February 14, 2025

Why We Love KingFish

Maybe we’re tooting our own horn, maybe we all like each other a little too much, but in honor of Valentine's Day Day the team has collected our sentiments on what we love about working at KingFish. Thank you to all who have come along for the journey. What a fun ride it continues to be. Love ya!

My passion is surrounding myself with incredibly clever people who think differently and solve problems. I experience this from every one of my teammates, and I am extraordinarily grateful for that reality.

- Cam, President & CEO

I love when our KF team gets together for a brainstorm session. I work with such a strong, creative group of individuals and I am always inspired by the ideas (and laughs) that come out when we are solving marketing challenges.

- Lisa, Account Director

As a Creative Director, I get to play Cupid between brands and their audiences — crafting the perfect match of message and emotion. The best creative ideas, like the best relationships, take time, passion, and a spark of excitement. Happy Valentine's Day!

- Scot, Creative Director

KingFish embodies collaboration. I love that we are motivated by the meaningful connections we make with each other and our clients. All of this consistently inspires us to push past the status quo.

- Rosemary, Account Manager

What I love most about working at KingFish is the energy and commitment of the team — everyone is focused on improving, challenging each other, and bringing their unique backgrounds to the table. There’s a shared passion for storytelling and delivering work that is both authentic and impactful.

- Seth, Account Manager

The best part about working at an agency like this is always, always, always, the people. Brilliant, clever, hardworking, fun, incredible people. The clients, the team, the whole process constantly brings me joy.

- Ariele, Associate Art Director

I love that KingFish is a company that is always challenging and encouraging its people to grow both personally and professionally. I've spent the bulk of my career here because of it.

- Sandi, Account Director

I love KingFish because our team is dedicated. It’s so much fun to deliver high-quality work with high-quality people.

- Maria, Project Manager

May 31, 2023

Design Isn’t Just Aesthetics

Something unique about working for a marketing agency is that all forms of creativity must be tethered to an objective. Here, art isn’t just expression – it’s precise strategy.

As an artist, at the very least your baseline knowledge of design, color, typography, composition, geometry, white space, aesthetics, trending styles, etc. needs to be top of class. That knowledge is why you’re getting hired. However, good design is only the foundation. You are more than just an artist. You are a marketer, a thinker, a strategist.

Aside from aesthetics, here are a few principles I employ when designing a brand:

Be Memorable

  • Solid brand identity achieves recognizability at “first glance.” Many times, brands have limited time, real estate, and budgets to pull off making a name for themselves. Every second counts. This means designs must combine elegant simplicity with complex messaging into a single punchy product. From colors, to the form, to resonating visual themes, designs must stand out. And stand out well.

Think Like a Consumer

  • As an artist it may be natural to think about designs from a solely aesthetic perspective. But designers also need to think about how a consumer may be interacting, interpreting, or remembering these designs. Consumers don’t always have an artistic eye. So, if your design is too abstract without being clear in its messaging, or is hard to read, or doesn’t resonate with the target audience, the designer may need to rethink “how can I help my audience appreciate what they’re seeing?” It may mean adjusting, simplifying, or clarifying your vision.

Achieve Multiple Goals

  • Good design should be able to juggle multiple things at once with precision. Is your brand identity elegant? Representing the industry well? Standing out against the industry well? Achieving the tone and goals of the client? Easy for other designers to utilize? Good design balances all without blinking an eye.

Designing a brand isn’t only about creativity. It’s about understanding some of the most abstract parts of the human experience and then turning them into concrete products. Good designs are beautiful. But the best designs achieve goals.

May 12, 2023

Breaking the Mold: Creative Risk Takers

Sometimes, creatives get a bad rap. There’s this conventional wisdom that they are difficult or have fragile egos. They are called prima donnas, although rarely to their faces. They are lumped together as a “type” as in, “oh, you know, he’s a creative type”. Of course, these problematic behaviors are worth putting up with to receive the products of those inventive minds. To those claims I call bullshit – creatives are in fact the soul of marketing. 

In reality, creatives inspire a thoughtful workplace. They try things, push boundaries. They are risk takers. And when they fall short, they always make it better the next time. 

Creatives possess a unique capacity and are amazingly capable of taking critical feedback to their work. They have been trained to look at assignments as an evolutionary process and are rarely pissed or disappointed when you provide constructive criticism. 

In truth, I have enormous capacity for dumb ideas — my own and those of others. How will we get to the great ones if we don’t throw it all on the table? I don’t mean to imply that it’s a free-for-all — we do have discipline in place. We use creative briefs and other guiding tools to keep the team focused and on point. Chaos in the classic sense is not part of any creative process. 

We mostly leave our creative team to its own devices. The account and strategy teams set out to be clear in their expectations and direction with particular regard to deadlines. They classify and illuminate when needed. After that it’s the creatives’ responsibility to deliver. 

Check out The Top 16 Reasons to Work at a Small Agency. Except for the last two reasons, that are a bit tongue-in-cheek, all are meaningful to me. But I think the most important may be #6. When we challenge each other, it’s not company politics. It’s about doing our best work. For the client and for ourselves. There is enormous satisfaction in seeing an idea play out, through inspired graphic design, razor-sharp writing and overall execution that just crushes it. 

To a person we all value everyone on our team, and we show that through words and actions. A core value here is to preach and practice respect; I appreciate generosity of spirit and hope that I exhibit the same. And I am grateful for the creatives who with their own interpretations bring our concepts to life. 

I can’t be the only one. What’s your experience working with creatives? True to the stereotype or pleasant surprise? 

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