Ruckus

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Scene

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We help local brands seamlessly launch and scale into new markets. Scene is the world’s first EaaS (Expansion-as-a-Service) Solution designed around the nuances and specificity of navigating complex local markets

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Ruckus to accomplish?

Cascade this messaging into Scene’s core sales and marketing channels Revise Scene’s visual brand identity Review and crystallise Scene’s brand positioning

SOLUTION

How did you find Ruckus?

Referral

Why did you select Ruckus over others?

Great culture fit, Good value for cost, Referred to me

What was the size of Ruckus’s team?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

DISCOVERY  • Aspirational/emotional mood-boards • Functional mood-boards • Key pantones, color-ways and fonts • High-level linguistic, tonal, and verbiage elements • Proposed taglines and brand story framework BRAND SNAPSHOT • Aspirational/emotional mood-boards • Functional mood-boards • Key pantones, color-ways and fonts • High-level linguistic, tonal, and verbiage elements • Proposed taglines and brand story framework BRAND STORY, VALUES, & MESSAGING • Brand pillars and values • Mission statement, vision statement, brand promise • Taglines or slogans LOGO REFRESH •Logo Development & Presentation Book •Logo mark and its variations BRAND GUIDELINES •Brand colors, fonts, iconography •Brand Guidelines • Primary & secondary color palettes • Color tints, accents, and hues • Contrast check • Header, title, lead, and body Typeface • Iconography • Icon styles • Sample icon library BUSINESS COLLATERAL • Business cards • Company letterhead template • Stylized email signatures • Email template • HTML newsletter template • Document template (PPT & Google Doc Format)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Positive feedback from our existing clients Asset deliverables against scope Hitting deadlines Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Project management was organised and accurate using tools and meeting cadences to give full visibility at all times of progress. Work was delivered in line with the brief as well as on time, and support was always available when changes were needed and additional resource was required

What was your primary form of communication with Ruckus?

Virtual Meeting, Email or Messaging App

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

The ability to be able to drive the high the level strategic guideline all the way through to execution of business collateral ensuring that the message was consistent coherent. This was particularly important with a product like ours which is multifaceted but needs to be simple

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

Seamless execution, and very efficient/value for the budget

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of growth for Owlet Baby Care, a baby monitor company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus?

We hired them for performance marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ruckus manages all our paid media and advertising across Google Ads and Facebook Ads. Initially, we provided them with a marketing brief outlining our key objectives and budget. Based on our revenue and campaign objectives, they presented a strategy. Currently, we have an ongoing retainer project with them where they execute our paid media campaigns and manage our advertising accounts daily. 

First, they provide strategies. The team reviews our marketing needs and presents recommendations and strategies on how best to deploy campaigns. Once we align on strategy, they manage our Google Ads and Facebook Ads accounts to optimize our paid media efforts. 

Our team provides them with creative assets, including campaign ads, so Ruckus isn't responsible for content creation. Ruckus manages our campaigns, budgets, and creative assets. Although they've offered us additional services, we focus on Google Ads and Facebook Ads. 

What is the team composition?

We usually work with an account manager who oversees the day-to-day work and two media buyers for our specific channels. Additionally, Ruckus periodically brings in a senior technical account specialist to help with additional strategies. 

How did you come to work with Ruckus?

Ruckus came highly recommended by another agency. One of our former marketing leaders had worked with Ruckus' sister company. We contacted the sister company, and they referred us to Ruckus. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent roughly $180,000 with Ruckus, including the retainer and media commissions. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ruckus has brought a really good strategy. Thanks to their work, our ad efficiency has increased. Initially, we wanted to reduce our paid media spend while driving similar results, and Ruckus has drastically improved our investment efficiency. 

How did Ruckus perform from a project management standpoint?

They deliver on time and within our budget. Although we use project management tools internally, we don’t use them with Ruckus. We communicate through email, phone calls, and Zoom meetings to align on strategy. Additionally, we share documents through Google tools. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed by the speed at which Ruckus can execute campaigns. When we kicked off the project, they spent a lot of resources to quickly understand our brief and business. From there, Ruckus delivered a strategy in just a few weeks and was able to launch the campaigns very quickly. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The one thing Ruckus could improve is adjusting a strategy partway through a project. They’ve provided a really good initial strategy, but when we’ve needed changes or adjustments, their work has been less impactful than their original insight. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear in the initial brief and ensure that you and Ruckus are aligned. You should also allow for adjustments to the strategy throughout the process and get realigned as needed. If you need to adjust the project structure, have that conversation with Ruckus upfront to avoid delays or scope changes.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief of staff and head of marketing for a wholesale alcohol distributor. We're the first wholesale alcohol distributor to create a web platform that sells wine and spirits to restaurants, bars, and retailers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus?

We initially hired them to generate leads from both buyers and sellers. Recently, we shifted our focus to general market awareness and corporate marketing support. So, we hired Ruckus to help us with digital marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve provided on-site SEO services and have managed our PPC ads. On top of that, they handle or social media ads and manage profiles on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. They even help us with email marketing campaigns. They also revised our UI when we first started working with them.

What is the team composition?

Right now, we have five team members working on our account.

How did you come to work with Ruckus?

I found them online. I had a few references, but I started researching digital marketing companies and was impressed with Ruckus’ website and the services they offered. They were the most dynamic team that we met with. I also the structure where we have access to all of the team members rather than just one main person. I also liked their aesthetic. They clearly had a passion for what they do.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2020 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we started working with them, our website traffic has increased by 20% month-over-month. Our social media engagement has also increased. They also introduced us to Google Ads, and that program has been extremely successful.

How did Ruckus perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Airtable and Slack to communicate. They’ve been very good at keeping things organized and staying on top of tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like that their senior executives stay involved with the account and I have access to them if I need them. It’s a very flat structure that gives us a lot of access to their team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No — whenever I’ve provided feedback, they’ve implemented it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about you goals and the KPIs you plan to measure. We struggled with that in the beginning, and had we been clearer, they would have been able to hit the ground running.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder of Laurea, a 24-karat-gold jewelry investment company. We deliver 24-karat investment-grade gold to clients, the same as bullion that would normally be bought in bar form. Instead of delivering it in that format, we do it in the form of jewelry.

Our whole value proposition is to change the way people feel and think about investing, essentially making them enjoy their investments. There are two industries that we’re disrupting, the first being gold investment, which traditionally deals with bars and coins. The second one is traditional jewelry.

My partner and I were bankers and investment managers in our previous lives. We sell our products a little differently from traditional jewelers. We sell by weight, and the more someone buys, the cheaper that weight gets. Every single one of our products and prices is linked to the real stock price of gold. The secondary market value for jewelry is extremely low, and people aren’t getting any material value. We’re connecting people back to the intrinsic value of the metal they’re buying, and 24-karat gold is one of the oldest investments mankind has.

After we sell it, all the jewelry appears in an online portfolio, much like a 401(k), and we will repurchase it at the stock price of gold at any time. We have a lifetime guarantee if someone decides they no longer want the piece or want to trade it for something else. That means that people can hold jewelry over a certain period of time, and that value will appreciate. It moves from a liability to an asset.

There are other places to sell jewelry, but people are at the whim of whoever is willing to buy it. With our jewelry, there’s a determinable price based on the market value.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus?

At the beginning of our journey, we engaged with Ruckus to help with branding. We have to be brand-focused people, given that jewelry requires a connection to the consumer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted Ruckus to develop a luxury-positioned, investment-driven, and cohesive brand across all the different mediums we were going to use to connect to our consumers. Even though our initial conversation was about branding, Ruckus also helps out with web development, digital marketing, and UX/UI design.

Their team worked with us on the logo creation, fonts, colors, packaging, and photography style. My partner and I have strong views on a lot of things, and it was definitely a collaborative effort.

We’re a direct-to-consumer brand. The first interaction people have with us is packaging, so we were very focused on that. We engaged Ruckus to distill our thoughts into a cohesive concept.

We also engaged them on the asset creation side. They have a media unit for the photography and video.

How did you come to work with Ruckus?

We’re based in New York and Palm Beach, so we engaged around five Miami and New York firms in our search. Clutch was one of the methods we used.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $350,000–$400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Ruckus started in early 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We came to them at the very start of our journey, and Ruckus got us to market. They built our whole website and the infrastructure behind it. We’re getting sales.

How did Ruckus perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been great deadlines-wise. Everything takes longer than we’d expect as founders. Nobody works as fast as we do because we want everything done yesterday.

The packaging and web development took longer than expected, but we’ve had very good communication with Ruckus the whole way through on what we had to do and why some delays happened. The delays that happened with packaging were nothing to do with Ruckus. COVID happened, which impacted shipping.

On the web development side, Ruckus has gone over and above. We’re super happy with the product, and the scope has broadened as we’ve gone along.

When we jump on a call with Ruckus, it’s more of a summary of which team is working on which project and what they’ve done.

We’ve been able to engage Ruckus across all their verticals, which means that we’ve gotten more synergy than we thought we would. It was especially important to us because we were going to market. Businesses that are already mature may not see the same benefits that we have, but when we’re a go-to-market mindset, shortening the feedback loop and the timeline as much as possible is very important. We believe that that’s happened because we’ve engaged Ruckus on multiple fronts, and those teams are very interconnected.

Work and deadlines can always be improved, in my opinion, but that would be true for anyone. We have no complaints about Ruckus’s timeline management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When we were looking for an agency, we wanted someone that was big enough to deliver what we needed. We didn’t want a small local firm, but one that had worked on international projects. We also wanted a team that we’d be connected to, which was one reason for choosing Ruckus over others.

We had constant conversations with their CEO and relationship manager. That connectivity was important to us. Ruckus was able to deliver that big agency value proposition, but with that small agency connectivity. That was the difference-maker for us in engaging them.

As the engagement went along, the difference-maker became the synergy we developed on multiple fronts. We wanted our brand to be cohesive across packaging, branding, photography, and media assets that would be used on different social channels. Their web team talks directly to the asset creation media team without being the connector between those departments. That’s made my life a lot easier. They all know each other and talk to each other.

We’ve done engagements where we used other teams, trying to integrate an SEO team with a web development team. Everyone says that it’s going to be really easy, but we essentially have to distill the relationship to one call a week, where we had to translate everything for everyone, as the business owners. Not having to do that has been very refreshing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their web team is strong, and their media team is amazing. Ruckus has room to grow when it comes to hiring people on the paid and strategic SMO side. They need the ability to get print and digital media integrated at the same time as paid and organic social, so there’s cohesiveness there.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Stay on top of them. We’re big on having regular catchups, and we have 1-2 calls per week. We’ve created direct relationships with everyone at the firm. I feel connected to each person across the different distribution channels, allowing me to solve problems quicker.

Ruckus has very good, insightful people, so I get something out of it when I have direct conversations with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Multi-Health Systems (MHS), Inc. We’re a healthcare technology company, operating within the behavioral analytics space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ruckus?

At the time, we were going through a transformation from a traditional publishing company to a technology company. Our products used to be printed and sold to psychologists and healthcare practitioners. But, the new company we envisioned would be technology- and data-driven. We needed to update our branding to reflect that change as we moved into the 21st century.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Ruckus developed the branding for our company’s transition into the tech space. First, they started with a brand audit, looking at how we fared in the marketplace and our customers’ perception of us. We gave them customer lists and a brief overview of our market and competitors to get them started on their research. 

The brand strategy and delivery came second and third. These included typeface, fonts, and logos that we could deploy in different formats. There was also some design for print materials such as letterheads and envelopes.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with about eight people altogether. The three closest were the project coordinator, another individual, and the CEO who was quite involved.

How did you come to work with Ruckus?

Our marketing team pulled a list of about 20–30 agencies across North America, and Ruckus responded to the RFP that we put out. 

Besides the fact that they were a smaller team, what stuck out to me was their approach. Even during the initial pitch, they didn’t focus on telling us what they thought we wanted to hear. Instead, they were pretty candid. Our owner wasn’t very involved in the day-to-day, but he was still a part of lots of things. Ruckus was comfortable enough to push back against him because they were willing to do what it took to prevent us from derailing the project.

How much have you invested with them?

It was about $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The main project lasted between January–December 2019. We actually wrapped up just before the pandemic hit, so we didn’t do a lot of the launch items that we’d planned. We ended up repurposing some of their hours and money into other projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were a diverse business that had a corporate identity along with numerous product identities. That meant that we were struggling internally to agree across our market verticals. Different people in the organization had varying opinions on what was most important.

Ruckus was really able to cut through those issues and build an identity that allowed us to grow the corporate brand while still maintaining a level of investment in the individual brands.

How did Ruckus perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very efficient at project management. We weren’t exposed to their internal project management tools, relying instead on a few on-site meetings and video meetings. They presented us with scheduled meetings and delivery dates and met those as expected.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was surprised by how quickly they grasped the complexity of our business and multiple markets. Their overall approach felt more consultative, though the team was comfortable pushing back because they were the experts. They just brought a refreshing point of view to the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not for this particular project. They recognized when they missed the mark on certain things and corrected themselves. If they felt we weren’t moving far enough along the journey, they’d push us, too. It was all very collaborative.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to them. You’re hiring a branding expert because you need their help, so don't bring them on and then pretend like you know how to do their job.