Vigor

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the President/CEO of a regional pizza restaurant chain. We have 38 corporate locations, 8 franchise locations, and have been in business for 54 years. Our locations are primarily in Louisiana along with one restaurant in Arkansas and one in Mississippi.

One notable feature about our company is that we are 100% employee owned through our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) with was established 21 years ago (May, 2000).

For what projects/services did your company hire Vigor?

Although our name and brand was prevalent in the North Louisiana area, we were venturing out into new markets with a franchising push and were encountering difficulty breaking through.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a fresh, unbiased review of our brand elements and suggestions for improving our look to make our brand more appealing in new markets where we were not known.

Our product is high quality and competitive with all other pizza restaurants, but we felt our overall appearance and marketing message needed polishing for entry in the new markets.

How did you select Vigor?

After an extensive internet search for marketing firms with restaurant experience, we settled on 2 firms for consideration, one of which was Vigor. We allowed presentations from both firms and followed up with reference checks.

Since Vigor worked exclusively with restaurants and witnessing Joseph Szala's passion for the industry, it seemed obvious that Vigor had the advantage over other firms we investigated.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Vigor first conducted an in depth discovery analysis of our company, key personnel, and our existing markets.

This allowed the production of a brand document that included the identification our company's "pillars" (the focus of our brand), a listing of our strengths and weaknesses, and our market position in our existing markets as well as newly targeted markets.

This included a synopsis of the current competition in those markets. After this thorough investigation, Vigor presented a proposed change in our brand elements.

This included a new logo, standardized colors and fonts, a more targeted approach to our marketing message, and some new taglines, some of which we have registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

After we accepted their suggestions and adopted the new marks, Vigor assisted in designing a new website encompassing the new look and produced a brand book outlining the proper use of the marks, fonts, colors, and message.

What was the team composition?

The original team that worked on our project consisted of several marketing veterans with Iris World-Wide, who Vigor was currently collaborating with. However, since the beginning and throughout our ongoing relationship with Vigor, our primary contact and agent has been the founder of Vigor, Joseph Szala.

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

Our new brand look has been well received in our current markets and our new building design has proven successful and highly complimented where it has been used. Franchise locations in new markets are showing more success as well.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

When we first began, there was some friction between Vigor and our existing advertising firm. We have since established a small marketing team inside our company and they are work very well with Joseph and Vigor.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We're impressed by Joseph's passion for the restaurant industry which has driven his expertise in that area. This is the most appealing aspect of working with Vigor.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Although Joseph has been the constant throughout our relationship with Vigor, his business entity has changed a few times. Because Joseph has personally handled our account and has been very accessible while doing it, I do not believe it has adversely affected the effectiveness of any of our projects.

However, it seems a more stable business organization would be advantageous.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-owner of Happy Endings Hospitality. We’re a restaurant group in the Washington, DC and Northern Virginia areas. We own about six restaurants.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vigor?

We were looking for a company to help us rebrand during COVID-19. We felt it was an opportunity for us to revisit some of the brands for our restaurants. One of our restaurants is reaching its 10-year anniversary. We wanted to give the company a makeover and refresher as well as needed help to navigate the challenges with COVID-19 in regard to messaging and advertising.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we focused on rebranding our oldest restaurant. Upon initiation, they flew here, and we did a three-day workshop to conduct a discovery phase. We identified our vision, mission, and archetype as well as the personality of the brand and our customer profile.

Deliverables included a brand manual that identified customer criterion, their personalities, and how our brand connects to customers. Vigor helped us figure out the personalities of how we connect to customers and what messaging to utilize to reach them. They did a complete brand strategy.

What is the team composition?

We work with Joseph (Principal & Creative & Strategist), JP (Account Strategist), Theresa (Project Manager), and Aaron (Creative Director & Strategist). Theresa is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Vigor?

I looked into several agencies. With Vigor, and through the initial interviews, I felt that Joseph and his team vibed with our company well. Their personality was bold and edgy, which fits well with our company’s. Our company is young and progressive. I wanted an agency that’d truly understand and get to know us.

Vigor didn’t have a cookie-cutter presentation, and their personality shined through. It was clear they push their clients outside their comfort zones and think outside of the box. Also, we liked that they weren’t too big of a company. Our company isn’t that big either so that worked well.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in August 2020. We added several other projects as the engagement progressed.

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

Vigor is very professional in the way they deliver. The impact has been great for our company. They’ve helped us establish our brand messaging and realigned everyone on the same page. Now, our branding isn’t just a pretty graphic or design, there’s a strategy behind it. Vigor provided us with a structure and framework to understand how branding works and ties in with everything we do. Our partnership with them has been very helpful for our company.

How did Vigor perform from a project management standpoint?

With the complexity of our project, Vigor switched project managers three times because our project kept getting delayed, and we kept adding more things. Theresa is great. She asks good follow-up questions and truly understands what we’re talking about. We communicate through email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our team is full of people persons. We've enjoyed getting to know the Vigor team, it makes working with each other more personal. We look forward to weekly calls because we know them. They aren’t just a vendor, there’s a human element to it where we have a connection and are friends. Our conversations are business-oriented with a casual feel to them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on some project management aspects. We’re working with them on several other projects. Instead of sending over an email or something, it’d be beneficial to have a follow-up document maybe once or twice a month to track the progress. However, I also understand that they may not be as strict with project management with us because we had to change and add a lot of things to our contract.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Brook + Whittle. We are a large commercial printer that services different industries such as large beverage companies, home companies, and personal care brands. We print labels for consumer goods companies, large and small. We are owned by a private equity company and are one of the largest printers in North America.

We’re a fairly sizable company with eight locations across the US. We acquired five companies during COVID-19 that grew us to just more than 1,000 employees. I’m the VP of Marketing, also working on procurement and innovation. I wear three different hats, but I’ve been focused on the marketing side for the most part.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vigor?

We’ve been lean in marketing, which is why I was hired. When I started, we made the decision to start to rebrand and change the look and the feel of our company. I reached out to Vigor to start that whole rebranding process.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

We were looking for help with two things. One was to rebrand the company, build a better strategy around our patron, chose a target demographic, and more. Ultimately, we wanted to rebrand the logo, colors, and overall look and feel. Then, we were going to use those outputs to update the website and marketing collateral.

We were originally going to do a lot more within our contract but decided on this rebranding process, tabling a few other topics for future discussions. Our early work with them also served as a good opportunity to see if they would be a good long-term fit. We did a day-long strategy session on-site at their Atlanta location.

We kept our project team relatively small because we wanted to be nimble and get tangible output from the strategy session to share with our executive team. It was myself, the VP of marketing, the CEO, and one of the marketing people on my team at the session from our team. We went through strategy and archetypes as well as who we wanted to be as a company. The ask from Vigor was to find qualities that differentiate us in our industry.

Once we went through that strategy session and understood who we wanted to be, we moved into competitor research to determine what makes our services unique. Vigor was honest with us in saying they didn’t find any discernible qualities that made us stand out in our space. They were right; there wasn’t anything that we were doing that was really setting us apart.

The next few weeks were about figuring out what could make us unique and stand out in our industry. Sustainability was certainly a hot topic, and we’re quite a sustainable company. The problem was that everyone in the industry was discussing sustainability and product quality already.

However, We came full circle and decided to lean into what we’ve done to improve the state of our industry through sustainability. We developed quite innovative products, and they defined our direction and how we could stand out in the market.  It was a critical ask for them, but they completely delivered for us. They were always speaking realistically while also leading us toward a brand that we could market successfully.

What is the team composition?

In our workshop, we worked with Joseph (Principal), Aaron (Creative Director & Brand Strategist), and Joi (Project Manager). They were all involved, but Aaron was our point person, and Joi kept us on track. Joseph was in-and-out, but Aaron was the point person for most of the discussions and the workshops that came after the face-to-face strategy meeting.

How did you come to work with Vigor?

When I did my research, I came across Vigor and a few other vendors. They stood out because they were in the restaurant space. Certainly, we don’t sell to restaurants; we are more of a B2B label printer. However, I felt there was a good fit, and they offered what I was looking for. In the end, the decision to use a company that was outside of our normal label space worked out extremely well.

How much have you invested in them?

The first project was $30,000, and we have now taken the partnership a step further for content on our website. Our next project will also cost approximately $30,000. The end goal is to build out a much more robust website, but we’re still defining the full budget for that one as it will be a much larger project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in September 2020 and wrapped up that project in February 2021. We’ve started another project with them.

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

One of the outputs was the visual brand including, the color palettes, logos, and designs. We were competing with a sea of blue and black logos, which are very traditional, long-tendered printers. We wanted to set ourselves apart, so we used mood boards to pick colors and logo variations. In the end, it was a very collaborative process. They pulled us along in this journey, and we explored it together. It never felt like they were designing in a silo.

We ended up taking a big departure away from our branded norm, developing a vibrant, green visual brand that stands out in our space. All of the design elements that came with it, whether it be icons, typography, or patterns, have transformed the look of the company.

We rolled it out to our private equity, in-house, and executive teams. So far, the feedback has been phenomenal. We’re going to start giving out company sweatshirts, mugs, and notebooks with the new brand. We also started posting branding updates on social media, and the engagement rates on LinkedIn look great. Typically, an engagement rate above 6% is ideal for us, and we got well over 10% on our new branded posts.

We’re quite happy with the level of engagement we saw. The output was well-received, and people are seeing a noticeable shift in our branding, messaging, and overall personality. They pulled us through the journey and discovery that led to the visual aspects of the brand.

How did Vigor perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything we used was in Google Drive, and we had weekly update calls from both sides. There was always an agenda and presentation materials for our meetings. There was a discussion once a week on whether we liked our current direction and updates on our timeline. Every week, they produced new actions and deliverables that kept us on track. A few days ahead, Joi would always send out the weekly meeting agenda and whether there were outstanding decisions that needed to be made. 

It helped to keep things moving, especially on our tight timeline. We wanted to launch the brand in early 2021, and they were able to do it by February 2021.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their creativity and knowledge on what it takes to rebrand and connect with an audience stood out most. They were good at driving our purpose statement and speaking to an audience. They picked up on our industry, even though it may have been outside of their comfort zone at first.

We were impressed with how they learned about our space, did a competitive analysis, and understood our industry lingo. They had some background print knowledge, but their creativity, design capabilities, and the way they adapted to our market were really enlightening for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

On some of our newer projects together, there have been some occasional delays. It would’ve been helpful to have a clearer vision of the project from start to finish because we had to break things up for budgetary reasons. A more visual idea of how they would work would’ve helped because their statements of work were very text-heavy.

There’s truly not much they could’ve done better. They delivered exactly what we wanted in the timeline that we asked for. Everything was within scope and on budget. It was a very collaborative process, so they don’t have much to improve on from that perspective either.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust the process and trust their creative ability. We didn’t at first, but they proved to us that they could do a phenomenal job within our industry. If I was in another company’s shoes in a completely different space, I would tap into Vigor again with no apprehension. I would say jump and go for it. It has been a great process for us, and they have great people as well. They are truly there to help you succeed.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of the Brick River Cider company. We make hard cider in the St. Louis region.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vigor?

We approached Joseph (Principal) prior to even having named the company.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vigor was involved in the company’s inception through naming and branding services. We started with the building blocks of brand definition, which involved envisioning the company’s future and creating brand archetypes. Ultimately, their team helped us articulate the brand. They then created a brand name and worked on branding development, developing logos, visuals, and packaging. Their team also built the first version of our company’s website on Squarespace. Right now, they're working on a sub-branding package design.

What is the team composition?

I mainly deal with Joseph. Over the course of our engagement, I’ve dealt with many different people from Vigor.

How did you come to work with Vigor?

I originally found them by searching agencies with portfolios in the alcoholic beverage space.

How much have you invested with them?

The first-round cost around $50,000. This round will cost a little below $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged them around June 2017, and we’re currently working with them.

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

I’m working with them again. They listen to understand our goals but also bring creativity to projects. That’s important to us. I worked with a branding firm that only wanted to be creative and didn’t want to listen to my goals.

How did Vigor perform from a project management standpoint?

Vigor hits their timelines. We communicate via Microsoft Teams and presentations back and forth. They also follow up on our conversations with detailed emails. In 2017–2018, we occasionally met in our conference room. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Before I hired Vigor, I hired a different firm but eventually fired them because they didn’t listen to us. Vigor has the skills to hear what a client says and then articulate it with creativity.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I haven’t thought about it. I’m happy with their work based on the budgets I give them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It'll make the project simpler if you have a clear vision.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I serve as the COO of PeachState Hospitality. We’re a hotel owner, operator, and developer. Over the last 35 years, we’ve built around 70 hotels throughout the country, the majority of which are affiliated with major brands like Hilton, Marriott, and IHG.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vigor?

Back in 2017, we were building a hotel in downtown Dallas and needed a partner that could help us create a concept for our rooftop bar. The bar would be a completely custom offering and required food and beverage (F&B) branding.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

We worked with Vigor to develop a rooftop bar concept from scratch. Their work started with researching our competitor’s bars and offerings, searching for opportunities to really build a look that wasn’t just a copy-and-paste of something in the market. 

Once we identified a target patron persona, we homed in on those opportunities to build out the brand concept. They designed the logos, built a website, and created and curated our social media (e.g., Instagram, Twitter, Facebook). The team also helped with our menu design, menu offerings, landscaping, and print collateral. Any touchpoint, from our uniforms down to our pens, was part of their deliverables.

They’re actually working on a second project with us. It’s a rooftop bar for a hotel that we’re developing in Charleston, South Carolina.

What is the team composition? 

We’ve worked with the entire team, but the conversation always starts with Joseph (Principal). He gets involved to see what our ideas and capabilities are, just to get a sense of where we are in staging. After 3–4 months of ideation, Aaron (Creative Director & Strategist) and Joi (Project Manager) will join the project.

They also have various collaborators and creative department heads to handle the different collateral. On top of that, the team has put us in contact with third-party vendors and independent contractors for components like cocktail development, design work, and more.

How did you come to work with Vigor?

We landed on Vigor after going through our industry, various contacts, and general online searches. Joseph had worked with so many branded companies that he seemed like a great value-add to our project. He had relationships with Marriott and understood how to merge an independent product with a branded product. That meant that we could speak to him using relative industry terms and didn’t need to educate his team on what our goals were.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we’ve spent about $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We formally signed a contract with them in July 2017 and have been working with them since.

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

I don’t have enough good things to say about Vigor’s work. As a third-party consultant, they have a keen eye for developing brands and concepts that really stick with consumers. They understand the market demographic as well as what we’re looking for as developers. 

I’d also add that they’re really easy to work with thanks to their flexibility. They’re an agile company that can handle all of the changes and developmental obstacles we might face. Every step of the way, they’ve been accommodating, and their team relies on their expertise to resolve these hurdles.

Just looking at their sheer breadth of work, their track record really helps provide comfort for prospective clients. They’ve touched so many different areas of the business, whether it’s F&B, the bar itself, or a brewery — it really makes the process easier.

How did Vigor perform from a project management standpoint?

Time and time again, they’ve kept us on schedule, and they’re really particular about timing. They’ve been clear about every single deadline that we’ve had. 

Early on in our projects, they’ve created in-depth project plans with milestones and accomplishments. These plans have also included a responsibility matrix that says who is responsible for what and lists the steps to get there. It’s then easy for us to hop on to our shared Google Doc to see where we’re at, what’s going on, and what the next step will be. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Vigor’s main competitive edge is their agility and market understanding. That’s basically their ability to provide expertise and real-time information about the market — what consumers are looking for, what the market is gearing toward, and how we can accomplish that (from manufacturing, design, and service standpoints).

They’re constantly at the forefront of where the industry is headed. Joseph and Aaron have their ears to the ground on all things evolving in the space, so we know that we’re getting a service that’s up-to-date in a constantly changing industry. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It might be easier if they were a one-stop-shop for all of our needs, whether it’s product design, development, or manufacturing. However, we understand that these are pieces of business that we wouldn’t expect them to do and that it’s easier to work with third-party vendors for those.

Beyond that, the team consistently nurtures a dialog with us about how we can get better and be more efficient. They’re already meeting us halfway and pushing us at every juncture where we can grow. There’s rarely been a situation where we’ve had to tell them that we needed something because they’re always on point. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep your eyes wide open on what your goals are. Having clarity with your own end goals and sharing them with Joseph’s team really opens the runway for them. It allows them to shine and do what they naturally do, which is to create great brands and concepts.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of Eegee’s, a regional fast-food brand that has 25 units based in Tucson, Arizona. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Vigor?

We wanted to make our brand more relevant to more consumers, in particular the younger demographic.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

I worked with Vigor in two ways: brand reimagination and day-to-day creative work. Initially, it was a branding project where we reevaluated our brand strategy, looking at who we were, what we promised our consumers, and how it all came to life through our visuals. Vigor then crafted a brand book that informed all of our outward messaging to consumers.

Once I saw how strong their work was, I asked them to take over as our creative agency of record. They were tasked with handling the day-to-day creative pieces that fueled our consumer messaging. That meant managing all of the creative for our TV, radio, and digital/social channels. Because we’re a restaurant, our on-premise advertising is important, so they managed that, as well.

What is the team composition? 

I worked with Joseph (Principal), Aaron (Creative Director & Strategist), and JP (Marketing Strategist) along with a number of project managers.

How did you come to work with Vigor?

We found them through an organic search. At the time, we were looking for an agency that specifically worked with restaurants around our size. They checked all the boxes for us, albeit their headquarters were 2,000 miles away from us in Atlanta. Regardless, they still came in and gave us a much stronger pitch than a lot of the local agencies did because they really understood the category that we compete in.

How much have you invested with them?

For the initial branding work, we spent around $120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The branding work alone lasted from about June–December 2019. They were very diligent in terms of conducting the analysis and partnering with us as we developed the strategy.

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

Before we launched the new brand, we tested it with consumers to gauge their reaction. We looked at our concept statements, designs, and other creative elements — really, anything that would help us feel confident that we were launching with our best foot forward. After we went public, we also looked at our engagement across digital and social platforms, and the public received our new branding well.

How did Vigor perform from a project management standpoint?

It was great. We had project plans in place where we could evaluate their progress in real-time. In terms of communication, I had two standard meetings with them: an hour on Monday and another hour on Thursday. The team was good about keeping their phone line open, too. If something were to pop up, they were very receptive to taking our call and tackling the issue.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Vigor was more than just a creative agency — in a lot of ways, they were an extension of our team, which can be hard to find with an agency. The team took an investment in our strategy and was willing to collaborate with us on that level. They were great listeners but weren’t shy about expressing their opinion, even when it differed from ours. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would’ve been great if they were local. Having access to our environment might have helped them on the content front.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You should recognize their experience in branding medium-sized restaurant chains and consider them a strategic partner. The more data you can arm them with, the more effective their creative will be in helping you achieve your goals.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a 27-chain quick-service restaurant (QSR) serving salad, sandwiches, and soup-based in Northern California. We’ve been in business since 1973. I’m the president of general counsel, but I also oversee the marketing department along with a number of other departments. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Vigor?

Prior to Vigor coming aboard, we’d gone through a few bumpy transitions with other marketing companies. We were struggling to maintain a consistent brand and messaging across our platforms, in-store collateral, and website. We needed a marketing agency that would bring our brand together cohesively.  

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided them with our in-store packaging, paper menu, signage, website, and social media pages. They were responsible for bringing all of those different deliverables together under one brand umbrella. First, we worked together to settle on a set of branding guidelines. To get an understanding of the direction of our brand, they did some initial market research and took the feedback they discovered into account when developing our brand guidelines. In addition, they got into some social media management and digital marketing after delivering the new branding guidelines.  

We didn’t need a complete rebrand, and they did a good job of understanding what in our brand needed to be tweaked to deliver what we needed. They utilized our current branding materials to unify our identity. 

What is the team composition?

We went through several account managers. Additionally, we worked with Natalie (Art Director/Designer) and Joseph (Principal).

How did you come to work with Vigor?

Our marketing director did a nation-wide search, centered around companies with experience in the restaurant industry and the unique challenges of the franchise system. We were very impressed with their branding ability and were willing to hire them despite being located on opposite coasts of the US. 

How much have you invested with them?

We were working on a very limited budget. Over the course of our 3–4 years together, we spent about $300,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from the summer of 2018 and ended our relationship in January 2021.

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

We were very happy with the deliverables. After they completed the work, the brand still felt like our own, and we had positive feedback about it. They did their research, always able to explain their reasoning for choosing certain colors, fonts, and more.   

Sales are up since working with them on the rebrand. That increase isn’t solely due to their work, but they definitely contributed to that. The launch of the branding materials aligned with an increase in pricing on our side. The branding drew attention away from the small pricing increase. If we didn’t rebrand, there would have been a more negative impact. 

How did Vigor perform from a project management standpoint?

Natalie did an excellent job of working closely with Joseph, which helped us get where we needed to be. The same can’t be said for our account managers with them, unfortunately. We went through several account managers and didn’t have a consistent project management system in place throughout our relationship. These issues popped up more while we were on a monthly retainer with them, so they may have some room to improve in that area. There were some struggles with understanding our challenges and meeting deadlines. However, they were able to manage delivery for our website and larger branding projects. Not everything on our sprints worked, but they adjusted well in those engagements. 

The team had weekly meetings, but I tried to focus more on our monthly and quarterly reports. Joseph was always available to speak with me directly, which I appreciated. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They punch above their weight, especially considering their in-depth knowledge of branding. Based on the cost comparisons we did, branding is a clear strength that makes them stand out. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their account management needs a lot of work. We went through several account managers that didn’t seem well-versed in our brand or goals. I understand the challenges of a remote relationship, but there wasn’t enough engagement from them. They should’ve asked more questions to be in tune with what we needed. I was happy with a lot of their work, but their account management was not a strength.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clearly lay out your ideas and establish a direct point of contact with Joseph. They’ll excel in understanding your needs and developing deliverables, especially Joseph and Natalie. If you have Joseph’s attention, you’ll be good to go.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior level marketing consultant for Marriott International. I’ve worked on projects that are hotel brand led. We’re based in Bethesda, Maryland.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vigor?

I was working to develop a better marketing guide and better marketing perspective that was very food and beverage driven in a contemporary way. We had started an initiative to modernize our hotels that have restaurants and bars to get them more in touch with locals. We have the stigma attached to being a hotel bar and restaurant, and that it wasn’t a contemporary and innovative place for people to go. We had done some work from an operational standpoint, but the next part was from a marketing perspective. We needed to teach and inspire our current restaurants and bars, as they update, to understand how to market. They had only been relying on our hotel guests to bring in business. We needed to find an agency to help us with our marketing strategy.

What was the scope of their involvement?

There are a lot of rules put on how and when to reach out to our operations team, especially globally. We had to set it up so Vigor had limited communication with them. Instead, we set up a survey and we had them send examples. Based on that, we coordinated with Joseph [Restaurant & Beverage Brand Strategist, Vigor] to send targeted emails back to people to get more feedback.

The implementation of the strategy was completely the restaurants’ responsibility. They were tasked with how to come up with guides, templates, and creative examples that we can push down and up. We have many restaurants that have their own flavors and concepts. We hired Vigor to condense and explain what restaurant and bar marketing is now and give them enough inspiration and guidance to do it. Then we needed them to help us to tell them that what they have is the bare minimum and they have to do this now. Then we give them the toolkit to do it and teach them how to take it up a notch as they became more proficient or sophisticated.

What is the team composition?

I had 2 people working with me directly and I had 2–4 people working behind the scenes. A lot of the material was templated. Once we agreed on it, they rolled it out, wrote documents for us to review, and set up creative examples. I didn’t need that many people from a project management standpoint.

How did you come to work with Vigor?

We had an RFP to work with agencies. I got a couple of names from the food and beverage operations team. They weren’t exactly what we needed so I started doing research. In my search, I found Vigor. I made a pitch to my stakeholders saying I wanted to include them in the RFP. They were an outlier, but through the process, they came in strong. I had a 20-minute conversation with Joseph, who called me back right away. I was attracted to the fact that Joseph had his own blog around these topics. They seemed so meshed in what is going on now with a pulse on what is present and what is in the future. We sent over the RFP and they won both from a price perspective and a process perspective. They had done hospitality work before. Because they had enough background and all the parts we were looking for, they were the right fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–June 2016.

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

I don’t have any metrics because a new VP came in and the team got reorganized and I was phased off the project. The satisfaction level on what we delivered and the output were extremely high. It is in all the places it was supposed to be. It has been pushed out globally, and we heard a lot of initial feedback from regional leaders who said that this is what they wanted, but they needed to update it regionally.

From a standpoint of success, because of this work and showing that example, my VP at another company decided to go with Vigor.

How did Vigor perform from a project management standpoint?

They used Basecamp, which was helpful. It was well-managed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Not much can faze the team. Vigor was not fazed by scope change or people coming in and saying they want to creatively direct. They did a good job of delivering their expertise. They were flexible in allowing us to have influence, but they also guided us. Some agencies give too much pushback and no flexibility. Vigor wasn’t unstructured, but there was that amount of flexibility and ability to take change pretty quickly.

We got the level of expertise that we needed that we couldn’t have accessed internally. They helped us understand what’s up and coming, how to scale things, what’s practical and realistic, and how to activate things. They are a team of people who are thought leaders. They’re great to talk to and picked our brains about things, which is always nice to have.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We got everything we needed and when we needed it by.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a 25-year-old franchise food brand.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vigor Branding?

We found that our brand no longer matched current trends. We needed outside help to modernize our company so we can compete in today’s environment.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed a total assessment of not only our own brand, but also the current market trends. We wanted to know what customers wanted from us and how we could fulfill that demand. As a young company, Vigor understood what millennial buyers are interested in. To attract other demographics, they went into the field to conduct research, speaking to our customers and operators.

Having conducted those assessments, we're currently in the middle of a massive rebranding effort. We’re considering implementing a new look, redesigning logos, revising our menus, and we may even change our company name.

What is the team composition?

Vigor’s main principal, Joe Szala, was very involved. We also work with their branding specialist and their graphic design specialist. They collaborate internally, but also work alongside our in-house designers.

How did you come to work with Vigor Branding?

We’ve worked with several consultants in the past, but never with any success. Vigor’s principal had written an article in an industry trade magazine. I was impressed by his thoughts, so I reached out to him and set up an interview.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000 for the entire rebranding process.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2017 and our relationship is ongoing.

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

While the new brand hasn’t launched yet, it has already made a positive impact on company morale. It’s frustrating when you feel that your brand is out of sync, but Vigor’s efforts have sharpened our focus, renewed our confidence, and increased our passion. By realigning us with current trends, they’ve had an immeasurable effect on internal job satisfaction.

How did Vigor Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

Vigor is unique in that they not only have branding expertise, but they also have graphics capabilities in-house. They’re able to turn around graphic recommendations within 24 hours, streamlining the entire process. Joe specializes in both graphic design and branding, and having branding experience myself, I can speak to his ability.

They’re also flexible, able to take lead on a given task or work collaboratively with our own designers to provide the best solution. They offer practical ideas based on our needs and the needs of our customers instead of wasting time with abstract, theoretical solutions.

Communication has been incredible and they’re very responsive. I can reach Joe at any time of day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The greatest thing about Vigor is their passion for what they believe in. We completely rejected their first recommendations, but they kept at it, creating mockups for every aspect of the rebrand. They presented these designs to us, and we ultimately decided they had been right all along.

They've also connected us with quite a few outside Internet suppliers, loyalty providers, and point of sale providers.

I've dealt with a lot of branding agencies and these guys are the real deal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m sure there must be something, but I can’t think of anything since we’ve worked so well together.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You must talk to a number of different branding agencies to make sure you work well together. Having worked with several in the past, I can say that they all have different approaches. Even if an agency is qualified, it may not be the best fit for your specific project.