OCTAGRAM

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Digital Marketing Consultant at Nikon Europe, and help the company expanding its Digital Marketing efforts, focusing on Email Marketing, in the European marketplace.

For what projects/services did your company hire OCTAGRAM?

Nikon did not have an overall and seamless look&feel and strategy for Email communications. All countries created their own design and sends within their knowledge and capabilities. We worked with Octagram to setup a new, overarching Email template design, usage guidelines and style guide, as well as "off-the-shelf" emails and email examples.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create a seamless experience for the consumer across Europe, and across multiple systems, as well as provide a new drag-and-drop email marketing tool with the new design within Salesforce Marketing Cloud, that the local teams can easily use and customise within the design guidelines and for their country needs.

How did you select this vendor?

Octagram has been a trusted and experienced web design and email design agency for several major multinational companies including Nike, where they already showcased exceptional expertise, advice, customer support and flexibility. I knew that this assignment would be perfect for Octagram after reviewing their further projects and experiences.

Describe the project in detail.

As part of this project, we worked together with Octagram to take into account Nikon's local country learnings and company history and vision, and designed a new and overarching Email template. This not only modernized the look&feel, but also created a seamless experience for the consumer across Europe and multiple systems. The design project was including various screen (laptop, mobile) usage, industry best practices, and taking into account brand guidelines. Octagram created also a comprehensive and detailed style guide for all use cases, as well as example emails, customised Nikon icons, and the first marketing emails as "off-the-shelf" solutions to be sent centrally from the European headquarters to the local teams and consumers. We incorporated local feedback and learnings and customised elements that were specific for each country, while keeping the overarching Nikon email branding.

What was the team composition?

I worked directly with the Design Lead and also the CEO.

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

Based on the new template design, we created the new drag-and-drop email template within Salesforce Marketing Cloud and provided a detailed training, style guide and best practices to the local country and European teams. The teams welcomed the new design and style guide very positively and enthusiastically. Shortly after they could create their own emails to their local subscribers and see uplift in engagement.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Octagram team was always hands-on, supportive and beyond expectations. Their skills showed spotless and correct design, while the project was sometimes quite complicated due to the local inputs and local versions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Octagram was always quick and thorough, responding to emails and project updates or changes with understanding and flexibility. Their hands-on, speedy and helpful approach is exceptional across the digital agencies. Always asked the right questions and led us to the best possible solutions.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I know I can trust Octagram 100% due to their design expertise and approach, while also they are working on expanding their knowledge beyond UX and UI. I think it is a great opportunity for them to go beyond the (web) design and start sharing their more in-depth digital marketing expertise as well.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a small landscape architecture company. I am co-owner of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire OCTAGRAM?

We created a new visual identity and rebranding of our website. Octagram provided web development for our custom website for desktop and mobile.

What were your goals for this project?

that our website stay true to the concepts of our new visual identity and transforms that in to a digital experience. a peaceful and well proportioned and responsive platform to display our work and approach.

How did you select this vendor?

they were advised to us via our marketing adviser who had done work and web development with them previously.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

they developed, configured and launched a new backend. guidelines and design were provided for the design of the website and they translated this into a working and functioning website. there are simple functions on the website that have been consciously chosen in order for the functioning of the website to provide an intuitive backdrop to display our portfolio.

What was the team composition?

our team was threefold: ourselves (client), web development and our graphic designer

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

many positive comments but it's difficult to say that it has had a direct effect.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

it was a simple set up, through email, Skype and links to work on an d follow the development of our website.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

very efficient, despite the physical distance of our companies everything ran smoothly and efficiently. The team was very thorough at running and checking the website.

Are there any areas for improvement?

not at this moment

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm responsible for Zanders Solutions, the cloud services business line of a globally operating consulting firm in the treasury & financial risk domain.

For what projects/services did your company hire OCTAGRAM, and what were your goals?

A redesign of the public website of our largest solution, which was already a few years old. The new site was to better serve the interests of the different buying personas, allowing for more precise integration into our digital marketing and sales operations.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I was looking for a small, creative web development studio with good references that would be (likely) committed. Octagram convinced by asking a number of very valid questions during that showcased their expertise during the introduction call, and rapid follow-up on questions afterwards.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Our business consultants prepared a (not too nice) mock-up with the content they wanted to display in a Powerpoint slide deck, consisting of 30 slides that were to cover 10 pages. In a series of iterations, Octagram defined the common style, created the design for each of these pages, and after approval they converted it into html, javascript and css that looks as it should on a wide range of devices and browsers.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

One designer did most of the work, and the managing director joined all calls to make sure we were continuously on the same page.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The redesign was delivered on time and meets our expectations. We have no insight into metric improvement (yet).

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Weekly iterations during the design phase, then biweekly updates with live access to the current state during implementation.

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

Hands-on, dedicated and pragmatic. They were flexible enough to make a number of changes to the design, even though we had already approved something slightly different.

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

Not really.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Scotch and Soda is a Dutch fashion retail company. As Creative Services Manager I manage all creative output for the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire OCTAGRAM, and what were your goals?

We hired Octagram to help us with our monthly paid media campaigns. Since each campaign requires the creation of many assets we were struggling to find a company that could help us increase efficiency whilst keeping the level of quality high.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I worked with Octagram at Nike and new they were a very reputable and dependent company, who always deliver work of a high quality.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

Key deliverables for us are display, affiliate and social assets, for both still image and video assets.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We work closely with Tavi & Sergiu.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Since working with Octagram we have seen an increase in efficiency of our paid media briefing process. The work has very little creative changes and in general the process of working with them is much smoother.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow has been excellent. Tavi and Sergiu are always responsive, always fast to work on any changes we may have and are always open to feedback on how the process can be further improved.

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

Their genuine interest and willingness to improve process & delivery for Scotch and Soda.

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

No, so far everything has been great. We have had a couple of recap sessions where we have discussed improvements from both sides and any feedback has been quickly implemented.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Tambor is a premium brand of organic acai pulps from the Brazilian amazon. We supply through foodservice, retail, and e-commerce. I am the CEO and founder of the company which was started in 2007.

For what projects/services did your company hire OCTAGRAM?

We hired Octragram to develop a custom website for our company. In 2017, we began working with them to evolve the site for e-commerce. Our online store launched in November of 2017.

What were your goals for this project?

To build an aesthetically pleasing and functional site to feature our products and our story.

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended to us by our graphic designers.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Octagram worked with us and our designers from start to finish to build a functional and visually pleasing site. From initial site development to special configurations and site updates, they were available for everything along the way.

What was the team composition?

Tavi, Elena, and Raluca were 3 team members from Octagram that were always available for us. When a team meeting or scheduled call was needed, they were always quick to accommodate our requests, most of the time on short notice.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Since working with Octagram and building a premium website, our distribution has expanded to cover all of the 50 US states including a successful launch into online sales.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was very effective and responsive when needed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Attention to detail and professionalism. They were willing to go the extra mile to solve any issues that came about unexpectedly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Our experiences with Octagram have always been very positive.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Founder and Managing Partner of MyOrganic - an e-commerce store specialized in selling organic cosmetics.

For what projects/services did your company hire OCTAGRAM?

We contracted Octagram to create our brand identity for MyOrganic and develop our e-commerce website.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to create a brand image that would position MyOrganic as a friendly, healthy and nature-oriented company using a clean and elegant approach. The website had to be very well optimized for SEO, easy to navigate and display information in an elegant and uncluttered manner.

How did you select this vendor?

We selected Octagram for their portfolio and experience of working with global brands and also because we liked their flexibility and friendly way of communicating, something you don't usually find in a large agency.

Describe the project in detail.

We had to go through three different concepts before deciding on the way we wanted to go with our logo and brand identity and from there a couple of more iterations were needed to reach the final design for the logo and a mood board to express the brand's visual language.

In the web development phase, we first put together a technical brief together with Octagram and defined the guidelines for the look & feel of the website. The next steps included wireframes, design proposals, and implementation.

What was the team composition?

From my knowledge, the team that worked on the project was made of one designer and two programmers + the project manager. We communicated directly with the project manager and designer.

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

The project duration was 4 months (brand identity + web development) and the website was launched in his initial version but was continuously optimized ever since. We have a very good overall conversion rate for Organic Traffic (2.43%) and Direct Traffic (1.9%), compared to 1.2% the industry average in our country. And according to a survey we ask customers to fill in after they place an order, 79% of them consider they had a very good or excellent shopping experience.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had excellent communication with Octagram and as I mentioned previously I was very happy with their flexibility and the fact that deadlines were met when the brief was not altered along the way. They always communicate clearly when the timeline and budget are affected by a new request and they propose a new deadline.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I think there are a few things defining Octagram:

1. They think together with the client and propose solutions
2. They provide good quality work and they stand by their products 
3. They did their best to further optimize the website after it was launched
4. They reply promptly and do their best to stick to deadlines if deadlines cannot be met, they let me know in time

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nobody is perfect. We wish the website could've been launched sooner, but it was nobody's fault as things had to be adapted along the way.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Marketing Manager

For what projects/services did your company hire OCTAGRAM?

OCTAGRAM was hired to produce a creative with existing assets and adapt it for print usage.

How did you select this vendor?

We worked with OCTAGRAM in the past on similar projects who turned out to be successful.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After an initial brief shared via email, we went through several rounds of feedbacks on their proposals. OCTAGRAM has been very responsive.

What was the team composition?

Creative review by the design team, project led by the brand function.

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

Confidential

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Confidential

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their commitment, responsiveness, and ability to understand our brief are impressive.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

None

Please describe your company and your position there.

AdBirds combines former Google and Facebook employees working together across the globe in every time zone to provide digital marketing services in more than 60 countries, 365 days per year.

For what projects/services did your company hire OCTAGRAM, and what were your goals?

We needed a new website, new presentation decks, etc and hired Octagram for this as they were highly recommended by former Nike employees to us.

How did you select OCTAGRAM and what were the deciding factors?

Mainly thanks to the positive 'word of mouth' about Octagram we decided to hire them. After their first project we decided to hire them for several other projects being very happy with the results.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Completely new website to be built, which is in progress. The newly created presentation slides have exceeded our expectations. Not only because the look&feel is to our liking, but also the efficient way they work. Plus superb communication processes.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Approx 5 senior developers were involved on average.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We get positive feedback from our clients about the work from Octagram

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

They work in a highly efficient professional way.

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

The team's approach is lean and mean.

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

Met/exceeded all our expectations.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the digital marketing lead for 'Specialty Categories' - Basketball, Skateboard, Tennis, Golf at a large sports retailer.

For what projects/services did your company hire OCTAGRAM?

To adapt assets from our latest campaigns to fit Media Placements.

What were your goals for this project?

Being able to deliver premium Media Placements, on time, to our Partners.

How did you select this vendor?

They reached out in the past to offer their services.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Adaptation of still assets to fit Media Placements. Creation of GIFs/HTML5/Animations.

What was the team composition?

I've worked closely with the team leads.

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

Too early to share results on how the content performed but really happy with the deliverables provided.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Really effective from my side. The guys have been super responsive and delivered great quality work.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their will to do more.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Can't find anything at the moment.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're a European multinational company providing energy and automation digital solutions for efficiency and sustainability. It addresses homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries, by combining energy technologies, real-time automation, software and services.

For what projects/services did your company hire OCTAGRAM?

User Journey and Wireframing the a best in Class Shop in Shop

How did you select this vendor?

From my past experience I've had with Octagram I've recommended them to my employer.

Describe the project in detail.

They developed the user Journey and Wireframing the best in Class Shop in Shop

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

They were supportive, goal-oriented, and customer-centric.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was well planned and communicative.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Personally I love their simplicity and no political standards, very straight forward and easy going!

Are there any areas for improvement?

n/a