How an ad agency uses Timeular to stay within budget and remain profitable

Harmon Brothers is the leading ad agency for branded conversion ads. They have made video campaigns for Squatty Potty, Lume, Purple Mattress, Chatbooks, Kodiak Cakes, Skull Shaver, and more.

Kaitlin is a partner and executive creative director who sees projects from inception through to delivery.

The challenge: going over budget without warning

Harmon Brothers always has multiple projects on the go, all with different budgets, so it’s important for them to be able to know that a team member’s time has been allocated to the right project.

Before introducing Timeular, there was a 2-week lag for internal team member costs on projects, meaning that they went over budget without warning and were at risk of affecting their margins.

The solution: tracking budgets within Timeular

Team members can be working on multiple projects at once. Having each project as its own activity ensures that it’s clear what time counts toward which budget. Their accounts team downloads the hours tracked through Timeular and then runs payroll according to the data.

“Timeular is the system we rely on in order to get accurately paid, so we are meticulous with our tracking and include every task.“

Harmon Brothers charge clients a set fee per project. To keep costs in check and maintain margins, the team uses Timeular to track their time and keep an eye on the internal cost of each project.

Using the insights, the team is able to easily see how long each team member has spent on a project, which helps with accurate resource planning when starting new projects.

The outcome: increasing profitable margins

“I love how robust Timeular is. It’s increased our ability to see what’s going on in the business and helped us understand what changes are needed to maintain profitability.“

Using the tool means that they don’t have to rely on others for updates, which saves a lot of time. The data that Timeular provides helps them understand in real-time if they are overspending, and they can then make informed decisions.

Kaitlin loves the visual overview that Timeular provides and says that the bird’s-eye-view of the week helps her gauge the balance of work and personal life.

“The data acts as a review of how productive the day has been, and helps validate why I’m feeling tired when I look back and see the amount of hours clocked that week. Then I know it’s time to book a trip!“