talonX Creative Agency

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The company is HOOK Management. We do brand management for a small to mid-sized company.

What is your position and responsibilities?

I am the CEO and creative director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with talonX Creative Agency?

I think it was just finding an outsourced design team who I can essentially work with for my startup company. Being a startup myself, I didn't necessarily have the resources to hire my own designer, developer, and everything else.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They helped us with logo design, website development, and web hosting.

How did you come to work with talonX Creative Agency?

I essentially just partnered with talonX because I actually knew Nick [Suche, creative director at talonX Creative Agency] through previous work, a few years ago when I was in Calgary, and it just worked out to be a good partnership.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was between $2,000 and $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first project I worked with them was in 2012, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Overall, the website has been able to produce results that have really been a significant part of my client success, in terms of recruiting and attracting the right people to apply to the company. A lot of the clients that we work with are direct sales and marketing companies where recruiting is a big aspect, so having the website designed really gave them an advantage over competitors who really didn't have much of an online presence.

How did talonX Creative Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

talonX Creative Agency was awesome. In terms of when they said the deadlines are going to be, it's been good. If there have been any delays, they were probably from the client end.

What distinguishes talonX Creative Agency from other providers?

Nick, who is the leader in the company, has a good eye for design. Also, his communication skills are excellent. I've worked with some design firms in the past, and I know that a lot of times communication hasn't really been the forte, but I believe that is one of Nick's strengths.

Is there anything talonX Creative Agency could have improved or done differently?

No, not at this point.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The company is an investment bank based in Calgary, Alberta.

What is your position?

I'm the managing partner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with talonX Creative Agency?

We needed a website built, including development and design.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They did design work, the implementation, some of the strategic considerations as far as design, flow, etc. They did some back-end for database functionality mainly. They used WordPress to develop the site.

How did you come to work with talonX Creative Agency?

It was a Google search initially.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was less than $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them three and a half years ago, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I don't have anything quantitative. Qualitatively, talonX Creative Agency is very efficient, extremely timely, highly diligent, pragmatic, and very responsive. They understood, and were able to guide expectations and adjust based on their own experience and knowledge, versus some nonpractical ideas that we may have had. They worked with us to get a solution that made more sense. 

How did talonX Creative Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management skills are very high. They delivered on time and were always on target with communication.

What distinguishes talonX Creative Agency from other providers?

I'd say it's their timeliness and responsiveness that sets them apart as well as their ability to troubleshoot as situations occur.

Is there anything talonX Creative Agency could have improved or done differently?

Probably not. They can only be expected to deliver as good as the scope that they're given, so it's sort of 50/50, but I'd give them very high marks.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The company is called Urbane Culinary Corporation. It is a high-end catering company located in Calgary, Alberta. I own this company with my business partner, who is also our executive chef.

What is your position?

I am the creative director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with talonX Creative Agency?

We need someone help with designing logos and website design. We pretty much went there with a blank slate, saying, "This is who we are – what we think we are," and they worked on our logos and found out what our vision was as a company.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

It's primarily design. I think they did both the back-end and front-end design. I know they also do our photography for our photo shoots.

How did you come to work with talonX Creative Agency?

We went online, and my business partner Craig [Boje] looked at them a few times. He liked the look of their site, and he saw a few other websites that they've done. Then, we went to them, chose them first, and stuck with them because they're great.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

I'd say about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them about three months ago. The work is still ongoing, but it's teetered down, now that our website's up and running. We have maintenance and things that they do for us. If we're doing flyers or something, they assist with that.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did talonX Creative Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

They're a fabulous team to work with, I'd give them a 10 out of 10. talonX Creative Agency knows how to read their clients and engage them. They work fast and efficiently, which is nice. They take constructive criticism quite well because, especially when you have a company and it's your vision, there are some things that need to be tweaked and changed. We made them do a lot of changes, and they actually took it quite well. For us, it was nice not to have that stress of hurting someone's feelings. It's just business. They came up with some great ideas for us as well. They're a creative team. Overall, we're pleased with the design work and everything. They've done a phenomenal job.

What distinguishes talonX Creative Agency from other providers?

It's them. Courtney [Wong, marketing director at talonX Creative Agency] and Nick [Suche, creative director at talonX], they have two different personalities. They have their style and they're approachable. They're not just stuck in a suit. They are who they are, and I think that's a good way to go about it.

Is there anything talonX Creative Agency could have improved or done differently?

No. I don't have anything to say about that.