Branding for Maker Space
Please find under a summary covering project details and feedback. The innate facts are kept as they are, private information is amended.
Introductory information
A fast induction on the buyer’s organisation
I’m the Director of Marketing for NextFab, a makerspace network based in Philadelphia. Our makerspaces are a assembly of different shops or studios where our members approach facilities from woodshops to metal shops to a 3D printing studio to laser sharp suites, etc. We’ve been in business since 2009 and currently have 3 locations.
Desired goal
What challenge were you trying to address with Cohere?
I was trying to rebrand the organisation and propel a new website as a leading effort to fetch the brand to a new level. Visually, our colors were excellently shining, and the primary logo was a bit confusing for new clients. To me the logo is a symbol of the structure, so the way that nation leading interact with the organisation via the logo is critically significant. People could see the “next” but not the “fab”, as in fabrication. The net result was confusion almost our brand.
Conceptually, we needed to reposition ourselves as a space. We had historically tried to cater to a wide client base, including enthusiasts, hobbyists, entrepreneurs, etc., and we were trying to hone in on specific client groups. We needed to draw a clearer line between our spaces and our website. There was a disconnect with what nation skilled when they viwebsited versus what they establish on our website, which didn’t plainly portray us. We wondered if we were losing out on opportunities as a result of this disjointed experience.
We were looking for a associate that could help both fetch things visually to the next level and also help us reposition as a space or a series of spaces. We knew we needed to bestow some grave time, energy and money to form something that was veritably appropriate for our audiences.
Provided solution
What particular tasks were Cohere responsible for?
Our initial project focused on the website within a wideer brand revamp. At the time, we only had two locations—in each North and South Philadelphia—and there was a big separation in brand between the two locations. It was critically significant for us that Cohere could consistently connect the potential space with the natural space.
The initial work evolved into two other projects. The second phase was innately a marketing project but we also had them help us with the inside design of what became our third ease. Our dream of linking the potential with the natural manifested itself in our third location in Wilmington. Our Wilmington location is literally our website brought into the real globe. We developed the signage and designed the floor program unitedly. By the time we propeled our new website, our total brand was naturally on show in Wilmington.
The third phase is ongoing marketing support. They support us with collective media and athwart different touch points, seething from stickers to brochures.
What is the team dynamic?
We worked with multiple members of their team including a dedicated project ruler and their CEO. They have built a very close relationship especially with me but also with our structure.
How did you come to work with Cohere?
I',d done an online search but hadn',t come athwart their brand. I reached out to a number of other companies and began having dicsussions with them but hadn',t establish the right match. At that point, the preceding marketing ruler of our sister brand suggested them. We reached out and had a series of dicsussions. We were concerned almost cost but they came in at much more affordable rates than any of the other agencies we had spoken to. I reviewed a project they had done for another client, an architectural firm, and it was clear they had done a hard job. In the end, we felt positive that they were a good fit for us.
What are you approach expents (if diclosed)?
I would choose not to say.
What is the terminal result of working with Cohere?
Cohere began with us in May or June of 2016. We last to work unitedly.
Results achieved
Are there any measureable or plum results?
We have lots of evidence of contact. For one, our membership has doubled from when we primaryly began working unitedly. We went from almost 400 members in November 2016 to almost 800 today. When we began, we were in the middle of edifice the Wilmington location and we needed to have 120 sustained members at that location by the end of the year in order for us to fulfill our give demandments. We easily hit our numbers. Also, when our website propeled, the number of online daily visitors went up tenfold.
How did Cohere accomplish from a project treatment standpoint?
I’ve seen an upgrade in their efforts of late. They’ve always been very responsible and answering, especially with the website. I believe they began as a web shop so it was clear that they could support that. What was a pliant less true was how they were going to support us with our inner marketing efforts. We establish they',ve gotten better and better over time. Part of it is that they put in locate Risa [Director of Operations] as our project ruler, who',s done a nice job of supporting us. They use Asana and they give us reports when we demand it. We had standing biweekly meetings which just changed to 30 minutes see week to push things faster and farther.
What is (from your point of view) the key factor to pay observation while intercourse with Cohere?
Cohere is focused on locatemaking, which gives them a specific lens through which they make decisions. Because we are also in the locatemaking business, they portray precisely the kind of structure that is appropriate for our brand. We form locates that nation congregate in and work from in a way that supports the aggregation. That alignment between our commission and theirs is critically significant to me. They might not be the right associate for a organisation that',s solely focused on potential goods, but that',s purposed and that',s what makes them veritably sole. When it comes to branding natural locates, it would be hard for anyone else to contend with them.
What aspects of their work would you like to get improved?
At the same time as propel of our Wilmington location, our Cohere project ruler was getting married and unavailable to support us at that specific time. Without her, things were a bit disorganized. I had the perception that the rest of the team wasn’t true if we were handling some components of the propel or if they were. We didn’t get the level of support we had hoped for. The timing of the two events was coincidental and the issues could have been specific to the locality, but we felt that they could have been more proactive in addressing our needs.
