Tronvig

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing at a home-and-community-based house care provider. We provide home care, hospice care, privately paid services, health plans, and community engagement and outreach.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tronvig?

We brought Tronvig on board to help with needs relating to a significant anniversary we had coming up.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tronvig helped us with strategy, creative development, and a small advertising campaign for our anniversary. They provided some digital advertising services for that project, though they didn’t manage the platforms themselves. Their tasks included creating digital display banners.

After that, we engaged them further for a rebranding project. First, we had several internal branding sessions with a cross-functional group of colleagues. The team has rebranded our organization from the ground up from a strategy perspective. Tronvig has helped us build our organizational values, new brand name, look and feel, and brand guidelines to set us up moving forward. We gave them an initial brief, and they’ve helped us evolve it and build it up as part of the project. This brief will help lay the foundation for our internal teams’ work.

What is the team composition?

We primarily interface with James (Founder & Lead Strategist). We’ve worked with a few project managers, most recently Monica (Project Manager). A strategist has been involved at various times, and an art director with whom I’ve had less direct interaction. Additionally, we work with the office manager regarding billing and scheduling.

How did you come to work with Tronvig?

We found them through my boss because Tronvig had done some work in the nonprofit world, specifically for museums. We had a formal pitch to look for help and added them to the mix because of the reference. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2017, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

We saw an engagement increase through the ads for the anniversary campaign. Tronvig’s work helped drive traffic to our website, and the banners they created had a positive click-through rate (CTR). We haven’t yet quantified the results of their branding work. 

How did Tronvig perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, they do a very good job with project management. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, they used to come into the office, and now we do weekly check-ins via Zoom. They’re great communicators; they let us know when things are out of their control. Moreover, they do a good job of navigating unforeseen obstacles and shifting project timelines accordingly. 

They also listen to feedback very well. When we’ve needed more project management support, they’ve figured out how to get that for us. For example, they found a project manager who has stepped up during the rebranding project. We use Monday.com for project management and Google Drive for file-sharing. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Tronvig’s strategic thinking and thought partnership are outstanding. James is very transparent, and we have great strategy conversations where he brings a lot to the table. He’s challenged our thoughts and assumptions, and we’ve built off each others’ ideas, which has been great to have in a partner. James also did a phenomenal job leading our branding sessions, both in their planning and facilitation, when drawing out information from the participants. 

Overall, they have a really great attitude. Some leadership changes at our organization have impacted their work, and Tronvig has been very flexible and agile to accommodate those changes. They’re also very transparent about what is and isn’t within their core competencies, which speaks to their values, empathy, and integrity. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their ability to scale up as needed. They’re a small agency, and there have been times when we’ve needed more support. Although we’ve gotten to a good place, it would help if they were more responsive to those needs. Notably, they could invest in project management, where we’ve felt we need more support than we’ve had for the budget. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can be confident that Tronvig is a thoughtful, strategic partner that takes on projects they really care about. My advice is to be clear about your expectations and align with them at the get-go. They’ll be open to feedback and collaborating with you as long as communication is transparent.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of Marketing and Communications of a mid-size museum in New York City that specializes in Himalayan art and ideas and how they have impacted well-being across time.

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

Our organization is developing a more global and digital presence and we needed greater clarity about our brand / organizational essence and audience priorities.

How did you select this vendor?

This was our second engagement with Tronvig. Initially James was recommended to us and he hosted a very successful workshop with two of our departments before.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

It was a sequence of five workshops with the senior leadership team. Tronvig took us through the Brand Pyramid process, distilling the key components and essence of the organization. At the end they wrote up a discovery workshop report with the brand fundamentals and the museum's most well-suited target audiences. Session:

1. Goal-setting - What is the organization expressed in a single sentence?
2. How do we deliver value differently from its competitors?
3. What are the org's Core Values? - What is the org's Brand Idea?
4. Why do audiences engage with the organization? - Developed the Brand Map, which is a diagram that examines the organization's value proposition against the emotional/practical drivers that lead the target audience(s) to engage with the organization.
5. Review Brand Pyramid - Marketing Targets Exercise to determine which of the possible target groups should be the focus of the org's marketing resources.

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

Two: The CEO and a Project Manager.

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

Tronvig ensured that all participants understood the meaning and importance of brand and in doing so, enabled the team to develop a shared language around strategic brand work. Based on the workshop, Tronvig issued a brand fundamentals findings report with recommendations that listed the 'What, How, Who, and Why' of the brand, the organization's set of values, and priority audiences.

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

They were timely and reliable, and the team is proactive and helpful with scheduling. They have rare and excellent communication skills, listen deeply and with empathy, are able to quickly grasp complexities of an organization, and apply what they hear to their thinking process.

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

They are very comfortable with complexity, able to pivot based on input that comes up in meetings, committed to learning about the organization, focused on getting results. They were a pleasure to work with, and it felt that they truly cared about delivering the best results possible.

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

no.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our college was established in 1964, an adult-serving school and I'm the Director of Enrollment Marketing.

For what projects/services did your company hire Tronvig?

Branding, Digital Ads, Out-of-Home Ads, Print Ads, and additional support for graphics, video, and audio projects

How did you select this vendor?

Through recommendations and additional research online.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We're continuously assessing a variety of brand aspects and also enjoy their work on Brand Strategy. We meet weekly to review performance on digital ads and to ensure clicks from our transit/OOH campaigns are also tracked. On a longer-term basis, we also are able to create assets that we can use for multiple campaigns which speeds up approvals.

What was the team composition?

We work closely with the CEO, Project Manager, and media buying contacts.

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

Their work, aside from being measurably effective for lead generation and branding, our ability to speak more openly about our marketing challenges as an institution is one of the greatest gifts they brought to our engagement. This has allowed us to get to the heart of certain service issues and product quality concerns that were formerly blamed on the marketing department.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

As most small departments we lack the ability to provide certain administrative functions, but Tronvig's account management is flawless and a great support to our team. They keep us updated and organized in an organic way that doesn't rely on "checking a system" for updates. We can freely reach out and get accurate replies with minimal wait times.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The level of detail they apply to "the why" of a given problem is spectacular and an approach that successful CMOs and marketing directors understand. This isn't easy to find in an agency. Tronvig has built this adept way of thinking into their processes and conversations in such a way to give it the important it deserves.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

As we navigated during COVID, they were adept at understanding our limitations to meet in person at the office. However the way they incorporate virtual meetings as part of ongoing client work made it seamless to accomplish the weekly and monthly tasks.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of The Health Museum, a museum about health and medical science.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tronvig Group?

We wanted to get brand clarity. We’re in the Houston Museum District, perfectly positioned between a world-class children’s museum and a natural science museum. It was difficult for our constituents to determine whether they were going to an extension of the children’s museum or the natural science museum. We didn’t have our own niche because we didn’t know where we stood.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tronvig helped us to define who we are. They worked with our board, staff, and external stakeholders collectively. Once we were able to define that, they helped us to clarify how we would be positioned. We decided to be purely health and medical science for the whole family to differentiate from the children’s museum. We needed to communicate that to our potential patrons. Tronvig provided survey results of external evaluators. They gave a presentation to board members and all stakeholders to lay out the data they collected, explaining why they determined that we should be an intelligent space in a market filled with folks who support entertainment.

How did you come to work with Tronvig Group?

I found them through the American Alliance of Museums. Their president, James Heaton, had conducted a panel discussion at the conference. I saw how authentically astute he was about the lay of the land for museum participants and attendants. He also knew how to measure that.

How much have you invested with Tronvig Group?

We’ve invested about $25,000 over the course of our relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them five years ago, and the work is complete.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We changed our exhibits to be on-par with their recommendations. To date, we have an astounding 344% increase in attendance.

How did Tronvig Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very efficient and time-conscious of your stakeholders. The follow-through is great. They were always there for a conference call and kept the pace of the project. They didn’t drag it out.

What did you find most impressive about Tronvig Group?

They follow the client all the way through until the project is successful and beyond. You can fix a problem with a great presentation, but Tronvig is good at staying with you for the long haul.

Are there any areas Tronvig Group could improve?

One of my board members pointed out that one person primarily represented the Tronvig Group. It looked as if they were a one-man shop. He felt that there’s some vulnerability in having one person be the keeper of the knowledge.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

‎Ingalls is a healthcare services provider. We offer hospital services and a robust regional ambulatory network. We've recently merged with the University of Chicago Medicine [UCM], which is a much larger quaternary healthcare provider.

I am in charge of corporate strategy and business development. In this area, we undergo things like strategic planning and new program development for key partnerships. We played a role in helping to facilitate the merger and are currently integrating ourselves with the UCM.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tronvig Group?

Being a community-based hospital and healthcare provider, our services are different in nature to those offered by the UCM. We provide a certain value proposition to the local community, while the UCM is a globally-recognized quaternary services and teaching organization. Before heading into joint planning, we wanted to make sure that we had a good understanding of how things would be post-merger. While we couldn't undergo any planning until the merger was finalized, we still wanted to hone in on an understanding of our Ingalls brand and how it may relate to a larger organization with a different and very powerful brand.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tronvig Group helped us understand ourselves, our brand, and how it could be leveraged with the UCM brand. I would call it strategic planning with a branding emphasis. Tronvig Group performed beautifully and I cannot imagine hiring a better firm for the same purpose. They took us through a disciplined and thoughtful approach to understanding ourselves and our brand. They facilitated interviews with key people in our organization—the board, C-suite and physician-leadership-level people who had been with Ingalls for a long time. These stakeholders could accurately characterize our brand from an internal point of view. Tronvig Group also had a novel approach to understanding how our brand would be perceived in the minds of the people in our region. It was a balance between internal and external looks.

How did you come to work with Tronvig Group?

We found Tronvig Group through web research for brand strategy firms. We didn't know the company before engaging them, but we had extensive conversations and followed a traditional interview process. After looking at a variety of firms for our particular engagement, we decided on Tronvig Group. What intrigued us was the fact that they articulated the specific niche that we wanted to explore for Ingalls on their website.

How much have you invested with Tronvig Group?

Given the fact that Tronvig Group isn't a large global agency, we found them to be market-competitive. Their fees were not exorbitant.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Tronvig Group at the end of 2015. The project concluded mid-2016, spanning a six-month period.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have consummated our merger with UCM in October 2016. Right now, we are in the infancy of that process. It remains to be seen in the long-term how effectively we can, by working with the university, extend both of our brands in a way that acknowledges the differences of each. This work is yet to be done, but since the goal of our work with Tronvig Group was to set up for joint planning with UCM, then we have been well-prepared. There has been some very good groundwork laid in this sense. Tronvig Group has helped us be successful in getting ready for joint planning, but it's hard to state specific growth numbers for our particular project. Our goal was to reach an excellent understanding of our brand, lining it up with the university's brand. As a result of Tronvig Group's work, I feel that we couldn't have had a better outcome.

We came to know the leadership of the firm and worked with the president of the company, who is a wonderful resource. This was more valuable to us than using a large agency that may have assigned a random project executive to walk us through the paces. We were given access to the senior-most people at Tronvig Group. They were simply outstanding. I found them easy to work with, and the quality of their work was fantastic. We would bring them back in a heartbeat for further work on this project or for others.

How did Tronvig Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Tronvig Group’s performance was outstanding. This being our first engagement with them, there wasn't an established norm for working with the group. Tronvig Group scoped their recommended approach in the proposal. We followed it according to the deliverables and timelines specified. Of course, as projects go along, we want to make sure that new opportunities are identified and that we can pursue ideas which hadn't been anticipated in the proposal development stage. Tronvig Group did a nice job of not only driving us through their prescribed process but also moving with us so that there were no gaps in the work. Where there was a need, they adapted their process in order to accommodate it. It was a hand-in-glove approach. They were disciplined and thoughtful while being flexible to the needs of our project as we moved through the work. Tronvig Group is based in New York, while we're in Chicago. The distance was a point of concern for us initially. It could have proved difficult to achieve the hand-in-glove process that we wanted, but it did not prove to be a barrier at all.

What did you find most impressive about Tronvig Group?

What I found unique about Tronvig Group is that they didn't have a cookie-cutter consulting approach, with only a study of the market and of key people. They drew from scholarly research in the area of branding and organizational development. This added value to the usual steps expected in a process like this. Tronvig Group demonstrated a lot of depth in doing the very thing we needed to be done. I couldn't speak to how Tronvig Group functions as an advertising agency for developing marketing materials per se since our work revolved mainly on brand strategy. In our niche, Tronvig Group was outstanding.

Tronvig Group is a good facilitator of C-suite, board-level teams. I’ve worked for 20 years as a consultant and have worked with other consultants. From a content perspective, I can hardly recall anyone who has the same mastery of organizational development theory. Tronvig Group was able to apply this expertise to our project. I don't know if Tronvig Group covers everything that a global agency might, but they're fantastic.

Are there any areas Tronvig Group could improve?

Whatever concerns we may have had, we quickly got past. I can't really say anything negative about Tronvig Group.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an art museum, and I am the director of communications and marketing.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tronvig Group?

We were looking for assistance with rebranding, strategy, and creative services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with Tronvig on brand workshops with our staff and board. We used information from those workshops to come up with key values and branding of the museum, and we are now aligning those values and brand ideas to our brand. They helped us with our special exhibitions and interviewed people in these events. 

How did you come to work with Tronvig Group?

I met their creative director and founder four or five years ago at a museum conference. They are the first agency to work on our project.

What is the status of this engagement?

They began working with us in June 2013, and it is still ongoing.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have been happy working with Tronvig Group. It has been helpful having an outside agency look at our institution as a whole and analyze for us where we want to go aspirationally and how we can get there over time. Their ideas go into our creative concepts to help market the museum in new ways. As well, our attendance has been very good for the last few years, so we are seeing that the money we spent on marketing and creative is paying off.

How did Tronvig Group perform from a project management standpoint?

As far as estimates go, we have not had any problems. We have an annual contract, and they are good at giving us our hours. It takes time for a firm to get into a groove of how you work which has been achieved working with them for 2 ½ to 3 years. We email throughout the day as needed and have weekly phone call meetings with them, going over everything we have in the weekly agenda. Combined with what my staff and the staff of Tronvig Group do, we have an excellent project management setup at this point.

What did you find most impressive about Tronvig Group?

Our experience with them is they take the strategy behind the creative seriously and move your institution in a direction for the future. Making an ad look nice without any research behind it is not what they are going to do. They are not going to be happy with only making a pretty ad. Instead, they are involved with the organization on a cellular level.

Are there any areas Tronvig Group could improve?

No, I am pleased with the firm.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

When we worked with Tronvig Group, I worked for Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. I was the senior director of design and communications.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tronvig Group?

We were beginning the process of going through a rebrand and needed to lay the groundwork for successful internal alignment. We worked with Tronvig Group on strategy and data-gathering sessions across the institution to make that happen.

What was the scope of their involvement?

What they came in to do was a series of workshops. Within the workshops, we were trying to take a deep dive and look from the internal perspective of what our brand was, what our goals were, and what we were trying to achieve. The workshops included staff on every level and board members. Tronvig Group ran the workshops in a very successful manner in terms of getting people on the same page, weeding out our real goals, and working through issues that came up in between.

How did you come to work with Tronvig Group?

I actually found them through a web search. What really appealed to me was the way in which they outlined their workshop method. We had been through several stop-and-start branding efforts before and workshopping seemed like a great approach to kick it off again. It seemed less threatening and like a productive way to spend our time.

How much have you invested with Tronvig Group?

We researched several firms and Tronvig Group fell squarely in the middle. However, the selling point was the workshop approach where I felt you could test the dynamics of the group and feel out how our team and their team could work together.

What is the status of this engagement?

We completed our goal of producing foundational work for the rebrand. Over the course of a year (to a year and a half) we worked on everything from brand mapping and the brand pyramid, to persona mapping and a competitive advantage diagram.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Because our core work with them was all internal, what we achieved was a complete shift in the organizational attitude, excitement, knowledge, and understanding of what a rebrand really means. Tronvig worked really well with our board and our senior staff, and they were able to get everybody on the same page. Prior to that, we had internal misalignment. The work was invaluable. Everyone was ready to embrace the process!

How did Tronvig Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Very well. It was great. It was a seamless project management. We were always updated. We had calls and emails outlining what the status of everything was. We had transcripts from our sessions that we could distribute to staff. 

What did you find most impressive about Tronvig Group?

No matter what someone brings up or how the conversation evolves during a strategy session, James Heaton is extremely talented at having a relatable anecdote or example that quickly unfolds and then guides the conversation back to the original topic. I’ve never seen anybody be able to work a room like James Heaton at Tronvig does. He kept us on task, he kept people excited about the topic and moving through the agenda. He was tremendous at that.

Are there any areas Tronvig Group could improve?

Honestly, no. I think that I was so impressed by what we were able to achieve with them that there was nothing that I could point to. It was a great experience overall.