Syroup

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for Northern Europe for Warner Brothers Entertainment.

What challenge were you trying to address with Syroup?

We create promotional campaigns and websites for every movie we release, so we needed a partner who could manage those projects. We also needed a partner who could manage the social media presence of each film.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided Syroup with photos and briefs for our movies, and they used those to create good-looking sites and social media accounts for each film. They got accounts verified, utilizing channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google Plus. Syroup worked in HTML, PHP, and CSS, liaising with our internal team to ensure content was pushed out and on brand.

We launched a newsletter sign-up so people could be notified of our new products, and we collected that data to analyze and track results. We also had access to Google Analytics and Facebook tracking tools to see how many conversions we got from our paid activities and marketing campaigns. Syroup integrated the site with movie theaters’ tracking tools as well, allowing customers to buy tickets to a movie through our own website.

What is the team composition?

We mainly worked with the head of marketing and the line manager. The team was about 10 people in total.

How did you come to work with Syroup?

A colleague recommended them. We called them in for a meeting and gave them a brief of a movie we were releasing, and they came back with a detailed overview of what they’d do. We liked the presentation, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between £240,000–£300,000 (approximately $298,000–$373,000).

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership lasted from 2016–2018. We have plans to engage with them again soon.

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

They built a strong relationship and gave us transparent access to different tracking metrics to see the success of their work. We were happy with their results, and our corporate bosses were as well.

How did Syroup perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re a big company, but they provided a good level of support. Our teams met in person a few times, and they were always available to answer our questions or concerns, despite the time difference. They provided biweekly reports, and we had weekly conference calls to make sure everything was on track. We could create tickets for problems or call them if it was urgent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a great group that’s easy to work with and that provides fantastic results. They contributed a lot to our projects.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were some disagreements between the different departments (e.g. creative, marketing, sales), but that’s typical. They could be more organized and track changes better, but we were happy with their performance.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I don’t have any advice.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the marketing manager for a multinational luxury goods company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Syroup?

My company had scalability and reach issues with some of our lesser-known wine and fashion brands. We hired Syroup to help us redefine and overhaul our digital marketing activities.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to set clear KPIs for some of our brands. We also wanted to create a more straightforward approval process for some of our brands to run ads on Google and Bing.

How did you select this vendor?

A colleague who knew Syroup’s marketing director recommended them to us. We considered over fifty marketing companies in France, the UK, the Netherlands, and the US, and we ultimately chose Syroup based on their great pitch.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Syroup worked with my team and our executive board to define reachable goals that we could report to investors and our holding company’s board of directors. They created a detailed analysis of our costs, year-to-date performance, and legacy performance, and then compared all of this year-over-year. Syroup educated our in-house digital marketing team on the best approaches to stabilizing our brand campaigns. They helped optimize the campaigns and provided round-the-clock support.

Syroup also planned and set out our five-year digital media strategy. Our internal team will follow this strategy, with continued guidance from Syroup.

What was the team composition?

We initially started with a team of 5–10 people; as the work progressed, the team expanded to fifteen.

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

After Syroup took over our marketing campaigns, we decreased our cost-per-acquisition by 25% and increased our click-through rate.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had weekly calls, which then evolved into physical meetings in our offices in Paris, France and the UK. We had numerous conversations and exchanged information and knowledge on how to best improve the campaigns.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Syroup had a very unique and diverse company culture. Their team worked with us to set clear and understandable goals. They were able to accommodate our requirements rather swiftly, and they immediately implemented any changes we requested. Their enthusiasm about the campaigns was also a very welcome addition.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In the beginning, there were some communication issues because of differing company policies and legislation about handling data in different countries. I think a more streamlined approach to managing data without having too many signs offs would be helpful.