership with Obviouslee was better than we expected; we definitely got our money’s worth.

How did the company perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great; they created what we needed within a budget we could afford. Obviouslee provided roadmaps and timelines and directed other partners we collaborated with. They took on any issues I threw at them; Kyler was extremely resourceful.

We used email, text, phone calls, and Slack to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to make us appear very polished and seasoned as a first-year event was impressive. Their best-in-class marketing tools, achievement of sales goals, collaboration with other teams, and resourcefulness stood out; they were a great team. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be open to letting Obviouslee help create what you need with their creativity and resourcefulness; don’t be completely set on exactly what you want.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the general manager of The Park City Peak’s Hotel.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Obviouslee?

We purchased a hotel and wanted to go with a boutique concept. So we needed full marketing, messaging website collateral.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team came onsite and spent about three days with our team in order to experience the property, our vision, and spend time with each of us, and experience our town and our market. Then we had a series of conference calls to narrow down who we are and what we’re going to be in the market.

Then they did our logo designs, collateral pieces, parking passes, key packages, restaurant menus, and stickers and marketing for our grab n’ go’s.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four people that drove into each piece of the project. We had one person to drive the project and brought on other team members as needed. So that included a web team, design team, and marketing team.

How did you come to work with Obviouslee?

One of our investors recommended them. They’ve worked with Obviouslee on previous projects.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent More than $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with in May 2017 and the project wrapped up in May 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve launched all of our products and launched our website. They hit every target that we wanted to get rolling with. It was great. It was a collaborative effort. They got to know us and got a feel of what we wanted. Then they used that for the development of our marketing needs.

How did Obviouslee perform from a project management standpoint?

They managed the project well. We had quite a few emails, phone calls, and brainstorming sessions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really captured who we are and the message we wanted to send out as a whole. They nailed it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re still working with them and we’re happy with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re great partners for your business. They want to put out as the best possible product that we could. Our goals aligned well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and president of sales at Apis Mercantile, a honey health and wellness company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Obviouslee?

We wanted to go through a rebrand. We wanted to elevate our products and make them a little more approachable so that customers of any age would feel comfortable pulling one of our products off the shelf.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Obviouslee helped us with a rebrand by creating a new logo and color palette. We had no direction whatsoever, so they helped us identify what we wanted. They had my business partner and I go through several branding exercises.

They asked us questions about what we preferred and asked us to rate the preference on a scale. This allowed them to get an idea of the lifestyle behind the company because they wanted to build the brand according to our morals while keeping in mind our target market and how we wanted to appeal to potential customers.

Additionally, they allowed us to tap into their network to gain connections. They’ve worked with a lot of reputable companies. For example, in one of our meetings when we were going through the rebranding process, they introduced us to a founder of a large popsicle company. Because of that introduction, that individual ended up becoming our consultant for several months.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with Jamon (Team Design), Lee (Founder & Visionary), and Alison (New Business Initiatives Team Lead), but a total of 12 teammates ended up helping with the project.

How did you come to work with Obviouslee?

We did a hemp honey tasting at one of our partner’s retail stores. Lee and Alison happened to be there, and they reached out to us a couple of weeks after, telling us that they were huge fans of our company.

We then met with Obviouslee, and we were blown away. We got approached by several marketing firms, but they stood out and they were local.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $8,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from May–September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Once all of our retail partners had the rebranded products, we saw a direct increase in sales after launching in January 2020. People were having an easier time taking our products off the shelves and purchasing them. 

How did Obviouslee perform from a project management standpoint?

The team was extremely organized and punctual, and their planning was fantastic. I rate them very highly for their project management. We mostly used Google Hangouts, and they probably had an internal project management tool.

They were very flexible. Obviouslee understands small businesses that may not have large budgets, so they’re willing to work with you. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their honesty and flexibility set them apart. We felt very comfortable with Obviouslee, and their track record is fantastic. I’ve never heard anyone say anything negative about them. Once we dove into working with them, we were blown away every time we met with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing they could’ve improved on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Initially, don’t be intimidated by the price tag because it’s going to worth it no matter what. Additionally, they do a lot of à la carte services in case you don’t need everything in the package. They have a wide range of packages. 

When you’re going through the exercises, be honest so that they can create a voice for your company based on that. Be open with them and enjoy the process. We had a great time and our meetings with them were the highlights of our week.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a tech startup called The Gauntlet. We host fantasy sports events and video game tournaments. Our software streamlines the system and enables people to more easily play in a growing field.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Obviouslee?

For the most part, we sought social media marketing services to reach our market. Our demographic tends to be younger individuals who play games. We wanted to get lots of clicks and downloads for our app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Obviouslee managed our social media marketing campaigns and focused our ad spend on Facebook and Instagram. While they could have done so, I was able to create the ads that I wanted to run. Their team made recommendations, and we then went back and forth on what would do the best and looked the best. They ran multiple different ads to see which one was the best. In the future, we’ll likely expand into SEO initiatives too.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with one member of their team.

How did you come to work with Obviouslee?

I got into a program called The Harbor, which is how I heard about Obviouslee. I was told that their team was the best in town, so I gave them a call.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $1,200 a month on their services

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2020, and we’re currently on pause. We started with a three-month trial, and at the end of the three months, we paused the relationship because we needed to fix a few platform issues. As soon as the update’s complete, we’ll come back to Obviouslee.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our cost per click with Obviouslee was down to 12–14 cents, which was ridiculously good. I’m happy with what they did.

During our three-month trial, we received so much traffic that we came across a couple of small problems with our app. We told them that we needed to fix these issues, which would allow us to monetize all of the users and easily grow. I’m excited to make the fixes and jump back into our partnership.

How did Obviouslee perform from a project management standpoint?

As a result of COVID-19, I wasn't able to visit their office. However, we were in contact via email, phone, and Skype. When we reached out, we got instant responses. They sent PowerPoint slides of their work.

When I ran ads with larger firms, I didn’t feel important. Obviouslee created a personalized experience and remained close to our team. They cared about us and our message, which their team worked to incorporate into the ads. All in all, I was super happy with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was easy to connect with them, and they provided a personal touch. Their team had a small, personal feel unlike a big company. Based on my experience, they’re one of the best advertising agencies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They usually only sign larger contracts, but I was able to secure a three-month contract. In the startup world, we take month-to-month approaches. It would be beneficial for them to be super flexible with clients, especially startups.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ask questions and know what you’re buying. They’ll have multiple phone calls before you sign a contract, so their team won’t push you into anything. As long as you’re on the same page, it’ll be a positive experience. Be involved in the process too.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a private label baby and children’s clothing company. We sell through e-commerce and direct-to-consumer. We have small offices and a warehouse.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Obviouslee?

Our company is eight years old and has been growing a lot. I was the one doing all of our digital marketing, and about a year ago, we decided to move to an agency.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Obviouslee does all of our digital marketing. A small part of that is Google, so they oversee Smart Shopping and Google Analytics. They watch everything, and we set a target ROAS (return on advertising spend) that we want them to hit every month. Our budget for Google isn’t very big. 

The main part of Obviouslee’s job is social media marketing; 95% of our budget goes into social media. They do paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram. We send them the images, and they create all of our ads, including the copy, and then run it. They segment and do the funnels. Their team has built out all of our campaigns and retargeting efforts. Just as with Google, they have certain benchmarks that we want to see. They’ve also helped with our emails and creating funnels for us. 

What is the team composition?

For the most part, we work with one person. I think there is a team of three people working on our account.

How did you come to work with Obviouslee?

I own the company with my sister-in-law, and we’re a women-owned and fully women-operated company. We’re very pro-women in business. Also, we understand what it’s like to be working moms, and we have a lot of flexibility. 

My sister-in-law lives in Charleston, South Carolina, and she knows the owner of Obviouslee. We pitched to her because we thought it might be a good fit. They weren’t heavy in the digital space but wanted to get more into it. We met with them 6–9 months ago.

How much have you invested with them?

Our monthly paid advertising spend is $30,000–$50,000; that’s the budget they have to work with. Their fee is $4,200 a month. Our product is a little unique because we do a lot of pre-sale, so we don’t actually have the product. We’ve let them know that if they meet our goals, they can bump up the spend. If the ROAS is there, they can go higher than our budget.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work together began in March 2020, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had a great experience with them. For us, it’s all about the ROAS, because that’s what translates into profits. About a year ago, Facebook changed its algorithm. We’d been doing well, but we struggled because we didn’t have time to learn a new strategy. That’s when we decided to outsource. Since they took over, they’ve hit the monthly benchmark and often done better. We’re quadruple where we were a year ago. 

How did Obviouslee perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is great. We keep our marketing calendar on the task manager Asana. I think we’re a hard customer to work with because we’re not the typical boutique that has a seasonal line; we’re always churning out new ideas. We ask them to run ads left and right. I just put those in our marketing calendar, and they’re great at doing it. We communicate via email and the chat in Asana. We also have two meetings a month.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their strongest service has been digital marketing. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

This is minor, but I don’t feel like we’ve had as much success working with influencers or email retargeting. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Have a meeting and go over everything that you expect. It might’ve been better for us to start with one thing, like digital marketing, before moving onto other services. I think we probably asked them to do too much right off the bat. Start with one thing and have clear goals. That seems to work really well with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the championship director of the PGA championship.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Obviouslee?

We engaged them for PR and marketing resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team provides a range of marketing support, including social media strategy, PR, and partnership strategy. They’ve assisted with digital marketing plans and media buying, helping essentially with the overall promotion of the PGA Championship in the greater Charleston market. During the week of the PGA Championship, they’ll provide media relations services.

One of the main goals of the engagement is to gather as many people as possible that would be interested in purchasing tickets for the event through a pre-registration process. To do so, we ran a promotional program that promoted ticket registration. 

What is the team composition?

Arielle (Senior Marketing Strategist) is our main point of contact, and there are always around 2-4 different people from their team assigned to our project.

How did you come to work with Obviouslee?

Obviouslee was the marketing and PR agency for the PGA Championship when it was last here in 2012. When we came back into the market, we did an RFP process, and they were one of several that bid, and we selected them from that. They did outstanding work in 2012, so it was a pretty easy decision to have them involved again for 2021.

How much have you invested with them?

The total contract will approach $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since July 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our goal with the promotional program was to achieve 70,000 registrants, and with the help of Obviouslee, we exceeded 100,000. They were instrumental in helping us put the plan together and execute it within the marketplace.

The team also assisted with our initial media day event, and ensured we had all the right players in the market as it related to media attendance. The event garnered an extreme amount of PR and stories throughout the market — approximately 40 news stories with over 1,000,000 impressions.  

How did Obviouslee perform from a project management standpoint?

As it relates to communication and working with us, they’ve been tremendous. Obviouslee is very detail-oriented and organized. Our meetings are always purposeful. We couldn’t ask for a better solution for our PR and marketing needs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their PR skills and ability to see our vision is excellent. They’re fantastic collaborators and they really take the time to understand our goals and objectives. It’s a great strength of theirs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that comes to mind. They’ve delivered on everything we’ve asked and exceeded our expectations. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Engage them to have brainstorming sessions about your goals and objectives. They’re great at extracting their customers’ visions, and those sessions have been key for our success.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I own Firefly Distillery with my wife, my partner, and his wife. We make distilled spirits.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Obviouslee?

We hired them to help kick our brand off when we first started in 2008. We ended up going with a bigger, national company after some time because we grew. Once we moved locations from a small island into Charleston, we needed a good company to help prep the market for our new, big opening. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team created our website and put together a media plan and suggested advertising approaches. They’re working to get in contact with magazine writers and publications so anyone who is coming to Charleston knows we’re here. They were focused on driving locals to our distillery for weddings and tourism, so now we’re moving our national PR and social efforts to them. 

Because of COVID-19, they’ve been very smart to suggest we don’t go after tourists if they won’t actually be here. So, we’ve shifted our marketing to drive locals to our location and ran a whole campaign and came out with a hand sanitizer. 

What is the team composition?

At any point in time, there are between 9–11 people spread out across the different tasks. 

How did you come to work with Obviouslee?

Although we had worked with them in the past, for this project we interviewed 3–4 companies and Obviouslee outperformed them in the interviews. I’d also liked that I knew them and had stayed in touch with the founder over time.

How much have you invested with them?

Our initial contract has changed because of COVID-19, but originally we were set to spend about $142,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since July 2019. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

At our last meeting, we saw we’ve had over 70 million media impressions over the last eight months. They’ve grown our social media audience by 250% year-over-year. 

How did Obviouslee perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good. They’re creative people while still being organized. We have monthly meetings where they show us how the efforts are working. We typically communicate through phone calls, zoom, video conference, or email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve dealt with a lot of providers over the years, and Obviouslee is the most responsive out of any. Their level of engagement is as much as we’ll let them. They have a good team that brings solid suggestions and great ideas. I’d recommend them to any of my friends who owns a business. I’ve been very happy with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everyone wants to sell more, but they’re doing a great job for us. They’re very fair. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of real estate at a private residential sporting community in South Carolina. One of my responsibilities is marketing for our real estate sales.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Obviouslee?

We were not happy with our existing marketing firm, so we partnered with them to address some of those concerns.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handle full-stack marketing services for our team, ranging from public relations to campaign strategy and creative for both print and digital marketing. Because real estate purchases are such a big decision, our main goal with them is to get people interested enough in our location to either call our sales team, visit, or both.

For the most part, they handle that first engagement win and then we take things from there. However, they also assist us with side projects when necessary, such as web redevelopment and other creative-involved tasks that we have.

What was the team composition?

Day to day, we’ve got about a 2–3-person team, and all together we’ve worked with closer to 8–9 of them depending on what we’re doing.

How did you come to work with Obviouslee?

We were looking for a digital e-commerce specialist to assist us on that side of things and had found a firm that we wanted to work with. They told us that we would be a very unusual client for them and that we would need a more traditional marketing firm in order to make the partnership work and recommended Obviouslee. We talked to some other firms as well as them but liked Obviouslee the best and decided to move forward from there.

What is the status of this engagement?

They officially came on board around October 2018 and we are continuing to work together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve been really happy with the relationship so far. They think outside the box and are willing to stand behind their strategies, which makes them really easy to work with. Since the beginning of the engagement, our leads are up significantly, as are tours by potential prospects for the island. The last three months have obviously been a bit unusual in general, but overall the increase has been very measurable in every regard.

How did Obviouslee perform from a project management standpoint?

They communicate daily over Zoom and the Google Suite and are always easy to get hold of outside of that if there are any issues. Our relationship with them is very open, and I’m linked into just about everything that they do, which I really appreciate. Whether we’re publishing on a website, a newsletter, a blog, or whatever, I get the last cut at editing and signing off on it all.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think their willingness to do the legwork and still ultimately give us the reins has been a big part of our success. As I said, we decided to make this move because we weren’t satisfied with the performance of our last marketing team, and this partnership has been nothing but successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything that sticks out to me as something they could be doing differently. We all have room for improvement, but for the most part, they really put effort into making it a great working relationship for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just get right into the nitty-gritty upfront so that you can get a sense of what they’re made of and how strong their strategies are. That will help you significantly in directing the project from there.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the outreach chair on the board of a nonprofit. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Obviouslee?

We conducted a review for a potential renaming and redid our logo with them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We met with them several times and they took us through exercises to achieve our aims. Our teams met 2–3 times for renaming exercises and ultimately decided to maintain our current name. For the logo, we met with them, and they provided us with packets of possible options. After giving them edits and feedback, they delivered the final product. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people. 

How did you come to work with Obviouslee?

They’re local to our area and come highly recommended in the region. I’d also been impressed with their past work. 

How much have you invested with them?

The package is under $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together between April 2018–July 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t launched the logo yet, but our organization has seen positive feedback from the city and those who have seen the final product.  

How did Obviouslee perform from a project management standpoint?

They did an excellent job leading meetings and collecting feedback from everyone on the board. It was very professional. We communicated through Zoom calls, and they delivered a PDF of their progress while working through the logo project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re truly in-touch with lifestyle in our area. Their professionalism allowed them to elevate our ideas. That creativity and direction really held the project together. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We didn’t have any issues throughout the process.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open and honest, giving them your full feedback. Don’t worry about holding anything back.