Thompson & Prince

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and founder of Templer Wealth Management, a wealth management and financial planning firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with Thompson & Prince?

I needed a number of different items. I didn’t have anything to start with, so I needed everything from a logo to a website, and then stationary, and a small amount of marketing with a one-pager as well.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we worked through the branding, and Chris (Founder & CEO, Thompson & Prince) sent me a questionnaire. They came back with comments and further questions to revise and get further clarity on which direction we wanted to go. There were three iterations we continued to work with for the logo and branding.

Chris provided a lot of options, whether we wanted to go a contemporary route or a classic route. He didn’t want to provide his feedback toward the end, so he wasn’t trying to steer us one way or the other. He provided his expertise and guidance later, once we knew what we wanted.

I came up with the name of my company, and they produced our brand guidelines including color information, fonts, and so forth. Then, they produced business card files and letterhead for digital and print. Additionally, they created a background for my business’ LinkedIn profile. They also did an abbreviated version of the logo I can use for different situations.

Also included was a marketing one-pager that helps me tell prospective clients what I do and how I do it. They also tackled the WordPress website, doing everything from A to Z. We told them what we wanted in terms of designs and photos. The stationary includes everything from envelopes, notecards and notepads to glossy folders.

What is the team composition?

I only worked directly with Chris. He was working with several others he contracted out with for certain design elements. All these people were in my budget, though.

How did you come to work with Thompson & Prince?

I don’t have any experience with this, and I started my business rather quickly, so I needed someone I could trust. I didn’t have time to vet a large number of options so I went with the recommendation of a family member.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $6,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2019 until January 2020.

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

I initially announced my business on January 21st and received a tremendous amount of positive feedback from everyone. There’s been no negative feedback whatsoever. Everybody thinks that my website is tremendous, well done artistically, and captured who I am as an individual. I passed it all along to Chris so he knew his efforts paid off. It provides me with credibility with clients. They can go to the site and quickly recognize that it will be a professional engagement with me.

How did Thompson & Prince perform from a project management standpoint?

They did very well. I didn’t have any issues whatsoever. I really thought that they provided value at every phase. There were a number of different deliverables, but he has an artistic side and a design side where he’ll come up with these ideas and get his designers to come up with options. He also has this really exceptional editing ability. His attention to detail along those lines in helping the consumer understand what I do and how I do it with phrasing that makes sense was invaluable. He spent a lot of time late at night on the editing side for me.

Mainly, we communicated through Google Docs in a collaborative sense. We worked back and forth on different items. Otherwise, it was through email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Based on feedback, I’ve received from friends and colleagues, is that the way my website flows as you scroll through it, the ease of use, helps it stand apart. People notice it, both on the mobile site and the regular site.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If I had to pick one thing I would say we took a lot of time to get the logo right on the front end. It was good, it just took a little longer than I expected. So maybe have just a bit better expectations as to how long it might take to develop the logo initially, and it probably takes different amounts of time for different people.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Coming from someone who’s never done this before, you should have faith that Chris wants the end product to represent what the client wants, and that he understands that it reflects on him and his company. He will act in a way that you will be very pleased with.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of a nonprofit technology and investor organization. We’re a business-oriented organization and have been around for 30 years.

What challenge were you trying to address with Thompson & Prince?

We had a very quick turnaround project in response to an initiative we received a grant for. This grant would help us launch one of our technology programs designed around underrepresented founders, including people of color and women. The initiative was a short-term opportunity to launch something that needed naming and branding. We needed Thompson & Prince to handle those efforts for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Thompson & Prince handled the naming and branding services for our new program. Naming the program came first and then branding and logo followed soon afterward. The brand itself became the collateral of materials we need to execute on a daily basis. It had to be something that could be optimized for mobile and print collateral in large format signage screens.

The logo needed to be black and white. It was also essential that we’d be able to segment some of its symbols and elements. This new branding had to work with existing brands we already had and fit into our brand family. Thompson & Prince had to be flexible in learning about our brand family and then create something that didn’t clash with it.

The Thompson & Prince team worked very closely with our internal team who had already done a bit of planning legwork. This internal team was already familiar with the topic, brand, and product. We had all the intel and market intelligence together. However, we just needed a creative team to extract the right information so we could deliver and execute.

At the beginning of the project, Thompson & Prince came in and quickly understood all the parameters by asking the right questions. We had an extremely tight turnaround and started at ground zero for the naming and branding process. Thompson & Prince had their own process which was tried and true, but they truncated their workflow for us. In the end, they gave us a tangible, functional name and brand.

What is the team composition?

I had a principal who was the lead and my main contact. I’m not familiar with them, but I know he also worked with a number of other individuals.

How did you come to work with Thompson & Prince?

Their team had been referred to me in the past. I was aware of their reputation and work because I follow their LinkedIn profile. When I fell into that time crunch, I reached out to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested less than $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started and finished in January 2020.

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

Everything is still launching, but all of our initial response has been very positive. Our internal team and core constituencies in the marketplace are very pleased. The product is holding up nicely against our other brands as well as showing up in a lot of individual marketing components and locations that are important to us.

How did Thompson & Prince perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was great. We communicated through email, SMS, and phone calls.

Thompson & Prince made our project a priority service to them. They were extraordinarily professional and brought discipline to their design, creativity, and execution. Their team is composed of great professionals who have access to an enormous amount of creative talent.

Their team had a terrific process and saved us a lot of time. We couldn’t be more pleased with the quality of work under such deadlines. They worked with very tight resources within very tight timing and still delivered a top-tier product.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were focused throughout the whole process, from conception to execution, to deliver what we needed. Their team brought professionalism all the way through to deliver a great product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We would’ve liked more time because they were very focused on giving us the best products they could. I can’t really fault them for that because that’s a sign of a professional who wants to deliver the best product. They managed it within the timeframe we had.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The Thompson & Prince team asks important, thoughtful questions based on their experience and knowledge. Be prepared to be thoughtful about how you can work with a professional organization to give them the information they need to get the job done.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of growth equity investment firm Hawk Equity.

For what projects/services did your company hire Thompson & Prince?

To help design and build out our investment presentation.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to make the presentation look professional and convey our value proposition.

How did you select this vendor?

I worked with Thompson and Prince previously on my logo design and have been impressed with all of their work.

Describe the project in detail.

To create a 30+ page investment presentation. We provided most of the core content, and Chris Gorges and team helped us with the messaging, wording, design (template and each slide), and layout of the presentation.

What was the team composition?

I worked primarily directly with Chris.

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

I was very happy with the end product and the entire process. Chris was very responsive and collaborative. He also really tried to achieve what I wanted and not just what he thought it should look like. The process was very iterative and was smooth overall. And the end product turned out fantastic. The design was great and was exactly what I wanted.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very seamless and easy.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Chris is great at everything, but especially at polishing up both design and specific wording that really makes the end product crisp. Many of his comments and suggestions I would have never noticed or thought about, and they collectively made the presentation really turn out professional and superb.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really that I can think of. Overall I was very happy.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Investment firm, and I am managing partner and portfolio manager

For what projects/services did your company hire Thompson & Prince?

logo and brand development, website development, business card/materials development, investor presentation enhancment

What were your goals for this project?

delivery of product including logo, website and materials

How did you select this vendor?

Referral and phone discussion

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Full development of these resources from scratch

What was the team composition?

Chris and other team members; Chris was point of contact

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

Website is in exact form requested, other materials in excellent shape

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Speed, thoughtfulness. They took the initiative to learn my business and clientele to understand my requirements. Kept the progress even when I was slowing the process down. Excellent work.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing I can think of