SUCCESS STORIES IN THEIR OWN WORDS

But, after 38 years of friendship and 22 years of those in business together, I'm proud and humbled to say we're still at it and that it's not always easy, but, the history, the love, the respect is very deep-rooted. And together we set out to be renegades in this commoditized space with a really talented staff who will help us carry the brand into the world with integrity, creativity, hard work, deep knowledge, and, like you said earlier, having some fun along the way. And ultimately we found that. With mystery comes margin. And so doing things differently, takes a lot of work and it's worth it even when we try and we fail. And I think Robert's going to talk a little bit about that... Robert Fiveash Man, Danny. That was good. That was very good. Taken me back. Well, Marshall, I wanted to talk just a minute about, sort of our USP and what we're sort of known for today. Danny did a fantastic job of a bit of the background. And a lot of that DNA is still with us, whether it's art and music or making sure we're having fun with our employees. You know, I want to point to an early example of something that's kind of stuck with us for the last 22 years. We, in 1999, had the opportunity. We started in '98 and '99. We had the opportunity to build an online store for one of the largest local companies, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. And, we did not know what we're doing. We knew that we needed technology for this. We knew it was going to be expensive and we knew the value of an online store. We knew that that was kind of the future of promo in so many ways. Certainly, you know, for what we were looking to do. And, we built this thing 20 years ago. It probably cost us, what Danny $60,000 or so at the time. Yeah. I mean, this was a lot of money for us as a brand new company. The same software today, if it existed with, you know, it'd be $15 a month or something. I mean, it's ubiquitous now, but it was a real lesson for us that we still sort of a life today. And that was investing in technology and making sure that our clients understand that we're as much a technology company as a creative branding company. And so, you know, I think the things that we are most known for would be the creativity and the creative services that we provide. But also the fact that we're a technology company and that's huge for us. Our online store is kind of the beating heart of our operations. And so a lot of the creative services that we have, you know, whether it's virtual swag or kitting or, or survey fuel or any of these things that we've come up with over the years to broaden our scope, all of these things run through the online store and it's part of what we do and it's part of what our clients expect of us. So, that is the story there. Marshall Atkinson So in reality, I guess the way to put it is that through the years you have built your process, right? So that's consistent, it's predictable, it's repeatable. It's the backbone of your company. And, and that is your online store. Would you say that's a fair statement?

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