How NinjaCat Became the Secret Weapon for Brain Coral's Data Management Success

Brain Coral, a seasoned advertising agency with a diverse client base in media, technology, and healthcare, discovered their "secret weapon" in NinjaCat, transitioning from a marketing data management process once fraught with "tears and wine" to a streamlined, efficient system that has significantly enhanced their service delivery and competitive edge.

The Challenge

Brain Coral prides itself on being platform-agnostic, offering customer solutions tailored to each client's unique needs. Their approach is informed by decades of experience, ensuring strategies that are not only innovative but also highly effective.

Brain Coral's founder, Lynne Hunter explains, “We have our Ad Ops team in house, which means we can handle the technical problems each client shows up with faster and more centralized.”

However, the agency's data management process was once characterized by inefficiency and frustration, with substantial time dedicated to manually compiling data from various sources into cohesive reports. The agency's journey to efficiency was spurred by the cumbersome, error-prone process of manually pulling data into reports. The diverse formats and inconsistent taxonomies of incoming data compounded the complexity of their reporting, making it an unsustainable practice.

Media Strategist Vicky Geary vividly recalls the daunting task: “It was painful…we would set aside whole days to hand-marry data into reports. What made it worse was the format in which data would show up; in a link, in a sheet, in a PDF, and the taxonomies would all be different, so that’s just the beginning of the problems. Then you have to gather and analyze all the data, which would be even more effort, so it was a big problem that we needed to solve.”

The Solution

The quest for a more efficient reporting tool led Brain Coral to NinjaCat. Initial trials with a competing platform were disappointing, and a client's recommendation prompted them to consider NinjaCat. 

NinjaCat’s white-glove customer support and comprehensive onboarding process were decisive factors. 

“Along with the platform and technical abilities, what really sold us on NinjaCat was the high level of support and the thoroughness of the on-boarding process,” says Vicky. 

Recognizing the importance of expertly navigating new technology, the agency appointed a dedicated specialist to master NinjaCat's capabilities. “We took the NinjaCat onboarding seriously," Vicky notes, underscoring the importance of dedicating a "hero" to own new technology.

The Results

With NinjaCat, Brain Coral experienced a significant reduction in manual data handling efforts, cutting the time spent on report preparation by more than half. 

This newfound efficiency allowed the team to focus more on data analysis and strategic insights, enhancing the value delivered to clients. According to Vicky, “Now we have time to make sense of all of the information and dedicate time to providing insights and identifying the story that needs to be told.”

Furthermore, NinjaCat's real-time data access became a crucial asset during client discussions, enabling more informed and responsive communication. "If we're on a call with a client discussing campaigns or results,” explains Lynne, “we can quickly check their template on NinjaCat to dive into any issue, and know the data we're looking at is up-to-date and accurate." This capability has significantly improved client interactions and decision-making.

“With NinjaCat in our stack, we go after big clients with complicated data issues and win because we know, and they know, our agency can handle them,” states Vicky.

NinjaCat has become an integral part of Brain Coral's toolkit, not just as a reporting platform but  as a collaborative partner in solving challenges and enhancing client service. Lynne emphasizes, "NinjaCat is definitely a part of our team. If a client has a request for their reports, or we hit a technical barrier with data, we can now slow down and think about how the platform can help...and really lean on NinjaCat as we would any member of our team." 

The platform's ability to streamline data management and reporting processes has given Brain Coral a competitive edge, enabling them to tackle more complex client challenges confidently. 

However, Lynne and Vicky joke about their hesitancy to share their "secret weapon" with competitors, under lining NinjaCat's contribution to their competitive edge: “I would definitely recommend NinjaCat to a client,” says Lynne, “But I don’t know if I’d recommend the platform to another agency, simply because I don’t want to give up this secret weapon I have up my sleeve!”