Personiv

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Lamar is an advertising agency that advertises on billboards nationwide. My position is senior art director, and I am in charge of managing artists to create all of our billboards.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Personiv?

We use Personiv to do some of the overflow work that we can’t complete locally.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Personiv provides a team of artists that design billboards all day long, producing well over 150 billboards per day. We assign them designs and instructions each day and receive the design back on the same day and give feedback on their work.

What is the team composition?

The team over at Personiv is about 20 people. That includes about 11­–12 artists, a few support staff, some QA people, and an art director. John (Art Director, Personiv) is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Personiv?

Several years ago, one of our executives was interested in having us try outsourcing. It took us a few test-runs with teams in various parts of the world to find a team with the skill to mimic the American culture and tribal knowledge that we have here necessary to connect with an American audience.

In a pilot program where we sent them— what was then AFCC—a few test jobs, they did a good job, so we just continued to work with them from there. Our work with them has grown as we’ve grown, and the experience stayed pretty much the same after they were acquired by Personiv.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $75,000–$100,000 per year with Personiv.

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe we began working with them in October 2011 and are continuing to work together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are able to offload approximately 12% of our total workload to Personiv. They’re able to handle the workload very well, which helps us in a lot of ways. Having this partnership with Personiv allows us to get the work done efficiently without having to constantly be hiring graphic designers locally.

Their team pretty much mirrors the quality of the team that we have stateside, where you have some designers that are generally better than others. They’ve improved dramatically just over the last two years and have worked with us to reduce the amount we receive needing more work virtually to zero.

How did Personiv perform from a project management standpoint?

They are definitely good at project management. We’re able to tag the jobs that are going to require a little bit more skill, and then they figure out how to distribute tasks based on which designers are the most skilled, the most experienced, or the most efficient so they can get everything done for us by the end of the day.

We use Slack for weekly calls as well as more general communication, and they reach out to ask questions if they’re unsure about any instructions we give them. There have been a couple of times when we’ve sent them more jobs than usual, and they always let us know when it might take a little longer, but it’s rare that even that happens.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been to their facility in the Philippines three times and spoken with their HR and higher management on several occasions, and I’m always most impressed by the level of professionalism and care with which they treat their employees. That has really contributed to the stability of their team and the quality of their work. They are extremely dependable compared to many other providers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re doing a great job. Every time we ask them to raise the bar, they surpass our expectations. As long as the amount of work we get continues to grow, we’re going to increase the amount of work that we rely on Personiv for.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I really encourage everyone working with them to do a site visit. Coordination can be pretty abstract when you’re dealing with people from the other side of the world, but going to their facility and seeing how well they run things can help you trust their judgment and professionalism a lot more.