Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Explore the world of business and entrepreneurship in Wichita. Learn from local business owners from a variety of industries as they share their experiences with hosts and Evergy leaders, Don Sherman and Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade, who are also small business owners. You’ll learn how they have built and grown their companies and the challenges and opportunities they encountered along the way. This podcast is brought to you by the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce and is powered by Evergy.
Ep146_BillGardner
===
Bill Gardner: [00:00:00] When
Intro: you hear the horns and drums, you know it's time for the Wichita Chamber Business Accelerator, powered by Evergy. Join us as we explore the world of business, leadership, and entrepreneurship in Wichita. Learn from local business leaders and owners. On how they have built and grown their companies and the challenges and opportunities they met along the way.
Coming to you from the Evergy Room at the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce. Here are your hosts, Don Sherman and Ebony Clemons Egibilande.
Don Sherman: Welcome to another exciting edition of the WCBA, powered by, of course, Evergy. First, thank you for listening. Don't forget to like us, love us, share us. [00:01:00] We truly appreciate it.
We have folks in the house. Gardner Design. That's
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: what's up. We have one of my favorite homies and favorite Rotarians, Bill Gardner in the house. You are too nice. Tell us a little bit about who you are, Bill, and what you
Bill Gardner: do. Yeah, so, well, first of all, I've got a, I've got a shit a lot bag. Because Don's such a genius, and Ebony came to me years ago, um, on a project.
How long ago? That sounds kind of long ago. No, it does sound like that, but I've got to tell you, when, uh, we worked together on Park City, um, You came in, and as soon as she walked in the room, she had the clearest, most evident ideas in the room. And I was going, where has she been? So, it's a blast to be with you guys.
Wow.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Thank you, Bill. That's really nice.
Bill Gardner: When did that happen? Hey, hey, hey. I'm sorry.
Don Sherman: Okay, my bad. I
Bill Gardner: digress. Gardner Design, um, which is a whole blend of different things, but Gardner Design [00:02:00] is primarily a branding, uh, organization and, uh, it goes back to starting out a goofy, uh, startup out of college called, uh, Gardner's Graphic Hands, which by the way was the absolute worst name that you could ever come up with.
For somebody who ultimately comes out there and, uh, and help, helps, helps brand you. But, um, over the years, we've just turned into, um, uh, an organization that does nothing but branding. About two thirds of what we do is rebranding. So it is working with, uh, larger entities typically that over a period of time have found that they no longer resonate with their clients or, um, are trying to find, uh, relevance with clients.
And, and that happens a lot. You know, it's, it's a situation where, um, you know, we, we may start a company out and decide that, you know, this is who our client is, but over a period of time, none of us grew in a linear fashion. We all grew very organically and, uh, our audience shifts around [00:03:00] and you find that, uh, uh, you, you, you get to that point where you've just kind of got to pause and think about what your brand is.
And redirect it towards those people that you're really trying to reach and that's what we do and it doesn't matter if it's Nomenclature from naming. We just finished the Rebranding of Chisholm Trail State Bank to strive this last week was just announced new financial Numis, which is being introduced next week, so it'll be introduced at the Uh, same time, um, as you start looking at branding around town, if you look at Spirit Aerosystems, what we, uh, branded and did all the development for, um, anytime you drive by a Kroger store, a Dillon's or a Quick Shop or nationally, one of their 2, 500 stores, you see our branding that we did for, uh, uh, Kroger for all of their, uh, convenience stores and fuel islands to, to pull together [00:04:00] a whole.
A hodgepodge of different names of different entities so that there was consistency there, but that's what we do. I mean,
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: so pretty much you're just telling us go outside and open your eyes. We'll see Bill Gartner designs
Bill Gardner: everywhere. Honestly, one of my very first jobs in 1983 was I won the opportunity to, uh, rebrand the chamber.
Wow. Oh, wow. So, it was, and that logo has long since gone away, but, um, you know, that, it, it was that. And, and I almost hate to admit to this, but it was that and Spangles, which continues to use the logo after all of these years. That's awesome. There you go.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: That is so awesome. And I know this is just random.
So did you create the, it just tastes better? Is
Bill Gardner: that you? No . . Yeah. You know, um, I just wanted to know . I, I'm, I I was just thinking the other day, it, it was actually freshness made to order, I think was, was their tagline at, at the time that they came to us. And I mean, I literally was so wet behind the ears, [00:05:00] Ebony.
It was, uh, one of those things where, um, uh, I was at interviewing, looking for a position. And, uh, nobody wanted to hire somebody that just was focused on branding and identity and logo design. So I just started freelancing and, uh, pretty soon I, uh, hired, uh, someone to help me out. And I can recall to this day, um, going out, continuing to interview and that person came to me and says, you know, You've kind of got, you've got a job because I'm your employee and you're supporting me and my wife and my child and I'm, and it was this, it was this realization that, hey, a business has started here.
It's no longer just freelancing, but it actually is a business and, um, uh, from, from such acorns, big oak trees grow, I guess.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: And how many years have you been
Bill Gardner: in business? So, that was 1983 that that started, so I'm not even going to try and count the rings on that tree. I hear it. I hear it. No, it's all good.
How
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: many employees do you guys
Bill Gardner: have? So, we've got [00:06:00] 10 of them, um, and, um, actually, our firm is, uh, divided into kind of two parts. There's Gardner Design, and there is also Logo Lounge, which is this, uh, kind of, uh, Fantasy offshoot idea that was really stupid done that I had, um, uh, in 2001 that turned into a good idea.
And occasionally that happens. You have these stupid ideas that really work. Um, and Logo Lounge was based off of, at that point, um, eBay had just started up. And, uh, I was, I was taken by the fact that somebody in England could have a teapot they wanted to sell and they could take a picture of it and put it on the internet and put a couple of descriptive words.
And me here in Wichita, I could type in teapot and this picture of this teapot from England would pop up and I could buy it and, you know, and I started thinking, you know, we designed so much branding and look at so many logos and there are catalogs of logos, just [00:07:00] thousands of them. And you could have an employee looking for, let's say a reference for frogs.
because you ever wanted a frog in a logo and they could spend the better part of days post it noting books looking at different frogs and thought, you know, wouldn't it be cool if you had a site where you had a bunch of logos and you could just type the word frog in or theater or whatever the industry was or, and it would pull those up.
And, uh, this started out, uh, with a partner of mine, Troy Tabor, who, uh, ended up coding the site and putting it together. And, uh, between the two of us, uh, uh, we started Logo Lounge. We went out and I was well connected within the design industry nationally and internationally from starting AIGA, the American Institute of Graphic Arts here, and, um, started talking to friends that I knew were highly respected for their design work.
And I said, you know, Can I talk you into loading your logos up on this thing? Yeah, I had to describe this to them, but they couldn't imagine really what it was because nothing existed like it, uh, at that point. And, [00:08:00] um, gave them lifetime memberships for uploading their work. And I said, and, and could you upload the stuff that they didn't buy too?
Because People always want to kind of pull back that curtain and see what's back there. And, uh, we started doing that and, uh, started out with 2, 000 logos. And it was a, uh, 100 annual membership. People could pay us 100, they could come on. And the, the key to this whole thing was not only could they upload their logos, but if they uploaded logos, they were entered into a competition.
To be held that, uh, we created books from and, um, uh, I will tell you to cut to the chase. There's 350, 000 plus logos on, uh, Logo Lounge contributed by over 20, 000 members, uh, from around the world, um, more, yeah, uh, more than a hundred countries, uh, represented in. We are right now in the call for entry for our 12th.
No, I take that back. 13th book. [00:09:00] Um, we've, uh, it has been a bestseller within the design industry. All these, again, stupid ideas and they work, but, um, it, it just took off and it's been so embraced by, uh, the design community and, uh, ultimately turned into the opportunity to, um, not only fill it with these wonderful logos that are selected by an international panel of exceptional jurors, um, but.
It also has case studies there of really relevant logos that, uh, are in the news right now. So it's one of those things where if I were to mention to you that just in the last year, Rolls Royce, General Motors, Peugeot, Kia, Renault, and Nissan all changed their logos, would you Imagine that. Yeah, because you live in Zimbabwe, right?
Well, I, no, we didn't do them, but it's just, it's why you were asleep last night. Campbell's, Huggies, and Oscar Mayer changed their logos. Wow. You know, um, [00:10:00] uh, Papa Murphy's, Panera, and Burger King the last month. Change their logo. And people don't realize that it's, you know, branding is this continual state of flux and, you know, it's, it, what, what a cool industry to be in to help, uh, people have that nugget that identifies them and people look at and it's that husk, that shell that they know represents that corporation.
Don Sherman: Excellent. And it seems like you've positioned Gardner well from Gardner's Graphic Hands. Yeah. I mean, tell us the story. I mean, I read it. I mean, I've known you for a while, but I didn't know the story. Tell us the story real quick about it. From Gardner's Graphic Hands, how did it evolve to Gardner Design?
Bill Gardner: Sure. So, um, Gardner's Graphic Hands. And by the way, I was really kind of glad that she had that name. Um, I'll, I'll, I'll, Don, I'll tell you something I've never, uh, I don't think shared with anybody. Um, which is where Gardner's Graphic Hands came from. I, uh, I put myself through college [00:11:00] doing magic. And, uh, that, that, that, that was where I raised my funds.
Really? Oh my God. Working, uh, bar magic and birthday parties and bar mitzvahs and just everything. Wow. Um, and conventions and, uh, and it was a great way to put myself. Through school and I, uh, had a mentor, Joe Stevens at Stevens Magic Emporium here in town, still here, , uh, today that, uh, took me under his wing and gave me the opportunity to spend time with David Copperfield and, uh, Siegfried Maro and wow, uh, you know, a world of really exceptional magicians.
But, uh, there was a magic company in Germany called, uh, graphic hens. No, I take that back. Magic hands. And I always liked the sound of magic hands. And I thought, you know, graphic hands. Okay, but it's got to be Gardner's graphic hands. And it was a little bit too damn long. Uh, so we, we shed that. Um, so in, uh, 1989, I believe in 87, we started up AIGA in Wichita, the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
In 89, uh, [00:12:00] uh, Susan McLuckie and Sonia Greteman, a couple of, uh, individuals with a lot of respect for both that, uh, Uh, we're, uh, co founders of the AIGA with me. Uh, we decided to go into business together and started Gardner, Gretimund, McLuckie. And, uh, and that was around for probably about four years.
Susan McLuckie left, so it became Gardner plus Gretimund. Um, a few years later, Sonia and I went our separate ways. Sonia went on with, uh, uh, the Gretimund group, and I went on with, uh, Gardner Design. We, uh, took over the facility out at, uh, the old Dockum building at Hillside and Douglas and, uh, rebuilt the inside of that thing and, uh, turned it into Gartner Design and Logo Lounge.
And, uh, and there we are today. How would you
Don Sherman: define success as an entrepreneur?
Bill Gardner: I've got to tell you, I, uh, am continually kind of battling that question, uh, from, from this perspective. Now I'm. I'm, I'm on the nexus board and I'm, I'm entirely in [00:13:00] favor of, uh, the promotion of the entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurs.
But, you know, when, when I started the business, that word wasn't even around, you know, you're just, you're just starting a business. And I came from a family that, uh, were, uh, their own business owners. Started their own business, uh, going back generations literally. And it, it was just kind of a, a, a way of life.
So when, when I think about entrepreneurs, I guess that's kind of a, uh, in the first place, it's a lot of letters, , uh, but, uh, and it doesn't roll well, but it's, it, it's a way of kind of classifying those individuals that are willing to take that risk, um, uh, willing to put it all out there in order to. Take an idea that they had and see if they can make it fly.
But really, Don, what's the difference between that and anybody that starts a business? What do you, what do you think the difference is? Risk. Risk. And, you know, [00:14:00] um, yeah, that, that, that risk is in there, but I think anybody that starts a business, you know, whether you call them an entrepreneur or not, you know, is, you know, risking something, they're going out there.
Right. Um. You know, one of the beautiful things about, um, uh, owning a business or starting a business is that upside of, um, you know, you can do whatever you want, you can make whatever you want, you can have whatever salary you want, but you've got to make it happen, don't you? You know, and you can also lose it all.
And, um, I've often, uh, told individuals, uh, that have asked me about, you know, uh, starting up a business, you know, gosh, I, uh, I hope your husband's good with the idea that you're not going to be bringing, bringing home a, you know, weekly or a biweekly paycheck, right? You know, because you may not. Um, uh, and there are a lot of, um, uh, partnerships or couples out there that, um, uh, that business never gets off the ground because frankly, it's [00:15:00] just not in the DNA of one of the individuals to, you know, put up with that idea of, you know, that possibility of failure, that possibility of not being a consistent earner.
I've always
Don Sherman: heard entrepreneur is. Somebody who leaves a perfectly good paying job to go work for themselves and make absolutely nothing for a while. So, I mean, that's, yeah.
Bill Gardner: Isn't that true? That's a tough gig. Yeah. It is. And, and, you know, nobody gets there without a little bit of support from, you know, uh, from other individuals that have that belief in it, um, you know, that.
That whole idea of the belief in the business, I, uh, because of the business that we're in, uh, we are continually serving entrepreneurs that come in with new ideas, new businesses and, and, and the likes. And sometimes I got to be honest, I'll, I'll, I'll listen to an idea and I'm just sitting there going, man.
This is just crazy. I, you know, I, I don't, I don't, I don't get it, but I don't tell them that. Um, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm glad to give them good advice, but, um, [00:16:00] I, I always end my meetings by saying, you know what, um, if you see this, And if you can imagine it happening, go ahead and do it. Because I, you know, I, I may not get it.
You know, I'm, I'm not invested in it like you are. And I can remember, uh, going around to various designers when, um, I was, uh, starting up Logo Lounge. And, uh, and they go, Yeah, I'll, I'll upload a couple of logos. This is a stupid idea. But I'll do it anyway. Yeah, but, uh, yeah. But, but, gosh, you've always got to tell people to, you know, if they've, if they've got that idea, if they've got that bone that they just can't shake.
I agree. I agree.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Bill, I'm wondering, why Wichita? Why did you decide to build your business here? In the river city, the air capital
Bill Gardner: of the world. Ebony, so I'm, you know, third generation Wichita. I [00:17:00] generally avoid telling people that, uh, my dad was mayor of the city, uh, the year I was born. Um, so there, there, there was some connectivity in there.
But I will also tell you that, um, our family being an entrepreneurial family, um, and him being a builder that, uh, we weren't a well to do family. You know, it was, you know, you were, you were living from point to point. And, um, you know, Wichita has always, Wichita has this unique aspect of scale. It is. And, and I, and I get this question from a lot of, uh, uh, clients or designers that are in much more metropolitan areas that are much larger than this, and I go, you know what, um, in Wichita, I can find somebody that can fabricate anything that I need to have fabricated.
that can print whatever I need to have printed, that can design or program whatever I need to have programmed, and I'm probably going to be on a first if not a second name basis with [00:18:00] just about all those people if I want to be. And think about the connectivity that you can build in this community. Um, you know, I mean, you just have people say, you know, Wichita's got grapevines that you can swing from and it's true, you know, I mean, uh, everybody can build connectivity in here and it all ultimately kind of comes down to, uh, the, the, the people that you know, the relationships that you build.
Uh, that kind of come back to help build your business and, uh, you talk about much larger communities and I look at people that are much more skilled than I am that, um, are in very large communities that have never reached a critical mass or never reached a level of essence that, uh, they feel is an accomplishment.
And I, I think that's partly because, you know, the environment that you live in, um, dictates, uh, the scale to which you can grow. Some people, you know, throw that into the big, big fish in a small pond or the small fish in the big pond, but, um. You know, [00:19:00] what, what is there left for me to do that, uh, Gardner Design or Logo Lounge have not done on an international, uh, basis that, uh, could be done from anywhere.
I mean, uh, it's all been done here from Wichita and, uh, and comfortably so. SHARA
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: So, Bill, could you talk a little bit about that just for people who don't understand that you not only, uh, design and do branding for people locally? But
Bill Gardner: internationally, right? And I will tell you that's become much more customary to work on an international basis.
And yes, Ebony, I appreciate the pitch there. Yeah, we do. Uh, work for clients, um, literally on just about every continent, uh, at one point, uh, or another. I mean, um, we, we've just finished a project for Google, um, we've, uh, which I'm not allowed to talk about, uh, [00:20:00] for Facebook, for the NFL, for, you know, I mean, for clients that we can't show the work, uh, that, that, uh, we work for.
And, um, uh, I, I will tell you one of the things that I haven't mentioned that kind of caused much of this to happen was, uh, after we had started Logo Lounge and we started producing these, uh, books, I was approached by a gentleman named Gordon Kay, who's the publisher of a publication called Graphic Design USA.
It's a publication for the design industry, for the printing industry, uh, the marketing industry. And he said, would you write an article about logos? And I thought, you know, okay, I can, I can, I can do this. So, um, at the time we had had, uh, literally thousands of logos coming in for these books and I was starting to see some trends amongst them.
And I said, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to write an article on logo trends. What, what we're seeing and how, how they're progressing. So I ended up selecting 15 different trends [00:21:00] for that article and wrote some pretty snarky comments about them, but also some insightful comments about why, uh, those logos happened the way that they did and what their background was.
And it turned into one of the most read features of, uh, the publication. It came back the next year and the next year. And now we, this year just finished our 19th edition of it, and it's typically picked up by Forbes, by Fortune, by, uh, Fast Money, um, uh, quoting it, copying out of it, uh, to indicate what the, uh, trends are, uh, within this.
It literally is. Uh, taking me, uh, around the world, speaking to organizations, to, um, conferences about, uh, what, uh, is shifting and, uh, uh, the world of identity design and, you know, where it's going to. And because it's trends, we're really talking about the evolution. of, uh, design [00:22:00] and the trajectory that it's on where it's, where it's going to.
And you've always got to know where it came from in order to figure out that trajectory, you know, say, you've got multiple points you can track. But, um, just, just that, um, Turned into us being approached by, uh, what was then link, uh, lynda. com, which is now LinkedIn Learning. Um, so I'm an author for LinkedIn Learning.
And if you, um, are a member of that or, uh, use those, uh, video courses, which are really exceptional, uh, tools. Uh, for, uh, every growing business or student, um, I've done about 10 different courses for them on, um, identity design and brand, uh, trajectory and trending and, uh, the process and written the textbook on, uh, uh, identity design for schools.
That is fascinating. I mean, it just kind of, it snowballed, I mean, it just
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: kind of kept growing. Now, I do have to ask [00:23:00] this, uh, is it really exceptional because you teach and write for it? Is that the reason why it's exceptional? Just kidding. You don't have to answer.
Bill Gardner: That's why it is. Yeah. Because I'm there.
It's
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: exceptional. Oh, gosh. Ladies and gentlemen, we're here with Bill Gardner of Gardner Designs, and we appreciate you listening. We're going to take a short break to hear a word or two from our sponsors, and then we'll be back to continue his story.
Welcome back, friends. We're here with another edition of the Wichita Chamber Business Accelerator, and we have my friend Bill Gardner.
I guess he's Don's friend, too.
Bill Gardner: Oh, well, can't you both? I know it. Thank you, Bill, because she
Don Sherman: sure will not.
Bill Gardner: I'm just saying. She gloms onto people.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Bill,
let me ask this. I'm just going to create their, [00:24:00] their new logo or
Bill Gardner: brand? Yeah, the way that you just phrased that, I, I think it, it really, uh, is telling and I'm gonna, I'm, I'm gonna kind of go back here for just a second because we've, uh, used the word logo a great deal throughout this conversation, but when we're talking about branding, Um, you know, that, that logo is that little nugget, that little, uh, capstone on top of that brand.
It's, it, when, when we talk about branding that we do, and especially for entrepreneurs and, uh, people starting up a business, um, you know, that brand is so much more. It's all the touch points. It is, uh, the individuals that work for that company. It is the, the tone of voice that you read when you're reading through their website.
We develop websites and, um, uh, the, uh, social interfaces for companies as well. So that it is consistent with all the visual material. And that could be, um, not just the logo, but all the visual vocabulary. So the, uh, the typography and the colors and the [00:25:00] textures and the patterns and the materials that they use in the.
Type of photography and the type of illustration, all these things come together so that you've got that, what's often referred to as kind of brand DNA that you can draw upon so that your fleet graphics and your signage and all the components that visually represent you as well as orally represent you have that level of consistency.
So when we start talking to new companies, we, we first have to explain that what we really do is that we create clarity. We, we create, we do that and we create consistency and it, uh, is one of those things where as consumers, we make huge assumptions. To kind of throw this out there, I have no idea what recent purchase Don has made, but I'm willing to bet that Don has relied on some assumptions here and there.
And we all do this, and assumptions isn't a bad word, [00:26:00] but we have to be able to kind of craft those assumptions that people make. Um, you know, uh, uh, if you buy a car, you, you may well have scrutinized that brochure that lists out all of the, um, cubic centimeters of power and torque and yada, yada, yada, or you may have just opened it up and seen that that was a good looking car going down the highway, you know, and I could see myself in it and, and, and we make a lot of assumptions about how well that car is going to run or, you know, what kind of warranty it's going to come with.
We don't know. Sometimes. And, um, so, uh, when, when you start talking about branding, you're talking about having to craft those assumptions that people make. About that institution. So, um, when, when, when they look at your business card and it relates to, uh, the truck that you drove up because you're giving a painting estimate on their house, you know, and, and, and, and the neatness of what you appear like and that, uh, that quote that you give them and the little website you go to, if all those things kind of [00:27:00] hang together, or do they kind of look like they were run off over at the FedEx duplicating store and, uh, that maybe the truck kind of looks like The website, but it also kind of looks like something that maybe, um, uh, her husband put together that, you know, was kind of on a side gig or something, you know, all of these are going to allow us to make assumptions about, you know, the kind of job that we're going to get from either of those individuals.
And because we see that level of consistency in that detail. That is coming across, no matter how small or large that entity is, we make assumptions that if we're going to hire them to, uh, paint our house, that she's going to have the job done when she says she will. That she's not going to ask for an advance to go buy the paint.
Yeah. That she's going to answer her phone when you call her, you know, all of these are things that we didn't ask, but we assume based off of that level of consistency in the criteria that they've used in order to represent themselves. And, and scale [00:28:00] that up to your very largest business. So when someone comes to us and talks to us about opening up a business or starting a business, you know, cash is always king.
It's, you know, you, you, you've only got so much of it when you're going into a business. And oftentimes the marketing, if, if even that's what the branding is called, is at the very bottom of the list of things that, you know, you have to. be considered. The person's concerned about, you know, uh, I've, I've got to get a lease and I've got to, you know, get equipment for the building and I've got to, uh, get licenses and I've got to get insurance and I've got to hire employees and all of this is paramount to that individual.
But oftentimes that thought, oh, what? Is going to be the delivery device that is going to build those assumptions that is going to help the public know about that entity, that business, whatever it is, are totally forgotten about. And that really is the most critical step in there is, you [00:29:00] know, uh, oftentimes, uh, new business startups are so focused on what that product is that they never think about the delivery.
You know, how do you, how do you get that into the hands and, you know, and, and how does that person make that selection of you over somebody else? And, and it's also the sign of many a failure is that they may have a fabulous product, you know, it may be a great idea, but because you don't get yourself into that pool of considerations.
You're never considered and it, you know, doesn't speak poorly of your product, doesn't speak poorly of your service. It just speaks poorly of your ability to brand yourself and get in front of people. You packed a
Don Sherman: lot, a lot in there that's going to have to be unpacked. I'm probably going to have to listen to that twice because that was a lot of, a lot of information, but you're the world renowned Bill Gardner, so I mean, that was free to folks.
I mean, that normally would charge, [00:30:00]
Bill Gardner: you'd be able to charge for that.
Don Sherman: So, uh. You've been around for a minute back with Happy Hands. What was it? Gardner's?
Bill Gardner: Gardner's Graphic Hands. We're gonna run that one into the ground. People are
Don Sherman: gonna know that now. Yeah, because I didn't know that. I mean, that's just, that's funny to me.
But, um, from where you were to whence you came and, um, now what's next though? Hmm. You've done it all or have you not? No, no,
Bill Gardner: no, no, I haven't. Did I misspeak? No. You know, um, I, I love the industry that I am in. And, uh, when, when I say that, I'm not saying I like designing logos or I like, uh, publishing books or I like teaching course.
I mean, I, I, I love the entire of the industry. I love marketing. I love branding. And there, there is so much depth to it. And um, uh, it's one of those deals where everybody, uh, uh, tends to at one point or another in their life, say, am I in the right place? Am I doing the right thing? Is this, you [00:31:00] know, do I, do I have a passion for this?
Do I love what I'm doing? And there are a lot of people out there that still 20, 30 years after they've started, you know, into their, uh, professional life are still looking. And I, I think a lot of it's attitude. I think that a lot of it has to do with embracing, uh, what, you know, uh, is in front of you. And making the very best out of it.
Um, uh, I, I can imagine any number of people that, uh, uh, are in a profession that, you know, uh, ultimately retire and they look back on their time in that profession and kind of go, Man, I really didn't, uh, I think I kind of ended doing the same thing I started. And what a sad thing, what a sad possibility, you know, for human potential that, uh, that we do that.
Um, as far as, uh, next things, you know, one, one of, uh, my fascinations is really where branding is going to. Because as you start to [00:32:00] think about branding, um, and I, and I'm going to pop back to logos for just a second here. Um, let me open your eyes. Um, uh, because we, we grew up. In a CMYK world, cyan, yellow, magenta, and black.
If we went to get printer cartridges for our printer, if we went to the printer, those are the four colors they laid down on the press. And in order for CMYK to work, light has to come down and hit a page and bounce back to your eyes. We live in an RGB world now. Red, green, and blue. Those are the colors of those little dots on your screen that are literally projecting light at you with that information so that we can see a screen in the dark.
We don't have to turn a light on. Think about how that has shifted the way generations that have grown up in front of a screen see color. Think about the way that it's shifted, the way that they see visuals, when newspapers were the main way of getting to people, or the yellow pages, one of those, uh, you know, it, it was a period of [00:33:00] time when you would design a logo and it had to be in black and white and it had to be simple and not have any gradation to it or any kind of, you know, a challenging element that couldn't be easily reproduced or rescaled or resized.
Well, You know, okay, we live in an RGB environment, so now it doesn't matter if something has a gradation to it, or if the Instagram logo has this brilliant gradation of, you know, the blushing blonde down through this violet, you know, it, it's something that we recognize that as Instagram's color. We don't even have to see the logo when, you know, we, and we know that that's its brand, but let's push beyond that.
Think about augmented reality or think about virtual reality. If you, if you've ever put on a pair of Oculus. And, you know, and stepped into an augmented reality, you know that even though you're just standing in this same space right here, you're existing inside of this three dimensional, this four dimensional world, if there's a logo inside of there, Don, if I walked up to that logo, is it just this flat logo hanging there on the [00:34:00] wall or is it something that I can walk Behind.
Is it something that I can touch? What's the backside of it look like? If I touch you, is it going to touch me back? Is it gonna squeak? Is it gonna balance? Is it gonna make a noise? If it was a person, what kind of voice would it have? Wow. Think about all of these things that are really just a way for you to help represent.
A company, and maybe it's not even a thing anymore. Maybe it's no longer a logo. Maybe it's just a Sonic logo and many, you know, many, many companies have famous Sonic logos. You know, uh, uh, take a look at Intel inside, you know, every time you hear that ding a ding, you know, it's an Intel commercial. I didn't have to be there to see the commercial.
I know it's Intel. Right. That's the brand. Can we start to look at, uh, the olfactory system? Is it going to be just purely by smell? Well, there are corporations and companies, Singapore Airlines has a particular fragrance that they developed specifically for their brand, uh, that's called Floridian Waters, that if you go into one of their airlines, you're going to smell that [00:35:00] smell and it, you know, it helps you associate.
with that time inside of that wonderful flight that you had on Singapore Airline. So you start to push that and, you know, do we have ways to channel brands to consumers that go far beyond the idea of just looking at the Coca Cola logo or a medallion hanging on the front end of a car to tell what it is?
You know, how else do we convey that brand to people? So when you ask me, you know, what's next? So much of what I do is geared towards talking to people and helping people to understand. What branding is? And what it can be. And, you know, as long as you kind of keep moving that evolutionary cycle forward, you continue to engage people in a way that they've never been engaged before.
And that pays off in an extra brilliant way because people, because they, they respond better to things that they haven't seen a million times. And you want that brand to be something that is new and [00:36:00] fresh to them. I'm going to do some word association,
Don Sherman: Bill. One word. Uh, you give me one word back, it's not wrong cause it's your word.
Are you ready?
Bill Gardner: Oh, maybe. Okay. Leader. Uh, Don. Failure. Uh, Henron. Uh. That's
Don Sherman: a, that's a good, yeah. That was, yeah, super, uh, vacation.
Bill Gardner: Um, because I'm dealing with this right now, it's actually Tuscany, but, uh, there you go. Okay. Wichita. Oh, hometown. Fun. Um, family. Chamber. Guidance. College. Shockers.
Don Sherman: Okay. Last but
Bill Gardner: not least, beverage.
Gosh, Americano. Americano. Excellent, E. That was a pretty uninspirational bucket list there. Sorry about that. [00:37:00]
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: No, it was good. The only thing, you know, that I'm shocked about, even though you, you, as, you know, college, you said the Shockers, which I love the Shockers. But did you not go to K State?
Bill Gardner: I did. I, uh, so.
There's a reason he didn't mention it. I mean, I'm just saying. So, I, I actually have two degrees. I, I, but they are both from Wichita State. I, I have a degree in business from Wichita State, and at the time I was going to go into the family business, didn't want to do that, was an artist at heart, so I went up to Kansas State and spent three semesters up there pursuing graphic design and doing magic.
Gave me a chance to meet my wife, figure out they didn't have much on the time. See, that's what you need to answer with, okay? See, Upside came back to Wichita State and then he stepped the degree in Fine Arts. It wasn't education. It was not the education.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Well, alright friends, we're at the end of today's segment.
And we had the wonderful, world renowned Bill Gardner with us today. Thank you for listening. Make certain that you like us. Leave comments for [00:38:00] us, let us know what you like, and who you may want to hear from in the next episode. Till next time.
Intro: Peace. The Wichita Chamber Business Accelerator is brought to you by the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce, and is powered by Evergy.
Visit wichitachamber. org for a list of the area leaders we've interviewed for this series. This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network. For more information, visit ICTpod. net.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: I would say, Bill, I would venture to say that, um, Western Kansas has had that, uh, branding mottled down for, since the beginning of time, because, you know, when you drive to Western Kansas, you
Bill Gardner: smell. You smell Western Kansas, don't you? You smell the money. Let's
Don Sherman: pivot on that.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: The Wichita Regional
Bill Gardner: Chamber of Commerce's Small business initiatives are made possible by our small business program [00:39:00] investors.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas Cox Business A G h. CPAs and Advisors, UnitedHealthcare and Entrust Bank. Thank you for your support of small businesses. If you are interested in learning more about small business investment, contact Angie Elliott at a E L L I O t t@wichitachamber.org.