Billy Kulkin, Cubic

Billy Kulkin is president and managing partner of Cubic. He has more than 15 years of experience in advertising, marketing and interactive strategy development and implementation. Before forming Cubic, Kulkin worked for Littlefield inc., Dallas-based Belo Corp. and the Super Bowl host committee.

1 Can you describe what Cubic does?

Ask me in an elevator and I’ll tell you Cubic is a creative agency. Ask me over your favorite beverage and I’ll tell you we’re a creative team that builds and promotes brands through trans-media innovation. We focus on delivering sales opportunities and building stronger relationships with clients’ audience.

When we talk about trans-media, we’re referring to the difference in the way we think about marketing communications.

For us, it’s not about developing and placing ads or TV spots, it’s about a seamless integration of your brand message with your audience’s life habits.

We don’t sell process. Every one of our clients is different, so every client receives a creative strategy custom-built for their business and for their specific goals.

2 Are there advantages to operating a tech-savvy business like yours in Tulsa rather than in Los Angeles or New York?

Yes. The two biggest advantages are profitability and sanity. Fortunately, with our business, we can live anywhere we want.

The cost of doing business in Tulsa helps us stay competitive — it’s an affordable city for growing a business. However, what is most impressive to me is that underlying feeling that Tulsans want other Tulsans to succeed. Having come from the LA area, I can tell you that is not the case everywhere. As a business owner I am not sure how you put a value on that, but it sure is a good feeling.

3 Social media is the current rage. What advice are you giving your clients?

Breathe.

Here’s where most people have it all wrong. Social media is not a “thing” that you can own and have. It’s a water cooler conversation that reflects what people think about their lives, their activities and the companies whose products they buy.

The content, tone and location of the conversation changes every day, so it is certainly not for everyone to jump into like the next gold rush.

At Cubic, we keep our sight on the goal: to connect our clients with their audience in a meaningful way, no matter who the audience is or where they are.

So, if your audience is spending more time in social media land, our job is to find them, then change the way our clients communicate with them.

Social media is a two-way dialog instead of a one-way sales pitch. Hearing in real time what your customers and prospects have to say about your brand is a powerful tool.

4 You’ve said there’s an “uprising” in customer satisfaction. What do you mean?

Now more than ever, consumers have some control over a company’s image.

Whether it’s “cold coffee,” “my mechanic didn’t fix the car right” or “the delivery guy needs a bath,” customers will let their networks know about it.

Conversely, customers also will let their networks know about a “great flight,” “great new smoothie” or “easy-to-use Web site.”

The power of the conversation has shifted. The trick is to recognize this shift in power and be smart about it.

Companies that want to succeed will embrace the uprising.

5 With digital media changing every day, how do you keep up with the trends and still be able to run a company and have some work-life balance?

First of all, it’s part of our DNA. We love new technology and applications, and we enjoy keeping up with it. Second, our social media lab has helped propel our understanding even further. We hire students and young graduates to run the social media lab. These are people who grew up with the Internet and have been engaged with social media from the beginning. Tapping into their knowledge and way of thinking has allowed us to stay ahead of the curve on trends and topics.

Regarding work-life balance, we don’t think they are mutually exclusive. The secret is to embrace what you are passionate about and find ways to integrate it into your everyday routine. By JOHN STANCAVAGE World Staff Writer

What do these brands have in common? They are just a few of the world’s most famous logos: symbols that are meant to instantly identify a brand. Clearly, logos can be powerful signatures for companies. But how can we summarize a whole brand in one relatively small design? Cubic’s team faces this challenge every day, creating designs that accurately express the identity of brands.

But where should you start when designing a logo? Cubic’s own Creative Director, Winston Peraza, shared insight into this process. “When it comes to logo design, clients have high expectations. A logo can be the epicenter of a brand, but it is also simply a signature. The logo is important, but it is not the brand. It is a part of the brand.” With a deep understanding of the overall picture of brands, Peraza and the team at Cubic take this into account when designing logos for clients. “We enjoy the challenge of designing logos, but we are always looking at the bigger picture. How is this logo going to exist in the broader world of the brand? How is it going to print and reproduce? Does this logo express the identity of this company? These are all essential questions we ask when designing a logo,” Peraza said.

As a multilingual visual artist and graphic designer, Peraza provides insight and direction into this whole- design process at Cubic. Recently, his work was featured in Logo Lounge 5, a leading graphic design book focusing on logo design. Selected from more than 33,000 logo submissions from designers across the world, three of Peraza’s designs (shown below) were included in the compilation of 2,000 designs.

When creating a logo, Peraza suggests looking at the big picture. “Spend as much time as possible researching the product and culture of the brand. Understanding the identity of the brand is key. The more you know up front, the easier it will be to create the visual expression.”

Congrats to Cubic VP/Partner, Jeff DeGarmo, for being selected for the Tulsa Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40