Heirloom Agency

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Group Director of a consulting company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Brand and communications agency for life sciences

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Heirloom Agency to accomplish?

• Develop an legally available medical device name that fits into the client's portfolio architecture
• Assist with brand strategy and market research

SOLUTION

How did you find Heirloom Agency?

Referral

Why did you select Heirloom Agency over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• Other

How many teammates from Heirloom Agency were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

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

Stakeholder interviews with medical device leaders, naming strategy/architecture workshop with senior stakeholders, name ideation/development, market research counsel, consulting on final name candidates

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Client satisfaction with recommended brand strategy, name, market research support, etc.

Selection of final product name

Successful launch of new product/brand

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They consistently delivered on time, kept projects moving forward, and maintained clear communication at every stage. Beyond being responsive, Rob was proactive, regularly checking in, anticipating needs, and following up to ensure nothing stalled. He took real ownership of the work. We always felt confident in the team's project management.

What was your primary form of communication with Heirloom Agency?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Heirloom doesn't approach naming as a standalone task. They immerse themselves in the business, brands, and stakeholders to ensure the work is grounded in strategy. Rob brings executive presence, thoughtful facilitation, and true ownership to every project.

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

If anything, the aggressive timelines had to be clarified a couple times, but that was with Rob proactively checking in to align on priorities, which we welcome. Overall, the experience was extremely positive and well-managed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the chief strategy officer of Highwire PR.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Heirloom Agency?
We needed to come up with a name for our new brand within a very short time, so we hired Heirloom Agency to help us with that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?
Heirloom Agency helped us find a name for our sister agency. We initially held a thorough discovery call with Rob (Principal), during which we discussed our goals and what we want our new brand to stand for. After conducting his own research, he came back to us with various name suggestions and explained how each one aligned with our vision and the emotions that each one evoked.

Rob then revised the names based on our feedback and gave us a final presentation. From there, we just had to choose the name we liked best. Their team also did a basic trademark search for us.

What is the team composition?
I worked directly with Rob and another person who handled the trademark search.

How did you come to work with Heirloom Agency?
We found out about Heirloom Agency through a referral.

How much have you invested with them?
We invested around $10,000–$49,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?
We worked with Heirloom Agency on this project from May–June 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We honestly couldn’t have done this project without Heirloom Agency’s help. If we had done it by ourselves, it would’ve probably taken us a year. Their team delivered excellent work right out of the gate and did a tremendous amount of work within a month.

How did Heirloom Agency perform from a project management standpoint?
They delivered everything on time and within budget. They also communicated well. We interacted through various platforms, including Google Docs, email, and phone calls.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to shout out to in this review?
Rob was really great to work with and held a high standard for his work. Throughout our project, he would always help us overcome tricky situations quickly without compromising the quality of the work.

What did you find most impressive about them?
Heirloom Agency was really good at understanding the goals of a naming project. They understood all the nuances of what the outcome could look like and followed a creative and thoughtful approach, which enabled them to deliver meaningful results.

Are there any areas they could improve?
No, Heirloom Agency should keep doing what they’re doing.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
Be very clear to Heirloom Agency about the experience you want your brand name to create. By doing so, you can expect more exciting and on-point results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing at an environmental consulting group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Heirloom Agency?

We were wondering if our company name was helpful or hurtful in communicating what we do to our customers. We had heard from some internal teammates that our name was limiting because it was very specific. Thus, we needed external help to understand our name's impact.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We asked Heirloom Agency to assess our company name. We wanted them to do an analysis and provide us with recommendations on whether we should proceed with changing our name or keeping it as is.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Rob (Principal) and Elaine (Account Manager).

How did you come to work with Heirloom Agency?

I found them on Google while looking for brand agencies, creative agencies, and market research firms. We were specifically looking for someone with experience in renaming companies. As part of these results, I found Rob to be a thought leader in this matter. Thus, I looked him up, learned more about him, researched his company, and reached out to them based on what I had read.

After reaching out, I had a conversation with Rob about what I was looking for, and he shared a brief overview of what they had understood and what the next steps would be. We also compared his proposal to other firms' proposals with which I had had similar interviews. We ultimately selected Heirloom Agency, and we had a kick-off call to start the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $10,000–$15,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

I initially reached out to Heirloom Agency in April 2023, but we didn't kick off the project until December 2023. We completed this project in February 2024, but we'll continue to work with them on other things.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Heirloom Agency did exactly what we asked them to do and shared a lot of data about why our name was effective in some ways and not as effective in others. They also gave us recommendations, which we're currently exploring implementing. Overall, their work was beneficial in helping us move to the next step of our decision-making.

How did Heirloom Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

Heirloom Agency delivered on time and on budget, and their team communicated very well with us. They were very good at helping me stay on task to make sure that we were getting things done at the right time. I appreciated their follow-up skills.

Moreover, Heirloom Agency was extremely communicative. They were always checking in with me, so I always knew where we were and what we needed to do. Their response time was also outstanding, so everything was very positive overall.

We mainly communicated via email and had a couple of phone calls. During the kick-off and information-gathering processes, Heirloom Agency had phone calls with me and our CEO. Between our initial calls and the final presentation of their recommendations, there was a lot of email communication.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Rob has really made a name for himself in this space, which seems to be pretty niche. When I looked up firms that could help with a renaming process, Rob emerged as the leader in this area, so I knew I wanted to work with him specifically. I chose to work with Heirloom Agency basically because that's where he was.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Heirloom Agency did what I was hoping they would do: to compare our company name against industry benchmarks, other organizations in our peer group, and our competitors, which I really appreciated. The team was able to show us real data on which we could rely to make a case back within our organization. As engineers, we like to have data to back up our decisions. Heirloom Agency gave us the right amount of background information needed to move confidently forward with our process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our engagement was very straightforward and clear-cut, so there were no areas of improvement. They told me what they would do, and they then did it on time.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be really honest about your needs and willing to look critically at your organization so that you can communicate the full picture and get honest and better results. We were honest about our shortcomings, concerns, and challenges, which helped Heirloom Agency understand better the value they could bring us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and managing partner of an investment firm. We're a new firm; we’ll launch in the back half of 2024.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Heirloom Agency?

We needed help to think of naming options for the company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Heirloom Agency came up with a long list of names for us to consider and helped us select one. They also assisted with visual identity and branding related to the name.

After we engaged them, we followed a process to select a name. The process started by discussing and filling out a naming brief. The document was filled with information about the aspects of names that resonated with us, the tonality of the name we wanted, and more details that Heirloom Agency’s team used to make a list of recommended names.

We started by creating and collaborating with them on this naming brief. Then, Heirloom Agency researched names for the company and presented a long list of possible names that we reviewed together. We narrowed down the list, and they did additional research on each name to look into their availability, a deeper dive into the feasibility, and the meanings in other languages, for example. Ultimately, we narrowed down the list further, and Heirloom Agency advised us to select the final name.

Additionally, they recommended a trademark attorney. We took this recommendation, and the trademark attorney ran the detailed legal search and filed for the logo, mark, and trademark.

What is the team composition?

We didn’t meet them directly, but we had a small team with 2–3 naming experts who worked on our project. Rob (Principal) captained the team, and we interfaced directly with him.

How did you come to work with Heirloom Agency?

Someone who worked at a consulting firm referred them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $8,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our engagement in September 2023 and selected the name with their help in December 2023. However, Heirloom Agency has been an ongoing advisor to us on topics related to visual identity and branding, even after we selected the name.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Heirloom Agency did amazing work. The quality and value were excellent, and the team was integral in choosing a name. 

Moreover, they were valuable thought partners around the broader visual identity and branding workstream. Since we selected our name with their help, they did what they set out to do. Finally, we’d also score them extremely high in terms of the quality and thoughtfulness of their work.

How did Heirloom Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

They delivered the work on time and within budget. Heirloom Agency was very responsive and organized in terms of their communication approach. The process was structured; whatever they set out to do, they followed the process closely and delivered on all expectations.

We communicated through phone calls, emails, and Google Docs.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Rob was our partner in generating ideas and selecting a name.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What they do best is help companies with naming projects. Heirloom Agency was extremely creative and rigorous in their approach to generating name ideas. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any areas for improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Rob and his team are indeed experts in what they do. They guided us to the right answer for our company's name. I’d encourage current and future prospective clients to trust their rigorous process.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Brand Manager of Cloud Software Group (NetScaler)

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

NetScaler (a business unit of Cloud Software Group) is a leading application delivery; application and API security; and application insights platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Support the relaunch of the NetScaler brand by developing a brand strategy platform and visual identity
• Provide brand/product portfolio architecture and messaging support
• Create brand guidelines, templates, and assets

SOLUTION

How did you find Heirloom?

Had worked together previously

Why did you select Heirloom over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Expertise/skill set

How many teammates from Heirloom were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Brand strategy and platform
• brand/product portfolio architecture and naming recommendations
• visual identity system (logo, color palette, typography, iconography, photography), brand guidelines, templates and assets

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Positive internal and external feedback (employees, executive leadership, customers, partners, analysts)
• Usage/adoption of brand guidelines, templates and assets

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Heirloom team was very responsive and attentive to our needs. They have excellent project management - they are organized and their communications are clear and direct. Deadlines were met, and they are willing to go out of their way / put in extra effort if needed.

What was your primary form of communication with Heirloom?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Heirloom's short ramp-up time and ability to quickly understand the business/industry and challenges.

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

Provide brief template; consider allowing clients to 'interview' or help select partners for specific deliverables

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief Marketing Officer of Bright MLS

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

At Bright MLS, we believe that home is a basic human need that should be accessible to all— so we provide an open, clear, and competitive housing marketplace with fair and equal access to information for ALL.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Name our new digital site
• Have the name be memorable and ownable
• No legal challenges to the name

SOLUTION

How did you find Heirloom?

Referral

Why did you select Heirloom over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Heirloom were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We are creating a foundational consumer-facing real estate portal for buying, renting, or selling homes. The new portal will replace Bright’s existing portal, Bright MLS Homes. By using this portal, consumers will be able to get access to the same listings as the pros, and find homes first, giving them an edge in a highly competitive real-estate market. 

Name type Approach: mainly explore suggestive names that balance clear meaning (i.e., related to homes) with emotional resonance (“home is where the heart is”). Stay away from names that are too descriptive/literal but don’t be afraid to explore more abstract ideas. 

Construct: explore real-word, compound, and coined names but avoid anything too long or convoluted. Tonality Names should feel simple, modern, and relevant to younger homebuyers. They should balance utilitarian/tactical qualities with “tugging at the heart strings.” Tonality could also convey speed and accuracy. (Or, at the very least, tonality should not work against these concepts.)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The name is great!

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They were always on time, on budget and over-delivered

What was your primary form of communication with Heirloom?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were easy to work with and super smart. 

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

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the global chief creative officer for Spiro, a global brand experience agency. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Heirloom?

We wanted to evolve our agency and transform it into a new entity. Our team needed help doing that, so we engaged Heirloom. For context, we were formerly called GES. A lot of people had been with us for a long time, so it was difficult for us to decide on what the firm’s new name and market position should be. We brought in Heirloom to guide us as we figured out these things. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Heirloom did a month-long discovery process, where they interviewed stakeholders and held a series of workshops. Everybody in our company had an opinion about what the new entity should be. As a result, the Heirloom team had to bring us all together and find a common thread throughout our entire agency. 

They brought key decision-makers and stakeholders together and challenged them to think about the process in a different way. To be clear, Heirloom didn’t come up with a name for us; they helped us get a new name. We internally created the name for ourselves, and they guided the strategic framework we used to get there. 

At present, we still work with Heirloom and have recently officially launched the new agency. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Rob (Principal) and a strategic consultant. The strategist has helped us frame out all conversations within the workshops. 

How did you come to work with Heirloom?

I met Heirloom through my previous company, where we used them to define our firm’s positioning. They also helped us through a series of workshops back then. I loved that they were inclusive and patient. That was the atmosphere that we needed in Spiro, so I recommended bringing them in to help us.

Meanwhile, we also interviewed four different agencies that provide similar services. At the end of the day, we decided that Heirloom and Rob had a real ability to bring everybody together while being strategic and patient. They could also do it within our expedited timeline. As a result, we hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2021, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve launched our new entity and website, and we’re trending on social media channels. Overall, it’s exciting to finally launch, and I’m truly grateful to have them as a partner that guides us through the process — we couldn’t have asked for a better one. 

How did Heirloom perform from a project management standpoint?

For our workshops, we’ve used Miro boards as repositories of our ideas. To communicate, we send plenty of emails and use Teams for group chats. We’ve also been on Zoom calls almost every day. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Heirloom resources are patient and can bring people together. They’re our guiding light, and they’ve dealt with our needs in such a short timeframe. 

For context, some agencies said no to our six-week timeline, while others said they could do it in 10 weeks instead of six. By contrast, Heirloom simply said they could do it, and they’d need everyone’s participation — these were the words that my boss and I wanted to hear.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. No other agency can do branding better than Heirloom. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If your business is in a transformational stage and you need a partner to guide the process, you should pick Heirloom as your agency. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run marketing for a division of a multinational technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Heirloom?

They helped us with brand strategy, which included positioning, naming, and messaging. They focused on brand consulting, messaging, and marketing services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Heirloom has conducted primary research and interviews across team members, looking at competitive audits and analysis, and evaluating secondary market information. Then, they’ve come up with informed opinions for our positioning, which eventually leads to building out a narrative and messaging strategy by audience. In summary, the materials they create as a result of brand efforts become the foundational elements of our advertising and marketing.

They’ve also helped us with naming and brand nomenclature efforts, including figuring out how we should portfolio brands and organize them.

What is the team composition?

Three people are involved. We have two consultants, and Rob (Principal) is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Heirloom?

Over the years, they’ve shown a high understanding of how brand strategy is conducted for technical brands. Rob has worked at many different companies, and Heirloom is one of the top brand firms in the world. Along with his intellect and point of view, they bring a lot of value to the table.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2021, and it’s an ongoing partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work is setting the foundation for our brand efforts, which are represented across our marketing materials.

How did Heirloom perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re on point. At the level we’re operating, they had to be malleable and work around our schedules. However, Heirloom always delivers on time.

For communication, we use whatever it’s needed to get the work done, including Google Docs, email, chats, and text messages.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They stand out for their understanding of their subject matter and expertise, as well as their timely delivery.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they have all the specific skills that we need.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t get in their way. They’re good at what they do, and they have a solid point of view. You need to come with an objective stance around what will succeed from a company perspective, but Heirloom will come from a brand perspective with their expertise on the table.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a global company that is worth $23 billion. It’s a design and manufacturing and supply chain company with over 100 sites in over 30 countries. I’m the VP of corporate marketing and my responsibilities involve everything from brand strategy and management to content marketing, sales enablement, digital social events, customer briefing centers, and so on. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Heirloom?

I brought on Heirloom because we had a business that was growing within our organization around digital health. That business was becoming an important aspect of our businesses and we needed to start to build its presence and kickstart the entire go-to-market (GTM) strategy. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team helps in building the business image for that brand because we knew at some point that we were looking at it to become a separate company. It was an organic business that was built within the company, so Heirloom came in to help with identifying and creating a logo, and brand identity system. 

The brand identity system includes the color palette, tonality, typography, and all other things associated with the system. Then, the team made sure that the changes that have been planned are integrated into a web property and all of the creative assets that are associated with it. 

They weren’t responsible for the exact GTM strategy or the website development, but they’ve been responsible for developing a portfolio of names. They come up with unique and interesting industry names to help us build businesses. Whether it’s internal naming or business naming for entities, I always get them involved. If there’s a logo associated with the work, I also bring them along for that as well. 

What is the team composition?

We only work with Rob (Principal) and he pulls in the people behind the scenes. He’s my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Heirloom?

Heirloom was recommended by a colleague of mine a number of years ago. Rob was recommended and then Heirloom associated with that. When I talked to Rob, I looked at his previous portfolio, and then I decided to bring him on to work on an initial project. Since then, I’ve continued to work with them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2018, and it’s been a very successful partnership for a couple of years now. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Heirloom does very well because they really put together a very solid brief and understanding of business requirements. They’re extremely cost-effective and that’s the advantage of going with a boutique type of company to have this type of work done rather than by a large agency. Large agencies love to do that work, but they come at a premium price.

Meanwhile, the value that we get from Heirloom is that they offer personalized customer value-added services at fraction of the cost, but not a fraction of the quality. They also have a can-do attitude and they want to do the best they can possibly do. They also do things quickly.

From a naming perspective, naming can be very difficult and subjective. They really do well in coming up with a set of names and they’ve made things easy for us. I also base their performance on the number of revisions we do. With Heirloom, we’ve easily moved things along and that means that they’ve always understood what we needed and get things right away. 

How did Heirloom perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a structured and deliberate project management process, but it’s not rigid. They’re also flexible and agile in terms of meeting our business needs. If we feel like we need to go off internally and pause a little bit and revisit things for whatever reason, they’ve been very open to that too. Heirloom has been very supportive all throughout. On both sides, we’ve had a successful relationship and have met deadlines that we needed. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer-focused approach and boutique-feel impress us. We have a very good partnership where I don’t feel like things are overly bureaucratic. Heirloom feels like a neighborhood shop that we can go to and trust. We have a win-win relationship. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think I have a comment on that because I’ve been completely satisfied with Heirloom’s services. If Rob was not the main point of contact, I would question how the company could make things work. However, since Rob is at the helm, I trust Rob and I trust that he has a system behind to make things work. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

At the time, I was the VP of marketing or CMO for a Series-B-funded startup in the cloud tech space. We were a $25 million–$30 million-per-year company still in its early stages.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Heirloom?

We were examining the opportunity to rebrand the entire company. What the company had been called in the beginning was good for how the product first hit the market. As it and the market evolved, the name became too limiting.

The idea was to elevate the brand and have the company name be more than the product name, in order to have the company be something that has more than one product.

It’s pretty common for a startup to have just one product and for the company name and product name to be essentially the same. We were becoming a poly product portfolio so I needed to work with someone to help from a brand architecture and research perspective.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We went to Heirloom to ideate on different names. In addition to ideating on ones that we could actually use, they also did the research to see if the names were available.

Rob (Founder & Principal) interviewed different stakeholders in order to get the voice of the company from them and use that for the name search. He mainly worked on the name search and clearance.

What is the team composition?

Rob had a set of people helping him behind the scenes, which he’d known before starting his own agency.

How did you come to work with Heirloom?

We were looking for local people in the San Francisco Bay area so we could have face-to-face interviews. I went shopping for all of the usual companies —the big brand names in San Francisco that cost a ton of money.

I got a recommendation from the person who was doing our graphics. He’d worked with Rob on another project. The person who helped us from a messaging and positioning perspective also knew Rob and had worked with him on rebranding for a large company.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent in the area of $40,000, distributed across a couple of people. We worked with them on a time and materials basis, and they were reasonably priced. Rob allowed us to pay the other people involved behind his letterhead, so to speak. We just paid him for the project, even though we worked with other people in the path.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Heirloom around January 2017, and the project ran for 5–6 weeks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It turned out that my company didn’t use the name. We prepared to rebrand but while we never went through the actual change, the name we created was awesome. Later on, after I left the company, it was used in a lot of discussions around fundraising and acquisitions.

It really did help tell our story. It was intended to get anyone hearing it to think much bigger than what the original name implied, and it worked.

I left in 2018 but in keeping up with the company, I see that a lot of people are giving them great feedback on the name. The name still exists, and they’ll hopefully use it one of these days.

How did Heirloom perform from a project management standpoint?

Rob excelled in terms of communication. We don’t expect that with smaller agencies, but I was delighted at how awesome that part was.

What made Rob special was his bedside manner, so to speak. Everyone had their own opinion in those meetings, between founders, CEOs, and VPs of sales. He was great at people management — facilitating those discussions and presenting the recommendations when we got back together. This was one thing that he did better than everyone else in those situations. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Rob’s ability to draw out words from executives and board members through interviews that got those individuals to expand their own views on what the company brand should be. I’m a marketer, so I have those thought exercises all the time but that’s not how most people think.

Oftentimes, something new is something they don’t like or if they like something, it’s the only thing they like. Rob was great at taking people through a discussion exercise to get them to internalize some of these ideas more and to like them.

There comes a time in his business when he has to motivate stakeholders to accept the work that’s been done and to sell it to them. He did it in a professional way that was respectful of people’s thoughts but challenged them at the same time. It’s a careful dance to do that amongst people with egos, especially board members.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the end, while it was awesome work, it was other company dynamics that led to us not using the name. Everything we did with Heirloom was great. I’ve done two prior company rebrandings, both with bigger agencies, and those didn’t run as smoothly as this one.

Heirloom was very willing to allow us to decide how we wanted to put things together versus forcing new graphics and messaging on us. I would’ve loved to see the name reach the light of day but it never did.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Even though some of the things that Heirloom will ask the client to do sound pretty simple, it’s amazing how many people are unwilling to even participate in the exercise in the right frame of mind. My advice would be to take advantage of the opportunity for Rob to use his methods to present the case to other execs and urge them to have an open mind. What’s interesting is that oftentimes we’ll get into one of these exercises and people will say that it’s not worth it and abandon it.

In order to get the most value out of Heirloom, the board members and executives in your company should be conditioned to have an open mind. Rob did a great job, and everyone was delighted with how the exercise was rolled out. Usually, when working with these vendors, people are on their phones and can’t wait to get out of the room. As long as people keep an open mind and engage with Heirloom, they’ll get the most value out of what Rob does.