When a client's production is tied to stock prices
Working with Enterprise clients
Introduction
Working with enterprise clients is a different world compared to small or mid-sized businesses. The stakes are higher, the projects are larger, and the timelines — well, they stretch. Success isn’t just about delivering great design or sharp marketing. It’s about navigating layers of stakeholders, aligning diverse interests, and keeping momentum alive across months (sometimes years) of decision-making. One of the R&D Dept's special sauce is being nimble and moving quickly to market with marketing hypothesis - so much of the learning has been a lesson in patience and legal departments.
That’s the reality I’ve experienced over the past six years of working with TrueCar, one of the nation’s leading automotive marketplaces. What began as a design and marketing engagement grew into a long-standing partnership that touched multiple facets of their brand and digital presence.
The Enterprise Reality: Timelines and Stakeholders
Enterprise projects live in a world of:
- Multiple Stakeholders: Every initiative requires buy-in from marketing, product, compliance, legal, and executive leadership.
- Extended Timelines: What can take weeks in a smaller company often takes months to socialize and approve.
- Iteration Cycles: Feedback comes from many directions, requiring a balance of agility and patience.
- Top-talent moves: We've worked with six VP of marketing/brand because there's always opportunity for good managers to move up or out.
Working with TrueCar taught me how to thrive in this environment: staying consistent, proactive, stock-price aware, and relational, while holding the long-term vision steady.
Our Work Together
Over six years, the partnership spanned a wide range of initiatives:
- reBrand Design: R&D was part of a multi-agency brand update and we translated the TrueCar brand across multiple contexts and to a new platform (Yew! Webflow).
- Web Projects: Designed and developed Webflow sites for specialized dealer initiatives and sub-brands.
- Marketing Support: Supported the delivery of digital campaigns, sales collateral, and content aligned with their evolving market position.
- Stakeholder Socialization: Helped frame and present work in ways that gained alignment across departments or empowered our direct contacts to socilaize interanlly — a skill as critical as the creative itself.
Key Lessons from Enterprise Collaboration
- Patience is a Strategy: Decisions at scale take time. Building trust with stakeholders means respecting the process while gently moving projects forward.
- Clarity Creates Alignment: Clear frameworks and visual storytelling are invaluable in helping large groups of stakeholders see the same picture.
- Relationships Matter More Than Deliverables: The creative work may be the output, but the relationship is what keeps the partnership alive over years.
- Flexibility Wins: Enterprise work often shifts midstream — new leadership, shifting priorities, changing markets. Success means adapting without losing focus.
Results That Last
The outcomes of this partnership weren’t just campaigns shipped or sites launched. The real result was building internal trust at TrueCar — becoming the kind of partner they could call on repeatedly for high-visibility dealer projects as well as Friday night edits. Over six years, that trust was proven again and again as we delivered work that stood the test of enterprise scrutiny and drove measurable results.
Conclusion
My six-year journey with TrueCar reinforced a key truth: enterprise success isn’t just about great creative. It’s about navigating complexity, earning trust, and creating clarity in environments where progress requires patience and persistence.
At The R&D Dept., we bring the same relational, steady approach to every enterprise engagement — helping large organizations move forward with confidence, even in the face of complexity.
👉 Considering a large-scale branding or digital initiative? Let’s talk about how to move it forward with clarity and momentum.