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Advertising leader Rick Krochka brings TRIAD to the next level; opens 2nd office in downtown Akron
ASHLEY C. HEENEY
Legal News Reporter
Published: October 4, 2011
From an oak wood table in the dining room of the historic house that he calls his full-service marketing and ad agency’s home, Rick Krochka is excited about the future of his business.
In an industry where selling can leave people burned, the president of TRIAD Communications Inc. has created a sort of domino effect where the clients keep coming.
They are judges, hospitals and nonprofits to whom and to which he has a hard time not saying “yes.”
If anyone’s heard of TRIAD, he says, it’s likely because of the large volume of pro bono work that comes out of the office, located at 2006 4th St. at the corner of Broad–one of Cuyahoga Falls’s busiest boulevards.
Krochka purchased the 1912 Georgian colonial in 2001 and has taken great care in making the structure and its landscape handsome.
Born and bred in Cuyahoga Falls, he attended St. Vincent-St. Mary and Kent State University. He says he has a good feel for the area. He is also a big believer in community volunteerism, though he realizes it’s not everyone’s shtick.
Instead of being flooded with volunteer jobs, he’s found new ways to organize them amongst his team.
“I’d look around and we’d be working on all this pro bono work, and that’s not a real good business model,” he said.
So in 2010, the advertising leader branded his pro bono work. Design4Good is an open application process with a late November deadline, for non-profits to request work from TRIAD.
For 2011, the Akron Symphony, 91.3 The Summit, Gay Community Endowment Fund, Boys and Girls Club of The Western Reserve were among the recipients.
Krochka says in all, his firm did about $30,000 in pro bono advertising.
“In December, the whole staff sits down and we divide those applications up and everyone is responsible for doing the research on the nonprofits, then each person presents who they did the research on.
“We divide that pro bono work into quarters, so we don’t take a big hit,” he said. “So far, so good. It’s the first year doing it that way and it’s worked out really well. We can help a lot more people.”
Before opening TRIAD almost 18 years ago, Krochka worked for three other firms, and while his schooling was in graphic design, advertising was his first career job.
Branching out on his own, he chose a space at Sand Run and Miller Road in West Akron for TRIAD, but when the Cuyahoga Falls brick house–with easy access to Route 8–caught his eye, he bought it and opened shop there.
Aside from normal restoration-type upkeep, he had the outside redone this year. Inside, he flipped his office layout–putting administrative staff in a central space downstairs and his creative, interactive staff upstairs. Lunch is kept in the original kitchen and the third floor boasts a casual living room for staff.
“Whether it’s our fiscal presence or if we’re selling graphics –whether it’s sign or banner for our clients, it’s a great way to show examples of that,” he said of the image of the four-story house.
“Little by little we’ve just grown,” Krochka said. “There’s enough space here to grow, but the biggest challenge is parking. It difficult to grow beyond parking.”
In September, Krochka added staff member number 13.
Jason Swank, who previously worked for the Akron Symphony, is charged with TRIAD’s “Integrated Client Strategies & Business Development.”
Swank who will primarily use TRIAD’s new satellite office in the Tony Troppe’s Gothic Building in downtown Akron, in part represents the firm’s transition into the future.
“I’m not going to be afraid to grow beyond this,” Krochka said, “but how we’re going to grow will be different.
“I think with the cloud servers now, and all of that, the whole idea of having an office and being in an office is becoming outdated.
“I’ll have staff hooked in on Facetime (a visual communication tool through Mac computers and iPhones, etc), so if I want to buzz upstairs, I use can Facetime upstairs or Facetime with Jason downtown.
“I don’t want to look at it like you have to be in a physical building to do anything.” Krochka said. “It’s an archaic thought.”
For the first time in TRIAD history someone else instead of Krochka will be in charge of sales.
“We’re not the typical ad agency, we don’t sell people something they don’t need,” he said.
“One reason I’m excited about Jason is I’ve never had a sales person who goes out. I’ve done it or let people here do it, my client specialist or someone who is like an account executive.
“He’s not a hard sell, he reflects who we are,” Krochka said, adding that he doesn’t believe in a pushy sale that leaves somebody cold. Swank, he said, is also astute with social media and e-marketing.
“It’s really about listening and problem solving, it’s not about selling. You’ll be selling by solving the problem. TRIAD is not about just “selling to sell.”
With the satellite office, if anyone needs to do a meeting or presentation they can go downtown, where Krochka says is “the place to be.”
“A lot of our clients are downtown. We just did a rebranding for Sequoia Financial, and do work for the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce, North Akron Savings, BFG Credit Union, pretty much every foundation in town, Austin BioInnovation, Summa . . .”
Businesses outside of Summit County with offices in Ohio have also reached out to TRIAD, like Acuitive out of New Jersey and Suprema, out of France with facilities in North America including in Wadsworth, near Akron.
He gets a lot of referral work, in part because of Design4Good and the fact that he’s out there and involved on local boards of trustees – from arts boards like the Akron Symphony and to local service groups like Project Learn of Summit County.
With new technology, he says it doesn’t matter an organization’s size when it comes to advertising.
“There are so many opportunities for small business out there, it used to be that it was an incredible hurdle about how to get funding and how to get your name out– and now you can put up a Website out there and really compete with a major company. It doesn’t matter what size you are.”
“If advertising had been like it was 15 or 20 years ago, without the Web, I think it might be boring. I might be bored. Now, there’s so many more options. I’m really excited.”
He also enjoys working with judicial candidates on their advertising campaigns, many of which happen to be Democrats.
Incumbent judges like Eve Belance, Carol Deszo, Clair Dickinson, Carla Moore, Elinore Marsh Stormer, Linda Tucci Teodosio and Thomas A. Teodosio all use TRIAD for campaign publicity.
“To me,” Krochka said, “political work is selling an individual. It’s the same as selling a product, but you have a much shorter time frame to do it in.
“So, it’s really distilling information down to highlight who this person is, what they bring to the table, and make it digestible so that people can understand and vote for the person.
“It is persuading people to vote for a person– because normally when people are running for judicial office, they are the best and brightest of a group with not many skeletons in the closest–that’s not typical judicial material.”
The Summit County Democratic Party is one entity that has honored Krochka for his work, and for 2011, the firm’s garnered more than 20 awards.
They are displayed on walls and in the built-in cabinetry in the office dining room and listed chronologically on TRIAD’s website, triadadv.com where visitors can also view an archive of the firm’s work, meet the team, connect through social media, and even see TRIAD’s “beer of the month.”
TRIAD welcomes newest member Jason Swank
The newest member of TRIAD is Jason Swank, who was the director of marketing and public relations for the Akron Symphony Orchestra for the past five years.
“My title is manager of integrated client strategies and business development. A long one, yes, but it is quite meaningful to me and hopefully descriptive to our clients,” Swank said about his position, which is brand new to TRIAD.
A lover of technology, he will be connected all the time–from the firm’s new downtown satellite office, at home, or on the road.
“In addition to always being on the lookout for great new organizations to work with, I'm the guy who is looking at the ‘whole game’ for our current clients,” he said. “All good marketing is strategic but is it integrated? Do your collateral materials match what your website is doing? Does your Facebook presence tie in to your key objectives? Do you have a social or mobile strategy? Is the poor person you have in charge of social (strategy) stuck in a broom closet somewhere?
“Our incredibly talented creative teams at TRIAD/Next Level as well as many marketing directors are often so busy on the runway that they need someone looking out for them at a higher elevation,” he said. “That is where I come in. I'm looking at everything from 40 and 50 thousand feet.”
Swank said his role promoting ASO gave him “a sense of how to maintain brand consistency across media while never growing stale.
“I also came to understand what a difference a fantastic agency can make. It's not a replacement for a marketing director but it can multiply his or her effectiveness 100-fold.”
Born and raised in North Canton, Swank went to The Ohio State University for theatre and video production, but landed his first job as a marketing assistant for a record label in Nashville, Tennessee.
“I was able to work with some real legends like Randy Travis, Merle Haggard, T. Graham Brown, Don McLean. I learned a lot in those days,” he said, adding that from there he went to handle promotions for a couple of radio stations and then wound up at ASO.
“Getting hired by then executive director Margo Snider was a total game changer for me and my career and I owe so much to that organization.”
He said finding a new job takes a special effort, especially in the small size of a city like Akron.
“It really is all about networking. I think the days of opening up the old "want ads" and finding that next great job are over,” he said. “I think it's happening on places like LinkedIn and Twitter. Really staying up on your industry is critical and you have to be very proactive.
“Don't get me wrong, it is hard times out there and not a day goes by that I don't try and remind myself how unbelievably blessed I am. Truly.
“I also believe in a town like Akron, reputation is very important,” he said. “It is a small town and if you are a bridge burner, it won't take long for that to catch up with you.
Swank said his first priority at TRIAD is to make sure that everyone of his contacts know what tremendous resources are available within the ad agency.
“They really can do it all. And they do it with such skill and pride–and a sense of fun.
“You can't always afford to do everything you want, but we should be able to find a way to achieve the same thing. I look at us as problem solvers...kind of like the A-Team without the cargo van... the TV show, not the bad movie with Liam Neeson.”