Totem lightens the email load by introducing ProofHQ

International branded content agency introduce ProofHQ to 120 employees to drive time and cost savings, allowing them to take on additional projects

Background

Totem are a large agency based in Toronto dedicated to creating branded content

Totem are a large agency dedicated to creating branded content, ranging from custom printed publications to digital and social campaigns. With offices in New York and Toronto, the company has 120 employees.

Clients include high profile brands such as Rubbermaid, British Airways, Bank of America, Coca Cola, Kraft Foods, Mazda and Sears.

Totem produces and delivers custom publications for their clients and also manages the relationship with third party advertisers who advertise in those publications. The coordination of all projects is done by the agency and they take responsibility for the delivery of projects.

The Problem

The process of review and approval from clients was inefficient and generated delays in getting content launched

Traditionally, Totem had relied on email as their main method of communicating with clients - both for sending work for approval and gathering feedback from them.

The process was becoming inefficient; slowed by files being blocked by inbox filters and feedback flying back and forth between reviewers which then required collation. With so much feedback coming from different sources, not only was it hard to keep track, but different reviewers would provide conflicting feedback. This would cause another round of emails to be sent in order to agree the amends to be made.

Once of the team members at Totem had used ProofHQ at a previous agency and, having seen how inefficient the review and approval process at Totem was, decided to introduce ProofHQ to the company.

"The ability to print out the client's comments and know exactly where on the page their comment is referring to is invaluable", Alyssa Buckley, Account Coordinator

ProofHQ Solution

ProofHQ provides a simple solution for clients to provide feedback to the agency

The ProofHQ process that Totem uses with their clients is as follows:

The team receives a brief and produces creative and design work
The final version of the file is passed to the Account Coordinator who uploads it to ProofHQ and shares the proof with reviewers from the client organisation. At this point, they also set review deadlines which allows them to ensure that project deadlines are met
The client receives a notification that there is a proof awaiting their attention
The client marks the proof with their feedback and shares the proof with additional colleagues where necessary
The Account Coordinator is notified that there are comments on the proof and prints a comment summary report before adding to the job bag and passing it on to their art and/or edit teams to make the amendments
This continues until the client is happy with the work, at which point, they select their decision as 'Approved'
The Account Coordinator receives notification to instruct them that the proof has been approved and they then send the final file over to the client or to print etc

Totem also does a lot of work with third party advertisers where clients need to approve ad material before it can be printed. In these circumstances, the standard process is as follows:

Third party advertiser submits artwork to Totem
The Totem Account Coordinator uploads the artwork to ProofHQ and shares the proof with reviewers from the client organisation. At this point, they also set review deadlines which allows them to ensure that project deadlines are met
The client receives a notification that there is a proof awaiting their attention
The client marks up the artwork with their feedback (assuming that it requires amends)
The Account Coordinator is notified that there are comments on the proof and accesses the file to print a copy of the comments on the current version of the proof before adding to the job bag and passing to their internal art and/or edit teams to make the relevant amends
This continues until the client is happy with the ad, at which point, they select the decision as 'Approved'
The Account Coordinator receives a notification to instruct them that the proof has been approved and they then instruct the third party advertiser
The ad is added to the relevant publication before being sent to print

"On deadline days, ProofHQ probably saves me a couple of hours of emailing back and forth”, Alyssa Buckley, Account Coordinator

The Results

With less time spent on revisions, the review cycle has been shortened dramatically

Since switching to ProofHQ, Totem says that it has become much easier to keep track of proof approvals and required changes. They no longer reply on email chains with potential for miscommunication. Decisions on proofs are now made a lot more quickly and with much fewer rounds of amends.

The main features that they've benefited from include:

Threaded Commenting: As feedback is often required from more than one individual working for the client, this allows each of the reviewers to see the feedback provided by others, and discuss the appropriate way forwards. This has led to a reduction in the number of revisions required
Markup Tools: This allows clients to easily show areas of the work that they'd like to amend and add comments, or even files for reference where applicable
Deadlines: Delivering projects on time is critical for agencies. By allowing Account Coordinators to set deadlines on a proof, this allows them to ensure that they receive feedback or decisions from a client on time
Status View: This allows Account Coordinators to easily see the status of each proof, which allows them to follow up with people who are holding up the process
Reminders: A fast and easy tool to remind review and approvers that they have actions to complete on a proof
Archive Facility: Allowing clients work to be archived indefinitely, this allows them to easily access proofs at any time in the future for reference purposes
Versions: The ability to track versions not only makes amends easier for the agency and changes quicker to check for the client but also means that they're able to invoice accurately to reflect the number of revisions that have been made on each project.

Alyssa Buckley, Account Coordinator adds :Since switching to ProofHQ our inboxes have become much lighter! The ability to print out the client's comments and know exactly where on the page their comment is referring to is invaluable".

ProofHQ allows Totem and their clients to use a visual markup tool for visual work, seemingly simple and yet so effective.

Alyssa adds "On deadline days where all that I do is upload ads to ProofHQ and wait for approvals, ProofHQ probably saves me a couple of hours of emailing back and forth. It's a much more streamlined method to get proofs approved".

"ProofHQ allows Totem and their clients to use a visual markup tool for a visual job, seemingly simple and yet so effective"