Web Redevelopment & Digital Mktng for Branding Agency
- Custom Software Development UX/UI Design Web Development
- $50,000 to $199,999
- Feb. - Oct. 2022
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"They're this really beautiful blend of design chops, process rigor, and warm personalities."
- Advertising & marketing
- Oakland, California
- 11-50 Employees
- Online Review
- Verified
Solid Digital led a multi-year web development project for a branding agency, including a strategy phase, wireframing, SEO, and information architecture.
The new site received high praise for its accurate reflection of the client's values and creative spirit. Solid Digital led a respectful, professional, and transparent process that showcased their attention to detail with a great design sense. The team also had a dynamic, lovable group.
The client submitted this review online.
BACKGROUND
Please describe your company and your position there.
I'm a partner at Catchword, a naming and branding agency founded in 1998 with offices in CA, NY, CO, and Calgary.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
For what projects/services did your company hire Solid Digital, and what were your goals?
For many years, Catchword has been the leader in brand name development. In fact, one of our proudest achievements is having been ranked the #1 naming agency here on Clutch since 2017! However, while naming is still our core capability, since our founding nearly 25 years ago, we've undergone considerable change and growth, including the addition of new services such as brand strategy, positioning, and identity/logo development.
Unfortunately, our website didn't reflect these changes or best represent the sort of agency we've become. While it was rich in content (after all, we are 25 years old), it didn't clearly signal the range of capabilities we now posses, and it wasn't visually/aesthetically consistent with the sort of top-tier creative services and branding agency we've evolved into. For this reason, we engaged Solid Digital to create a completely new website for our agency.
SOLUTION
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
We went through a formal RFP process. Our original list of potential partners included around 10 digital agencies, though, ultimately, our shortlist for the RFP included 5 agencies. We solicited proposals from each, conducted interviews, and submitted follow-up questions. Right from the start, we felt a strong personal connection to the folks at Solid. Jesse, the agency's co-founder, and Jessica, the agency's Engagement Manager, were both extremely personable, responsive, and eager to answer our questions and ensure we understood their process and way of working, including steps, team composition, deliverables, etc. In addition, they showed a genuine interest in understanding our business, the space in which we compete, and fed the information back to us, to demonstrate an active curiosity about the work we do and who are as people and as a firm. In short, they came across very earnest and very professional, and we felt really confident that they would do a great job on the project.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
Rather than attempt to summarize a six-month long project and the myriad steps involved (which, honestly, would be challenging for me to do at this point), I'll just say that Solid was exceptional at managing the process, and that this is just one of the many ways in which I would say they really shine—that is, taking control of a very complex, multi-phased process and confidently guiding their client through it.
Completely reimagining and redeveloping a site with 25 years of content (not to mention, a degree of repositioning) is so much more than a creative exercise. It requires a tremendous attention to detail, and an organizational ability to track not just innumerable pieces of information, content types, web elements, etc., but the feedback being provided by the client and whether that feedback has been addressed or still needs to be addressed.
While we've redone our website several times since our founding 25 years ago, this project really drove home for me just how important a digital agency's organizational skills are—they're "process"—to the success of a project of this sort, and Solid has these skills in aces.
Now, in terms of specific process steps, but taking an enormously broad stroke to them, they included:
- An initial strategy phase, including multiple work sessions, to understand our agency and goals for the new site, including target clients and the sort of "journey" we want to take them on—i.e., the information we feel will be most important and helpful to them in order to drive their outreach.
This phase also included discussions around general positioning and how to better reflect it on the site, SEO considerations, and the introduction of wireframes mapping out our new site's page and information architecture, as well as style boards to gain insight into our team's stylistic preferences. Overall, a very thorough initial strategy phase!
A "Create" phase during which Solid developed several key page design concepts for our review and reaction. It was during this phase that we all agreed on one visual style that would inform the development of all of our key pages (I believe there were 13 of them) and form the basis for the site's overall look and feel. Naturally, there were multiple rounds to fine tune certain elements and address stylistic preferences.
After we had agreed and perfected the overall look and feel of the site, Solid began to actually develop the pages, building them out using Elementor, their preferred CMS. Again, plenty of work sessions, feedback provided in weekly check-in meetings and via Basecamp and feedback tracking sheets, etc. Throughout, Solid kept the process moving forward smoothly and barely lost track of a single detail.
Once the site, including all key and secondary pages, had been developed, Solid educated us on the use of Elementor (a new CMS for us) and prepared for launch, including developing various graphical assets consistent with our site for use in site announcement email campaigns and on social media. Naturally, there were several rounds of testing to make sure the site was functioning properly and presenting well on all devices and screen sizes—i.e., to make sure it was responsive.
This was a somewhat collaborative exercise, though we understood that Solid had checked, double-checked, and triple-checked everything to make sure there wouldn't be any surprises at launch. Again, a really broad stroke, and I'm happy to speak with prospective clients of Solid looking for greater detail into their process and how it worked out for us. In short, it worked beautifully.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
I have to say, I was pretty darn impressed with the number of professionals and resources Solid dedicated to our project! We're a leading agency in our space, but we're not TikTok, or Starbucks, or Volkswagen (coincidentally, a few of our clients). The folks we communicated with the most and with whom we met weekly included:
- Mackenzie, Project Manager. Mackenzie was our primary point of contact and truly deft at keeping the project on schedule, humming along. In six months, I don't think she overlooked or mischaracterized a single piece of feedback we provided or failed to communicate something to the creative folk.
- Derek, Creative Director. Derek was awesome. A great creative partner in so many ways. Smart, strategic, responsive, directive but open-minded, articulate in explaining the team's reasoning for their creative and other recommendations, just a wonderful creative guide to have on this journey. Also, and like the rest of the Solid team, genuinely interested in delivering the best site possible and making sure we were happy with every element.
- Miguel, Web Desiger. Like Derek, a great partner to have on this project. While we don't know exactly how much creative work was developed by Derek versus Miguel (versus others, potentially) we believe Miguel was responsible for an awful lot of the actual design, and, of course, we're thrilled with where we landed. Also, and like the rest of the team, Miguel was super easy to work with, responsive and open-minded to our feedback, and extremely pleasant.
Other folks that were integrally involved in the process—and equally awesome—but whom we didn't see weekly included:
- Marla, Strategist and SEO guru. Marla helped us think through the SEO implications of our decisions and, actually, will continue to work with us on other organic and paid-search initiatives (we purchased additional support hours so that Solid can continue to maintain our site going forward, and our SEO initiatives will be a part of that ongoing support). Marla is awesome. Very knowledgeable, helpful, and extremely likable.
- Amber, Director of Production. Amber was more behind the scenes and generally only stepped in to address specific requests around process tweaks, and to ensure the core team was exceeding our expectations. Great personality, highly responsive, she seemed to provide general oversight of the project.
- Diana, Director of Experiences. Even more so than Amber, Diana's primary role it seemed was to ensure they had a happy on their hands (and they did!), and to help address any concerns our team might've had at any point. To that end, she solicited periodic feedback via online surveys to gain real-time insight into how things were going from the *client* perspective. A smart add-on to their process that would allow their team to pivot mid-project if necessary and based on our input, which we might've felt more comfortable providing via the online form and anonymously, rather than in meetings with the core team. Like everyone else, super friendly, responsive, and client-oriented.
- Peter, Director of Technology. Peter probably had a much bigger role throughout the project but we only got to know him toward the end of the project, as go-live drew closer. In addition to dealing with the actual site development, Peter was extremely helpful in resolving a post-launch, somewhat mysterious (!) email issue we were having. In addition to getting to the bottom of it and taking care of the problem, he was extremely pleasant to work with.
Speaking generally, like any good company or agency that's focused on culture, Solid seems to attract like-minded professionals with shared characteristics and values. Everyone on the team is really smart, professional but very personable, expert but collaborative, highly client-centric, and genuinely passionate about their work and the outcomes.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
We just launched our site a week ago and already it's receiving high praise from clients, colleagues, and agency partners. Everyone agrees, it's an enormous step up and step forward for us and our online presence. Solid really did an amazing job of granting all our design wishes. That is, we wanted a site that reflects our creative spirit and acumen (so, a "creative" looking site) but not feel boutique (because our clients are Fortune 100 companies, and "creative" sites can often create the impression of a smaller agency not as suitable as partners for industry leaders, and that's not us).
We wanted it clean, but not sparse. Easily navigable, but journey-drive, so prospective clients with individual needs would be presented with the content in which we know they'll be they're most interested. We wanted it to feel fresh, modern, and distinct from all other agencies in our space, both visually and in terms of sophistication. And, in every way, Solid nailed it. Every box checked. The site is killer, both aesthetically and functionally, and our whole team is extremely excited and proud of what Solid produced for us.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
I believe I probably covered this sufficiently in my other responses, but to summarize, Solid is truly one of the most organized, process-oriented, and communicative teams we've ever worked with. Completely on top of their sh*t, always keeping you in the know about next steps and upcoming milestones, nudging when necessary but always in a respectful and professional way, etc. Much of this has to do with their process, how well structured, thought out, and tested it is, and a good deal of it has to do with their PM, Mackenzie, who ensures there are no "blocks" that might impede progress or otherwise delay the project. Oh, and they didn't miss a single deadline in six months (and there were many deadlines).
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
I guess I started this review by acknowledging that, in my experience, this sort of massive website overhaul and complete "rethink" requires a combination of great creative vision, attention to detail, organization, and process rigor. Our site has literally thousands of pages and a degree of complexity that you might not expect from a creative services agency. Having a great design sense, while critical to delivering a knockout-looking website (and certainly something Solid possesses and excels at), is not enough to be successful on a project such as ours.
It requires a high level of strategic thinking, an enormous amount of process and structure, a serious attention to detail, and an appreciation for the importance of customer journeys and the way visitors will and should interact with your site.
It's really hard to put my finger on what impressed me most about Solid. Ultimately, I think it was the combination of all these critical skills, experiences, and agency characteristics.
They're this really beautiful blend of design chops, process rigor, and warm personalities. As a testament to how we feel about the collaboration and the work they did (and as I previously noted), we've already signed on for an additional support plan and will continue to work with them going forward.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
Anything would be hyper nitpicky. They're awesome and we'd hire them again for sure.
RATINGS
-
Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
"Top notch."
-
Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
"Never an issue."
-
Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
"Not cheap but totally worth it."
-
Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
"I'd refer them without hesitation.