Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Elarbee.
Kelly, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Starting in the media industry in Atlanta in 1996, I joined a fledgling media agency focused on Direct Response print. It was called Echo Media. As one of the original ten employees, I watch the company grow exponentially, to the point where it became an attractive target for acquisition. Echo was acquired by Dan Snyder, and rolled up into an umbrella group called Bounty SCA. Bounty was then sold on to Havas who positioned the company under their Euro RSCG division. That was a lot of bouncing around, and none of it for a long enough duration for us to gain any momentum.
Finally, we were up for sale again, and enough was enough. A group of partners decided to buy Echo Media back from Havas, and become a privately held Atlanta agency once again. That was my first ownership position in an advertising agency in Atlanta, but not my last.
While I loved my time at Echo, and still value my relationships there, it was time for me to spread my wings. In 2013, I founded Elarbee Media. While in the same industry segment, my concept was to work with fewer clients, but become more personally invested in their businesses. Their success would be my success, an adage in which I firmly believe. In many ways, I was a reluctant entrepreneur. I love people, and being part of a larger team. Start-ups don’t offer much comfort, or support. I was lucky to have a partner in Ryan Rager, who came on board to slug it out and eat Ramen Noodles with me for the first three years of our development. I am happy to say, he has been part of this entire journey with me, and we are shockingly still speaking to each other, and very good friends.
Our hard work and sacrifice started bearing fruit, and we were introduced through social media to an incredible and like-minded company in the UK called the Specialist Works. Their Founder Jim Lewcock, and their entire executive team felt like family. So, we joined forces to “Take Over the World, with One Profitable Media Campaign at a Time”. Our growth in the US has been phenomenal, with the opening of a television office in New York and a sales office in Houston, but with our feet firmly planted here in Atlanta.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Owning, starting, or running a company will always mean overcoming obstacles. Plans very rarely go off without a hitch. Clients that you invest in heavily are a bust. Media channels that should work perfectly don’t. But that is all part of the game, and fun to manage through.
From an entrepreneur’s perspective, cash flow management is always the one thing that strangles growth. From staffing to inventory, you are always trying to collect prior to spending, but that is not often the way it works out.
Finding an excellent partner in TSW (The Specialist Works) served to offset the cash flow issue, but added some translation issues of its own. Having been raised abroad myself, I was not scared of joining a UK-based global firm, but I did underestimate the amount of translation that would still need to occur. Managing through culture, language, and industry differences has been the most interesting, frustrating, and rewarding part of our integration and transition in the past two years.
Please tell us about The Specialist Works US.
The Specialist Works (TSWUS) is an advertising agency. Unlike many agencies, we are “Specialists,” as the name implies. Our core focus is on Direct Response advertising campaigns for brand clients. We’ve created a hybrid model we have coined “Brand-Response”. We don’t just make the phone ring or help close sales, we help build corporate brand value with each outbound execution. Our gig is that we do everything in a measurable fashion. If we can’t prove performance, we don’t move forward.
As a company, we are most proud of the fact that we CARE. We not only care about our clients’ success, and our people, we care about our communities. As part of our corporate culture we embrace charitable initiatives. We incentivize our employees to participate. We do it all hands-on, not by simply stroking a check. Giving is an infectious disease that we are trying to spread – Its main symptom is feeling good.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory is a very hard thing to nail down. I grew up in a family of six (I am number three of four children), with parents that did not seem to understand the concept of limitations (they still don’t’!). We had so many adventures that it is hard to recall all of them, and it is even harder to isolate one favorite. I have one standout memory that I think encapsulates both the need to embrace adventure and envision potential. That is what my parents were trying to communicate.
We were camping in South Dakota in a National Park in the Badlands. (I was camping roughly four months of every year of my life.) The entire family was in our car driving down a very isolated road, when we were suddenly surrounded by a heard of Bison. I can assure you, these animals are very large, and we were overwhelmed and in awe.
Let’s just say, they took their time while we waited for what seemed like an eternity. Sometimes, nature has a way of putting you in your place, and letting you know your significance in the grand scheme of things. I certainly knew who was in charge that day, and it was none of us in the car.
Being able to appreciate beauty and power in others, to be reverent, and to not be spiteful were the takeaways that make this my special memory.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6100 Lake Forrest Dr, Suite 400
Atlanta, Georgia 30328 - Website: us.thespecialistworks.com
- Phone: 1 (888) 735-2723
- Email: atlanta@thespecialistworks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_specialist_works_em/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSpecialistWorksUS/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tsw_us
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