Quenching the Thirst of New Business: Jim Peck

in Getting To Know You NEWS by Guest Columnist — August 19, 2010 at 11:46 am | 0 comments

Jim Peck isn’t your average Creative. Starting off, Peck was a businessman who later decided to go to design school. He learned the ins and outs of graphic design and graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor’s degree of fine arts. Peck started his career in Chicago and quickly moved up in rank to a senior designer, but discovered something was missing. He decided to move back to his hometown of St. Louis to be closer to friends and family.

Peck started in St. Louis at Obata Design, then moved on to Zipatoni, now known as Rivet, where his career came to a halt. Peck, along with about 150 other employees were laid off and found work was getting harder to come by. He focused on freelancing for Creatives on Call and Creative Group. In 2003, Peck went on to work for the Shaw Company at an Art Director level and then received more bad news. He was laid off again. He then started working for Brighton Agency and was again laid off at the end of 2008. Since that time, Peck applied to more than two thousand jobs before deciding he was going to take the fate of his future in his own hands by creating his own agency, Quench Creative.

Even though the economy pushed him in that direction, starting an agency has been a long-time dream of Peck’s. “In this business, you have to deal with a lot of changes and a lot of things you don’t necessarily agree with, and at the end of the day it’s not really as fulfilling as if you were doing it for yourself,” said Peck.

Being in the business for thirteen years, Peck says he knows he can do everything on his own, but is turning his agency into a family run business. Peck’s fiance is an accountant and will be handling a lot of the business aspect of things as he focuses on the creative side.

But, his struggles are far from over. Now he is experiencing the trials and tribulations of starting his own company. Quench Creative is still very much in the start-up phase. “We’re still in the courting phase of getting businesses, but it is still extremely difficult in this economy,” said Peck.

Starting a business isn’t all glamour. Peck has been working out of his apartment dealing with equipment problems, waiting for loans, and his biggest struggle so far, acquiring new business. Peck says it’s tough to double as an account manager, since he’s always been on the creative side of things.

But Quench Creative is doing what they can to get their name out there, and has found some new business in unexpected places. The new agency has recently taken on an interactive project for “The Loft,” a nightclub located in downtown St. Louis. Peck designed the website for an upcoming artist The Loft is promoting, Ms. Kriss, and he continues to update it as new content becomes available. The Loft is the associated with being the first people to put St. Louis native rapper Nelly on the national stage. Peck says right now the site is still in its infancy stage while Ms. Kriss is touring around the United States to promote her songs.

Quench Creative is all about bringing different mediums together to get one message across. Peck says his experience in business, graphic design, and television are all contributing factors to what he hopes will make for a strong agency. Also, Peck earned a BFA in photography and during his time at Brighton was able to take those skills to the next level. He began conducting his own shoots, and plans to make in-house photography a big part of his new company.  Quench Creative is a full service agency and Peck hopes clients will be thirsty for more. He says, “I really have a positive feeling. Each month and each week we make a step forward. Agencies seem to come and go but I think we have enough business now that we can evolve and change with the market.”

Peck sets a great example of perseverance in the advertising industry and we wish him all the best with his new business. To check out more of Jim Peck’s work please take a look at his website.

Written by Contributor Chelsea Moosa

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