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Author: Marija Vidanovic

As a creative director, I firmly believe that art and design is not just about aesthetics; it's about problem-solving and effective visual communication. Each project I undertake is an opportunity to find the perfect balance between artistry and strategy, with the ultimate goal of leaving a lasting impact on audiences and achieving measurable success for our clients.

Why Customer Experience Is the Growth Engine of SaaS and Platform Companies

Posted on by Marija Vidanovic

In a world where switching to a competitor is just a few clicks away, customer experience (CX) has become the battleground for SaaS and platform companies. No longer confined to just onboarding or support, customer experience encompasses the entire journey—from discovery and sign-up to renewal and advocacy. And in the age of recurring revenue, that journey never really ends.

What Is Customer Experience in SaaS and Platform Companies?

Customer experience in SaaS is the holistic perception your users have about your product, service, and company at every touchpoint. For platform companies, this also includes the ecosystem—developers, partners, integrations, and third-party services that interact with your core offering.

It includes:

  • Onboarding flows 
  • User interface and usability 
  • Product performance and reliability 
  • Customer support 
  • Education and training resources 
  • Billing and pricing clarity 
  • Community engagement 
  • Value delivered over time 

Each of these moments forms the overall sentiment your users carry. And in subscription models, this sentiment translates directly into metrics like retention, lifetime value (LTV), churn, and referrals.

Why It Matters: The Business Impact

1. Retention = Revenue

Customer acquisition is expensive. According to industry benchmarks, acquiring a new customer can cost 5–7 times more than retaining an existing one. A seamless, delightful customer experience keeps users engaged, reduces churn, and boosts renewals.

2. LTV-CAC Ratio Optimization

Great CX increases the Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) without increasing Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). That’s a win for margins, especially in PLG (product-led growth) companies where the product is the sales tool.

3. Word-of-Mouth and Virality

A loyal customer becomes your best marketer. In an increasingly crowded market, peer recommendations and user reviews on sites like G2, Capterra, or the App Store can become powerful growth levers.

4. Upsell and Cross-Sell Opportunities

Happy customers are more likely to explore additional features, tiers, or products in your ecosystem. CX is the foundation for land-and-expand strategies in enterprise SaaS and platform models.

Key Pillars of a Great SaaS Customer Experience

1. Frictionless Onboarding

First impressions matter. The onboarding process should be simple, personalized, and fast. Use guided walkthroughs, checklists, and contextual help to get users to the “aha moment” as quickly as possible.

2. Proactive Support

Don’t just react to tickets—use in-app messages, help centers, and even AI assistants to proactively solve issues. Platforms like Intercom and Zendesk can be used strategically, not just as inboxes but as CX amplifiers.

3. Value-Driven Product Experience

A clean UI and fast UX are table stakes. But the key is to ensure your users are seeing and feeling the value. Think usage analytics, milestone celebrations, and feature adoption nudges based on real-time behavior.

4. Human Touch at the Right Time

Even in automation-heavy models, human support still matters—especially during high-stakes moments like billing, renewal discussions, or product expansion. Customer Success Managers (CSMs) can make the difference between a renewal and a churn.

5. Community and Ecosystem Enablement

For platform companies, your community is your moat. Create robust developer documentation, Slack or Discord channels, regular webinars, and partner certification programs. This expands your CX beyond product UI into the platform experience.

How to Measure Customer Experience

Here are key metrics SaaS and platform companies use to track and improve CX:

  • Net Promoter Score (NPS) – Are your customers willing to recommend you? 
  • Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) – Are users happy with their support and interactions? 
  • Customer Effort Score (CES) – How easy is it to get tasks done? 
  • Time to Value (TTV) – How quickly do users derive value? 
  • Churn & Retention Rates – Are customers staying? 
  • Expansion Revenue – Are they upgrading or adding users/products? 

Use these insights to create feedback loops across product, sales, support, and marketing.

We Design CX That Converts

At gotcha!, we don’t treat customer experience as a support function — we engineer it as a growth strategy. Whether we’re building powerful SaaS tools or integrated marketing platforms, our approach is rooted in user-centric design, AI-powered personalization, and frictionless interactions.

We help brands build customer journeys that not only retain, but delight. From first click to loyal advocate, we make sure every touchpoint adds value — and every experience feels like magic (with measurable results).

Because in a world of choices, experience is what makes the difference. And at gotcha!, we make experiences that stick.

Why Design Thinking Belongs in Every Marketing Strategy

Posted on by Marija Vidanovic

Creativity isn’t just for product teams — it’s the secret weapon of high-performing marketers.

If your marketing strategy is built solely on data, KPIs, and content calendars, you’re only playing half the game. In today’s crowded digital landscape, design thinking is the key to unlocking real innovation, deeper empathy, and marketing that actually resonates.

Design thinking isn’t about making things “look good.” It’s about solving problems creatively and putting your audience’s needs at the center of your strategy. When marketers adopt this mindset, campaigns stop feeling like noise — and start driving meaningful results.

What Is Design Thinking, Really?

Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem solving. It emphasizes:

  1. Empathy – deeply understanding your audience
  2. Definition – clearly framing the problem
  3. Ideation – brainstorming solutions without limits
  4. Prototyping – quickly testing ideas in a low-risk way
  5. Testing – learning from feedback and iterating rapidly

Originally used in product and UX design, this framework helps teams stay user-focused and creatively agile — two qualities that are gold in modern marketing.

Why It Belongs in Marketing Strategy

1. It Prioritizes Empathy Over Assumptions

Marketing often fails when teams assume what audiences want — instead of learning from them directly. Design thinking flips that script.
Instead of “What message do we want to say?”

  • Ask: “What does our audience need to hear — and how do they want to hear it?”

Whether you’re crafting a landing page or a campaign concept, starting with empathy helps ensure your strategy is built around real human needs, not marketing hunches.

2. It Encourages Bold, Creative Problem-Solving

Design thinking gives permission to think beyond “what worked last quarter.” During the ideation phase, marketers are free to experiment, challenge norms, and generate more diverse solutions.

  • New content formats
  • Unconventional campaigns
  • Unexpected partnerships
    All become fair game.

This mindset leads to fresh creative that stands out — not just incremental changes.

3. It Promotes Agility and Rapid Learning

Too often, marketing teams spend months building polished campaigns only to find they missed the mark. Design thinking values prototyping and testing early, which reduces risk and improves outcomes.

Instead of perfecting a single ad, you:

  • Run several small A/B tests
  • Gather feedback fast
  • Double down on what resonates

It’s smarter. It’s faster. And it leads to better marketing ROI.

4. It Breaks Down Silos Between Teams

Great marketing today involves cross-functional input — from creatives to data analysts to customer service teams. Design thinking fosters collaboration by creating shared goals and encouraging open dialogue.

Everyone has a voice in:

  • Understanding the customer
  • Ideating creative solutions
  • Iterating based on performance

The result? Fewer handoffs, more ownership, and campaigns that actually reflect the full customer experience.

5. It Builds Resilient, User-Centered Brands

Design thinking helps marketers stay adaptable. As consumer needs shift, design thinkers shift with them — continuously listening, learning, and refining.

This ongoing empathy and iteration naturally builds trust, loyalty, and brand relevance over time.

Getting Started: Bringing Design Thinking Into Your Marketing

You don’t have to be a designer to adopt this mindset. Try these steps:

  • Run empathy interviews or surveys before creating a new campaign
  • Hold “crazy 8s” brainstorming sessions with your team
  • Use low-fidelity mockups to test campaign ideas quickly
  • Measure responses, not just impressions
  • Build feedback loops into every campaign cycle

Final Thought: Good Marketers Execute — Great Ones Empathize and Evolve

Design thinking turns marketers from order-takers into problem-solvers. It makes strategy human. It makes creative meaningful. And ultimately, it makes your marketing better.

In a world where everyone is screaming for attention, empathy and creativity win. That’s why design thinking isn’t just for product teams anymore — it’s essential for modern marketers.

Future-Proofing Your Creative Team: Strategies for Sustainable Success

Posted on by Marija Vidanovic

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, staying ahead of the curve isn’t just desirable, it’s essential. Creative teams, in particular, face unique challenges as technologies, trends, and consumer behaviors shift continuously. At gotcha!, we believe that preparing your creative team for the future isn’t about chasing trends but building adaptability, resilience, and a robust skill set. Here’s how to future-proof your creative team for sustainable success.

1. Cultivate Adaptability

If there’s one certainty in creativity, it’s change. To thrive in an environment of constant transformation, your creative team must become experts in adaptability. Encourage them to regularly step outside their comfort zones, whether it’s learning new design software, exploring emerging social platforms, or experimenting with unconventional formats.

How to do it:

  • Schedule regular “innovation days” where your team explores new tools and platforms.
  • Promote cross-team collaboration to broaden perspectives and creative thinking.
  • Foster a culture that celebrates learning from failures, not just successes.

2. Invest in Continuous Learning

The future belongs to teams that never stop learning. Technology and trends evolve rapidly, making ongoing education crucial. Offer resources like online courses, webinars, workshops, and subscriptions to creative platforms. By continually expanding their skill sets, your team will stay relevant and confident.

Actionable steps:

  • Provide subscriptions to learning platforms like Udemy or Coursera.
  • Host internal workshops led by team members or industry experts.
  • Set aside a budget specifically for training and development.

3. Embrace AI and Automation Thoughtfully

Artificial intelligence isn’t replacing creativity; it’s enhancing it. Smart creative leaders at gotcha! embrace AI and automation, using these technologies to handle repetitive tasks and freeing up more space for strategic thinking and innovation. The trick is integrating these tools without losing human originality.

Best practices:

  • Introduce your team to AI tools that can streamline tasks (e.g., content generation, design iterations).
  • Encourage critical thinking around AI-generated work, emphasizing human oversight and refinement.
  • Regularly discuss ethical implications and limitations of AI to ensure responsible usage.

4. Prioritize Emotional Intelligence

In the digital age, human connection becomes even more critical. Emotional intelligence (EQ) enables your creative team to connect genuinely with their audience, anticipate consumer needs, and craft meaningful, impactful content. EQ also builds stronger internal communication, essential for creative collaboration.

How to boost EQ:

  • Offer training in communication skills, empathy, and active listening.
  • Regularly conduct team-building exercises that emphasize empathy and understanding.
  • Encourage open dialogue and emotional transparency within your team.

5. Foster a Culture of Collaboration

The most innovative solutions often come from diverse perspectives working together. Cultivating a collaborative culture is critical for future-proofing your creative team. Breaking down silos within your organization encourages ideas to flow more freely, increasing creativity and innovation.

Tips for better collaboration:

  • Use collaborative platforms (Teamwork, Figma) that allow seamless, real-time teamwork.
  • Regularly mix team members from different departments or disciplines on projects.
  • Set up feedback loops where team members can openly share and refine ideas together.

6. Stay Close to Consumer Insights

Creativity thrives on relevance. Staying attuned to consumer insights keeps your creative outputs aligned with audience preferences, behaviors, and expectations. By understanding evolving trends and audience motivations, your creative team can craft more impactful, timely content.

Ways to leverage insights:

  • Regularly share consumer research, analytics reports, and trend insights with your team.
  • Encourage team members to attend industry conferences and webinars for fresh perspectives.
  • Conduct user experience testing frequently to gather direct feedback.

7. Encourage Strategic Thinking

Creative teams aren’t just executors, they’re strategic thinkers. Developing this capability is crucial. Encourage your creatives to think holistically about the objectives behind each project. Strategic thinking ensures your creative solutions align with long-term brand goals.

Promoting strategic thinking:

  • Involve creatives in strategy meetings, even outside their immediate projects.
  • Set clear strategic objectives and encourage your team to propose solutions.
  • Provide regular feedback emphasizing the strategic impact of their work.

8. Nurture Work-Life Balance to Prevent Burnout

A future-proof creative team is a sustainable one. Burnout is creativity’s greatest enemy, leading to decreased productivity and innovation. Prioritize team wellness to maintain a healthy, energized, and engaged creative workforce.

Encouraging balance:

  • Set clear boundaries around working hours and expectations.
  • Promote flexible work arrangements and remote working opportunities.
  • Offer wellness initiatives and resources for mental health support.

Final Thoughts:

Future-proofing your creative team isn’t just about technical skills or keeping up with trends. It’s about creating a culture of continual growth, adaptability, collaboration, and well-being. At gotcha!, we see future-proof creative teams as agile, resilient, and always ready to embrace what’s next. By investing in your team’s growth today, you’re preparing for success tomorrow and beyond.

Rebranding Done Right: Case Studies & Lessons Learned

Posted on by Marija Vidanovic

Rebranding is tricky. Get it right, and your brand gains a fresh life, renewed excitement, and strengthened market position. Get it wrong, and you risk losing loyal customers, confusing your audience, and creating PR nightmares.

As creative professionals, we’ve all seen rebrands that inspire us, and ones that leave us scratching our heads. So, what makes a successful rebrand? Let’s dive into some powerful examples from well-known companies and extract key lessons from their stories.

Case Study 1: Airbnb – From Functional to Emotional

What Happened: Airbnb moved away from a purely functional travel-focused image to a community-oriented, emotional brand identity in 2014. Their new logo, known as the “Bélo,” symbolized belonging, warmth, and connection.

Why it Worked:

  • Clear Purpose: Airbnb clearly defined their new narrative around belonging.
  • Emotional Resonance: The Bélo represented the emotional heart of their brand, not just accommodation.
  • Consistent Application: The rebrand was fully integrated across their digital platforms, physical spaces, and customer interactions.

Lesson Learned: Successful rebrands shift perception from product to experience. Emotionally connecting with your audience creates deeper, lasting relationships.

Case Study 2: Dunkin’ – Simplify and Clarify

What Happened: In 2018, Dunkin’ dropped the “Donuts” from their name. The change wasn’t just cosmetic—it reflected their expansion into coffee and fast, convenient food options.

Why it Worked:

  • Simplicity: The shorter name was easier to remember, more versatile, and suited their evolving product offerings.
  • Clear Messaging: Dunkin’ effectively communicated their focus on beverages and convenience, aligning perfectly with customer expectations.
  • Strategic Timing: The shift aligned with changing consumer preferences towards coffee culture and healthier, broader menu options.

Lesson Learned: Clarity and simplicity win. A successful rebrand clearly signals the evolution of your business while staying true to customer expectations.

Case Study 3: Old Spice – From Stale to Viral Sensation

What Happened: Old Spice faced declining relevance in a crowded men’s grooming market. The 2010 “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign radically reshaped their image, transforming a tired brand into an iconic, humorous, and youthful one.

Why it Worked:

  • Creative Courage: Old Spice took creative risks, using humor and viral tactics.
  • Targeted Messaging: They spoke directly to women (primary purchasers) while engaging men (end users), effectively reaching both audiences.
  • Integrated Strategy: Social media, video, and television worked seamlessly to amplify the campaign’s reach.

Lesson Learned: Bold creativity and strategic targeting can revitalize even the most stagnant brands. Embrace risks with clear, thoughtful execution.

Case Study 4: Mastercard – Modernizing an Icon

What Happened: In 2016, Mastercard refreshed their iconic logo, removing their name entirely by 2019. The simplified, symbolic approach acknowledged the strength of their visual identity.

Why it Worked:

  • Strong Visual Equity: Mastercard leveraged the universal recognition of their logo’s interlocking circles.
  • Digital-First Approach: The simplified logo performed exceptionally well across digital platforms.
  • Confidence and Authority: Removing their name showed brand maturity and confidence.

Lesson Learned: A successful rebrand respects the brand’s heritage while adapting it for a digital-first era. Trust your visual assets, especially if they’re iconic.

What Makes a Rebrand Successful?

  • Clear Purpose: Know exactly why you’re rebranding.
  • Customer-Centric: Understand and anticipate your audience’s perceptions and desires.
  • Consistent Execution: Maintain uniformity across all platforms and touchpoints.
  • Authenticity: Align your rebrand authentically with who you are (or aspire to be).
  • Effective Communication: Explain changes clearly and proactively.

Final Thoughts:

Rebranding isn’t simply a facelift—it’s strategic storytelling. When done right, it’s transformative. But success depends on clarity, courage, consistency, and deep alignment with your audience’s values and expectations.

These examples remind us that rebranding, when approached thoughtfully, can not only refresh your image but breathe new life into your entire business.

How Great Design Drives Higher Conversion Rates

Posted on by Marija Vidanovic

Why aesthetics aren’t just pretty, they’re powerful performance tools.

In a world where attention spans are shorter than a TikTok loop, great design isn’t a luxury. It’s a conversion engine.

Design in marketing isn’t just about looking good, it’s about guiding behavior. When done right, design builds trust, clarifies messaging, and makes taking action feel effortless. In other words, great design converts.

Let’s break down how.

1. First Impressions Are Formed in 50 Milliseconds

According to a study by Google, it takes about 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds!) for users to form an opinion about your site. That snap judgment is primarily visual.

  • Cluttered? They bounce. 
  • Dated? They don’t trust you. 
  • Clean, modern, intuitive? They stay, explore, and maybe even click “Buy.” 

Actionable Tip:

Use clean, balanced layouts. Avoid visual noise. Guide the eye with a strong hierarchy and whitespace.

2. Trust Is a Design Outcome

People won’t give their email, let alone their credit card, to a site that feels sketchy. Credibility is often communicated visually before a single word is read.

Great design signals:

  • Professionalism 
  • Attention to detail 
  • Brand consistency 
  • Legitimacy 

Actionable Tip:

Use consistent branding, quality imagery, and modern UI patterns. Avoid stocky visuals and broken layouts, they silently kill trust.

3. Good Design Clarifies the Value Proposition

A landing page can have a great offer and still perform poorly, if it’s hard to understand. Great design helps communicate your value quickly and clearly.

Design should:

  • Highlight benefits (not just features) 
  • Support skimmability 
  • Align visuals with the core message 

Actionable Tip:

Use iconography, illustrations, and section breaks to explain value in digestible chunks. Combine visual and verbal storytelling.

4. Design Reduces Friction

Every unnecessary step, unclear button, or hard-to-read form is a drop-off risk. Great design removes barriers to conversion by making experiences smooth, fast, and obvious.

Actionable Tip:

Design intuitive navigation, clear CTAs, and streamlined checkout flows. Obsess over mobile usability, it’s where many conversions start.

5. Emotion Drives Action

Emotion is a core driver of decisions, especially in B2C. Great design evokes emotion,  excitement, trust, and belonging, which nudges users closer to “yes.”

Actionable Tip:

Use emotionally resonant visuals, brand colors aligned with your tone, and design moments that feel delightful (like subtle animations or microinteractions).

Wrapping Up: Design Is a Growth Lever

If your marketing team treats design as a last-minute layer of polish, you’re leaving conversions on the table. Great design is a strategic lever — one that can boost performance across every touchpoint.

Whether you’re optimizing a sales page, crafting an email, or revamping a website, treat design as a conversion multiplier, not just decoration.

 

The Role of AI in Creative Work: Blending Innovation with Originality

Posted on by Marija Vidanovic

AI is no longer just a buzzword, it’s now a part of the creative process. From automating design tasks to generating marketing copy, artificial intelligence is reshaping how creative teams work. And for creative directors like us, the question isn’t if we should use AI, it’s how to use it wisely.

We’re navigating a new landscape, one where AI tools are amplifying creativity, not replacing it. But let’s be honest: it’s easy to feel threatened when a machine can generate a logo, write a tagline, or edit a photo in seconds. The key is to shift the mindset: AI isn’t here to take your job; it’s here to make you better at it.

Where AI Is Making an Impact

Design

AI-powered design tools like Adobe Sensei, Canva’s Magic Design, and Midjourney are speeding up production and reducing grunt work. Need 100 ad variations in 10 minutes? Done. Need a visual mock-up based on text input? Also done.

But here’s the thing: AI can generate, but it can’t discern. It lacks taste, intuition, and emotion. That’s where we come in, to curate, guide, and add meaning.

Branding

AI can analyze data to identify trends, predict consumer behavior, and even suggest brand positioning. Tools like ChatGPT (hi 👋) can brainstorm brand names, write messaging frameworks, or test tone variations. But branding isn’t just data, it’s feeling, nuance, and soul. A brand isn’t what you say, it’s how people experience you. That still needs human insight.

Marketing

Marketing teams are already using AI to personalize content, optimize campaigns, and automate customer journeys. AI excels at A/B testing, audience segmentation, and analyzing what’s working (and what’s not). But the idea behind a campaign, the emotion it sparks, the story it tells, still starts with human creativity.

How Creative Directors Can Leverage AI (Without Losing the Magic)

  1. Use AI to Get Unstuck We’ve all faced the blinking cursor. Sometimes you just need a nudge, an idea starter, a first draft, or a new perspective. Let AI help you get the ball rolling.
  2. Save Time on the Tedious Let AI handle repetitive or time-consuming tasks like resizing assets, generating content variations, or analyzing engagement data. That leaves you more space for deep creative work.
  3. Curate, Don’t Just Create Use AI as a collaborator, not a replacement. Guide the process. Train the tool to reflect your tone. Edit with intention. You are still the taste maker.
  4. Protect Your Brand’s Voice Set clear guidelines on how your brand should sound, look, and feel. AI can adapt, but only if you teach it. Think of it like onboarding a new team member.
  5. Keep Humanity at the Core Technology can optimize. But humans connect. Make sure your work still resonates on a human level. Emotion, story, and authenticity are what people remember.

Final Thoughts

AI is a tool, not a threat. It’s changing creative work, yes, but it’s also expanding what’s possible. For creative directors, the opportunity is to blend innovation with originality, to use AI as an extension of your creative mind, not a replacement for it.

We are still the ones who bring the heart. AI brings the horsepower. Together, that’s a powerful combination.

So embrace it. Train it. Direct it. But don’t lose sight of what makes creativity truly valuable: you.