Passion Communications

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of group operations at StarBev/CVC Capital, a brewing company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Passion Communications?

The primary task was to build a globally acceptable and competitive positioning and communication for the company. The positioning was intended for young adults who love to travel and try different locations. Our emotional competitive advantage was that our brewery is located in the heart of Prague.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Passion Communications presented an idea around Prague legends that sounded perfect, so we asked them to come back with a couple of communication concepts. They showed up a couple of weeks later, and we managed to test it in different markets, which was important. The results were outstanding. We compared and tested ourselves versus the other two players. It was superior in terms of communication and overall position.

Prague’s 77 legends inspired the campaign. When people walk through the city, they can see different buildings with exciting history. Passion Communication suggested that not only the legends of Prague might give us a fantastic platform for our global communication, but the same idea could work as the perfect type of communication for our innovations.

They worked on the communication on the global website and other communication elements for the next 2–3 years.

What is the team composition?

Almost the whole agency worked on this project. There were probably 6–7 people, and the team was made up of the American owner and their international team. There was the CEO, an account director, a creative director, and a couple of copywriters.

How did you come to work with Passion Communications?

Before I joined the company, my boss was the CMO and met them on a completely different project.

At first, we hired a couple of big agencies and gave them the task to develop solid, competitive research-proven communication within four months. None of those creative agencies managed to fulfill the task. All of a sudden, Passion Communications appeared in our office. They were a small boutique agency. I spoke to them and asked if they could handle the task, and they told us to give them a weekend.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $600,000 in total. We launched two innovations. One was an 11-degree proposition, which was unique and had several hops and bitterness units involved. The other one was a mixture of cider and beer for the female target audience. Each of those campaigns was around €150,000–€200,000 (approximately $177,000–$236,000 USD). At the same time, they worked on the global website.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2010–December 2013.

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

In three years, we increased the sales from 40,000 hectoliters to over 400,000 hectoliters, which was ten times higher. Additionally, our profits were significantly high because we’re a super-premium global beer, which was the primary objective of the private equity. They wanted to make sure that we grew the top lines and the bottom line. Then, we were acquired by Molson-Coors two and a half years after I joined the company. It was cleared in 2013, and the selling price was enormous.

Once a year, we did an annual agency evaluation at the end of the financial year, and Passion Communications always did pretty well.

How did Passion Communications perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great with the creative work, but sometimes it was difficult for them to handle several demands from different countries. Since we were dealing with global communication, there were requests for documents and adaptations from the U.S., Asia, European countries, and so on. It was bumpy at the beginning, but they hired some people and took care of the issue.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were creative. Passion Communications did a brief the same way big creative agencies do, but the response rate was different. While others were struggling, Passion Communications got it over the weekend.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If there was a discussion about the need for improvement, it would’ve been back in 2010 and would’ve been around their organizational abilities.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

For projects like these, people tend to go for big houses. Don’t be scared to try boutique creative houses; they can perform too. I wasn’t 100% sure when I met Passion Communications, but the speed and level of creativity that they demonstrated were outstanding. This was my first experience, and I later tried another boutique creative agency, and it worked out again.

Sometimes big creative houses have templates hanging on a string. When clients come, they take ideas that didn’t work out with other clients and offer them to you without too much thought — even if the brief is fantastic. For a small, boutique creative agency, you’re an important partner.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-owner of a barbershop in the vital centre of Prague.

For what projects/services did your company hire Passion Communications?

As a new player in the market we mainly need awareness.

How did you select this vendor?

Therefore we run several advertising campaigns. Also our google add performance and the front end of our webpage were optimised.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They provided us with media solutions, for instance commercial videos for our you tube presence. They optimised google ads and improved the click through performance till a completed booking. Furthermore they suggested both online and offline campaigns to gain market share.

What was the team composition?

I was working mainly with the CEO and owner himself.

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

The number of total bookings has increased and we are still in the process of optimizing processes.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We got quick responses to all requests.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I liked their approach. It started with a visit to the shop in order to learn about all our processes first hand.

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

xxx