CreativWorks
Featured in Entrepreneurs Column
A small St. Louis company with big ambitions called CreativWorks
was highlighted in a recent syndicated column about entrepreneurs
authored by Sam Fromartz. The article appeared on Excite.com
news as well as some publications that use Reuter’s News Service.
Keith Alper, co-founder of the 3-year-old CreativWorks explained
to Fromartz that he hopes to do for advertising and marketing
what Kinko’s did for printing and copying in the small business
market. Like many of the best start-up businesses, the concept
is simple: Take an already established service, find the professionals
who know the field, and enter an untapped market.
CreativWorks’ target market is small business account projects
that can start at less than $1,000. The company offers everything
from logo designs to business cards, radio ads to brand management.
These are custom services big companies get all the time from
ad agencies but which have not been available on a large scale
to smaller accounts.
Rather than go for the big accounts, CreativWorks is trying
to capture most of the small businesses. The idea is to use
a single national brand to do so and place the storefronts in
locations where small businesses are prevalent.
According to the column, Alper started selling franchises in
CreativWorks in order to attract these talented professionals
who leave large companies to start their own businesses. The
first franchise was in Indianapolis. The second is due to open
in San Ramon, in the Bay Area of California.
Alper explained to Fromartz he first got the idea from another
St. Louis business he owns, Creative Producers Group, which
offers marketing and communications services to Fortune 500
companies.
He was getting referrals to handle small business accounts—an
existing client, perhaps would ask Alper to help out his brother—and
he would agree to do it as a favor. Finally, he realized all
these requests really represented a market.
He now aims to open hundreds of company-owned and franchised
agencies in the next few years, and is pursuing venture capital
backing.
Eight St. Louis Companies Listed in InformationWeek Rankings
The 12th annual InformationWeek 500 list, a ranking of the
nation’s top information technology users, included several
St. Louis companies. The publication, which touts the rankings
as the nation’s annual IT report card, determines its list by
a survey of technology usage, business processes and e-business
practices.
Ranking closest to the top among St. Louis companies was Maritz
Inc. at No. 28. Other area companies on the list in the Sept.
11 edition of InformationWeek were: Sigma-Aldrich, No. 204;
Enterprise Rent-A-Car, No. 221; Ralston Purina, No. 230; Emerson
Electric, No. 247; Sisters of Mercy Health System–St. Louis,
No. 286; Anheuser-Busch, No 295; and Earthgrains, No. 333.
Also ranked was Adecco, a global staffing services firm headquartered
in Switzerland with offices in St. Louis.
Companies honored on the list must have at least $1 billion
in annual revenues and demonstrate a pattern of technological,
procedural and organizational innovation.
Four Area Businesses Make Inc. List
Inc. Magazine’s list of the 500 fastest-growing companies in
the country included four St. Louis businesses—Rose International,
No. 21; Maryville Technologies, No. 169; Security Leasing Partners,
No. 264; and G.A. Sullivan, No. 400. The rankings, based on
the companies’ five-year growth rates, appeared in the October
17, 2000, issue of Inc.
