Catalyst Studios is evolving, and I for one, am thrilled to be part of it.

I decided that for my inaugural article on this blog I will regale you with the story of how Catalyst Studios transformed from a renowned local graphic design firm, to being invited to pitch against national-full service ad agencies four times our size, predominantly for our interactive & digital media offerings.



You don't just wake up and find yourself part of something this profound. But I have. It feels magical. For me it all started about two years ago when a confused talent recruiter sent [me] the completely wrong person to an interview for a graphic design position at a design agency in the warehouse district. I knew this going in, but I still went, after what transpired I almost believe in fate. I plopped down in the chair to see three typical ad-types staring back at me, perhaps a little jarred by my complete lack of interest to impress. "This is probably a big waste of all our time" was the first thing out of my mouth. To this day I can't remember what actually happened in the rest of that meeting, just that it felt special. I wasn't naive. I could deduce I had wrangled myself a fairly lofty (and perhaps bogus) title. Their previous web developer had moved away and was now less accessible. Here comes me, hungry for an impressive title and proficient in about 14 languages, video, sound, and architecture. Sure, you can be our new 28 year old "Interactive Director" in a department of...1. Knock yourself out, kid.

I have to be honest it didn't really phased me. The Catalyst magic was already inside me and like Pinocchio I set out to make my bogus title a real one. I got right to work and within 2 months had lost us our biggest interactive client. You read that correctly, I'll give you a minute to frame that up. You would think that would pretty much devastate anyone, right there. I can't lie, it felt like failure incarnate. Dazed from the loss, and somewhat in awe of my blunder, I got to thinking about a few things. Thousands of things, really. All the things I hated about interactive work (as I had experienced it). Naive time lines, bogus budgets, unwarranted long hours, creative for pretty sake, misdirected focus, trying to simulate viral occurrences, conversations about ROI, free booze, and generally people who just have no business being around interactive projects. I thought about all the campaigns I had been part of, too many to remember. I thought about the most successful ones and the ones I never like to mention. I took my department of 1 and decided to make the most of it. I picked apart all the bad process I had seen during the decade I had spent passing through the bowls of the interactive advertising industry. Every chance I saw to change something I had hated, I changed it. I didn't always know it would work, but I knew I was done telling myself (or anyone else) it could be done right, this time friends, I was going to prove it. Slowly, over time, things started to click. I started seeing money left over at the end of a project (profit?) I saw sites launching on time. I saw designers and programmers frolicking together. I saw a knight leap from a caste wall into a mote. I saw people visiting our sites, clicking, and clicking a lot. I saw my clients coming back for more before I could bill them for the work we had just done! It was foreign, it was luxurious. [growl, slobber] It was working!

Fast forward two years. The work we do here is getting major attention. My team is getting younger and I'm the 30 year old "old-fart" that goes to bed early just so tomorrows work comes sooner. Sound sick? I don't care. I'm not drinking the koolaid this time, it's not free beer, it's not hype, ringleaders, or theme songs. The only thing making me whistle while I make coffee in the morning is the satisfaction that we did it. We proved it can be done, and I'm lucky enough to be a par of it. Catalyst Interactive makes the most gorgeous, technologically profound online experiences I have ever seen. On time, on budget. Profitable. Our clients love us long after the project goes live. We work 9-5. There's not going to be any branded process here. In fact, what we have, is closer to un-process. No packaged up Catarifically Cool intellectual property to sell and no all-stars on the team. Not even me. We struck gold at the bottom of ego-free teamwork. We're comprised of some of the most brilliant strategic minds I have known, and yet we are interdependent. I feel terrible for all the people who had us working all-nighters building Flash micro-sites chanting "R O I", and never actually achieving any.

I'd be lying if I said it isn't a little fun to be out maneuvering larger competitors with little more than common sense and hard work.

I'm proud of you, you know who you are ;-)

tags: catalyst studios, minneapolis, minnesota, jared lukes, catalyst, interactive,