Company:
Korobkin + Associates
Irvine, California

Business:
Marketing Communications

Staff:
8 full-time

System:
Clients & Profits Pro
Macintosh
OSX Workgroup Server

Download (100k)

he Korobkin + Associates, K+A offices are decked out in light industrial: Brazilian (from the movie) spiral light stanchions, bold colors, and brushed metal architectural features sweep through the office space. Founded in 1980, K+A is known for its communications expertise as well as its technical know-how.

The shop has always embraced new technology to better server an impressive range of clients, including Nissan North America, the Anaheim Angles, the Mighty Ducks, Taco Bell, and many others. It was Dave Korobkin, who started the company, and his creative staff who designed the famed aerodynamic Lexus logo, as well as packaging and logo for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and collateral for the Disneyland Resort.

Dave and controller Don Fatheree purchased Clients & Profits in 1993 after a horrific, short-lived experience with a creative management system called Honeybee. Nearly a decade later, they are still fans of Clients & Profits.

Running lean and fast

Clients & Profits has been essential to the agency's work flow process for a long time. In fact, along with great work for high-profile companies, K+A markets itself on the abilities of Clients & Profits to track jobs and costs through the agency-wide use of the software. "Clients & Profits provides the infrastructure of our company," Dave says. Not only can they track work for clients, they can use Clients & Profits to analyze, well, both clients and profits.

"The biggest long-term advantage to using Clients & Profits for so many years is the ability to do analysis," Dave says. "We analyze information every which way." With a decade's worth of client, job, cost, and billing data in Clients & Profits and a stable of freelancers, K+A can try different combinations of internal and external staff to provide the most productive and most profitable service to their clients. With information just a few mouse clicks away, successful project teams can be created or fine-tuned then assigned to new jobs. "We have found that we can really trust the information in Clients & Profits," Dave says. The flexibility of Clients & Profits has enabled them to trim their core staff and supplement their abilities with freelancers through busy times. The impact on the bottom line was felt immediately - revenue per permanent employee has increased remarkably.

Turbocharged turnaround

The advertising industry is moving markedly faster than just a few years ago, and clients want to see comps that more closely resemble the finished product earlier on in the decision-making process. "Clients don't want to see sketches anymore," Dave says. They want something digital - and they want it now. "In the early '90s about 10% to 15% of our comps were digital," he adds. "Now about 95% of what we do is digital." With response time at 1/4 of what it used to be, a nimble, accessible agency management system was essential - and that's what Clients & Profits delivers. "Clients & Profits was always able to perform at that speed," Dave says. "We didn't need it early on, but now we're glad the speed is there."

more