Your Names and Titles:
Melanie Fricke – VP Product Strategy
Shea Gordon – Marketing Manager
Sara Smith – Copywriter

Where are you located?
Headquartered in Austin, TX

Why Austin?
Beautiful – love the hills, outdoors, and the people

How many people does your company employ?
We have 15 home office staff in Austin and then 125 locations across the US

What does your company do?
We provide IT solutions to small businesses using the franchise model. Our franchise locations become the outsource IT department for small businesses (5 to 99 employees) in their local community. We are the best IT solution provider serving the small business market.

Who are your clients/customers?
Small businesses (5 to 99 employees)

Why did you choose Creative Suitcase?
We were looking for an agency that could bring fresh ideas to the rather boring concept of IT.

What results have you experienced with us?
We have launched a national Tech Makeover contest which engaged more than half of our franchisee system to start marketing again. Over 20,000 contacts received our direct mail campaign. We received 163 stories into the contest. We were featured in over 72 media outlets and have now been fortunate enough to make a radical difference for a non-profit that provides assistance to special needs children. The franchisees united in this national effort and CMIT was able to give back in a big way – awarding The Monarch School of NE with a $75,000 Technology Makeover.

What has been your greatest success?
Getting over 50 franchisees to participate in our Tech Makeover was a huge win for us. We are seeing our franchisees come on board with the new marketing efforts we are generating. Another big win was telling the Monarch School that they won – they jumped up and down and even cried.

Top 5 items in your suitcase (your favorites)
Travel destination: Australia
Take home souvenir: Wine
Web site: www.techcrunch.com
Austin original: Waterloo

Your Name and Title:
Amanda Brown, Owner

Where are you located?
6607 N. Lamar Blvd. Austin, TX 78752

Why Austin?
It’s where I live and the city as a whole really supports small business. People here also love re-purposing vintage and antique items which goes hand in hand with our business.

How many people does your company employ?
We have four people all together:
Me – I do everything including design consultations and full time production
Lizzie – Co-founder and member of the production team
Keegan – Original Apprentice and member of the production team
Meredith – Retail Manager and Production Coordinator – she works up front providing customer service, consultations and managing retail.

What does your company do?
Spruce was created to bring an updated approach to upholstery. We combine our backgrounds in art and our love of vintage decor to bring our clients the perfect updated furniture piece for their home or commercial space. In addition to custom upholstery, we produce a line of redesigned vintage and antique furniture, sell a tailored selection of hard-to-find fabrics, housewares and gifts, teach weekend upholstery workshops and make custom lampshades (NEW!).

Who are your clients/customers?
Most of our upholstery clients are in the Central Texas area; however, we create custom furniture and sell retail pieces to clients all over the US. All of our clients have an individual style and use our services and furniture to customize their spaces.

What has been your greatest success?
Our greatest success has been the speed at which our name has circled the blogosphere. This has led to a national customer base and propelled our local business and reputation.

Where do you find inspiration?
We find inspiration in the furniture designers of the past and textile designers of the present. The fusion of these two groups within each piece of furniture is what makes our designs unique and fresh.

Where do you want to be in five years?
We have big dreams…increased readership in our blog, locations outside of Texas, a line of instructional videos for those who want to take a stab at upholstery, and even a television series about our business (if we are so fortunate!).

Why did you choose Creative Suitcase?
The design team at Creative Suitcase connects to its clients and creates a product that is personal and customized. There’s a fine line between a look that is kitschy and amateurish and a website that is well-designed yet manages to connect with the company and the people within it. Our new website will give out-of-town customers a virtual experience very similar to what Austinites experience when walking into our studio and talking to us in person.

What results have you experienced with us?
The design is not superficial. It addresses the core needs of our company and helps us meet our goals through a well-designed website. Creative Suitcase also takes our suggestions and edits and implements them in a way that does not sacrifice the integrity of the overall design.

Top 5 items in your suitcase (your favorites):
Travel destination: Roma
Take home souvenir: Ivory ring from Sicily
Website: As of late, www.lonnymag.com – It’s my Domino supplement!
Logo/campaign/tagline: Walker Tire Company a few blocks away from us says, “If it’s in stock, we’ve got it!”
Austin original: Sweet Leaf Tea, YUM!

Your Name(s) and Title(s):

Ann Gass, Director of Contracts

How many people does your company employ?

80

What does your company do?

We are Contract Administrators for the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). We ensure the property owners compliance with contracts to provide affordable housing throughout Texas and Arkansas.

Who are your clients/customers?

HUD as well as the owners, operators and resident of the properties we oversee.

What has been your greatest success?

Being recognized by HUD as one of the top-performing Contract Administrators.

Where do you find inspiration?

In my two boys and being outdoors

Why did you choose Creative Suitcase?

We were impressed by their vision, experience and superior customer service.

How did you hear about us?

Internet search

What results have you experienced with us?

CS updated our logo and website and created outstanding marketing materials. As we expand into consulting work, this new look helps us look more polished, professional and ready to help the customer.

Top 5 items in your suitcase (your favorites)

Travel destination: First Home Monterey County, CA

Take home souvenir: Fresh artichokes from Castroville The Artichoke Capital of the World

Website: Ours! www.shccnet.org

Logo/campaign/tagline: The old Oscar Mayer song

Austin original: KUT 90.5. Cant live without my public radio!

Your Name(s) and Title(s):
Phillip Cohen President and Owner

Where are you located?
Austin, TX 600 West 28th Street, Suite #102 Austin, TX 78705

Why Austin?
I came to UT in 1983 and I never left! It might sound like a cliché, but Austin has everything from the lakes, the hills and trees to live music, great nightlife, theater, and tons of restaurants. I feel Austin has a unique and special type of persona – it’s a vibrant, young, hip city that is very health and environmentally conscious not like larger cities. And its a great city to raise your children in!

How many people does your company employ?
3 full-time, 2 part-time, over 50 Campus Reps at universities across the country.

What does your company do?
We are a Ski Tour Operator specializing in College Ski Weeks, Alumni Ski Weekends, Corporate Ski Getaways and Family Vacations.

Who are your clients/customers?
The majority of our customers are college students ranging in age from 18-25 years of age. We have also begun offering our ski packages to families and corporations.

What has been your greatest success?
We began a College Ski Week trip to Breckenridge, Colorado, the first week of January 1989 for University of Texas Students. In our first year we took 75 students to the slopes. And now, 20 years later the College Ski Week has grown to close to 3,000 skiers and boarders from across the U.S. and the world (Germany, England, Japan, etc.).

Where do you find inspiration?
I love what I do. It does get a little crazy sometimes, but I love being my own boss and offering our customers a great product at a great price. My wife and my boys are always willing to help out and give me encouragement. My parents have also been big influences in my life, showing and teaching me that hard work and treating people fairly will pay off in the end!

Where do you want to be in five years?
I hope to be doing the same thing and teaching my sons the business. They already have the snowboarding part down!

Why did you choose Creative Suitcase?
After receiving a few different travel themed mailings from Creative Suitcase, I decided to give them a call. Rachel came to my office and met with my office manager and myself. I was really impressed with how she handled herself very professional, personable and knowledgeable. She was also a GREAT listener. She listened to me explain my business, my customers and my needs for about an hour. I felt very comfortable talking to her and she seemed like someone I could trust with our entire marketing campaign.

How did you hear about us?
I received a direct mail postcard a couple of years ago from Creative Suitcase. At the time we were not happy with the direction of our website and advertising and were in the market for a new advertising and web design company. When I read the Creative Suitcase postcard, I loved the travel theme and felt they could be a good fit with our marketing needs.

What results have you experienced with us?
Our main issue was that all of our marketing had a different look. We needed to consolidate our image with a more modernized logo, design and theme. Creative Suitcase designed an entirely new website with an updated reservation system, a series of marketing posters, direct-mail postcards and an updated logo that met all of our challenges.

Top 5 items in your suitcase (your favorites)
Travel destination: I love the mountains, but Im a Beach-Bum at heart. Belize, Rosemary Beach, FL & Acapulco (just to name a few). And Vegas, too!
Take home souvenir: A stupid t-shirt and some great memories
Web site: ubski.com, snow.com, hulu.com, cnn.com, espn.com, itunes
Logo/campaign/tagline: the Hut or maybe the Shack (JUST KIDDING) E*trade babies, What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas commercials, I Want My MTV and Avis We try harder taglines.
Austin original: Guerros, Fonda San Miguels, Alamo Drafthouse, Lake Austin

Your Name(s) and Title(s):
Heather McKinney President
Al York Vice President
Michelle Rossomando Vice President
Will Wood Associate
Brian Carlson Associate

Where are you located?
Just East of downtown, on 7th street.

Why Austin?
Heather was moving back to her home state of Texas after going to school and working in the Northeast, and was asked to design a house for two high school friends in Austin.

How many people does your company employ?
13

What does your company do?
We are a general practice architecture firm, doing everything from university campus work to single family residences.

Who are your clients/customers?
We have been around for 25 years, so there have been a lot. A short list of recent clients we have had the pleasure of working with include The University of Texas at Austin, Texas Tech University, McGarrah Jessee, Capital Metro, Lake Travis United Methodist Church, and many private residential clients.

What has been your greatest success?
Heather McKinney, the founding principal and president of the firm, was recently named a “Fellow” of the American Institute of Architects, which is a great honor in the profession. We also completed our largest project to date this year, a new chilling station in the heart of The University of Texas at Austin campus.

Where do you find inspiration?
Our goal on every project is to allow the specific conditions of the site, the desires of the owner, and the local context to shape the design. As a result, we don’t have a signature style. A few things that weigh heavily in almost everything we do is the climate, historical context, and local materials and skills.

Where do you want to be in five years?
We would like to be recognized among the top tier of architectural firms in the state, maintaining and improving the design quality and sustainability of the work we produce.

Why did you choose Creative Suitcase?
We interviewed about 6 companies for the project and were impressed with Rachel and Creative Suitcase from the start. Creative Suitcase had a good portfolio of work, which showed us they were smart designers. In addition to that, Rachel really listened to us in the interview and immediately proposed several interesting solutions for some of our biggest concerns.

How did you hear about us?
Internet research

What results have you experienced with us?
Our two biggest goals were to have an extremely well organized site and to present our projects in a great format. Both of these things were a success.

Top 5 items in your suitcase (your favorites): Answered by Will
Travel destination: Taipei
Take home souvenir: I like to travel lightly and I’m an amateur photographer so I don’t have many souvenirs. There are a few dusk shots of the Grand Canal in Venice that I’m proud of.
Website: Freakonomics
Logo/campaign/tagline: Whataburger’s “Flying W” logo
Austin original: Lambert’s

Your Name and Title:
Teresa Sansone Ferguson, Marketing Director, Slack & Davis, L.L.P.

Where are you located?
I’m in Austin, TX. The firm is headquartered in Austin, with a second office in Dallas.

How many people does your company employ?
23

What does your company do?
With offices in Austin and Dallas and a practice that covers all of Texas, Slack & Davis personal injury lawyers represent victims of air crashes; catastrophic auto, commercial trucking and tractor-trailer collisions; general negligence involving wrongful death or serious injury; harmful prescription or over-the-counter drugs; defective products such as seat belts, tires or child safety seats and construction site accidents.

Who are your clients/customers?
People from all walks of life.

What has been your greatest success?
Working in radio as well as in Austin business/political circles to promote local music and musicians. Was I successful? Not entirely. Its an ongoing process, for sure. But it was and is a passion.

Where do you find inspiration?
In art and in nature.

Where do you want to be in five years?
In the moment.

Why did you choose Creative Suitcase?
Creative Suitcase was recommended to us by another attorney. The fact that they had prior experience building websites for attorneys was a selling point. The connection to SEOverflow for search engine optimization was another highlight. Rachel’s practical, down-to-earth communication style was important to us as well. This wasnt just a project it was a relationship!

What results have you experienced with us?
We really like our two new websites. Using WordPress for content management has been terrific.

Top 5 items in your suitcase (your favorites):
Travel destination: Anywhere in the South of France, which oddly enough is similar in look/climate to Austin. Whats up with that?
Take home souvenir: A set of new wedding rings purchased in Amsterdam. Question: If wedding rings are purchased post-wedding, say 15 years later, what are they called?
Website: huffingtonpost.com
Logo/campaign/tagline: Zappos powered by service
Austin original: I love our downtown.

Your Name and Title:
Brooke Hardie, Attorney

Where are you located?
816 W 10th St., Austin, TX 78701

Why Austin?
Incredibly diverse people, great music & arts scene, great weather, a thriving young professional scene, the perfect mix of “chill” and sophistication and very small business friendly. And the fact that my nephews live here doesn’t hurt.

How many people does your company employ?
1.5 including me!

What does your company do?
Estate Planning, Probate and Business Law practice.

Who are your clients/customers?
Normal people with normal needs in the aforementioned areas. On the estate planning and probate side I help everyone from young couples who are just starting out and want to ensure they have the basic legal documents in place (e.g., will, powers of attorney, etc.) to elderly citizens who may have just lost a loved one and need help in administering an estate. On the small business side my clients are usually the entrepreneur types who help carry out the mantra, “Keep Austin Weird” and realize the benefits to setting up their company correctly in the beginning so that they can then focus on their businesses.

What has been your greatest success?
Buying my first house 2 years after I had started my practice. It was then that I knew that doing good work for good people (and working hard at it) would enable me to make a living while doing what I truly enjoy. The simplicity of that still makes me smile.

Where do you find inspiration?
In my clients. I encounter individuals every day who are doing the best they can in very difficult circumstances…most of whom never even seem to speak a negative word. These people are incredibly strong and incredibly inspiring and make me want to do an exceptional job for them and therefore not let them down. If you take a little time to really listen to someone you’ll probably be inspired in some way.

Where do you want to be in five years?
Doing what I’m doing where I’m doing it on a slightly larger scale. That’s not to say that I won’t ever leave Austin or pursue other interests but…my work here is not done yet. I would like to travel more, though. Hoping that comes with the “slightly larger scale” thing.

Why did you choose Creative Suitcase?
In a nutshell…Rachel Stikeleather (now Rachel Clemens). She’s one of those rare people that thinks with both sides of her brain. She’s incredibly creative and only turns out projects that she would approve of if she were the customer and she also knows that the client service side (i.e., doing what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it) is half if not more of what really matters to clients. Plus, I love what Creative Suitcase had done for other clients so I knew they’d do a superb job for me, too.

How did you hear about us?
Mutual connections. I have known Creative Suitcase since its inception and am tickled each time I see a website I really like and scroll down to find that Creative Suitcase was responsible for it.

What results have you experienced with us?
10 out of 10. I have had only the most positive experience. I’m excited to see how my practice grows as a direct result of having an incredible website.

Top 5 items in your suitcase (your favorites):
Travel destination: New Zealand
Take home souvenir: A necklace, bracelet or ring that is indicative to whatever region/land I’ve just visited.
Website: I’m going to sound like a kiss up butwww.creativesuitcase.com. I think it’s one of the best websites I’ve ever seen.
Logo/campaign/tagline: “Yes We Can”
Austin original: Sitting under the 360 bridge on a boat while the sun sets, Alamo Drafthouse (the sheer creativity of those people freaks me out) and Stubbs BBQ Sauce. I could drink that stuff out of the bottle like a Coke.

Your Names and Titles:
Caroline Frick, Executive Director

Where are you located?
Austin

How many people does your company employ?
Six and 7 interns/regular volunteers

What does your company do?
Educational organization dedicated to preserving, and making accessible, Texas media history.

What has been your greatest success?
Obtaining funding to launch the Texas Film Round-Up program.

Why did you choose Creative Suitcase?
We liked the work that was shown to us; the company appeared flexible and cooperative; as a young, woman-owned start-up, we also liked the idea of supporting a fellow-traveler, so to speak!

What results have you experienced with us?
In general, our results have been positive. We like the materials that have been produced and use them extensively. The Office of the Governor/Texas Film Commission last week commented that they LOVED the material that yall created. Literally, they kept saying the Governor will really like this! and were taking the materials off to his people right away. I am thrilled that we have received such compliments on the materials, and I am sure to tell everyone who was responsible: Creative Suitcase.

Top 4 items in your suitcase (your favorites):
Travel destination: Cornwall
Take home souvenir: Tea Towels
Website: www.amianet.org
Austin original: Taco Express

Your Name and Title:
Loree Misch

Where are you located?
Austin

Why Austin?
I am a native Texan from Dallas who has lived in Florida and Portland, Oregon for the past 20 years and just recently moved to Austin. The sun and Austin’s wonderful mix of progressive thinking, quirkiness, and genuine friendliness convinced me that this is the place for me.

How many people does your company employ?
Just me and my dog.

What does your company do?
Sells organic t-shirts with humorous and clever sayings that celebrate the simple wisdom of dogs. We will soon carry a line of dog clothing.

Who are your clients/customers?
Anyone who appreciates a dog’s sense of humor, enlightenment, and unconditional love.

What has been your greatest success?
Starting two companies based on an unrelenting dream despite the doubters, and fear of a regular paycheck.

Where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration anytime I am in nature, when traveling, and when I am with my dog. Nature for its simple complexities, travel for its window into other ways to live, and my dog for his simple wisdom.

Where do you want to be in five years?
In Austin with Kiss the Dog, but with a broader product line and the ability to live on a beach in Spain in the summer months.

Why did you choose Creative Suitcase?
I chose them for their professionalism and creativity. I also liked their logo, travel theme, and diversity of work.

What results have you experienced with us?
A groovy logo, brand, and people who do what they say. They are also a lot of fun.

Top 5 items in your suitcase (your favorites):
Travel destination: Santorini, Greece
Take home souvenir: Photographs that captured the essence of the trip.
Website: www.kissthedog.com
Logo/campaign/tagline: T-shirtson 4-legged terms. (thanks Mackenzie)
Austin original: Jo’s sinner’s brunch, Alamo Drafthouse and Las Manitas

Your Name and Title:
Cristina Herrera, Owner of Travel Muse

Where are you located?
Austin

Why Austin?
The University of Texas drew me here and gave me a good education. In over thirty years of living here Ive grown and evolved along with Austin, and now its cosmopolitan uniqueness just fits me like a glove. I travel all over the world and still love to come home to Austin.

How many people does your company employ?
Just me.

What does your company do?
Travel consulting and vacation planning.

Who are your clients/customers?
Just about anyone who likes to travel, particularly overseas.

What has been your greatest success?
Endurance in the face of competition like the internet.

Where do you find inspiration?
During my own travels, in literature, in trade publications, from the travel experiences of my clients and colleagues.

Where do you want to be in five years?
Still living in Austin, still providing travel services to a faithful client base. I would like to have more time for personal travel.

Why did you choose Creative Suitcase?
I liked the name and the business card. I like the look of the website and was impressed with the projects listed on it. I was very impressed by Creative Suitcase’s promptness and professionalism. I was offered a price I could afford for professional and high quality web design.

Top 5 items in your suitcase (your favorites):
Travel destination: Paris and Buenos Aires (my home town)
Take home souvenir: Christmas ornaments
Website: www.vaxvacationaccess.com
Logo/campaign/tagline:
Logo for Crystal Cruises (2 seahorses and a crown – www.crystalcruises.com)
Tagline: Windstar Cruises 180 Degrees from Ordinary
Austin original: Manuel’s on Jollyville Rd, Umlauf Sculpture Garden