Customer stories

HZ

How HZ improved consistency and efficiency of creative reviews. US-based creative agency uses OpenText Hightail to deliver better client service

Challenges

  • Fast growing business with 80+ projects in flight daily
  • Multimedia campaign assets made the review process inconsistent
  • Feedback on creative was a slow process collected one person at a time
  • Project management platform had low adoption and did not hold teams accountable

Results

  • Enabled instant previews and inline comments for all visual files

  • Allowed campaign content review and approval in a single place

  • Provided availability of every asset and new version to external partners

Story

Working on up to 80 different projects each day for integrated campaigns, HZ manages a large volume of creative assets across all media formats. There is never just one piece to the campaign. Producing both print and digital components means asset production of banner ads, websites, landing pages, print ads, brochures and video.

OpenText Hightail is very user friendly and immediately made our review process much quicker. We no longer have to take turns to review something—people add comments to PDFs and visual files at the same time.

Cary Gilbert
Traffic Manager, HZ

With so many different types of projects and file formats, the way HZ reviewed creative work varied a lot. “We’d upload PDFs to our internal servers and email a file path to that PDF to the relevant teams for review,” said Stacey DeOrzio, SVP, Client Relations at HZ. “Each person would take turns reviewing it because you could only comment on the PDF one at a time. Other times, we’d print hard copies of the creative, which meant feedback wasn’t captured in one place. Either way, it was a slow, inconsistent process that opened us up to errors.”

After testing various solutions, HZ found that most of the technology tools for creative review and collaboration had way too many features and were hard to use. OpenText™ Hightail™ was different. Its user-friendliness and ability to make the review process much quicker meant no more waiting to review creative content one person at a time. Users can add precise comments to PDFs, videos and visual files in real time.

Prior to Hightail, when using another popular project management tool, conversations often led nowhere. People would ask questions, but nobody would take responsibility, so no action was taken. With Hightail, tasks are assigned to specific team members with due dates attached, which helps ensure the next step is taken. “Nothing gets left hanging. With OpenText Hightail, it feels like we’re saving a lot of review rounds and jobs are closing faster than our normal timeframes,” said DeOrzio.

People sitting at a desk pointing at a laptop.

Nothing gets left hanging. With OpenText Hightail, it feels like we’re saving a lot of review rounds and jobs are closing faster than our normal timeframes.

Stacey DeOrzio
SVP Client Relations, HZ

The approvals feature in Hightail has been most useful in promoting efficiency. “We love the way you can request approval from specific people,” said DeOrzio. “You want the entire team to be able to access the work and leave comments, but only a few people need to be approvers. Being able to call them out and request their approval in a specific order has been very helpful.”

After the initial test, HZ felt confident Hightail was the right choice for creative content collaboration. “Hightail’s partnership and support throughout the trial period and on-boarding process gave us no hesitation whatsoever that they were the right partner for us,” said DeOrzio. Obtaining buy-in from the CFO and daily users was easy, in large part due to Hightail’s ease of use. “When new employees join HZ, they spend a few minutes learning how it works and off they go,” said DeOrzio.

Once comfortable using Hightail internally, HZ started to roll out the new process to select clients. Previously, they shared PDFs with clients and collected their feedback by email. Now, clients can use Hightail to leave comments exactly where they want the edits. They can also access all campaign assets in one place, see what’s been approved and track the creative progress from one version to the next. “It’s been such a positive experience,” said DeOrzio. “We’re starting to introduce Hightail to more clients.”

About HZ

HZ is a WBE-certified, fully integrated creative agency operating for more than 30 years. Its more than 200 employees at five offices across the United States specialize in branding, marketing, content and digital marketing. As a full-service, in-house agency, HZ counts some of the most recognizable consumer brands as clients, including Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Organic Valley and Volkswagen and local companies, such as EagleBank and Ridgewells Catering, on a mix of B2B and B2C projects. HZ is also the digital agency for its local NFL team, the Washington Commanders. For more information, visit www.hzdg.com.