Utility

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Bleacher Report is a leader in online sports content. I am Director, Creative Strategy, focused on building partnerships and making ideas come to life for Bleacher Report, House of Highlights and brand partners through content, e-commerce, and experiences as part of our in-house creative agency, Playmaker.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Utility?

A stealth project we were working on with a major sponsor to build out a Mobile App based Sports Trivia game.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to launch a sponsored new mobile app media property that could be monetized through sponsorship and other means. With a robust sales and sponsorship team here, and heavy distribution, we knew that a new mobile venture like this would be the right project for us to embark on.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Someone who used to be an EVP here knew one of their founders, so we vetted them against other providers, and they were the best fit cost and skills wise.

Describe the project in detail.

Bleacher Report was launching a sports trivia mobile app game. It was built in a reactive web-based environment which allowed us to not have to build two native applications, but rather spin up iOS and Android applications in one shot. We went through UX/UI design, platform systems planning, and heavy engineering on both backend, frontend and admin portal.

What was the team composition?

$150,000

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We ended up building exactly what we said we would, and our team’s stakeholders were happy. And our brands and media company partners were building confidence as well. We didn’t end up launching the app on schedule because of reasons outside our control, but that wasn’t Utility’s fault.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

All good, they were very easy to work with we had a great rapport. Can’t say a bad thing really.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

What was most impressive was probably their speed and skills -- they were able to move very quickly even though our team had a lot of opinions and changes, like most bigger brands. They seemed not to mind, didn’t nickel and dime us, did some extra work, and were very pleasant throughout.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They were really good, and did what they said they would.