Rock Shore

Please describe your company and your position there.

Building STEPS (Science Technology And Education Partnerships Inc.) mission is to equip our city’s brightest students with the tools to propel them to college and career success. Multiyear programming exposes students to unimaginable STEM career opportunities, links education to professional opportunity, and ensures students earn a college degree as the first step in reaching their newfound career goals. Building STEPS provides programming to students attending fifteen partner Baltimore City Public Schools.

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

We have used Rockshore in a variety of capacities. They have been our pandemic lifesaver!

In May 2020, Rockshore guided our last minute pivot from an in-person event to a virtual celebration honoring our 20th year anniversary. With a swift deadline, the RS team led us through the process step by step guiding us with their expertise leading us to exceed our fundraising goal.

January-March 2021: RS assisted our recruitment campaign to secure our 21st student cohort. With recruiting virtually, RS assisted with creating impactful social media clips to reach our young audience and create exposure for applying to our program. Our goal is to accept and support as many promising, eligible Baltimore City high school students as possible. The 15 sec, 30 sec and 1 minute clips yielded a larger return in students applying for our program. We were thrilled!

Finally, our most recent project was to create a Virtual Mission Tour.... A Ten minute video highlighting our programming and impact on Baltimore City youth. The purpose is to market our programming and impact to prospective donors and community supporters. The video was recently completed and far exceeded our expectations. The team's vision evolved into a 10 minute marketing gem. This marketing presentation will launch in June 2021.

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

Rockshore was one of the recommended vendors from our 20th anniversary event planner. After soliciting a couple bids, we selected RS based on their expert presentation, credentials, creativity and competitive pricing. Rockshore far exceed our expectations with each project.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail, including the project steps and all stages of production.

1. Zoom introduction with entire RS team and Building STAFF planning. Reviewed concept, timeline and steps to address
2. Building STEPS proposed speakers, film locations, schedule and shared photos for video production use
3. RS responded with a google doc laying out video filming schedule and locations. Reviewed and approved
4. 3 days of onsite filming narrators, speakers, and student testimonials
5. RS filmed additional broll footage to fill in production gaps
6. Series of drafts were presented and edited by both Building STEPS and Rockshore
7. Final edits clarified and final draft presented by RS and approved by Building STEPS.

Who did you work with and what was the feedback process like?

Our Main contact was Nate Brubaker, head of RS. We also worked closely with the entire team: Matt Winter, Dan Poole and Steve Belcher. All were on hand for planning and filming. Mei Lin Lau Mann was also a part of the process with meeting and logistic coordination. Each person contributed immensely to the success of our projects. Each team member was concise and tactful with navigating the final project. Feedback was provided and returned with grace, clarify and in a timely manner.

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

• 20th anniversary video: exceeded fundraising goal and captured a larger viewing audience with the virtual capacity to reach supporters in other states and time zones.
• Recruitment videos: reached more potential applicants with a creative and youth attracting flair. Proposed outcome is a larger number of accepted students for our 22nd cohort Virtual Tour
• Marketing project to be launched in June.

Specific outcomes not reached yet but the video result blew us away and we anticipate a overwhelming positive response.

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

RS led an introduction planning meeting on Microsoft teams. New to our staff but easy to adapt. DropBox was used for sharing Building STEPS personal videos and photographs to be used within video production Google Docs was used for group edits to filming itinerary, scheduling, names and titles and locations.

Very accessible and easy to coordinate. Additional teams meetings to review concepts and finalize steps. Vimeo was shared by RS team for Building STEPS to view and make real-time edits to video drafts. Overall timeline was smooth and efficient and worked conveniently on both RS and for Building STEPS schedules.

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

Their patience was most appreciated. Our staff is very amateur with video production and final presentation. Rock Shore was kind and patient with reviewing and explaining the process, as well as answering all our questions. Even if there was a moment of uncertainty with the end product, they were clear and concise with explaining the vision and steps to get there.

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

The team was created to work with and was timely in completing the project. No recommendations for improvement. Keep up the good work.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Project Manager at a large nonprofit in Baltimore.

For what projects/services did your company hire Rock Shore?

We procured the services of Rock Shore to help us reveal a huge announcement related to a project we've been working on. It was important to share this announcement with our workforce in a more engaging, exciting way during these virtual times.

The animated graphics video they produced for us exceeded my expectations and really hit home for our teams.

What were your goals for this project?

We hoped to engage our workforce in new and exciting ways to convey the excitement of the announcement we were sharing. The video was posted on our project website and we received a lot of great feedback from it.

How did you select Rock Shore?

Rock Shore was referred to us from another group within our organization.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail.

This project was done in an extremely tight timeline. My team presented a script and the Rock Shore team jumped in right away to start developing the graphics and concepts to accompany the script. Matt worked closely with our creative team and was able to make our vision come to life.

What was your vendors' project management or feedback process?

We worked with just a few team members from Rock Shore. Nate got us started listening to our vision and desired outcomes. He seemed to have a great deal of knowledge and experience he brought to the table working specifically with companies going through similar business transformations we are experiencing.

When Matt was pulled into the process, he jumped right in making our vision come to life. He worked directly with our creative team and was able to easily collect feedback and implement changes even in the tight turnaround time. Meanwhile, Mei was in the background making sure all the project pieces were running smoothly. Great team to work with!

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

Within a few hours of sharing the video, almost half of our teams viewed it and we received a ton of positive feedback.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Working with Rock Shore was easy. They shared each iteration of the video and was receptive to all of our feedback resulting in a great final product.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The Rock Shore team asked all the right questions and helped guide us through everything they needed making the process super smooth. They were extremely knowledgeable and obviously experienced. We're looking forward to working with them on our next video project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It would have been great if we had more time to get everyone to review the script prior to starting production, but with our extremely aggressive timeline, we didn't have that luxury. Despite that, Rock Shore was able to make changes along the way as more people were able to review.