Company wants to be 'Kinko's of advertising'

The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- When Edmundo Macias needed advertising for his start-up company, he didn't turn to a big Madison Avenue ad agency, or even one in downtown St. Louis.

Macias simply drove down to a strip mall and walked in to Creativworks, a St. Louis-based firm that hopes to become the Kinko's of the advertising world -- a bow to the chain of walk-up business services stores.

Macias, 40, recently left beer giant Anheuser-Busch to launch Planet Sugar, a company that sells flavored sugar for alcoholic drinks.

"Working for Anheuser-Busch, I was used to big marketing budgets," Macias said. "They (ad agencies) really don't have time for a company as small as mine."

Creativworks, on the other hand, caters to small- and mid-sized companies. Creativworks chairman and chief executive Keith Alper said he realized the potential for the small- to mid-sized market after years of working at Creative Producers Group, an ad agency he co-founded that caters to Fortune 100 customers. So he did some research.

"What we found was that people thought of marketing and advertising as either very mysterious or very arrogant," he said.

Alper knew he had to change that image, so he designed Creativworks after the Kinko's business model. Appointments are optional. Customers are told up front what the service will cost. They can pay with a credit card.

"I think we're the only ad agency in the country with a cash register," Alper said.

More than 24 million small businesses account for about 51 percent of the nation's gross national product, according to the Small Business Administration.

Kathy Kobliski, author of "Advertising Without an Agency," said most small business owners don't even put an advertising budget in their business plan. They often focus entirely on such specifics as store location, store hours and hiring employees.

"It's like cleaning your house, cooking food, getting all dressed up and not inviting anybody," she said. "Advertising is really your invitation that you're sending out."

Advertising agencies earn their reputation through recognition of their advertising campaigns, Kobliski said, and catering to small businesses earns them little recognition.

Bill Finnie, an adjunct professor of marketing at Washington University in St. Louis, said it's ironic that ad agencies are the ones that help companies make a name for themselves.

"Advertising agencies do a lousy job of positioning themselves," he said. "They have no focused target customers."

Finnie, 56, prefers to call Creativworks a "marketing communications" company. Small companies are uncomfortable with advertising because it's expensive, and they are afraid they will not see a return on their investments, he said.

© 2001, The Southeast Missourian. This story was posted on the site Sunday, January 14, 2001.