BUSINESS PROMOTERS WITH THE MOST

I LOVE Gold Coast is a fitting project for the creative magicians at Arundel-based 40/40 Creative to be currently working on.

Managing director Luke MacDonald (pictured left with Nicholas Nichols right) says the community-based push to bring back fond feelings for the city intends to “show people there are so many great people doing great things on the Coast”.

“We sometimes get bogged down in the negative stuff when it comes to the Gold Coast,” says MacDonald.

“But if we took a moment to stop, take a deep breath and look around we would actually see just how lucky we are.”

Operating for just eight months, the 40/40 Creative team credits its success to hard work and dedication to close working relationships with clients, not luck.

The company prides itself on providing a high quality, wide breadth of exposure to small business normally reserved for big business budgets.

It has already helped a miscellany of companies such as Boardstix with web design and development, Foxtail Home Loans with brand identity and web design and Hotbodz Fitness with web design, development and video.

And the agency just added the Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort and Spa to its esteemed client list as probably its biggest deal yet, as far as recognised brands go.

Plus 40/40’s resident artists such as muralist Alex Lehours can take a drab, sterile office space and electrify it with colourful wall art.

“We have a team of talented artists who can paint huge outdoor murals to add a point of difference to a shop front,” says MacDonald

“We can develop a high-end website if a business' online presence is lacking.

“After all, we live in a digital age and if you don't have a strong presence or fail to use any digital media in your marketing mix you are cutting yourself very short of a lot of business.”

The 40/40 team is close knit and operates the same way with its clients.

“We don’t have account managers so our clients are very involved with our design team and our marketing team,” says MacDonald.

“We’re also offering a service that isn’t currently offered on the Gold Coast.

“We’re all about creativity and doing things differently; we like being outside the box.

“We’re not fixated on corporate advertising and we don’t generally suggest printing out flyers to market your small business.

“Businesses on the Gold Coast are gravitating toward us because we’re human, and we understand people like being treated like human beings.

“We don’t fob people off – we genuinely want to help people’s business succeed and we take the time to sit down with our clients to ensure we’re all working toward the same goal.”

40/40 Creative’s internal projects also help sharpen its collective skills and keep it self-promotional during rare moments when it’s not helping market other businesses.

MacDonald says Please No Graffito is one such initiative which showcases elements of the company’s print, web, photography, film and small to large-scale indoor and outdoor design services.

“Street art has a very negative connotation attached to it,” says MacDonald.

“We are looking to make a real cultural change in the community by allowing young talented artists to see there is something bigger than just defacing their city.

“If we can show them they can ply their trade and have people not only praise them but pay for their time, we will see a real attitude shift in those younger people who are just tagging.”

Visit www.4040creative.com.au or phone 1300 568 342.