Pepper Group

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CMO of Swift Prepaid Solutions. We are a FinTech company specializing in global and digital payments for corporate incentives and corporate disbursements.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Pepper Group?

We’ve worked with Pepper Group for more than a decade. In that time, their most significant contributions have been to web development and product marketing projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Before working with Pepper Group, we described our offering as an extensive laundry list of services we could provide to our customers. Pepper Group helped us to rein that in and scale it with our message as it went out to our clients. We have a better understanding now of how to package our services.

Pepper Group also designed our corporate website. We collaborated with them to determine what the interface should look like and what features would add the most value. They generally produced all of the wireframes and designs themselves, and then we’d work through an iterative process of providing feedback and making revisions until we had a digital platform that was fit for purpose.

What is the team composition?

The core members of the team we work with are George (President, Pepper Group), Melissa (Account Director, Pepper Group), and Allan (Copy Director, Pepper Group).

How did you come to work with Pepper Group?

Our CEO has known George for many years and has a lot of trust in his team’s abilities.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $400,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in November 2008 and remains ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been growing about 20% year-over-year for the last seven years. Pepper Group has played a vital role in the way we approach our clients with our product sets because our biggest differentiator is our product offering.

How did Pepper Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Pepper Group spends the proper amount of time scoping each project. They take the time to understand what we’re trying to do so that they can operate much more independently after that. We communicate easily through emails and phone calls, but we also meet in person a fair amount.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to understand our business, our offering, and our clients’ business is pretty unique. Pepper Group is contemplative, which suits us well because that’s the way we approach our clients. We’re not a very transactional business, but there are a lot of transactional marketing agencies out there. Pepper Group is skilled at finding a deeper level of understanding and context. That sets them apart.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing stands out as a pain point.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s critical to give Pepper Group enough information about your business. Open the kimono and let their team investigate what you’re trying to accomplish. The more you can help them understand, the better equipped they will be to produce reliable work.