Call them the "Men in Black," "Miami Mafia" or even "Handsome Ghostbusters."
The Florida Department of Education calls Leon Stamatis, co-founder of downtown Fort Myers business Devious Design Studio, a "success story" for workforce education.
That's because Stamatis and co-founding partner Christopher Gregg Fous, in their trademark black business suits, have doubled their number of clients, tripled their number of employees, and made a big splash at a regional advertising awards show.
Stamatis is one of three alumni of workforce education programs who will be spotlighted in 30-second television commercials that will air across Florida in July. He took a commercial arts class at Lee County High Tech Center North in Cape Coral with teacher Kevin Hawk.
"I'm thrilled that Leon was selected to represent the opportunities that are available through technical and career education programs," Hawk said. "He has returned several times to High Tech North to talk to students and challenge them to do more than they ever believed they could do. He is a great role model for them.
Stamatis, 24, credited Hawk and High Tech North with setting him on his current path.
"It changed my perception from graphic arts being something I like to do to something I can make a career out of and make money doing it," Stamatis said.
Stamatis and Fous, 25, started Devious Design Studio in July. They worked out of Stamatis' condominium loft until they were able to get office space at Second and Fowler streets in Fort Myers in December.
In March, they bought the front half of their first-floor office space.
That same month, Devious won 13 ADDY awardsnine gold and four silverduring the Southwest Florida chapter of the American Advertising Federation's award show recognizing excellence in marketing and advertising. The nine gold awards was more than any other local advertising agency.
A third partner, J. Mitchell Haley, recently joined Fous and Stamatis. Haley, 49, was an associate general manager at WGCU Public Media, which runs the local PBS and National Public Radio stations. The partners have hired four employees.
All this has happened in less than a year. Did the guys expect to achieve so much so quickly?
"It was expected," Stamatis said. "We were sticking to our business plan. We hit our goals consistently until recently. We're a little ahead of the game now."
Stamatis predicted that within a year, their office will double in size again, and the number of employees will triple.
What's the key to Devious' success? It's all about branding.
They all cultivate an image, starting with the black suits. Haley's sign-on bonus was a new black suit. Systems administrator Rusty Benzing, 23, also got a black suit as a bonus.
"We always felt that advertising agencies have no branding of themselves," Fous said. "If a company is going to trust its brand with a company that can't even brand itself, we're kind of confused by that." |
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