VIA Studio

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Manager of GoodMaps

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

GoodMaps is an indoor navigation technology start up.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire VIA Studio to accomplish?

• Goodmaps hired us to help structure their branding, add positioning and messaging, and redesign their marketing site.

SOLUTION

How did you find VIA Studio?

Referral

Why did you select VIA Studio over others?

• High ratings
• high creative quality

How many teammates from VIA Studio were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We asked VIA to redesign and develop a new website for GoodMaps. We then also asked them to create a rebranded brand guidelines, create various print materials for us, and develop a tagline for the new brand.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have had a measurable amount of lead conversions since launching the new brand and website, most notably prospects who gave us feedback in the past that our website and brand was not professional enough for them to have the confidence they needed to work with us, have reengaged in our lead pipeline because of the launch.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

VIA Studio's project management was notably better than other vendors I've worked with in the past. Their approach creates transparency and consistency by using common project management tools and having weekly updates. Their delivery was on time (even with our team evolving our priorities), and if anything needed more time, their communication was clear.

What was your primary form of communication with VIA Studio?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

As a marketing manager at a start up, my biggest challenge is having the time to communicate with multiple vendors. VIA has a very structured communication/project management system and a team that is consistent. I never had to worry about if they had what they needed to get rolling, they always followed up to keep the project on target. They also worked around my international team's crazy schedule, which can be a big challenge.

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

no notes!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Associate Partner of The Brandtech Group

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We help brands to their marketing better, faster and cheaper using technology,

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire VIA Studio to accomplish?

• Migrate our website to WordPress

SOLUTION

How did you find VIA Studio?

Referral

Why did you select VIA Studio over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Via was engaged to migrate an existing website and all its content to WordPress against a tight deadline.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Via carried out the work seamlessly and without fuss. We agreed what had to be done, and they went away and did it to perfection. So refreshing! I cannot overemphasise how smoothly everything went. They gave me regular progress updates and were totally available at all times for my dumb questions.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

It was all done on time with nothing to fix. They were literally flawless. They assigned a superb project manager who never tired of responding to my endless queries. (Sorry, Chelsea)

What was your primary form of communication with VIA Studio?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

It sounds so simple, but how rare is it that a company says exactly what they are going to do and then goes away and does precisely that? I'd say super-rare - this was one of the best run projects I have ever worked on.

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

Absolutely none.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of an IT company called Software Management LLC. We specialize in customized software development for local government.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VIA Studio?

We were looking to rebrand our company and update our corporate website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

VIA Studio guided us through a process to establish our new brand identity and how we wanted our website to look, including its features. Additionally, they redid our company logo, redefined our messaging, and redesigned our branding assets to make sure everything was aligned with our brand. Their team built our website from scratch using WordPress and helped us develop the content.

The site is pretty much ready to be launched, and we’re currently buttoning up a few more things and trying to fill out the content a little bit more.

What is the team composition?

We work with six people from their side: the owner, two project managers, a frontend developer, an art director, and a digital strategist.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2022, and our engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re still in the final stages of developing the website, but as far as the brand strategy, visual identity, logo, and other branding assets go, VIA Studio has knocked it out of the park. Overall, they’ve delivered exactly what we wanted and are fantastic to work with.

How did VIA Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done an amazing job in this regard. They keep us up to date regarding the timelines, budget, and deliverables. For communication, we use Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their work and how they’ve handled the project. All of their outputs are spot on, and they’ve managed everything really well.

Are there any areas they could improve on?

I don’t think so. They’ve exceeded our expectations.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a local farm selling sustainably raised meats. We started a delivery and subscription service in 2018 and it grew substantially in 2020. I am the director of the farm and in charge of marketing a selling our products. We have a lot of local customers but also customers who prefer delivery nationwide.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire VIA Studio, and what were your goals?

We hired via to consolidate our two websites. One was geared towards local customers and the other for nationwide customers. Our goal was to developed an e-commerce site that would be easy to navigate and allow for the scaling of our business. Also, we needed an inventory platform that could keep up with our growing demand.

SOLUTION

How did you select VIA Studio and what were the deciding factors?

We selected Via b/c of their creative team, project management skills, and experience.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a few meetings to nail down the scope of work. We had some meetings determining what my team's responsibilities were versus via's team responsibilities. We were delivered sketches and ideas, then shown more further implemented stages. Overall, we were able to accomplish the entire project over google meets and google docs.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were 4 main players. Designer, developer, marketing specialist, and project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have an inventory system that will grow with us. We are very happy with the website. We have had very positive customer feedback.

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

We received emails detailing where we were in the project and where we had to go. We were able to prioritize and create timelines.

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

They have a young, creative, smart team. They fix bugs that we don't know how to fix.

Are there any areas for improvement?

no

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Louisville Parks Foundation and we’re a nonprofit that supports public parks in Louisville, Kentucky.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VIA Studio?

Branding is the overall issue that we had. We were trying to handle these things in-house but knew we had a lot of issues to deal with related to our brand identity and marketing.

We had one extraordinarily successful fundraising event, but we were trying to bring it under the umbrella of our foundation as a public-facing entity. At the same time, we launched a second event. It’s been a struggle to have our foundation be center with those events.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope of the work is pretty broad. It’s a combination of building the brand identity of the foundation, increasing the sales of our two fundraising events, and doing a brand analysis. They help us with branding our foundation and making decisions for moving forward. They also provide social media marketing.

Our largest event already had 68,000 followers on Facebook but we never utilized Instagram the way we should have, so they have dialed into expanding our reach on Facebook, in addition to doing a lot of work on Instagram, YouTube, and Spotify. We’ve done some traditional media but there has been a pretty big focus on social media.

What is the team composition?

We work with Shayne (Director of Accounts), Ben (Director of Strategy), Danny (Creative Director), Mitch (Art Director), and Nick (Digital Strategist). We get to work with all of their senior teammates, and others from the team.

How did you come to work with VIA Studio?

I found VIA Studio through our local center for nonprofit excellence. They also did some work with other nonprofits in town, particularly the center of performing arts and our local public media.

I was just super impressed with their leadership and how responsive they were. My first meeting was with Ben and Jason (CEO) who helped us make a decision about using them for the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $70,000 this year.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in February 2020 and it’s been ongoing since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are still working on the rebranding effort with the hopes of launching it in early 2021 but looking at the results of our social media campaigns and the way our audience has been built, the metric is pretty black and white. We are pleased with the ticket sales for our previous event and we’re already seeing a significant increase in ticket sales for our event in December.

Even though we’ve had to pivot because of COVID-19, they’ve been very successful in building our audience. VIA Studio was given the goal of tripling sales from last year and as of November, we’ve already sold 20% of the tickets that we sold the entire year.

How did VIA Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We can’t ask for anything better. They have a plan that they share and we communicate on, they track their performance and the outcomes from a project management and communication standpoint. We’re on Basecamp with them and we have our own Slack channel so we’re constantly in communication.

We get a weekly report with an analysis of our social media performance, click-through rates, ticket sales, and those tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I find the most impressive is their authenticity. I know they really care and are personally invested in the quality of the work and outcome. They care about our organization as much as we do and they are personally invested in our success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really can’t think of anything they can improve on. Nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

What I love about them is they are open to me giving them data because they want to understand our business. I can send them articles about access to green space and the latest trends in public park amenities and they will absorb it like a sponge. I feel like they’re in the weeds with me when it comes to our industry.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of Revelry Gallery and I'm also an artist here. We're a local art gallery and also a boutique. Everything we have is made by local artists. We carry over 100 local artists and we're open seven days a week. We also have an online store. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VIA Studio?

My business turned 10 years old this year, and I really wanted to do a rebrand because our logo and marketing materials were done on the fly.

I wanted a whole new, more sophisticated brand rather than a 2009 look. I also wanted the ability to have a branding packet where I could replicate the logo and our color scheme and everything else into possibly another store.

The second part of that was I really wanted to increase our online presence and, with COVID-19, we've really leaned on our online store and sales from that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created a branding packet because our website is through Shopify, and it's basically just a template —we're not really willing to go against Shopify because it is our POS system.

They gave us some good pointers on the website, things we needed to fix and improve upon. Then, they gave us specific graphics that we could plug into our website. They also led us through our SEO and what we could do to improve it.

We met with the team quite a few times, and they met with my staff, as well as stakeholders in the community that know my business very well. They got a feel for who we were, where we wanted to be, and made sure that came through in our mission statement and in our branding. 

After those meetings, they presented four different options for a direction that I wanted to go in visually. I picked one of those options and then they were able to provide me with deliverables specific to what I asked for. 

I wanted them to design a postcard template for us that we could use for all of our gallery openings and new business cards that reflected our branding. They created a small logo for our Instagram that would show up well.

Those were some of the deliverables that they were able to give me, as well as a full branding packet with logo options, color schemes, and fonts.

What is the team composition?

I worked mostly with three different people on the team. Katie (Project Manager) was the one that was giving us all the deliverables and scheduling meetings. 

Then Ashley (Graphic Designer) actually designed our logo and helped me a lot with the specific deliverables that I needed. 

How did you come to work with VIA Studio?

VIA Studio is in our neighborhood. They also have worked in the arts before. All their employees shop and come here so I knew that they know us really well. 

We've hosted art openings and art exhibitions in their space. They've always been super kind and generous to let us use their space, which is beautiful.

We just had a relationship for years and they hosted events with us and for us. They have proven themselves in the community by working with other small businesses in our neighborhood, and also other arts organizations.

How much have you invested with them?

The approximate amount was around $26,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2019–July 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We made a post about it and got a lot of great feedback. A lot of people in the community said they love the new logo and our artists love the new logo. As far as metrics, we just rolled it out a few months ago and with COVID-19 happening, we don’t have much data to share.

How did VIA Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They were really great. The project manager made sure we were on task and on time with everything because we had a timeline built out. They then worked with us on the SEO backend, the brand rollout, and what that would look like.

It was a little tough at the end because the project manager had to move away. Because of that, we had to switch project managers in the last few months, which was a little crazy. But other than that, they were on it. They were good at scheduling meetings, showing up on time, and delivering things when we needed them.

My goal was to have everything done by August, which was our 10 year anniversary, and things were done by July, so it was good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think their creative team was great. As an artist and as a creative, I really wanted to work with other artists and creatives that understood what we're trying to do and I always felt like they did.

I felt all of the logos and options that they presented me were all incredible and also very diverse. They obviously had multiple people that took a shot at our logo and branding. That presentation was my favorite because I am a visual person and that was the exciting part.

I was really impressed with what they delivered to us and so much so that it was hard to choose just one.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It's hard to think of anything to improve because everything was so great.

I wish we could have done more in person and store meetings. I wanted them to be immersed in the business, the art, and get to know the artists to really get a feel for who we were. Because of COVID-19, we couldn’t do those things. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would definitely have them know what their deliverables need to be going in and having a really clear idea of what you need as a brand before approaching them so that they're not dictating what you need.

There's only so much time there. They made it a point to tell me a lot about the remaining time they have with us. They always asked what we wanted or needed from them. Focus on using their time very wisely and know what you need to build on.

Just know your priorities as a brand going into the situation, who your brand is, main goal objectives, and mission statement, just so that VIA has something to go off of before they can get pen to paper.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Kentucky Performing Arts owns and operates three performance venues in Louisville, KY, (The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, the Brown Theatre and Old Forester's Paristown Hall) and runs Arts Education programs throughout the state of Kentucky. I am VP of Marketing and Communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire VIA Studio?

VIA Studio was hired to build a new ticketing and information website for our family of venues and Educational outreach. In addition, VIA Studio helped create the look, feel and language of the organization's rebrand.

What were your goals for this project?

Since 1983, the organization was called The Kentucky Center, named after the original performing arts center. Over the years, the Center bought the Brown Theatre and built Old Forester's Paristown Hall.

As a result, keeping the name of the organization specific to a single building no longer made sense. The goal was to create a new organizational name and brand identity that speaks to the family of venues and statewide outreach.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

The project began with RFP’s from several reputable agencies in the Louisville area, which after careful review and numerous recommendations resulted in VIA Studio as our partner for these initiatives.

VIA met with stakeholders, senior team and leaders from every department at The Kentucky Center to get a feel for our current brand identity, as well as the direction we wanted to take our refreshed identity.

The consensus was that a modern and timeless feel, with a look that communicated the personality harmoniously of our three brands, was the outcome we were looking to accomplish.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

For more than a year, we went back and forth on numerous concepts – logo marks, color palettes, tag lines…fine tuning elements from our brand voice, to header and body fonts, shaping how we could effectively activate our brands in the market. Each venue had its own look, feel and personality that was successful from a singular application, but also functioned well as a whole.

We then took the identities we developed and applied the same look and feel to the development of our new site and name, Kentucky Performing Arts and KentuckyPerformingArts.org.

What was the team composition?

In developing our new site, we had major components and goals that we knew needed to be achieved in the end product:

• Accessibility
• great user experience
• a refined ticketing path
• more visibility for our donor and education programs
• a watch and listen section for archiving content 
• prominent blog space to enhance our search engine optimization and provide value to our consumers
• a showcase of our resident companies and how they function within our brands
• an aesthetically beautiful website that represented who we are and where we’re going

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website soft launched 11.18.19. To be expected with a new and complicated ticketing website, there were some bugs to work out once in a live environment but the issues were small and easily to work out.

On 11.26.19, the rebrand was rolled out to the public during a news conference. Due to both the visual creative and brand impact narrative created by VIA Studio, this massive shift for the organization was clear and easy to understand and met well by both the public and our stakeholders.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was a mix of project management software and face to face meetings. There were some disconnects between the web developer teams, but those were almost always attributed to something being overlooked or misunderstood through the project management software and easily cleared up with a call or face to face interaction.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

VIA Studio brought a clarity of vision to the project, which made a massive undertaking like this workable.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The project management software did present some challenges when used as the primary communication tool. Admittedly, I am very old school in that I will always prefer a five minute call over a dozen e-communications.