MANDARiNA

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm an advisor for Daruma, a startup offering financial services to small and medium businesses in the Latam market.

For what projects/services did your company hire MANDARiNA, and what were your goals?

Daruma needed to launch with a strong identity, that would differentiate the company from traditional Banks and the newest digital-first players. The name was full of connotations but the brand needed to land on the intersection between its etymology/roots and the financial industry.

How did you select MANDARiNA?

Daruma asked four agencies for portfolios and proposals, and decided to go for MANDARiNA after a couple of meetings because of multiple excellent references from past works and great cultural fit with the project.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

The work consisted in 3 steps. 1// Daruma's team completed a brief sent by the agency to get as much context as possible about the origins and the goals of the company. 2// The agency team interviewed different members, clients and potential clients according to our target user description. 3// The agency delivered the work in 3 stages (Brand Strategy, Design and Final Brand Book including specific pieces of work), each with a couple of review instances so that Daruma could provide feedback and validate the progress.

How many people from the MANDARiNA team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Daruma interacted with ~6 people from the Agency including the owner, Project Manager, a couple of Sr and Jr Brand Strategists and a Designer.

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

Daruma's launch exceeded expectations with hundred of new customers signing up for an account in the platform. Directors and Investors were surprised by the strong and unique branding, which makes Daruma stand up from other players in the market.

The consistency between design, strategy, comms plan, product, etc has been extremely useful, but one of the most important takeaways is the flexibility that the brand ended up having. As audacious or classic depending on the situation.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The agency communication style worked for Daruma. Weekly check-ins with the Project Manager that included email summaries between each presentation stage. Emails, calls or messages when things needed to get expedited. The agency was always open to meet, chat or discuss at any point in the project.

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

How fast the agency understood Daruma's business and its challenge. How well they translated that into a unique brand strategy and design in a couple of months as if they have been breathing Daruma from the inside for years. Their quality work, on-time schedule with clear communication and outstanding service stood out in the partnership.

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

Daruma would have loved to continue working close with the agency as an extended part of the comms and marketing team but there was no agreement to scope in advance the type of work, time and effort that would have required. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing senior manager of a high-tech company called Grupo Tesacom. We deliver both IOT and Satellite Connectivity solutions to industrial operations, in LATAM region.

For what projects/services did your company hire MANDARiNA, and what were your goals?

In 2021 we made a full model change to the company's business approach, adding new products and high-tech business units. We hired MANDARINA to lead the rebranding of the company, as well as the content strategy for each BU, focusing on delivering our new vision in every customer touchpoint and company marketing asset.

How did you select this vendor?

We found 3 different marketing agencies to deliver the project, and we ended up choosing MANDARiNA for their strong Branding expertise, and proven work in developing corporate essence strategies. This was critical as our process involved changing the Vision and Culture of our company. We also saw "post branding" value in their integral services for content creation, performance implementation, and BTL offerings.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

They were completely supportive in the overall process, leading our internal teams to make the best out of their knowledge and agenda. To start, they interviewed our key members including 2 VPs and the company CEO, to get a clear understanding of the corporate offering, vision, and culture. Then they presented an extensive deck with competitors, industry highlights, and a positioning strategy. After this was validated, they presented the new brand identity, including the brand essence, archetype, key concepts, brand person, and many tools that lead into the new logo, tagline, and marketing materials. Their team also worked simultaneously on the company Website, Performance Strategy, and Institutional Video.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked directly with the Strategy Manager and the CEO of MANDARiNA. Besides them, there were designers, planners, and a project manager involved.

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

Because of the project, regional industry players (both customers and vendors) initiated conversations with our commercial team to understand our new offering and corporate vision. Our website traffic grew +300%, and our Linkedin followers duplicated in the first few months.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We were led in every step by the project manager and the strategy manager in conjunction. They communicate regularly in emails and we had a weekly alignment meeting for every sprint to come.

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

Their top-level managers involvement in the project, as well as the focus to "make things work" no matter the brief deviation that appeared in the process.

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

We could have done more brand-expectation meetings, as internally is sometimes hard to provide feedback to creative processes, especially when working with C-Level validations.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the brand manager of ORBIT Homes, we are a prefab house company located in California.

For what projects/services did your company hire , and what were your goals?

We needed to create a website for the company. As we do not have an internal team, we hired MANDARiNA. We needed to work with a team that could create an outstanding website and help us apply our very limited brand book into the project (which they did amazingly, expanding our graphic universe and design to make our brand look coherent all across the site).

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I met MANDARiNA through a friend’s recommendation. Their work portfolio was impressive and their quick response, availability for video calls whenever the project required it, their professionalism when explaining every stage of the process to us, and the reasonable estimate were all deciding factors to hire them.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

It was a project in Wordpress: design and development of our institutional website.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked with 4 people of MANDARiNA’s team:

• a commercial director
• a strategy director
• a designer
• a web developer

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

After launching the site, we began having daily meetings scheduled by potential clients online. It was life changing. Also, all our clients mentioned they were impressed by the site and how easy it was to navigate.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had weekly meetings and updates, and whenever the project required it, we organized calls with a day or two in advance. The meetings happened over Google Meets.

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

The entire process of working with them was truly easy and enjoyable. We were excited after each meeting and with each deliverable we got. Their know-how was clear from the get-go and their willingness to teach us with patience was outstanding.

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

I cannot think of anything they could’ve done differently. We are beyond pleased and satisfied with the work and the result, and are already scheduling our next project together.

Please describe your company and your position there.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. Our mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

As Communication and Knowdlege manager I coordinate the team to support the climate change Unit in the development of communication strategies and products, to achieve two main goals:

• Produce more efficient and strategic communication products.
• Enhance outreach and communication practices in the climate change unit.

I develop strategies for information dissemination for all the projects in the unit, as well as knowledge management activities including communities of practice. I work closely with the climate change coordinator for Latin America & the Caribbean, the mitigation and adaptation teams, UNEP regional office staff, the Communications Unit in the Office for Latin America & the Caribbean, and the respective UN Environment project counterparts as appropriate.

For what projects/services did your company hire MANDARiNA?

We needed to build the brand and its communication manual for a distributed solar generation project that UNEP's climate change regional unit launched in Colombia and Panamá.

What were your goals for this project?

As a unit within the United Nations system we had to respect the institutional guidelines and achieve an attractive and modern image of the project. Action times were also challenging as we needed all the identity would be branded in a few weeks.

How did you select MANDARiNA?

Together with my team we made a pre-selection of 3 international agencies and presented them in front of different UN coordinators. Then we made a final vote among all those present at the pitch.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

1. Branding (create the brand and logo)

2. Landing Page

3. Communication toolkit including an animated video, static banners, and a template for presentations.

What was the team composition?

We had a project assignee and then depending on each task a specific person on the subject (e.g. web, design, animation).

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

You can see all the results and products produce by Mandarina on the site.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We all worked smoothly and orderly to meet deadlines and meet the launch dates. There was good synergy between the two teams which allowed us to achieve excellent results.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Human quality, innovation, responsibility and attention to detail.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement, but I don't see anything in particular that stands out.

Please describe your company and your position there.

PM in a Digital Marketing Agency

For what projects/services did your company hire MANDARiNA?

One of our clients needed a digital media campaign proposal and they helped us developed and run it.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

The SMM selected them

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

They did research and came up with several choices to present to the client. Worked on feedback. Run the campaign Optimization Reporting

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

1

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

We were promoting a podcast and the followers on all the platforms increased

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

ok

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

They were proactive. We also liked their willingness

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

Reporting