Harley Oliver

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a label manufacturer operating in the Ontario area. We create labels and tags for clothing lines, mattresses, and more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Harley Oliver?

We were looking to step up our PR and marketing efforts. We’d stayed pretty old-school, so we were looking to upgrade our brand design and website in particular.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was a full-service operation where their team strategized and implemented an entire brand refresh. They redesigned my logo and website before creating marketing materials to launch on our social media platforms. They served as a one-stop-shop and generated all the content we needed. I relied heavily on them for branding consultation as well.

What is the team composition?

Although the team size fluctuated with the project scope, my primary point of contact was Ben (Executive Director, Harley Oliver). I’d say I worked with 5 people across different photography, design, and content projects.

How did you come to work with Harley Oliver?

I shortlisted three companies after asking around for recommendations. I met with them and was immediately taken by how young their team was. While they had a very modern sensibility, they still seemed like they had a lot of experience.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $55,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in July of 2013 and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They built up our brand from basically nothing, and we’re very happy with where we are now. Our social media posts enjoy a high level of engagement, and our website gets great traffic. Their team has really helped me understand where I should invest my time and money. I’ve seen a great ROI from their work.

How did Harley Oliver perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. We communicate mostly through email and phone calls, but I have a quarterly meeting with them. I haven’t had any issues regarding deadlines and scheduling.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve become my primary provider because they’re easy to work with and have stellar design skills. They have a good development sense, where they’re creative and effective with their ideas.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’ve been satisfied.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come to the table with some general ideas, and then let the pros do their thing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing at Muse, a Toronto-based neurotech company. We create wearable devices that measure brain activity to support meditation, focus, and general wellbeing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Harley Oliver?

We were trying to address three major problems. First, we needed a brand refresh. While our product is very innovative, it wasn’t being accurately represented in our marketing materials.

We also needed to rebuild our website. We were bringing on a new product, so we needed to re-strategize how to showcase our product offerings in a way that would increase conversions. Lastly, we needed completely new photo assets for marketing and e-commerce.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Harley Oliver’s team helped us build a WordPress site that integrated multiple stores—with different currencies—on the backend. They made the website user-friendly and customizable, even on the administrative side.

Since our devices are somewhat technically complex, they focused on conveying their concept in clear, concise, and consumer-friendly terms. They strategized our creative direction.

What is the team composition?

Ben (Founder, Harley Oliver) was our main point of contact. We worked with a project manager (who also happened to be a UX designer), a graphic designer, two photographers, and a videographer. They were all excellent.

How did you come to work with Harley Oliver?

I found them online and started following them on Instagram. I dug into their previous work and really liked their ethos. They operated in the niche wearable-tech startup space, so they were perfect for us. While we had a couple of contenders in the mix, I felt very aligned with Ben’s creative direction.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our collaboration for the first product launch lasted from July–October 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work has doubled the conversion rate of our site. They’ve positioned us to be more modern, and I’m just blown away by their work. We’ve only received positive feedback.

How did Harley Oliver perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very organized and easy to work with. They were very responsive when we communicated with their team via phone, email, and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their attention to detail, as well as their creative direction and vision, are all outstanding.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While there were no real issues at all, we could’ve appreciated receiving pre-shoot assets. There was also a slight learning curve on a few other items.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go in with the best brief possible. Give them all the context they need to enable them to perform well. That allows them to work within their creative freedom while giving you what you need.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was updated by Bryce Wendelaar (Former Web Developer, Muse) on September 8, 2020. New content is below:

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

It’s a consumer electronics company that builds brain devices that helps people meditate.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Harley Oliver?

We’ve faced a lot of the same sort of challenges as new products come up.

SOLUTION 

What was the scope of their involvement?

 It’s evolved. I’ve worked on several big photoshoots with them. The most recent one was for a product launch. With the new product, we needed to make a few changes. It was an amazing experience. They were very well organized and paid attention to detail. I felt like we got a good value cost-wise. They had an eye for picking locations and props. They also did a good job bringing in talent, in this case, models.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Ben (Founder, Harley Oliver) and a few others.

How did you come to work with Harley Oliver?

We reached out to them after finding them through Instagram. After chatting with them, we decided to go with them. For me, taking time to meet with them, talking to the team, seeing what they worked on in the past, and hearing their ideas is what really sold me. We looked at a few other agencies, but Harley Oliver’s the quality of their work and their value made it a no-brainer.

How much have you invested with them?

We were billed about $60,000 CAD (approximately $45,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

This project lasted from July­–September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We got a lot of good feedback from the rest of the team. The photoshoot was very successful.

They have really good connections with photographers and videographers. The output was amazing. We continue to use the photography and videos over and over again. We were able to build a huge bank of assets, which has been really helpful for social media. Those turned out to be some of our best-performing social media ads. Overall, our customers were very impressed by the look and feel involved in the launch of the new product.

How did Harley Oliver perform from a project management standpoint?

We had very regular calls with Ben and the team. Their whole team has been to our office several times, and we’ve been to their office as well. They’re very organized; they checked in regularly and followed up with us often. They also delivered on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their attention to detail. It’s so easy to hire photographers, but we wouldn’t have received the same quality as we did with Harley Oliver. The results were so good; we had the right people there, props were perfect, locations were unbelievable. They did a good job making sure that things were professional and on par with other big tech companies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I was very happy overall. Nothing needs improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I do not have any specific advice. They’re easy to work with, so I’d just encourage you to give them a shot.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the co-owner of NurseEd. We're a platform for nursing education.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Harley Oliver?

We wanted to build a platform for Canadian nursing students to help them prepare for their registration exams. We needed a company to help us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed and developed a WordPress website for us and helped us with branding. We divided the project in four phases–discovery, design, development, and the final product phase. At the end of each phase, they had a presentation where they showed me what they had done. They guided the process from start to finish, but I was involved every step of the way and provided feedback after each phase. We didn't have many meetings, which was great because I'm not a fan of meetings'. We talked at length in the beginning about the vision I had so they were able to just run with it in the right direction

What is the team composition?

I worked with three members of their team.

How did you come to work with them?

They were a personal connection.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $23,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2017 and the website launched in December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website is functional, easy to navigate, and looks beautiful. I'm still uploading some of the content, but the feedback from customers has been very positive. Some customers have made referrals to their friends, which is a great thing. Harley Oliver understood all of our needs and truly cared about the user experience. I’d work with them again on future projects.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a great job. We communicated via email and phone every few weeks, and met in-person twice over the course of the project. We also occasionally used Skype, which was helpful because I'm located 2.5 hours away from their office. I don’t like attending meetings, so they made the process enjoyable.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They did a great job. We communicated via email and phone every few weeks, and met in-person twice over the course of the project. We also occasionally used Skype, which was helpful because I'm located 2.5 hours away from their office. I don’t like attending meetings, so they made the process enjoyable

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear idea of what you want. This way, when you start your project there won't be any major problems or changes when it's time to launch. I thought a lot about what I wanted and what I didn't want, and we talked at length in the beginning about my vision for the website, which made the whole process easier for everyone and far more productive.