Designing Women Help Businesses Help Themselves
by Danielle Murphy-Cannella
Sometimes we all need a little creative juice to get things going. Nobody knows this better than Gaby Tillero and Christy Hackenberg of Creative Zumo, a local branding and communication design firm dedicated to helping their client base realize business goals by developing images tailored to specific business needs.
Now more than ever local businesses need innovation and confidence to survive the post-Katrina market. Tools such as business cards, web designs, or brochures may serve as a life-support system for businesses struggling in their industry ventures.
Since January of 2005 Creative Zumo has been serving the Greater New Orleans area, providing a wide range of services in the realm of graphic design. “We provide something like therapy for our clients, asking questions about present and future business goals,” says Tillero. “It’s like business counseling.”
Many clients are start-ups trying to establish a commercial base post-Katrina; for some, the storm served as an opportunity to follow a dream.
The Creative Zumo team counsels by synthesizing the ambitions of their clients into a design that best represents them. Tillero and Hackenberg seek to develop a relationship with the businesses they work with to extract vital information such as the nature of the business they are helping, the audience of the business, and competitor information.
Tillero and Hackenberg can identify with the new sense of mission they find in many of the businesses they represent; they see their work as a part of the solution to New Orleans’ economic woes – now more than ever after the storm.
“There is a greater sense of urgency after Katrina, and we help people do what they want to do and we get to be a part of their success,” says Tillero.
Creative Zumo was forced to adapt to many changes after the storm. They invested in an off-site data system for added security to save their digital files, as part of their new hurricane evacuation plan and their overall back-up system.
Change has also been a good thing for the Creative Zumo team. Their client base has nearly tripled since the storm with most new clients coming from referrals and word-of-mouth.
“Our pre-storm goal was to take any project. Now we don’t deal with one-time clients,” states Hackenberg. “We have the luxury of being more selective by choosing clients with whom we will be able to develop a relationship.”
Long-term clients are more willing to change their marketing strategies and trust the creative direction Creative Zumo recommends to them. Likewise, such clients are more likely to seek their expertise to identify their basic advertising/communication needs.
“Clients sometimes don’t fully understand what they need,” maintains Tillero, “but they think they know what they want.”
The women of Creative Zumo are continually inspired by the progress of New Orleans and work with many local organizations such as Stay Local!, the Jewish Community Center, and the Louisiana Hispanic Chamber of Commerce among others to help ensure the success of local businesses.
“There is an energy and passion driving the commercial base and helping the clientele foster a positive attitude,” says Tillero.
And the Creative Zumo women are doing their bit to fuel the momentum.
Creative Zumo is located at 5030 S. Liberty Street, NOLA, 70115. Hours by appointment only. Tel. 504-304-9887
