Emotive Brand

Please describe your company and your position there.

At the time of this project, I was the senior director of brand strategy for Citrix, a B2B software and cloud services company. We power a better way to work, helping organizations unlock innovation, engage customers, and boost productivity, without sacrificing security. Our solutions are used by more than 400,000 organizations, including the majority of Fortune-recognized companies.

For what projects/services did your company hire Emotive Brand?

We engaged Emotive Brand to conduct competitive research and lead a brand platform initiative. We wanted them to guide our executive leadership team in determining a sustainable, relevant, and differentiated brand position and create aligned messaging strategies for each of our target audiences.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to update our platform and messaging to achieve full and sustained support from our leadership.

How did you select this vendor?

After a request-for-proposal process, we narrowed down our list to agencies that offered bullet-proof strategies to balance our market, industry, and audience needs and address any market trends. Emotive Brand had this skillset, in addition to a lyrical writing style, sharp intelligence, and previous experience. With all of this in mind, we were confident that they could deliver a usable brand platform.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

To start, Emotive Brand appropriately researched our brand and market and processed previous revisions of our platform and messaging plans. They interviewed internal stakeholders, customers, and prospects, and held a workshop to determine the scope of the project. Through an iterative approach, they submitted a few development rounds and made the necessary edits for final approval.

Beyond the core platform work, we collaborated on several creative deliverables to help us embed the new positioning and messaging strategies into our corporate teams’ work.

What was the team composition?

We worked primarily with the founders, who put together a full team for the project. Tracy (Chief Strategy Officer, Emotive Brand), Bella (CEO, Emotive Brand), tech-savvy strategists, and a writer were also involved with our project. When necessary, they also tasked their in-house creative team for specific deliverables.

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

Having activated our brand platform across the company, we’ve received positive feedback from employees, analysts, customers, and the press. Emotive Brand’s work instilled a sense of confidence in our leadership team because they can clearly see how it fits our corporate strategy and plans.

The positioning itself completely aligns with our vision, and we’ve used it to create our brand book, messaging handbook, several storytelling initiatives, other campaign strategies, sales decks, training materials, and other creative marketing collateral.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our dedicated project manager worked hard to keep our project on schedule. Communication was consistent but not intrusive. In terms of scheduling, we often underestimated the time the creative team needed, so any additional discussion sessions happened behind the scenes.

With her strategic experience, Tracy avoided project delays, anticipating when we needed to pivot away from our original plans or standard operating models. We did have to run through more cycles for the creative deliverables than I initially expected. Because of that, final products were frequently submitted after the established deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Tracy's strategic thinking is highly advanced. The team listens to one another, develops solid work, and rolls with the inevitable hiccups of large-scale, high-stakes projects. Tracy and Bella complement each other well and offer a strong leadership model that I often recommend to colleagues.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The co-founders are active participants, bringing a solid sense of what's working and what isn't to the creative process. They adjust structures, processes, and people to give additional attention to areas where there are gaps.

While we worked together, they pushed to find the right cadence between the strategic and creative work. With an understanding that each project is different, they realized that they needed to place extra focus on connecting strategy and creativity in our partnership because our creative team was in flux. The Emotive Brand team addressed problems quickly, and course corrected when we were headed off target, but even with their tailored strategy, many deliverables were late.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the CMO at Rocket Fuel, which sold a predictive marketing platform aimed at large agencies and marketers who were seeking to bring more predictive, AI-driven capabilities into their marketing.

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

When I came in as CMO, the company was positioned as a programmatic advertising company. The challenge was that this category was becoming commoditized and didn't reflect the business challenges that our technology solved. When I looked at the technology and the go-to-market strategy, I came to the conclusion that we were in the wrong category and that we needed to move into a new category called predictive marketing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I called upon Emotive to help me with the repositioning from programmatic to predictive. We went through 4 processes. The first one was the analysis and research. They spent a lot of time talking to customers and analysts and watching our internal work. Then they went into the design phase. My team designed iteratively with them and we went through multiple iterations.

Phase three was the development. They worked closely with our team. They were creating things that we needed to change like web copy, campaigns, our PR and research. They didn’t just give us branding assets but they also really elaborated on what it was going to take to reposition the company across reputation, demand, and sales enablement.

What is the team composition?

One of the founding partners was my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

Word of mouth. My CEO had worked with them before and had suggested I work with them. I met the founding partner and within a few seconds figured out that I wanted to work with her. Their team has a contagious energy.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $200,000 and $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first wave was completed from June to September 2016. They did ongoing work in 2017 and stopped in July 2017 because at that point we were selling the company.

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

We did a brand awareness survey that ran in Market Quarterly. With the repositioning, we went from being known for programmatic to being known for being a predictive platform. We were able to shift that much in about a 6-month period.

The results were incredible. An example of the measurable impact was an NPR message that was published. I cared about our story landing with reporters. We saw that happen, and we got an increased perspective.

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They were on time and on budget. The team seemed to really get things done. I never worried about them missing a deadline and they never came back and asked for more money unless it was for a new scope. They treated me as if I was the executive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

At the end of 2016, as we were getting ready to sell the company, we were preparing to reduce our marketing spend. I called them and told them that we were going to stop the work. They responded that they weren’t done with the project and wouldn’t let go of it until it was done. They were with us from beginning to end.

I was impressed with the analysis and research, which was really helpful. That got us to a great space on design and then we really collaborated on the development. I've worked with a lot of branding agencies before and most of them listen to what you have to say for a little bit, and then they come up with the ideas. They feel like they're in the business of just generating ideas. I was impressed with Emotive's research ability and I appreciated the thoroughness. One of the guys actually flew out to New York to watch me on a panel and shadow me in meetings. That was pretty cool for a marketing firm.

I also liked that the first thing they did with the design was too bold. I appreciated that they were willing to go there.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only place I think is tricky for them is that they need to figure out how to describe value to non-marketing, non-brand people. My CEO knew them and still didn’t really understand what they were doing when he looked at statements of work. Articulating the business impact of their work is important and they can improve on that. Otherwise, the quality of work was great. The team was good.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Metal Toad is a software consulting company based in Portland, Oregon. We do everything from telematics to wind power, working with some of the biggest entertainment brands in the world. I'm the COO.

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

We were trying to establish a brand refresh on our tagline and positioning. Our business had pivoted from doing less CMS work to doing more custom software solutions. With our changing business, we were unsure of how we wanted to position ourselves. We engaged the team at Emotive to come in and help us with a process that they call Fast Forward.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Emotive Brand did a lot of pre-interviews and research. They came to our office for an entire week to meet our leadership team. Emotive came in with their team and helped us define what we were trying to say, what was important to us, and what differentiated us in the market. They really helped us develop our leadership. I was amazed by their thoughtfulness, their approach, and the way they were able to turn things around. When we would go home at the end of the day, Emotive would stay up and work. In the morning, they'd have new ideas and be ready to go. It was a super collaborative process.

We came up with a new tagline: "We live by a different code." Metal Toad leads the ethical software movement and they helped us with how we were going to roll out our new statement to our company and to our clients. We produced a video, we bought t-shirts, and we really just brought our team together. Emotive Brand helped us throughout the entire process.

What is the team dynamic?

We worked with Tracy [Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Emotive Brand]. Taylor [Strategy Director, Emotive Brand] was there and they had a writer. It was a team of three that came on site.

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

Emotive was my first provider at Metal Toad. Our founder met with Emotive. We had already done a project with them for another client. We also worked on their website for them. During that engagement, I really enjoyed working with them. I enjoyed Tracy's energy. They have a "people first" approach. It was a wonderful engagement.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent around $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2015 and the work is ongoing. We rolled out the new tagline and changed all of our collateral in October 2015.

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

Our business has grown by 40%. Our team is very proud of our rollout of the new brand and tagline. Differentiating ourselves as an ethical software company and living by a different code has been very well accepted throughout the organization.

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

Flawlessly. I was blown away. It was impressive to watch. It was mainly my creative director who dealt with the tools that they used. I never heard of any complaints. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

It's their energy, their thought leadership, and the way they approach the brand of any company. A lot of branding agencies come in with great ideas, but the foundation isn't there. Emotive spent a great deal of time with us, making sure that our leadership was able to implement what we were trying to do. Their thought leadership sets them apart.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Bella [Co-Founder & CEO, Emotive Brand] could be a little more forward-facing. They've had a bit of turnover within their own company. Taylor [Strategy Director] is no longer with them and we really enjoyed working with him. Every company is going through that in this market.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at a multi-national tech firm, and I’m an HR manager focusing on communications.

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

We were in the process of developing our employer brand, which is important for us, as we compete for a lot of talent in Silicon Valley and around the world, especially in our niche technology industry. It was critical to have a stronger employer brand to be able to compete and hire the best people.

Having an employer brand also helps with engaging current employees and helping to reinvigorate the pride they feel in working for us. Our average retention here is about 10 years. People work here a long time, and sometimes they can lose sight of what makes this company unique and special. Refreshing the employer brand was a way to also communicate with them and remind them what makes this a great place to work.

It was part of a broader strategy for us to elevate our brand in general, not just for candidates and employees. As a 27-year-old company, it was an opportunity to reinvigorate and refresh who we are.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their process is great. I’ve now worked with them on two different employer brand development projects. They are super creative, they get involved with the leadership team, and they’re incredibly professional. They do a lot of research first into what makes the company genuinely and authentically unique in the industry. They look at what employees are saying about it, find those special nuggets, and then look at how those special things differentiate us from the market.

They begin with really broad-based research into who we are, what our employees and partners love about us, and how that compares with our competitors. They find the special place that combines all those things to make us stand out in the market, and they speak very authentically to who we are. The process itself starts with that research, working with our leadership and our people. From that, they develop a brand strategy, then follow with the creative to build an identity and a visual identity.

In the initial phase of the project, the first deliverable was an employer brand guideline. This was the foundation of our employer brand, who we are, what we sound like, how we make people feel, and then what we look like. Using that, we also worked with them on additional creative assets, such as social media, banners, website collateral, and print collateral, like recruiting flyers. We did a big poster campaign to launch the brand. They also helped us choose custom photography for our brand.

The co-founders, Tracy and Bella, were very involved in the project and led the strategy. We also worked with a few account managers. They have a creative writer and a creative graphics team. They have a few strategists and writers, so we probably worked with six or seven people at Emotive.

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

I found them five years ago when they were quite small. They had been written up as one of the cool, upcoming agencies in the Bay Area. I worked with them when I was at a startup, and it was a very successful partnership. I really loved them and, since then, I’ve always come back to them for any type of employer brand or creative agency needs.

How much have you invested with Emotive Brand?

We’ve spent about $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together five years ago, and our relationship is ongoing.

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

We’ve gotten more people applying to Cadence jobs year over year. That could be attributed in part to having a stronger employer brand. We’ve gotten a lot of informal feedback. People want more of it all the time. They’re always asking me to put things in this style, even over our corporate brand style. Internal feedback has been very positive. Externally, we’ve seen a steady increase in the number of applicants per position.

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great; they’re really on top of it. They always provide us project plans to get started and then update it as needed. I really appreciate that they’re flexible. Often, they’ll put a very aggressive timeline in place, which is fantastic. Smaller companies can often move quickly, but right now, I’m at a very large company and sometimes things come up, and that project timeline has to be pushed. They’ve always worked with us really well on being flexible and being able to adapt to our needs at the moment. I’ve always really appreciated that. They’re very structured in terms of how they approach the project, so I know where we stand. If we need to adjust, we can go back to them and have that conversation.

What did you find most impressive about Emotive Brand?

They’re really good at building authentic brands and collateral that are very unique. I’ve worked with them at two very different companies, doing two very different products, and approaching two different audiences. Each time, they were able to come up with something that was very true to that company and also differentiated in that market. That’s why I go back to them. They’re able to make something beautiful out of whatever is already there and true without making things up. Their writing is fantastic and it’s differentiated in the market. I always feel like we come away with something that’s really unique, not sounding like every other company. They’re able to do that by finding the things that are true and special. They’re also great to work with and super fun.

Are there any areas Emotive Brand could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Drawbridge is a Silicon Valley privately-held digital identity company. I’m the head of marketing.

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

Our first engagement with them was to set overall corporate messaging, positioning, and brand guidelines to rebrand ourselves. They did everything soup to nuts, except the name. They did a new logo, a new tagline, and a new look and feel. The second engagement is more of product level engagement to delineate our product lines and do messaging and positioning for those. We wanted to also turn that into external campaigns including words and pictures and the look and feel. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Emotive Brand started off with a discovery workshop where all the stakeholders got together to talk about the project and what we want our messaging to be. Their value add is looking through what we provide and clarifying it. They provide insights and craft the deliverables, including the brand guidelines document and a messaging and positioning document. They provide guidelines on the physical dimensions, font, logo usage, and color palette and showed us mockups of the analog and digital advertising. They showed us what banner ads, print ads, and billboards would look like, along with top-level messaging and sub-messaging by audience. Each product has a certain audience or certain vertical they deal with. This helps our sales people know what to say and how to describe it.

We’re in the middle of our second project. The first deliverables were messaging and positioning through that same process of discovery where they talked with business line leaders, product line leaders, and executives. They also did customer outreach to see what they valued. Emotive Brand makes sure that the deliverables hit home and that the nomenclature of the customer matches that. This project was more on the brand palettes on a product-by-product campaign basis. They came up with a campaign theme and an overarching statement with language that drills into that. It’s more external facing marketing speak that could influence a presentation or deliverables like collateral, etc.

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

I found them through one of our venture capitalist investors. They had a directory of services that people had approved. They had good reviews, which was a good reference check on them. We used them the second time because of the work they provided us on the first engagement.

How much have you invested with Emotive Brand?

The first engagement was $110,000. So far, the second engagement has been $135,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August of 2014, and the work is ongoing. 

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

In terms of revenue, we’ve grown by a couple thousand percent since we’ve engaged them. We’ve been on the Inc. 5000 fastest growing marketing and advertising technology companies for two years in a row. We haven’t done a brand study, but we’ve seen huge influence in recall, recommendation, and awareness based on that work. Website traffic has tripled over three years.

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re super responsive. They have a project management leader who does the calendar and is a super value add to make sure the pitch is going to go well with the broader executive team. We can send feedback and recommendations back and forth and do editing, sanity checking, etc. We’re able to communicate with the senior people or whoever we need to.

What did you find most impressive about Emotive Brand?

They give you access to senior leadership. I’ve priced out other Bay Area firms, and they’re pretty frugally priced.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

PubMatic is a marketing automation platform for publishers, which allows them to get the most value for their audience relationships now that advertising has moved to a programmatic model. It’s a global company with offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Pune, and Germany. I was VP of corporate communications when I worked for PubMatic.

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

We were in a crowded, devalued ad tech space, and we were looking to reinvigorate the brand. Since the company started ten years ago, our corporate brand had not evolved. We weren’t getting recognized as a true technology company; instead, were viewed as an old ad tech company. Recruitment in employee relations was a challenge. We had a high dissatisfaction among employees on where the company was going, the vision, and their perceived value.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked on two things. There was the corporate narrative of the company and how that strengthened the corporate brand. In addition, we had to look at the employer brand narrative. The first step we started with was determining the narrative of the company. How are we different? Who are we? What do we do? If we weren’t here, why would that matter? We started by engaging the senior team. Emotive did a lot of research, and they mastered our industry quickly. I can’t stress enough that the ad tech programmatic space is full of jargon. It is dense and complicated and everything looks the same. They took the time to understand the market and where we fit in. They got the information through interviews with both external and internal people. We have a complex business, and they were able to break it down.

The biggest thing they helped us to do was talk in human terms. In ad tech and marketing tech, we tend to talk to ourselves instead of talking to the customer. Emotive’s work helped people truly understand our value proposition, how it was going to impact them, and why they should consider talking about it. We were helping provide technology solutions that are independent, open, and transparent. However, that message wasn’t getting across. Emotive helped us do that from a narrative standpoint.

We didn’t change the logo. Instead, we revamped it by putting a chiclet in front that showed what we were becoming—a platform that customers could use to consume the technology and services that aligned with their business strategy. We showed the difference between our platform and taking a rigid off-the-shelf solution. Emotive Brand’s work on the logo brought the platform into focus and they gave us a fresh color palette. They also inspired strategies on how to bring that to the company, both internally and externally. We also revamped our sales decks. As a result, the sales teams were excited and it gave them new energy. People started looking at us in a different way. We became a sophisticated platform and solutions provider that people saw as innovative versus old.

The employer brand side is just as important. We wanted to help the publishing industry survive and thrive. That became the rallying cry for our employees. They really believed that what they were doing was important—not only to themselves but beyond ad tech. Our tagline was “What you do @PubMatic matters.”

Finally, PubMatic has a diverse employee set with all different cultures. A lot of the offices were distant and disassociated with the brand. They felt the company revolved around our RedWood City headquarters and our New York office where the president is located, and that it wasn’t inclusive. When we landed on the “Helping Publishers Thrive” motif, we brought that to life visually through elements with the old publishing aspect. We took images of our employees, and they became the brand. This made them feel that they were part of a bigger company. It was really impactful, especially on retention and recruiting. Emotive gave us a fresh look, and it’s still being used today. I’m proud of both elements, even though I’m no longer with the company. You know something is having an impact when elements of it still exist and thrive. Emotive was a tremendous partner in helping us get there.

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

We found Emotive Brand by word of mouth in the Bay Area. Our head of HR heard about them. They fit our ethos—hardworking and smart. Plus, they weren’t too big of a company. They were agile, adaptive, high-energy, and collaborative. They also had a good portfolio that helped put them over the top.

How much have you invested with Emotive Brand?

We spent between $50,000 and $200,000 over the course of our relationship. They weren’t cheap, but they weren’t overly expensive. They were smart about how they structured it. We got our money’s worth and more.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March of 2015 and we rolled everything at our sales conference in January of 2016.

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

We saw an improvement in our customer satisfaction scores. That had a lot to do with Emotive’s work because of the energy that came out of it. We saw a decline in the attrition rate and a massive improvement in our net promoter score among customers.

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They were dogmatic. Paige was the project manager, and she was on me on certain things when we were getting close to the redline. They manage the client extremely well, in a way that was kind but stern. They kept us on point. Also, they have the ability to let the project sit for a while if we have something else we need to do, and then pick it up later. They were great partners.

What did you find most impressive about Emotive Brand?

Their strengths lie in their smarts, fiscal responsibility, and project management. Their design work is great too. They took the time to understand our space. Tracy, one of the co-founders, is very smart, full of energy, and willing to tackle any problem. Bella is the other founder, and she is an operating dynamo. She puts processes in place to make sure that they manage their diverse client base well. That means Emotive has a process that helps keep the trains running. Tracy can get the creative teams and strategies in place, and she doesn’t have to worry about the details because Bella is doing that. They have a great partnership.

Are there any areas Emotive Brand could improve?

The design work was great, but their team could have been stronger. I think it is stronger now. They had a great design guy who was working with us, but then he moved on. They should add more services under their belt. For example, they don’t have website design. They’re not a one-stop shop. Sometimes that’s good because you don’t have to cover the costs associated with that. I think they do what’s right for them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of an investing platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Emotive Brand?

We needed help with brand strategy.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially provided Emotive Brand with the brief we wanted to accomplish and some previous brand work from two and a half years ago. The project had different stages. First, they interviewed people inside our company. They started with 10 leadership team members and then interviewed the next level down. In total, they probably did 40–50 interviews throughout the process.

Afterward, they did workshop exercises because we had 50 different ideas and strategies. Emotive Brand led us through the workshops. They brought everyone into a room, and we brainstormed ideas. All in all, they facilitated the discussion to help us get to a conclusion.

What is the team composition?

At any given time, there were around seven people involved in the project. It changed based on the stage. We also worked with Tracy (Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer).

How did you come to work with Emotive Brand?

Someone we’d used at the company recommended them, so we had them on our shortlist. We sent an RFP to several firms; Emotive Brand responded along with some others. Then, we met with the team and decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent under $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2021–May 2022.

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

Emotive Brand delivered the work in a PDF document that articulated a new strategy for the brand, and they were extremely effective. Ultimately, they got us through the workshop to a place where the leadership team is very aligned on how to move the brand forward. We’ve all agreed that this is the right direction.

How did Emotive Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was excellent. They never missed a deadline despite having to coordinate so many different people. Tracy was very involved, and they prod us to ensure we hit the timetable. Communication was mostly through email; we didn’t use any management tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were fantastic. Not only did they do brand strategy, but they did corporate strategy. They had a strong understanding of people; the team was empathetic and critical, and they listened. When doing 40–50 interviews and trying to figure out a joint mission, vision, values, and purpose, it’s essential to ask good questions and listen. Also, they were able to tease out the real truth from people instead of a surface-level answer.

If you combine all of that, Emotive Brand was able to take that work and translate it into suggestions that could be transformative for our business. Often, a brand can just give you a document, but they gave us fascinating insights into the company’s core.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Maybe they could have a project management tool. It never occurred to me because they were hitting every milestone, but it could be interesting to see a tool like a dashboard to check the process at any given time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you want when you go into it. You should have an understanding of whether your company is ready or not. True brand work means you should be open to changing your business. If the outcome is significantly different than where you started, you should be willing to embrace it. If the company isn’t ready to challenge the mission, vision, and values, it’ll be a waste of time and money.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the chief strategy officer at a law firm.

For what projects/services did your company hire Emotive Brand?

We needed help with branding one of our business units.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a new positioning for our business unit as well as concrete ways to activate and communicate this positioning.

How did you select this vendor?

We’ve worked with Emotive before and thought that they were suited for this assignment.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

There was a stage of interviews and information gathering. After the information was synthesized, we had several brainstorming sessions. The project culminated with a half-day session at a retreat.

What was the team composition?

The team was a good mix of their founders, creatives, and a research person.

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

The outcomes have been included in the business unit's strategic plan and are currently being used.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was very effective and timely.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were genuinely caring and passionate about their work. Also, they didn't hesitate to be direct when needed.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Any need for improvement was discussed and solved in real time.