Yield Branding

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Polar Asset Management Partners. We’re an alternative asset manager. Specifically, we manage hedge funds for a diverse client base; diverse in both geography and type.

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

In our most recent project, as part of a strategic review, we needed to revise our mission statement and value to reflect changes in leadership.

What was the scope of their involvement?

This was a renewal of a previous project they’d done for us. This time, they led an executive team through a series of in-person discussions. They managed diverse personalities to review our mission and particularly our values. There were five sessions total – both outdoor/socially distanced in-person and over Microsoft Teams.

Past projects have included websites and marketing collateral creation. The latter often required pitch books, monthly reporting, and client engagement tools.

What is the team composition?

On this project, we worked with Ted (President & Partner) and Brad (CEO). Because this was a renewal, there wasn’t much new content to create. It was more about reviewing so we worked with them. We’ve worked

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

Originally, we reached out to them to update our brand five years ago. We needed everything redone including names and logos. An old friend in the advertising business helped me narrow my choices to five firms and Yield Branding rose to the top.

We keep engaging them based on their quality of work on their initial branding and mission/values work. They’ve gathered a deep understanding of our values of the years. We haven’t moved to a bigger firm because of this knowledge and the quick pace they work at.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first engaged them in January 2015, and the most recent project wrapped up in July 2020.

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

The initial rebranding was both top-notch and consistent with the values and mission we were trying to push forward. It gave us a great foundation for the changes we were making. It confirmed a cultural shift we were pushing. The next year was a great year for us.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great. They pushed us to stay on schedule and delivered on schedule themselves. We give them high scores in this regard. The process was collaborative with great debates. Good consultants have great ears, listening to you and pulling the information out of you, rather than putting the information on you.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The reason we chose them at the beginning is sort of ironic. They were quite adamant that if they were going to run the branding work that we had to engage in their specific process of reviewing our mission and value set first. This was expensive, but it turned out to be super helpful to us in that it accelerated our internal mission/value work. Because they did that work, the brand lined up completely with it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re a smaller business in a tough industry and the junior people cycle through pretty rapidly. We seem to be working with a new face pretty regularly, but it’s a relatively minor complaint.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Invest in them understanding your business and your mission/value set. It sounds expensive at the beginning but it’s the key to success.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the President of the Georgetown Craft Beer Festival, a non-profit organization. My responsibilities include managing directors and volunteers; co-ordinating with local government officials, and assisting with organization development.

For what projects/services did your company hire Yield Branding?

We needed help developing overall brand strategy including our annual marketing campaign. While our directors bring many skills and talents to the table, we needed outside expertise to help establish a brand that would differentiate ourselves from our competition.

What were your goals for this project?

While we quickly gained local recognition for our festival, we needed help growing attendance by attracting guests from outside our immediate geographic area.

How did you select this vendor?

In the early stages we approached multiple branding agencies, and evaluated the completed projects detailed on their websites. We contacted Yield Branding and were impressed by their professionalism and enthusiasm for our project. It did not take long for our directors to choose to work with this company.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The progress began with multiple meetings with the company and our board of directors. The company spent a lot of time learning about our organization and understanding our goals and objectives.

From these meetings, Yield Branding presented a branding strategy that helped us communicate what set us apart - the time of year for our festival, and a focus on the benefits of our location. As our festival has grown so too has our branding strategy. The final strategy incorporated a solution for our logo, website, social media, sponsorship package, ticket design, and both print and radio advertising.

What was the team composition?

Our project was overseen by the Chief Branding Officer and President. We have had great working relationships with project managers over the years. From top-to-bottom we have always felt that our organization is important when dealing with the company.

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

Attendance at our festival has grown by more than 300%. Contributing to our attendance growth has been a steady increase of attendees from outside our immediate geographic area. Interactions on our social media platforms have grown each year. The end result has been an annual increase in the amount of financial support we donate to those in need in our community.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The team at Yield keeps in contact with us on a regular basis as our project develops. Deadlines are set and met, culminating in an in-person presentation by Yield to members of our board of directors.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We have always been amazed by the creativity of the team at Yield. Each year our marketing campaign takes risks, backed by a lot of research and years of industry experience. Every time we meet I walk away feeling better educated and optimistic for the future of our organization.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We have always been very happy with Yield Branding.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Philanthropy, Brand, and Communications at Canadian Feed the Children. We’re a charity that works both domestically and internationally to fight poverty.

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

Our demographics and relevance within the market are changing, and we’re faced with a lot of competitors. We wanted to reposition our brand, shift our strategy, and redefine our visual identity.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first held a few strategy discussions, where Yield Branding reviewed our existing information and market position. We provided them with research that we’d conducted in the past, and they moved into defining our new visual identity. They thought about how our values would translate, aesthetically, through different mediums.

What is the team composition?

The two leads were Ted (President) and Brad (CEO). They were supported by a larger team. It was a tag-team between the two; Ted’s role was to understand our account and what we were looking for, and Brad came in with the creative side of things.

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

They were recommended to us. Our partnership existed before my onboarding at the company.

What is the status of this engagement?

The collaboration began in May of 2019, and the project is currently on hold.

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

I’d highlight their design expertise. Their strength is in creating a visual identity and providing multiple distinct options. Their understanding and use of typography are especially excellent.

They were very flexible and professional in their creative execution of the brand. They took an in-depth approach to the architecture and symbolism of the brand’s visual components. They also did a terrific job of guiding our board and staff through these changes.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

The project was managed by them and the project lead on our side. When larger group meetings were necessary for decision-making, those gatherings were organized without any issue. They’re definitely sensitive to the customer’s perspective and needs, so they organize schedules and workshops around the client’s schedule.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’d highlight their stellar use of both typography and color.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

No matter what agency you’re working with, the more clarity and understanding you have about your goals, the easier it is for the agency to do their job. I’d recommend taking the time up front to provide them with background research or any available data; that will help them come back to you with something truly impactful.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former director of marketing for Porsche Canada.

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

Yield Branding was responsible for all of our branding, strategy development, creative execution, and high-level media strategy. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Yield Branding did creative development for all of our launch campaigns, which involve 3–4 new products every year. They handled all the development and management of after-sales marketing campaigns as well; that involved working with a CRM, direct mail, and digital components. They also developed advertising around some of our special projects like driving events. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with Brad (CEO) and an account manager. 

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

My predecessor hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent anywhere from $200,000 to $1 million per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Yield Branding was already on board in September 2011. The partnership stopped when we had to move to a global agency of record. 

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

It’s hard to speak to any specific metrics, but during our time together, all our metrics on digital engagement, lead generation, and sales improved year over year. It was all very positive, especially considering the fact that we occasionally experienced serious budget constraints and extremely tight deadlines.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

I really liked our relationship with their team. My previous challenge with other agencies is getting them up to speed on our brand and products. Yield Branding had been working on our business prior to when I started working with them, so they already fully understood our brand and products. I could roll into any meeting or presentation and get into it without a lot of setup and briefing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Them being small and nimble was important; it allowed them to react and turn things around quickly. They deeply understood our product, brand, and goals as well. They just got it, which made the whole process from the briefing to revisions so much faster. That was so key to our working relationship. They also had the strongest understanding of the after-sales side of the business than anybody I’ve worked with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In hindsight, there were things we could all have done better. It’s hard for me to point to specific areas though. 

Any advice for potential customers?

The key to any successful working relationship is fit. That applies to the client’s product and the vendor’s services they’re providing for it, as well as the chemistry between both teams. Yield Branding is small and nimble enough for you to be able to tell if it’s a good fit right away. The people you meet in the pitch is the same people you’ll be working with day-to-day.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is called ARHT Media, and we are a global leader in holographic telepresence. Effectively, we beam people’s likenesses around the world in real time, and I am the CEO.

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

The two challenges we were facing were both repositioning the company to emphasize new products and services that we were offering, as well as increasing our online presence in general.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team took a very methodical and strategic approach from the start, speaking with a number of our clients, prospective clients, and potential customers who chose not to contract in order to get an understanding of our business’ opportunities and core objectives.

From there they recommended some programs and methods of communication tied into branding that we could use to refresh our image on our website, and they gave us some specific SEO strategies for raising the profile of that new content.

What is the team composition?

They had a team approach to the work, including a project manager who was with us from beginning to end. The initial relationship involved their president, who stayed engaged throughout the work, as well as their head of creative who helped guide his team to provide the final recommendations.

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

We spoke with a couple of agencies for the work, including Yield Branding, who was introduced to us through an existing relationship that the chairman of our company had. Right from the beginning, they seemed to have the best understanding of our business needs and the most enthusiasm about working with our product and brand.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we spent around $150,000–$175,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started around March 2019 and we are continuing to work together.

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

It’s hard to measure the direct impact of their work because our company is growing so rapidly, but what I can tell you is that the feedback has been extremely positive from everyone who has come into contact with it, from investors to existing clients, and our own internal team.

Everyone is really enthusiastic about the assets we now have to work with because they have dramatically improved our communication in general, which is helping us on our marketing and sales side as well. Typically, when you make a big creative leap, there are people who love it and there are also detractors, but in this case, I don’t think there’s anyone at all who doesn’t like it.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

I wasn’t directly involved in the day to day process of their work, but our project management teams spoke very well of the agency and the working relationship that they established.

One of the things that we liked about them from the beginning was that they weren’t looking to throw everything we had out. They were looking to incorporate some of our better assets, and I think that made things both more efficient but also a lot more positive and collaborative as a whole.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their two key principals have a very long list of experiences in their industry working with big global brands. Because they’re a smaller agency, you get really personal attention, but they can also tap into their experience to provide really high-quality work. Their involvement in the work is extremely valuable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really don’t think there’s anything, in particular, they could have done to make the project any better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust their instincts. Their team has incredible instincts when it comes to strategy and communication. Some of their recommendations were pretty radically different from what we had been doing before, but we embraced that shift and have benefitted significantly because of it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Crazy Canuck Events that produced events such as Mud Hero, which is the largest obstacle running series in Canada. I was the CEO but sold the company a year ago.

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

We wanted to generate excitement for the company and needed a professional look that people could trust.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Yield Branding created our website and chose photos for the WordPress platform. Their team helped with the overall branding and appearance of our website. They crafted logos, our messaging, and one of our best YouTube videos, which had almost 20,000 views. Yield Branding also helped with our sales funnel, directing our strategies, users’ interactions, and navigation.

Their team also created a campaign for our fifth anniversary. They created posters, materials for our events, and assets that were available on event sites such as mud meters.

What is the team composition?

I worked with an account manager and the owner of Yield Branding.

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

The owner and I had a prior relationship.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $250,000–$400,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in September 2012 and ended the engagement in October 2016 due to budget constraints.

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

Their team skillfully built the brand, its look, and a sales funnel for our business. We were in a growth phase until 2016 when the market matured. However, we saw a decline that was less than our competitors. We stopped advancing our website, cut budgets, and doubled down on digital efforts but continued with the strategy that Yield Branding developed. The newest company owners use the same strategy that we did.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was definitely a strength of Yield Branding's. Their team was professional and met deadlines. They had excellent communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re creative, out-of-the-box thinkers. Their team was detailed with their requirements. Yield Branding brought an outside perspective that we needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re not as strong with digital advertising as they are with print ads. Their team focuses on branding and creating an exciting look and less on managing day to day digital strategies. They’re not set up to react quickly to digital changes.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to them. Let them provide you with options but be realistic with your budget.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a federal agency working on a Canada-wide initiative for a new program that has not yet been rolled out.

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

We need to develop a new brand for our new organization, and we wanted to have a forward-looking brand that all the employees could be really proud of.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The branding work included a new logo, brand guidelines, and a brand story. Then, we established a visual identity system to communicate those three things. 

They helped develop the things that stand behind the brand — the sum total of perceptions that our stakeholders have about our organization. 

They also conducted a survey of the employees to ask questions about which values they thought the organization should include. Their work included about 20 interviews with key internal and external stakeholders.

Later on, we worked with them again on a project connected to the work we were doing around our vision, mission, and values. They helped create a specific deck for meetings with our board and senior leaders.

What is the team composition?

Ted (President, Yield Branding) and Brad (CEO, Yield Branding) were the key players, and Josie (Senior Account Supervisor, Yield Branding) was our account manager. I really only dealt with those three. We had the same graphics specialist throughout the whole project.

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

We hired a consultant to give advice on who should be invited to participate in a contest to select a vendor. The consultant helped select four groups that bid on the project. 

We selected Yield Branding for a number of reasons. They had good experience dealing with financial services, and they’d dealt with government agencies. Also, they had performed branding and logo work combined with survey services. Their presentation was very good, and they had a competitive price.

How much have you invested with them?

For the first project, the total value of the contract was probably about $205,000. For the second engagement, we invested about $17,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

They worked from December of 2017 through December of 2018. The second project took place from July to August of 2019.

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

We haven’t rolled it out to employees yet. However, we’ve gotten very positive feedback from government officials, our board of directors, and senior leadership. They had positive feedback about both the experience and the end result.

They were also quite creative. They helped us hone in on the essence of our brand. A big part of that was the excellent research they set up and conducted with the employees who would be coming on board.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They had a thorough, professional process for project management. First, they presented a plan about how brand development would proceed. As they started to execute, they were on-time and on-budget. We asked for a couple of extra items and they were able to work with us on those. 

Overall, their account management and billing were very good. They would send a summary each month, which we could discuss before they invoiced us. 

We communicated through face-to-face meetings, telephone, and email on a day-to-day basis. They used a secure portal to showcase information and receive feedback. For example, board members could look at things and comment back. This was very, very helpful for gathering feedback (e.g. looking at drafts of the logo). 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their thorough, professional approach and unique insights about our brand stood out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything was done well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They are good listeners. So, make sure you’ve got your key stakeholders in place for them to talk to. A large part of their process is conducting 15–20 stakeholder interviews. They’ll be able to gather valuable insights if they’ve had a chance to interview the right people. 

You should also work really closely with them to make sure you're comfortable with the project timeline. If you tell them what you want to do and when you want it done, they will get it done.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the chief of member services for the Ontario Medical Association. I also serve as the CEO of OMA Insurance, a subsidiary of ours. The Ontario Medical Association is the professional association of all doctors in Ontario. We look after their professional and personal interests by providing them with a range of services including insurance, discount programs, and practice management training.

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

Our OMA Insurance subsidiary lacked an identity. We evolved a lot in the five years prior to starting with Yield Branding, and we anticipated even more changes in the coming five years. We engaged with Yield Branding to create an identity and a value proposition to our customers. We hoped that the brand would be consistent with the larger parent organization but also be different enough from the parent organization to survive as a standalone identity.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Yield Branding ushered us through their genesis process, which allowed them to meet with our stakeholders and our clients to determine the current state of our brand. Following that, they helped us build our brand pyramid that outlined our overall brand promise and how we’d represent that internally to our employees and externally to our business partners and our clients.

Once the identity was created, Yield Branding designed a new logo and a new design for all of our materials and collateral. While we separately developed a website, Yield Branding helped us determine the tone of our online presence.

What is the team composition?

Our primary contacts were Brad (Founder/Chief Brand Strategist, Yield Branding) and Ted (President, Yield Branding).

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

I worked with them at a past job, and I was impressed by the quality of their work and their understanding of what we were trying to accomplish. We conducted an RFP process, and we invited three finalists for an interview and a presentation. We selected Yield Branding through that process.

How much have you invested with them?

Over several years, we spent around $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in 2014, and the bulk of the work was complete within 12–15 months. We worked with them on a retainer for another two or three years. During our time working together, we developed our internal marketing department, so we no longer have them on a retainer basis, but we’ll still work with them on a project-by-project basis if it falls a little beyond the scope of our capabilities.

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

It’s difficult to determine how much of our success is attributed to this work, but I can highlight that 79% of our members have one or more insurance product through our offerings. We also know that our material gets read because we have a higher open rate, and I receive positive anecdotal feedback. We also had no website before, and now we experience thousands of online visitors a month.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

Whenever we missed a deadline, it was likely because the approval process took longer on our end because we were unsure of what we wanted. But we held regular meetings to update the project plan and stay on task. Because of our occasional indecisiveness, they sometimes put more time and effort into specific tasks, but they still honored their original cost estimates.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate their approach to understand what we’re trying to accomplish. They remain mindful of their client’s clients—the end users—and what they need. The insurance industry can sometimes be full of jargon, and we were a bit too insular at times, so Yield Branding helped us break down our information into language that our customers could easily understand.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re not a huge international shop, so if that’s what people look for, they can deliver really well within their marketplace. That’s not a big issue for us, but I suspect it could be for other people. Further, when we branched into the digital strategy, we relied on a different firm. Yield Branding has clear creative strengths, but they’re not as strong technologically.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the VP of public engagement for World Vision Canada, an advocacy and relief global organization that works to improve the well-being of children living in poverty in about 100 countries.

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

We engaged Yield to help develop our brand familiarity to help increase donations and contributions that support our work. We needed help defining our brand value proposition and any supporting messaging.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Yield developed a brand value proposition and initial brand messaging architecture, along with a promotional plan. After doing a deep dive into our brand health and all the research we'd already done, they provided an assessment of our challenges. They then led an exercise that helped us clarify what we wanted to express from a customer-facing perspective and presented recommendations based on their research.

From there, they developed some creatives based on our cause and supported us in working with an external service provider to test the concept. A 24-month promotional plan was developed to attract new audiences and ensure interest and support was maintained from existing audiences.

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with Ted (President, Yield Branding) and Brad (Founder, Chief Brand Strategist, Yield Branding), as well as a designer and writer.

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

We researched companies in Canada and considered a few different companies through an RFI process. We liked that Yield had a clear mission, was affordable, and smaller in size so they could give us more personalized attention. As a nonprofit, we also appreciated their experience in the financial sector, providing insight into how people feel about their money.

How much have you invested with them?

We'll invest $150,000–$200,000 by the time we're done.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in July 2018, wrapped up most of the work in November, and continue to work with them on other projects.

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

The value proposition Yield developed has resonated very well with our targeted audience, performing well from the initial research we've conducted.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They maintain a clear channel of communication, and delivered on their promises within set timeframes. There were just a few times we had to follow up on next steps due to a lack of clarity.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ted and Brad complement each other very well. Brad is very creative, energetic, and passionate, while Ted brings a lot of rigor, research, and customer service to the table.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They work hard to understand the needs of the client.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former vice president of marketing at Giant Tiger stores, a major Canadian food, fashion, and general merchandise retailer.

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

I was recruited to the organization to help elevate the business. I was assigned a limited budget, resources, and time, and was going up against massive, established competitors whose budget largely exceeded mine.

I needed a strong agency partner that was nimble, entrepreneurial, and that could not only help me to deliver the vision that I was building within the organization for what the brand could be but also help deliver and execute that under some very tight constraints.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They assisted with our branding, advertising campaign, media strategy, customer research, and PR efforts. By the time the management team at our company bought into the vision and strategy we created, we had very little time to execute—under eight weeks. It was a brand-new campaign, and a completely new approach for the business, with its first time ever on television. It truly was one of the most exciting, challenging, and insane experiences I’ve ever had, and Yield Branding was an outstanding partner throughout.

As we received feedback from my business partners and our executive team, we needed to adapt and implement it quickly, which Yield Branding did with excellence. They knew that our competitive marketplace would be watching our every move, so there was no place for error considering our timeline and budget constraints.

What is the team composition?

I worked with their president, Ted Nation, and CEO, Brad Usherwood, as well as with their senior team.

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

I had known Yield Branding from the past and brought them into the RFP process along with many other agencies. We went through a test case scenario with all of them and chose Yield Branding as a result.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2016 and the collaboration is ongoing.

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

All in all, I’m very proud of not only what Yield Branding put forth, but also of my own team that supported the initiative. We gave women what they wanted in a simple way that resonated with them, which stood out over our competition. Yield Branding was amazing and pushed us hard, which is exactly what one would want from a creative partner. They were honest, had integrity and brilliant ideas, and were able to execute within our timeline and budget, which was short of a miracle.

We have a lot of fun working together. When both sides can be honest and challenging, great ideas and insights come out. It’s always about being customer-centric and never losing sight of that. Yield Branding keeps us very grounded in that.

The strongest metric would be that we achieved the two billion corporate sales revenue mark. We successfully launched or rebranded 15 brands with Yield Branding’s partnership in under three years. All these projects have been very successful, and those businesses continue to thrive and grow.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very aware of our time and budget constraints, and we had an excellent understanding that if anything was to go above, that it needed approval first. They were effective in tracking, monitoring, and helping us make choices. They also helped us understand the financial repercussions of some of our decisions and would tell us where they thought our money could have a greater impact. Their insight and guidance have been valuable. They’re also very financially responsible, which is hard to find in other agency partners.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They went over and above to research our marketplace, at their own cost, to bring that insight to us when we had gaps in our understanding. That level of investment, curiosity, and passion for our business really made me feel that they were not just an agency we hired, but rather a partner in our success. They've been challenging, but in all the right ways, having the confidence to tell us where we can do better and how.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They don’t have in-house media, but they did introduce us to a media planning agency that they worked closely with. It isn’t a one-stop-shop situation for us in this sense.