There was a time when advertising folks used smoke, mirrors and jargon to sell you something that you didn’t even think that you needed. All for a price that seemed unusually high with a promise that your company would see a difference in conversions, appeal and even performance.
That was the bubble – it exploded several years ago leaving crap and debris scattered throughout the industry. Every once in a while you run across a remnant, promising this and that only from the services that they can offer – it naturally sends a chill up your back. You step back and wonder if the product is real, will the results be real or should you moonwalk out of the conference room. Those remnants are rare, because when the industry changed, if you didn’t adapt, you hit the road like a sideshow medicine man.
At that point, an industry poll stated that the trustworthiness of an advertising Agency was equal to a pawnshop and a used car salesman. It was total discredit to any advice an honest agency was willing to deliver.
Then who are we? I could tell you that we’re creative solution company filled with inspiration, logic and magic, but I’d rather you ask your friends about us. Why should you do that? Because they’ll be honest, and if they know who we are, then we’ll see you soon.
Every once in while – we make time to do something for ourselves. It doesn’t always require a custom built, die-cut or elaborate effect that creates a black hole in our bank account. Sometimes its just simple thought using the resources that we have on hand. This project was designed, quickly cutout, adhered to one of clients’ coffee products – which happens to be some of the best coffee in the world.
We constructed them last minute and it demonstrated the fine balance of accomplishing a self promo piece utilizing just a few in-house resources besides the coffee. That’s not always the case – but if it’s possible, it’s an awesome route to take.
The result? Friends and clients coming by to fill up coffee cups, sending out more bags for those who have requested and getting some prospective resumes. Maybe one day we actually package and sell some joe – until then, we’ll use it as tackling fuel to brew the bang-up creative solutions that folks have come to expect.
I’ve worked hand full places doing different things before we started Kruhu a couple years ago. I’ve worked beside grandpas to teenagers, homeless folks to millionaires. Some people have that friendship quality that would help carry your load on a rough day, most would not. Everyone knows that type that I speak of, and they become friends. These folks aren’t the ones that look forward to leaving work. They know what matters is right now. This moment. This day. They are the ones who sincerely check on you and – they care and the make the best of an opportunity.
When searching for those who may become a Kru member you learn to spot the spark. I think that our entire staff now has the spark quality. It’s addictive and incredibly inspiring. We work pretty hard some days and I find it much easier to give it all when I know that such an awesome team has my back. I’ve never worked in such a conductive atmosphere. It’s seeps through the bricks and onto the sidewalks.
Now, we are amazed of the number of folks who are drawn to Kruhu that have that spark – it’s like moths to light bulb. A light bulb that we circle everyday – we long for it – it brings the heat. Heat that artists and creatives identify with… a heat that can be sensed by clientele and felt by competition.
How did we get here? If I had to tell the story I couldn’t pin point the factors. I can tell you this we haven’t changed anything, – but we’ve done our best to protect everything relevant to atmosphere of the workplace. More than happiness, it’s satisfaction.
Every so often, one of our clients needs to give a gift package to some folks — sponsors, supporters, VIPs of some sort. Giving this ensures the recipient feels welcomed and wowed, a part of something big, worthwhile. For one such package presented to VIPs at the NCAA Division II Soccer Tournament, Kru member Chris put together a little CD called the Red Clay Georgia Music Sampler.
This CD cover had a heap of artistry go into it. The red circle, for instance, Chris created from a mason jar lid taped and impressed in red paint. The lettering was hand-applied to each CD and the ink-antiqued corners were individually applied as well.
The textured surface on front came from a paintbrush-slathered hodgepodge and the wood-grain texture on the back was made from a stamp. These CD covers have distinction, with their own character and downhome feel. The tunes ain’t too shabby either – the CD itself features local and regional samplings of Georgia’s finest tune-slingers, such as: REM, Ray Charles, Manchester Orchestra, Dead Confederate, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Bus People Express, Wyclifee Gordon and the list continues. The list is a long sweet southern stream. The list soothes your ears, cools your head and makes you feel welcome.
And that’s the purpose of these kinds of gift packages, right? Giving the feeling of ‘welcome.’
Thanks for giving Georgia the opportunity to host the Division II Soccer Championship in 2012, NCAA. We look forward to welcoming you to the South. Sit a spell, and have a listen.
Some folks are eager to step out of our city, some people feel like they are stuck in Augusta. We feel differently. We have generations of family here, so we see Augusta as our stomping grounds and it always will be. Our trenches are dug here, so we don’t see moving the Kruhu machine to a bigger city for the “opportunity” that some say may be waiting in the wings.
Opportunity is all around us. We open the doors of opportunity in many other cities right here from Greene Street. If you work hard, dedicate yourself to your craft and treat people with respect – You’ll be surprised what may come your way.
With that being said, when Lady A returned to home, we wanted to tip our hats to their successes with some eye-blazin new artwork for their show and the dedication of the amphitheater. Homegrown to homegrown.
Sometimes, epic metal magic happens. The Sixthman KISS Kruise has a huge, ever-expanding spread of KISS fans – and sometimes, those fans go above and beyond.
Chris, our principal and Design Jedi, produced work for the band KISS’s music cruise, and it’s appearing in places we never could have expected. The one on the left, we believe, is Guile Scarantino from São Paulo, Brazil; which means the one on the right, then, is Darran Crowther from Kingston upon Hull, England.
I’m thinking about the expansiveness that results from everything we put our hands to around this office, the new depths being dug in our skill-sets as we work hard and consistent at something. I’m curious how this expands us as individuals, as a whole company; I’m thinking about how everyone in a company is, never minding what they do in the company, becoming an artisan.
What I mean by artisan is this: the something that someone in a company works hard and consistent at seems, most days, to function more like a craft than a task. As that someone does that something, they get a little better at it. The more often they do that something, the more like a craft — an art, if you will — it seems to become to them. They expand in it; it expands in them also. It pushes them to take on other crafts complementary to the present craft. Those complementary crafts expand them, and in them, as well. And that’s growth. Both for the individual and for the company: that’s growth.
Companies with a drive to grow won’t simply train employees to operate within the status quo of their company role. Were this ever the case, such a company might plateau. Growth requests obsession, the desire to practice a skill not as it is or expected to be, but as it will be and could be — and to expand this into all incoming skills. This is how skill-sets are born. It’s also how skill-sets become crafts. And it’s why every employee in a company, for a better lack of terminology, is an artisan — a constant shaper, and taker-on, of new crafts. An artisan of the expansive, if you will.
We know the importance of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Not some reseller mini-program or a bundled package from a national company. We do an accurate keyword analysis of your situation, backed with a portfolio of local and national successes. We do white hat engine work providing you with real analytics to see for yourself — not trusting some generated in-house report.
Sometimes driving traffic isn’t done best through solely SEO — we can offer easy conversations about the differences of paid SEM (search engine marketing) tactics that can generate heavy “next day” traffic to the long term benefits of SEO organic results.
With us, you know what you’ll get. This is only a mini-service of kruhu, if you don’t need it, we don’t push it on you. Actually, you’ll find that “non-sales” attitude at Kruhu with just about everything.
Web hosting is a mystery isn’t it? You can get it from godaddy at $1.99 a month or from niche hosting company for $300 per month. Which probably confuses you, because when we first got into the web business many years ago – we were also confused. How could there be such price difference for the respective same service?
First of all, I think it’s important that you know what consists of web hosting. Web hosting is taking the files of a website and then placing it on a server that is connected to the internet. People used to try to host from their own computers at home but users were limited to seeing the website based how consistency of either parties internet service provider.
Now companies have popped up all over the world offering this space on their servers that are many times better than trying to host a site out of your house.
We don’t attempt to make bank off of hosting. It really isn’t our business, we use multiple servers offsite to host our webwork and we like it that way. If you would like to host with us we have pricing to discuss. Our pricing structure is completely up to you, you may pay by the work we do and host elsewhere or get on a service plan where we offer changes, mail and technical support.
“This is a place were you feel like you can do anything.” An employee said that to me about 3 weeks a go and its replayed a hundred times in my mind. My conclusion to the thought is that if you are an employer and you’ve heard something to that tune – your company was a success. That phrase is better than a birthday lunch or office Christmas present. It’s a place I’ve only dreamed could exist – even if it came to exist without me even noticing it.
We spend a great deal of time talking about where we’d like our company to go. We how far away we are and what it’ll take to get there. We urge one another through inspiration to do more than you thought you could – to grab a paint brush when you thought you’d grab a keyboard.
I’m believing more and more in the development of people. That happiness ties directly in passion and productivity. I believe that you cannot buy loyalty and that leading is done with torch not a whip. I believe in the investment of our relationships with those around us – and a love for the place that you’ll spend the majority of your life. I absolutely dread thinking of those have to work for the paycheck because there was no other choice. Mankind wasn’t meant to live with clipped wings and dreams bottled on the wall.
When you’re growing up your parents are supposed to teach you that you can be anything – whether or not they mean it was irrelevant. The goal is instilling the personal belief. Where does it go from there? I can hope that it leads people to places like this that can confirm or rekindle that belief.
I can tell you that Kruhu is exactly how we imagined it, there wasn’t a road map to getting here besides basic business ethnics, hard work and the right people. I personally want to thank everyone who has played part, been a part and those who will remain a part of this entity of insanity – Kruhu
