Skeleton Crew Creative Studio

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a co-founder, partner, and owner of Studio Brewing. We are a small independent craft brewery in Burnaby, British Columbia. We just opened recently, although we’ve been working on getting started for several years, so it’s very early days.

What challenge were you trying to address with Skeleton Crew Creative Studio?

We hired Skeleton Crew to help with branding and illustration.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Since my two partners and I are not at all inclined in that area and didn’t have the time, we wanted to outsource everything from font selection to designing color palettes. Our logo was done by a different agency several years ago, but Skeleton Crew built on that logo to choose some additional fonts, colorways, and illustrations.

They’ve also helped with overall project management and finding different methods to roll out our brand and image. Their team has handled our packaged beer label; we collaboratively designed the label with them and had a lot of back and forth. We let them know what we wanted to see, and they executed on that for the label.

We’re primarily focused on rolling content out on Instagram, which is linked to our Facebook, too. We’ve posted all of those designs to show our followers the various beers and labels. Our website has a basic design and it’s built on Squarespace, but we’ll be finalizing it soon and are having a soft opening. 

What is the team composition?

There are two people working with us, James (Strategy Director) and Jack (Creative Director). For one set of labels, they outsourced some of the work to a designer who helped with that task. 

How did you come to work with Skeleton Crew Creative Studio?

We’d previously worked with Skeleton Crew through another company. They did a whole rebrand for that company and we were really happy with their work, so we decided to use them for the Studio Brewing project, as well. They were also fairly priced. Since they’ve been in Vancouver for a pretty short period of time and are growing, we’re helping them get a customer base and a strong portfolio of work. 

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around $25,000 for the full scope of work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around May 2020 and our engagement is ongoing. 

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

Since we just opened and have nothing to compare it to, it’s really tough to know exactly what the impact will be. However, we’ve had over 50 people reaching out on Instagram commenting on how amazing the branding and labels look. People have said the labels are very unique. 

One person pointed out it has a mid-century vibe with a twist, which we like. We’ve had only positive feedback on their work; we know it’s very different from everything else out there. It’s cool that their work has helped differentiate us. 

How did Skeleton Crew Creative Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done a pretty good job managing the work. I’d give them a seven out of ten for their project management. Though they’ve had some weaknesses with it, a lot of it has to do with us. There are many uncertainties when opening a brewery and there are several things up in the air, so it’s been challenging from that perspective when managing the branding work. 

The first challenge came when we were trying to figure out who we were and what we wanted to do; we never completed that aspect because we kept running into roadblocks.

I also expect almost an immediate turnaround, which isn’t the easiest to work with and isn’t always 100% fair. With other, well-established branding agencies, they’d understand why we needed something right away and get it done, but with Skeleton Crew, they sometimes take a week to give me something that I said I needed by tomorrow. In this sense, time management is something they can improve on. 

Given all these challenging aspects, though, they’ve done a pretty solid job and could still improve going forward. Hopefully they’ve taken our feedback and will use it in future projects. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a small team and are very easy to deal with. They both have specific focus areas. James serves more as the project manager and website specialist, whereas Jack is more focused on specific branding and illustration elements.

There is a very clear segregation of duties, which makes it easy from our standpoint. The fact that they’re the owners but they’re also the people doing the actual work is great. It’s very black and white; we know who we’re dealing with all the time. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since I know they’re trying to grow a portfolio and establish a client base, they brought on other clients and it limits their time with us, which I totally understand. As I mentioned with their project management approach, it was easy at the start but suddenly they began to have time management issues. I know they want to get the work back to us quickly, but they have other clients to manage, so it isn’t as feasible now. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d absolutely recommend working with them but make it very clear right off the bat, and the whole way through the project, what the expectations and timelines are so you don’t set yourself up for disappointment.  

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the brand manager at a cannabis company.

What challenges were you trying to address with Skeleton Crew Creative Studio?

We hired them to manage branding and content creation projects.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They run marketing campaigns for new product launches and specials. They’re also working on a new website for us. They help with both the strategy and creative assets for campaigns. This includes scoping, wireframe development, design, and hiring additional staff as needed (i.e., a photographer and developer). 

They’re developing new brand guidelines for us and suggesting new fonts, color schemes, etc. 

What is the team composition?

I primarily work with James (Strategy Director) and Jack (Creative Director). 

How much have you invested in them? 

We’ve spent $60,000–$70,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

They started working with the company in July 2020, but I didn’t start until November of that year. Our relationship is ongoing. 

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

They’re collaborative and responsive. They’ve been recognized as one of the best creative agencies within the cannabis advertising space. They know how to build premium brands and position them well. 

How did Skeleton Crew Creative Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team can deliver within tight deadlines. We mostly communicate via email. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

Their collaborative nature impresses me the most.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should continue to learn more about the cannabis industry so they can understand how to position us well. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re looking for a smaller shop that’s nimble, responsive, and budget-friendly, they’re a great option. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Vin Van. We do pop-up wine events around Vancouver. We have a wine bar that we do weekly and dinner events.

What challenge were you trying to address with Skeleton Crew Creative Studio?

I’d done the branding myself when I first set up the business so I needed help. We wanted help developing the collateral around everything.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve worked on our logo, designing quite a few different variations that we could use. They’ve designed menus for our bar and event posters. They work on our social media posts and stories and event banners, as well, for Instagram and Facebook. In regard to our website, we had a big brainstorming session. I built it myself but they gave me all of the branding materials like the colors, font, templates, and style guide. They came up with shapes and the overall design behind the site’s look. 

What is the team composition?

Jack (Creative Director) and James (Strategy Director) are my main points of contact. There have also been a couple of freelance designers and someone handling operations. 

How did you come to work with Skeleton Crew Creative Studio?

I was recommended to use them by a friend. I met with them and they were super professional. I felt that they really got the idea of what we were all about and they actually came to one of our bars to see what the atmosphere was like. They came back with a pitch that was exactly what we were looking for without me even knowing, really. They got the vibe down and generated the materials based on our conversations, so I knew they were the right fit.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2019. They still do some projects for us if we have events coming up. 

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

Our traffic has grown massively. Our social media presence has benefitted from the branding they’ve helped us with. We grew from 1,000 to 3,000 followers in the last year and they really helped with that. Their services help us sell tickets to our events; we’d sell out in a week rather than taking a full month to do it. I’d definitely say they’ve helped us. 

How did Skeleton Crew Creative Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been great. We have initial pitch meetings and they send us everything within a week. All deadlines have been very clear and they know how quickly they can get something done. We’ve had no concerns with project management at all. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really understand the ethos of my company and our goals without me having to explain it. The reference materials that they provide as examples are always really good. They have a good eye for finding designs and referencing that.

They complement each other very well; Jack has the creative, graphic design element and James is really good at brand strategy and market positioning. That combination really works. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have a point of reference but I’m really happy with everything they did. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keeping an open mind is the best thing because they have such great ideas you probably wouldn’t have even considered. They think about everything; like for our brand they suggested putting information leaflets around wine bottles so people could read about us. If I had come in with a closed mind and told them exactly what I wanted, it wouldn’t have been this successful. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Vessel Packaging, a B2B supplier of goods and services to the beverage industry. We specialize in supplying them with aluminum beverage cans in all shapes and formats. We also provide mobile canning options. We work with craft breweries, cideries, and anyone who needs their product in a can.

What challenge were you trying to address with Skeleton Crew Creative Studio?

At that point in time, we were operating as two sister companies across the country. We obviously had a problem of having two different companies that were doing the same thing. But I needed brand recognition across the country. We knew we needed to nationalize ourselves and reformulate a new brand.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team did a total rebrand. They came in and took a look at who we are and who we were. After that, they looked into how to carry those over into what we were going to become. They talked to our team and customers, going through the archetypes of what we wanted to be. Then, they started the top to bottom rebrand.

Their team redid the website with one of our in-house employees.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Jack (Creative Director) and James (Strategy Director).

How did you come to work with Skeleton Crew Creative Studio?

We’ve spoken to a couple of companies. They were actually friends of a friend of a gentleman in our team who is the design/marketing guy. We spoke to them, and we hit it off right away.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in April 2019. The brand launched internally the first week of September 2019, and then two weeks later, we launched it externally to our customer base.

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

Their work was incredibly well-received by their team. They gave us a set of deliverables and timings, which was correlated to when they would get paid. The process was that they would go through and do their work, then we would review what was done, and then we would see if we were on the same page. It worked really well.

How did Skeleton Crew Creative Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Skeleton Crew Creative Studio was bang on. They had their Gantt Chart that was very detailed to the day. James keeps everything on track. There were no concerns there.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Jack and James have such good synergy. James’s a strategist who takes what he’s hearing and pulls all of the good things out. Jack brings it to life from the creative aspect. They work very well together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we were ecstatic with how everything went. Since it was new for us, I wouldn’t have anything to compare it to.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend working with them. They’re incredibly approachable. Our business was relatively new, so being able to trust them with our baby was nice.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a craft brewery.

For what projects/services did your company hire Skeleton Crew Creative Studio?

Skeleton Crew was hired to develop a new beer brand including naming, logo design, packaging design, marketing plan and collateral.

What were your goals for this project?

To develop a relevant beer brand and get listed in 50+ stores.

How did you select Skeleton Crew Creative Studio?

We were the recipient of marketing collateral from one of Skeleton Crews' clients. We were super impressed with the concept and design so we cold called them to see if they would work with us.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The scope of the work included:

1. Market research on what similar products were doing
2. Market research directly with store managers to understand their wants and needs
3. Creating potential brand names
4. Choosing one brand name and concept
5. Developing a brand identity
6. Design the brand logo
7. Design the beer cans
8. Design marketing collateral to be sent to buyers in liquor stores
9. Developed a brand web site and instagram/facebook accounts
10. Execute on the launch

What was the team composition?

The CEO of the Brewery worked directly with James and Jack from Skeleton Crew.

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

All the initial goals were met even with a launch that got partially affected by the covid restrictions and fallout. The product got listed in over 50 stores and all stores have been re-ordering.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The team at Skelton crew communicated very effectively with our company and everything was smooth.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Skeleton Crew has very effective creative skills and abilities. But just as impressive is how they manage the project. Clear upfront timelines are always met.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Skeleton Crew exceeds all my expectations. They are awesome!