Hotspex Media

I’m the director of client services at a full-service creative agency specializing in branding and design.

We needed help in various digital projects.

Hotspex is supporting our team on our various projects. After our client briefs us with their objectives, Hotspex puts together a media plan based on the desired target audience. They study digital channels, make recommendations, and analyze the client’s budgetary constraints.

Depending on the project, we work with 2–3 resources. Jonah (VP of Strategy and Product) is our main point of contact.

A business partner introduced Hotspex to us, and we worked with them on a project. We enjoyed collaborating with their team, so we sought opportunities to continue our relationship.

We’ve started working together in July 2019, and our partnership is ongoing.

Hotspex’s support has been helpful in growing our business. Generally, our clients are impressed with their knowledge, thought leadership, and campaign results.

Hotspex follows their commitments and delivers based on their timeline. They’re excellent project managers — they communicate what they require and follow up when they don’t receive what they need. They’re also very professional. We communicate through emails, Zoom calls, and text messages.

Hotspex’s way of working makes us feel like they’re a natural extension of our agency. I trust them to always deliver no matter the project’s size. They’re dependable and brilliant.

I can’t think of anything.

Be open, straightforward, and share as much information as possible. They’re wonderful to collaborate with, and it’ll be better to give them more information. You can trust them — treat them as if they’re a part of your team.

I am an account director at a PR company.

We hired Hotspex Media to help us with our marketing and advertising.

Hotspex Media was tasked with developing a digital and out-of-home marketing campaign for a charity we work for. We provided them with a limited budget, but Hotspex Media had to target a large audience across several provinces. So, Hotspex Media reached out to our local transport service to negotiate good rates for the project.

We work with two teammates from Hotspex Media, including Josh (President).

Our agency had a relationship with Josh before his company became Hotspex Media. We also knew that Hotspex Media was an award-winner on Clutch.co, so there was a high level of trust because they have such a good reputation.

Our partnership with Hotspex Media began in September 2021, and it’s ongoing.

I have a lot of experience working with companies in a similar space, and I have to say Hotspex Media really exceeds my expectations. Hotspex Media has done a fantastic job navigating the sensitive information we have to explain; I was impressed and happy with the amount of senior-level service we’ve received. They’ve adapted the project several times to meet project challenges and changes, but they’ve done a fantastic job splitting the budget across digital channels to meet our needs.

Hotspex Media does a stellar job meeting budgets and deadlines. Generally, we communicate with their team via phone calls and email. Hotspex Media’s team is available and quick to respond to our messages. I always have access to their team if I need them.

Hotspex Media’s consultative services and understanding of the problems we are facing are exceptional. There are a lot of hoops to jump through to ensure our client’s message is presented sensitively and appropriately, and they’ve been able to do that appropriately on various platforms. I feel very comfortable rolling out Hotspex Media’s work because I trust them to understand the gravity and sensitivity of this project. I would 100% work with Hotspex Media on other projects going forward.

I don’t have anything for Hotspex Media to improve.

Early into the engagement, customers need to communicate clearly with Hotspex Media about their project. It should be clear from the first conversation that Hotspex Media provides good consultative services and are reliable.

I’m a programmatic analyst for The Home Depot’s Canadian office.

We were looking to reach an audience that we’d targeted.

In the beginning, we had multiple meetings with Hotspex. We discussed the tactic we could use, and they did an audience analysis. We sent them our creative materials, which they took and used to see what they could do for us. They produced a video campaign.

Josh (President) and Jonah (VP & Strategy & Product) helped us a lot, but they involved other people. We had a manager who took us through the reports and dashboards they built.

Before I started working at Home Depot, Hotspex was speaking to the senior programmatic director. She’d known about them and what they did, so we restarted the conversation with them when I joined. Then, we decided it was a good time to start.

We spent between $100,000–$200,000 CAD (approximately $79,000–$158,000 USD).

We began working with them in August 2020, and we finished in August 2021.

We saw some positive video completion rates. In terms of emotional content, they highlighted areas that we hadn’t thought of before for our targeting.

They didn’t really work on the project management side. However, they were great with the turnaround. They also knew which questions to ask and what they needed from us so we didn’t beat around the bush.

It was the collaborative nature between Josh and Jonah. They listened to what we wanted and pushed us to build a quality platform together. They were great partners.

I don’t think so. We couldn’t highlight any limitations because they were on our side.

Keep an open mind and allow them to do what they’re good at.

I’m the creative director and co-founder of an e-commerce vegan handbag and accessories brand.

We needed help getting our product out into the market. We used to rely on popup shops. When the pandemic hit, we had to rely on e-commerce. It used to be very hard for people to find us. We needed a way to retarget visitors to our site from social media.

Hotspex Media works on our SEO and Google Ads. The team helps us retarget visitors from Instagram and Facebook. They also help us with keyword research and brand assets.

We work with an account manager, a billing specialist, and three ads specialist.

I had a close friend that was doing our SEO. She was very limited in helping us with ROI. I was helping another friend interview options for her company and I came across Hotspex. She saw results after hiring them, so I decided to give them an interview, too.

We started working together in March 2021, and our work is ongoing.

They’re great to work with, and we’re seeing exceptional results. We’re very happy. We’ve had a higher ROI in the last two months than in the past three years; the results are phenomenal. Whatever they’re doing is working.

They’re so good. Their team provides a link that shows real-time results of what’s going on. It’s all very transparent. We can see which keywords are working and on which platforms.

Their work ethic is exceptional. All the different people I interact with offer the same excellent level of service. That’s what really assures me that their leadership and the environment they create for their employees are so good.

No, I can’t say one bad thing. I refer them to all my entrepreneur friends.

My advice is to be willing to trust them. Investing money into a service like this and hoping for results can be scary; if you trust them, things will work out well.

I’m a partner and the VP of the media department for Twenty6two International.

We’ve utilized Hotspex Media as our digital agency partner for about 5–6 years. They handle most of our digital advertising needs for our clients.

Hotspex Media has done pretty much everything — search, digital, social, paid social, paid video, and paid static. They do provide some strategy on the keyword research side, but we have the most success with them in their execution for our client’s digital media.

Over the years, I’ve probably worked with about 5–6 people.

Josh (President) pitched me consistently to give Hotspex Media a chance, going so far as to say that he could do the job better than all of the other partners we worked with. I finally decided to try them out. That chance led to another chance, and they ended up overdelivering on what they promised.

Each campaign is different, but we’ve probably spent about $500,000–$1 million over all the years.

We’ve worked with them since 2015.

In general, Hotspex Media over-delivers on our campaigns based on benchmarks for the industry. They’re just on top of things, making sure everything starts smoothly and letting us know if there are any issues. The reports are pretty thorough, too, and they’ve certainly improved their formatting and presentation.

We’ve had 1–2 blips, but they mostly stay on track. They follow up with us, make sure that all of the creative is running properly, and use a platform to produce campaign reports.

Their ability to serve us sets them apart. If things go wrong, they’re transparent about it and are good at compensating.

We’re feeling some of their growing pains. There have been some new people on our accounts, and they’re also adjusting to remote work. So, it might take a little longer than we’re used to for an email response.

If you give Hotspex Media a chance to build a good relationship, then you’ll be pleased to see that they can execute flawlessly. Of course, don’t be afraid to challenge them on strategy.