Creative Inc. Named April 2012 Small Business of the Month

It could be a building sign, vehicle wrap, trade show display, retractable banner stand—whatever it takes to visually communicate whoyou are and what your business does—Shawn Borga and his team at Creative Inc., 1451 Industrial Drive (www.creativeincgraphics.com,765/447-3500), can design and produce it.

 A Visual Branding Agency

 “We are not just a graphics company and not a full-fledged advertising agency, but something unique and in between,” Borga says. “We are a visual branding agency. We help clients develop and use their brand in effective visual ways.” 

 Services include brand strategy and development, graphic design and implementation—“showcasing your brand.”

 Some examples: decorative branding for WLFI TV-18, Vogue Cleaners and Zebra Landscaping trucks, signage for Purdue’s Bindley Bioscience Center and Lafayette Printing, wall menus at restaurants and countless more.

 “It’s something different every day,” and that’s what Borga likes about it. “That and being able to use my imagination to help solve problems for our clients.”

 Formerly Sign Experts

Creative Inc. is a new name for a long-time Lafayette business, Sign Experts, which Borga purchased in 1999 and five years ago moved to today’s 5,800-square-foot Industrial Drive space. The new name in 2011 better reflects what the continually expanding business does today.

 “We changed our name to fit us,” he says. “We are a solutions provider for our clients. It’s not just about a sale, it’s about creating a solution for our client.”

 Borga came to Lafayette at age 5 when his father took a retail management post at Montgomery Ward. Borga graduated from Lafayette Jeff in 1989 and earned a technical graphics degree at Purdue University in 1995.

 Always an Entrepreneur

While still in college, he launched Diamond Striping. “We did parking lot seal coating and striping maintenance,” he says. But, he says, “I needed to get paid during the winter,” so he and his wife Lucy, now the parents of four, bought the sign business.

 “It was a simple vinyl sign shop operating with two people on staff.” Today, the business employs seven, including Borga, and it’s grown its offerings to include all types of large format printing, such as vehicle wraps, trade show displays, retractable banner stands, floor and window graphics, wall wraps and displays, and custom and traditional signage.

 It’s also serving a wider geographic area. “We have clients in Iowa and Kentucky, and more than 30 Indiana counties,” Borga says.

 A Growing Business

 Growth has been its goal and achievement for several years. It’s doubled its revenues over the last four years.

 “We’re expecting 50-percent growth his year,” he says. “We have an aggressive sales initiative.”

A commitment to community is also important to Creative Inc., Borga says. “We give every team member two paid days off to volunteer for a nonprofit of their choice.”

 Community-minded

 Some of the organizations benefiting from the company’s generosity include Dancing in the Streets, Lemonade Day, Chamber Ambassadors, Walk to End Alzheimer’s, Access to Success Mentoring, Bauer Family Resources, Junior Achievement and others.

 Borga also serves on the board of Lafayette Tech, a nonprofit that helps startups develop. And he and Lucy are active in their church.

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The Small Business of the Month is proudly sponsored by Lafayette Savings Bank