While we see each client’s challenges as an opportunity for collaboration to a creative solution, the ECP tried and true way always starts with a little extra. We dive deep into discovering what makes your brand unique. We pin sketches to the wall. We put in the effort to land on the groundbreaking ideas. And we go the extra mile to place the right media at the right time for the right audience. And while each project is custom built to fit your needs, here’s a snapshot of what our creative process looks like.
1) UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
Working closely with your team, we’ll explore perspectives on the challenge your brand is facing. In this phase our client may provide existing data or research, stakeholder insights, or past brand work for our team to better understand the project’s key objectives, target audience and ultimate goals. These collaborative conversations with our senior account director, project manager and creative lead will help us establish a strong strategic foundation and confirm alignment in the form of a creative brief before kicking off the project.
2) CREATIVE EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT
Here the design team kicks off the project. Your team will include our executive creative director, senior art director(s), designer(s), and copywriter(s). Communication will be primarily managed by the account director or project manager, but you will always have access to our creative and leadership team at any time. The design team will develop several, modular creative directions that bring unique and strategic creative solutions to your problem. As part of our presentation, we’ll apply the concepts across known and potential media tactics to help visualize real-world applications. And as always, a little extra.
3) COLLABORATION & REFINEMENT
After the initial creative presentation, we will together evaluate the concepts, gather your team’s feedback, and identify the strongest direction to continue refining and expanding. Depending on project scope, this may be achieved through multiple rounds of collaborative review and revisions until we achieve creative alignment. The ultimate goal of this step in the process is approval on the final creative concepts and application to take to final execution.
4) FINALIZATION & EXECUTION
With creative approval, we’ll prepare and organize all final deliverables. This step includes touchpoints with your team to ensure content and images are approved, as well as an extensive proof on the copy. We then merge with our media team to confirm all sizing and formats are correct and ready ahead of trafficking deadlines that our team is managing. If media is purchased separately, we will deliver files directly to your team. This step may also include video or audio production, which will follow custom timelines and approval schedules based on project scope.
5) LAUNCH & REPORTING
For a full-service experience, Extra Credit Projects also provides media buying and planning services. The ability to work closely alongside your creative team strengthens both the creative concepts and your media placements, and our media-agnostic recommendations are driven by objectives, audiences and budgets—not commissions. After media campaigns are launched, our team also provide continued analysis and monthly reporting to optimize performance and maximize investment.
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