Our Own Brand

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of Genie Drinks Limited, a soft drinks brand selling modern soft drinks for adults.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Our Own Brand?

We recently went through a rebranding process with another agency, but we had social media channels with our old branding still, and we needed to update those accounts with our new one. Our purpose was to move our new brand forward to grow our follower base. We also wanted to make sure that we communicated what it represented clearly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our Own Brand has helped us implement our new brand in all of our digital channels — that was their first task. Initially, we provided them with our brand guidelines and style guides. We also showed them how our new brand should look. Then, they helped us deploy the imagery sampled by our branding agency, and they made the transition from our old to our new brand in our social media accounts.

Since then, Our Own Brand has been helping us with social media management (SMM), using our new brand guidelines to ensure that our content feels part of that new brand. They’ve also helped us change how we communicate with users to better match our voice with the new brand.

As part of their SMM efforts, they interact with our community and potential partners and create the content necessary to engage them and help us grow our follower base. Additionally, they plan our social media output and identify the right audience to target our products to. Furthermore, Our Own Brand has also helped us launch Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok accounts, and they’ve set up a social media e-store to offer our products.

What is the team composition?

We work with an account director, an account manager, and a social media manager.

How did you come to work with Our Own Brand?

We put out a tender to find someone who could manage our social media accounts. Before that, Our Own Brand had already worked with us on building our website. Thus, when we launched the tender, they approached us to help us with SMM, and we decided to work with them again.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around £25,000 (approximately $31,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership began in August 2021, and it is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our Own Brand has helped us increase our social media reach. Our follower base has gone from 3,500–7,000 followers since we started working with them, and we’re now reaching more people than we ever have. Between January and February 2022, our Instagram impressions grew by 7,000, and our engagement grew by another 7,000 interactions. Overall, our statistics are growing monthly, and everything is going the right way; we’re getting more likes, shares, and engagement than before.

In addition to that, Our Own Brand has executed the look and feel of our new branding on social media very well. I also like their copywriting because it accurately reflects our voice. All things considered, we’re very happy with their work, and we enjoy working with them.

I believe that social media has less impact than before, so growing accounts is harder. However, Our Own Brand has done a great job at growing our accounts fastly and consistently enough to consolidate a genuine community of followers; we’re very happy with that community.

How did Our Own Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

Our Own Brand’s project management has been very good. They’ve successfully delivered their work on time and on budget. We use Trello and HeyOrca to manage the project, and we use Slack for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our Own Brand is a pleasure to work with, and they deliver what they say they are going to deliver — I would highly recommend them. From the start, they believed in our brand and our mission, and they’ve truly supported us along the way. Their team understands where we are going and what we want to achieve. Overall, I feel that they’ve been real partners.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be great if Our Own Brand helped us find more brand partnerships than they currently are. They’re doing a great job overall, but we feel that we’re finding more partnerships than they. Still, it is understandable that we’re doing a better job in that regard because we’re part of the industry and have close relationships with other people within it. Other than that, I don’t have any constructive feedback for them; they’re doing a very good job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Firstly, I would highly recommend working with Our Own Brand. As for advice, I can tell you to take their proposal seriously, meet their team, and work closely with them because they’re pleasurable to work with and great at what they do.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Head of Creative Partnerships for an international Music Production company. We create and curate music for media.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Our Own Brand?

Our Own Brand are providing ongoing social media management services.

SOLUTION

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

We went through a rigorous process of vetting companies to partner with. OOB were warm, professional and we appreciated the patience and hand holding they provided to help us build our brand story authentically and organically in the social media space. We also liked how their team camaraderie echoed our own.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We're in an on-going working partnership where we communicate daily via Slack and have learnt to streamline our process for creative sign off using Hey Orca. We have monthly content planning meetings but often meet more frequently when a project or team member has questions or concepts.

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

We work with most of the OOB team, including the company directors, but with their social and content manager on a daily basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've grown organically on Instagram, Linkedin, FB with key audiences indicators growing daily. We've found huge success creating original educational content posted on reels that we will be posting on TikTok starting this month and with more confidence surrounding our ability to create valuable content and have OOB design and manage it, we are ready to explore paid media options to push the content we now know is the most valuable to our audiences and for our brand identity.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our workflow has become more streamlined each month. They understand our brand language more naturally and we have confidence in their design and creative concepts based on the success we've experienced.

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

We've found them to be happily amenable to our needs, flexible, positive with their feedback/comments. They work as a machine in the same way we do as an international company and have accommodated us outside the normal working hours when needed.

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

As we grow and evolve as a company, we're learning what works on our platforms. Together we've navigated the audience response and where we're not seeing the best results, we've taken note and redirected accordingly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the directors of a boutique eco music festival. Our festival takes place in the mountains in Bulgaria.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Our Own Brand?

We needed help with social media marketing, PR, and community management. We wanted to expand on the cult following our festival had to attract a wider audience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with them to manage and run ads on our social media platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. They’re working to grow our audiences on these platforms. Their team has done PPC work as well as PR and press projects. They also assist with content creation. They’ve been present at some of our festivals, interviewing musicians, artists, and other vendors and performers to build the content.

What is the team composition?

We worked initially with Sarah (Co-Founder) and Richard (Co-Founder). Now that our engagement has grown, we’ve also worked with their production team, their social team, and an account manager.

How did you come to work with Our Own Brand?

They were recommended to us by a mutual colleague. We took a look at their website and were impressed with their previous work. They seemed like a good fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over £25,000 (approximately $35,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked together since May 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since starting our work with them, our collective following has grown by about 45% and we’ve been able to sell festival tickets more quickly. Our audience has grown to be more international, which is great. Their results are consistent and reliable, and we’ve been able to connect with them on a personal level as well. They have a very tailored approach. Their team is very down-to-earth and conservation-minded.

How did Our Own Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done great. Sarah’s taken on the project manager role. Their team delivered everything on time and on budget. We’ve used Trello and Slack, providing us with a direct line of communication to each other. We also have weekly calls so that we can approve any content they create.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They genuinely care and want to do a great job. Their team took the time to get to know our goals and beliefs. I couldn’t recommend them highly enough.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. We’ve had a great experience with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Definitely work with them. If you give them the space to be creative, you’ll be happy with the results. They’re a great company made up of great people.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Co-founder of HugoSave launching SE Asia's first Wealthcare app with saving at its heart. Hugo helps customers discover hidden wealth by turning everyday spending into opportunities for growth and making healthy financial habits second nature. Development in UK and HQ in Singapore.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Our Own Brand?

UX and UI Design in neomorphic style for Mobile App, in React.js native. Development and curation of Webite maintaining core App brand identity. Development of Hugo animated and static bot.

What were your goals for this project?

1. Best-in-class UI and UX for App and Website - Specifically, the brief was to build an App interface that made finance friendly. - The website followed a similar design format.
2. Development of the 'iconic' Hugo Bot. The brief was to bring HugoSave to life in a fun and candid way, using a cute Bot.

SOLUTION

How did you select Our Own Brand?

We spoke with a number of brand agencies when originally selecting who to work with on creating our company brand identity. We had 7 pitches/ meetings from agencies globally, including Our Own Brand.

Although they impressed and worked closely with our engineering team on a number of projects we chose an in region branding co. Although this worked out we began to understand the OOB capabilities more when they were recommended to do our App design UI and UX build.

We were so impressed with the approach and designs with reference to our existing identity we began to engage them on more specific projects which are really evolving our brand.

Describe the project in detail.

The brief was to build an interface that made finance friendly. We wanted to engage our App users with an intuitive navigation flow that replicated how they engage with their financial universe.

The app flowed on the temporal horizon of the immediacy of spending via cards to near-term budgeting in money pots to longer-term savings in physical gold and discrete investment portfolios. The simplicity of use and design. The website followed a similar design format.

Development of the 'iconic' Hugo Bot. The brief was to bring HugoSave to life in a fun and candid way, using a cute Bot. We wanted to evolve his personality and establish Hugo in the lives of our customers across SE Asia.

What was the team composition?

Account executive and founder Sarah, App design team led by Richard with animators and web designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We undertook pre-launch testing with 100 users of App and engaged in the product. Feedback via video interviews with 15 people plus Typeform Q&A. 1 hour sessions which involved UX testing and Q&A. Feedback on UI UX of app was 5 star out of 5. Simple, slick and best in class. Encouraging data set. Plus Everyone loved Hugo the bot. The real litmus test will be on launch.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Seamless. Used project management and worklflow boards. Trello, Plant.io (design /devs), slack etc.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Efficient. timely delivery on great ideation. The team posses a truly creative outfit. Exude style as a group and have good taste and this manifests itself in their work.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They have strong opinions, not keen on compromising their artistic bent so they are authentic. Nonetheless, they do exhibit strong empathy.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of Palatial Leisure Limited, a bingo, gaming, and online casino company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Our Own Brand?

We hired them to support marketing and frontend development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They manage our Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and Instagram Ads, contract monitoring, and managed it. We come up with most of the content, but then they adapt it and are responsible for posting.

They also created our TV advertisement. They did everything from storyboarding to scripting. They hired voice actors to come in and we were able to choose who we wanted to hire for our ad.  

Whether they’re working on a TV or digital ad, they usually ask me what my thoughts are, what my strategy is, and what promotions I want to do. Then they glamorize it and prepare it for the media.

Finally, they reviewed our site and identified why it wasn’t converting. Then they redesigned the site’s frontend to address the faults they found.

What is the team composition?

We mainly deal with Sarah (Co-Founder) and she delegated to the rest of the team.

How did you come to work with Our Own Brand?

We were facing some challenges with our previous provider, so I searched online for a new partner. I spoke to 6–7 companies, but Our Own Brand was the most helpful when I called.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve about £150,000 (approximately $210,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2020 and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our Own Brand always gives us what we want. They’ve increased our numbers by about 75%. The customer response has been very positive because the TV ad is quite good.

How did Our Own Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very collaborative and they keep us informed at all times. We communicate via phone, text, and Skype so they’re always accessible and they respond very quickly. If something isn’t working right, they immediately start to work on it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re empathetic and understand the position we are in. They listened to our problems to better understand our business needs. Rather than viewing our feedback as criticism, they view it as a constructive critique and do something about it.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so. What they came up with is better than what I expected.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear and candid about what you want because they will do their best to help you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and co-director of an online print shop that sells artwork by about 50 different artists. We have two stores in the UK as well. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Our Own Brand?

Our company started out as a blog that transformed into a shop later on. Initially, they built us a bespoke website. As we started selling things, they’ve expanded the site to include a Shopify store.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built our original website, which was a bespoke blogging website. During that time, they also created a logo and graphic design elements for us. When we transitioned into selling prints, they attached a Shopify store to the existing website. They did the web development to integrate a WordPress site with the Shopify site, so they can run together while being compatible with mobile devices. That involved custom frontend development and design. They didn’t use a WordPress template. In doing so, they took SEO best practices and preservation into account. When we moved the site, they handled domain management as well. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people: Rich (Co-Founder), Sarah (Co-Founder), and one other teammate. 

How did you come to work with Our Own Brand?

I worked with a designer who put me in touch with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent £10,000–£15,000 (approximately)

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since June 2018.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m more than happy with their work. They’re the reason we’ve doubled our inventory turnover year over year. They’ve refined our site, promoted our content, and done a brilliant job with web design. Our company wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for them.  

How did Our Own Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re responsive and deliver on time. It feels like they’re an extension of our team. We communicate using email and Trello.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re great at listening to us to understand our brand. They’re involved with our company and want to get a good result for our sake. We’re happy that they bring in the right expertise and agile approach whenever we need it. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve always come up with a good solution. I can’t think of anything.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Executive Director of a newly founded non-profit organisation that is working to tackle climate change. The organisation works with leaders from business, finance, government, and non-profit to deliver a portfolio of sustainability initiatives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Our Own Brand, and what were your goals?

We hired the team to build our first website and marketing material. Prior to this, we had a very simple landing page and our presence online was limited.

SOLUTION

How did you select Our Own Brand and what were the deciding factors?

Shortlisted ~5 companies based on their portfolios online. Decided to go with OOB after a couple of good phone conversations, where we described what we were looking for and how they could help.

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

We wanted to build a professional-looking website that would showcase the work our team is doing and help us enhance our brand awareness. Additionally, we wanted to create a set of polished outreach material that would go out to both existing and prospective donors.

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

We interacted directly with the Co-Founder, who was on every call and coordinated with the rest of the OOB team to incorporate our input and feedback.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Both the website and marketing material have been a great success! We have seen a big increase in online traffic and interest received from organisations that are looking to partner with us.

Similarly, we have received great feedback from funders about the marketing material we have put together, which was based on the templates that OOB had created for us.

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

OOB led the initial website design, with input from our team regarding colours, imagery, and copyright. After 1.5 weeks, the OOB team had put together a mock website that our team could go through and provide feedback on.

The website underwent a couple of further iterations before we were happy to go live. It was very easy and fluid. We aimed to have a call during each week of the project and exchanged multiple emails throughout to share feedback offline and status updates.

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

We were very impressed by the team's ability to capture our preferences and make them look appealing in a website format. Everything came together nicely and we're very proud of the end product.

Additionally, we are hugely appreciative of the OOB team for going above and beyond to check in on us after the project ended. They did a full handover of the website to make sure our team was comfortable in making edits in the future.

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

No - everything was terrific!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a London based boutique consultancy, focusing on financial services risk and regulation, assisting Boards and Management to deliver sustainable business models through financial, operational, and cultural resilience.

I am the Head of Marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Our Own Brand, and what were your goals?

Our old website was very simple that hadn’t been done by a professional and it was difficult to personalise. As the company evolved, we needed to build a new website with much more functionalities and one adapted to our branding.

SOLUTION

How did you select Our Own Brand and what were the deciding factors?

I looked at review sites for developers. I was looking for someone with extensive Wordpress experience. I found some good reviews about Our Own Brand, so I visited their site.

We asked for quote from 3 different agencies and had calls with all of them, and based on the offers and the calls we decided to work with Our Own Brands.

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

Our Own Brand developed our new Wordpress website from scratch, with custom CMS system, members area and other functionalities. They built the design around our already existing branding guidelines and helped us to find the look and feel we were looking for.

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

We worked directly with the two owners of the business, Sarah and Richard.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have a much-improved website and we're very happy with it. We had great feedback from clients and partners, and there are some further functionalities we’d like to add in the future.

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

We were in close communication the whole way through. We were quite demanding in terms of all the tweaks we wanted to make and how we wanted the site to look. I usually sent them an email or we used a shared document for the feedback and changes.

If it was urgent, I called them and they were quick to reply. All of the feedback I’ve provided has been implemented, or they’ve made recommendations on bits and pieces.

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

No one in our company had previous experience with WordPress sites. Richard was very helpful in explaining the process, the website functionalities and how it was going to work.

It was a very broad project, so we needed time to get it work as we imagined.

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

Sometimes a bit more testing and a bit more time for customer feedback and changes based on those feedback could have been a little better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Tried and Supplied is a software platform designed to make it easier for food service operators to source and order from local, sustainable suppliers. I am the founder of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Our Own Brand?

Re-branding both our main brand and our blog brand Migrating a Wordpress blog Building two Wordpress websites

What were your goals for this project?

Bring the brand of our app, Tried and Supplied, and our blog, Saucy Dressings closer together so that they look like part of the same family. Create branding that looks natural, dynamic and approachable to appeal to chefs and foodie consumers.

Separate the blog and our static pages from the functional app and rebuild them as a Wordpress site we can more easily manage content wise ourselves. Create a new ecommerce platform under the name of Saucy Dressings that can help us monetise some of the traffic we receive on the blog.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I was recommended this vendor by the excellent developer who has built our app.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They started by discussing the brand values and what we wanted to portray with our brand. They researched other relevant brands and we discussed how we felt about their look and feel. Then they came up with a few sketches for us to review and feedback on before finalising the designs.

Once we had completed the branding exercise, they started mocking up designs of the new sites. The new site design was based on a modular approach that gave consistency to the site in terms of look and feel, but also meant we could easily adapt the design to future content. Finally they built a Wordpress theme including styling for the new ecommerce site and migrated the blog and existing static pages.

What was the team composition?

We worked directly with the two owners of the business. Sarah was our point of contact on the branding exercise and involved the designer in the initial briefing call. Rich was our point of contact on the website rebuild.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have a much improved branding that looks really cohesive and complementary. I have received lots of unsolicited compliments on the new brand from customers, investors, family and friends.

We now have a means of monetising our blog traffic through the sale of physical products, bookable meetings and affiliate links. We can much more easily manage the content of our website ourselves.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was very smooth. Both Sarah and Rich made themselves readily available whenever there were things to talk through.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

This was a highly complex project, that required a great deal of sensitivity and thought. Both Sarah and Rich were adept at understanding what we were trying to achieve and how to realise that. They weren't phased by the complexity of it and put a lot of effort into making it as good as it possibly could be. I really felt like they were part of our team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

With any project like this customer feedback is to be expected. The one area I think they could improve for next time is building in more time for customer feedback and responding to that within the initial plan. If it's not needed, that's great, but I think it would be helpful to schedule that in.

I also think it would be helpful to keep track of customer feedback in Google Sheets or similar so that it's easier to keep on top of what has been requested and completed. This would have been particularly helpful for the website build, because there were lots of little things to adjust that got easily lost in the exchange of emails.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Guru Systems develops intelligent technology to make energy systems more transparent, lower cost and lower carbon. I am the Marketing Manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Our Own Brand?

Our company hired Our Own Brand to create a series of branded assets as well as slide templates and brochure templates.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to deliver consistent and high quality digital promotional material.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our Own Brand came recommended, and their pitch and quote was competitive against two other services.

Describe the project in detail.

Using our brand guidelines and brief, Our Own Brand created a range of branded assets for use across social media and web. We worked together to choose the final design. Our Own Brand then created a draft Google Slides template and Indesign brochure template. Together we refined through two edits before deciding on the final design. Our Own Brand send all assets via WeTransfer.

What was the team composition?

We worked with Amber and Richard at Our Own Brand. Richard steered the project and helped make design decisions and Amber did most of the execution work as well as coming up with ideas of her own.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've already had great feedback on our new public facing image.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Working with Our Own Brand was easy. They were always on hand if I had questions and the work was completed on time.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

You don't have to be a design expert to work with Our Own Brand - they'll guide you through the process, help make aesthetic decisions and provide 'how to' documentation or comments where needed.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None - I would work with them again.