Brent Lollis Brings Creative State to Tulsa
By DANIEL C. CAMERON
Assistant Publisher
GRAPHIC GENIUS: Brent Lollis has built a brilliant business in Creative State at 16th and Boston. They are professionals at building Web sites, helping with corporate identity development and designing marketing campaigns.
DANIEL C. CAMERON for GTR Newspapers
Entrepreneurship is in Brent Lollis’ blood. His mother literally began her business the week he was born. His father owned a completely separate business that he began in Lollis’ teen years. Lollis grew up seeing first hand the effort needed to make a business survive: working on Saturdays, getting payroll out on time, filling orders. So it seems natural he would have a knack for being in business himself. And he does.
Brent Lollis owns Creative State, a graphic design company that specializes in Web site design, branding, marketing and more. His client list is surprisingly rich with Garth Brooks, Union Public Schools and others.
One reason Creative State is so successful is because of Lollis’ entrepreneurial intellect. He is a great designer himself, but that is not the whole story. He has surrounded himself with some of the most competent programmers, designers and marketers in the country. Lollis has made a very natural and modern work environment, allowing for a comfortable space for forward thinking designers.
Creative State has experienced full time growth since its inception. The company began building Web sites for “ma and pop” shops. They later moved to working with some of the local school districts and eventually started designing for heavy hitters like Garth Brooks. To make growth possible at the scale it happened, Lollis expanded the services available at Creative State. The company now does naming, branding, print ads, brochures and other marketing related services.
In the late 1990s, Lollis saw the need for a good web design firm. “There were still a lot of large national companies that did not have Web sites yet; they were struggling to understand what is the web, what does it mean to my business and should we be doing something,” he remembers.
Lollis began by doing consultant work, assembling teams of freelancers and tackling these problems for companies. After a few years, he decided to grow his business and build a staff of his own rather than hire out. “We got busy enough that it was a lot like herding cats,” Lollis says of the freelancers. It was just too much work.
To inquire about Creative State and to see examples of their work, visit www.creativestate.com.
Updated 10-12-2009
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