84 - How Branding Shapes Workspaces: Insights from CMBA

Catelin: Hey. Hello, rich. We're back. Our cocktail is, we've already had a quarter in us, so I'm quite excited about how this is gonna go. Wow.

Rich: Okay. Well, I just had a protein shake, so hopefully I can, uh oh. You're,

Catelin: you're fueled up and ready. I am. I didn't have lunch. I've

Rich: been waiting for stupid FedEx all morning, but yeah.

Rich: Um, that's the worst.

Catelin: Um, we are talking this week to CMBA architect's own Kathy Cock, uh, to discuss how our remodel went and kind of the value I. Of branding that you can implement in your space, and I'm really excited to get to that. Part of the reason that I've been fiery today is because I was a, I asked if I could tell the safe version of the last time I had a mango margarita.

Catelin: Um oh. And I was told to keep it to myself. So

Rich: there's a safe version.

Catelin: There's a safe version and then there's like a, maybe we should just leave that on the cutting room floor version, so, okay.

Rich: I do love that you are in our actual office. Yes. So some of the elements are visible behind you, so that'll be interesting.

Rich: I. Um, we could have you stand up and just like spin around at some point. I could do. I,

Catelin: well, I have, um, clean very, uh, specific spaces and made sure that they're tidy. So I don't know that we can do like a full 360 without, you know, peeling back the curtain too far.

Rich: Yeah. As you can see through my blur, not sure that I've cleaned all of my spaces too.

Rich: Not really. Um, this secondary to this is the April project. The basement right now. Uh, mild remodel, oddly enough, got a sink today and that's why I was waiting for FedEx for the faucet that never arrived, but, um,

Catelin: oh my gosh. But

Rich: yeah, this will be interesting to talk about. Um, I think so too. Think, go back.

Catelin: Um, also coincidentally, I think Zach maybe chose an orange drink because that's one of the things that the CMBA brand and the Antidote 71 brand. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Have in common. So we have a little mango margarita. You wanna tell us about the background of this, the Chevy? Sure. So

Rich: it is, um, I prefer a mango margarita to a regular lime margarita, personally.

Rich: Interesting. Um, and I'm not a big strawberry margarita fan, so this is kind of my go-to for a sweeter margarita or fruity margarita. Uh, it's quick and easy. Uh, you can enjoy it almost any time of year though. I mean, summer is a great time to do it. It's wonderful poolside. It's very

Catelin: nice outside today. It is a good mango mar day.

Rich: Mm-hmm. And if you put enough tequila in it, it will pack a nice punch for you. And it looks to me like this recipe has a pretty good volume of booze in it. This

Catelin: is making a double. This is a double.

Rich: It might be a double. Um, yeah, I think it, it's gotta be a double. Yeah. Okay. Um, anyway, like, and like getting some street tacos.

Rich: So here we love going to Bombass Taco, which is right up the street.

Oh yes. I

Rich: learned that. You actually pronounce the donkey in their name. It's bomb donkey taco. But then when you see it written, it's Bombass taco, but they didn't wanna put that on a giant sign. Bdt Clever. That is funny. Um. So, yeah. How do we, how do we make this thing, Caitlin?

Catelin: Well, it's three cups of cubed frozen mango. Uh, have we talked about my love for frozen fruit lately?

Rich: Really? We did at once. We cut to strawberries.

Catelin: Yeah. Um, blueberries are also good. Let's, has frozen

Rich: mango like in a big bag.

Catelin: So does love it. Yeah. So do mo I think most groceries do. I think they're meant to be for like smoothies.

Catelin: But this is a smoothie. It'll be a smoothie in a second. A smoothie

Rich: with booze

Catelin: Uhhuh. So you have three cups of cubed frozen mango, uh, from about four small mangoes. I just buy the frozen, like we can skip to the flash frozen. We are not. Mm-hmm. Peeling and coring. A mango is a real pain in the. Donkey, uh, one quarter cup of fresh lime juice plus, uh, some lime slices.

Catelin: For garnish, you need three ounces of silver tequila. I really like Los Altos for silver. Um, two ounces of quantro, three handfuls of ice cubes. That's a variable that I don't, I 'cause like how many whose hands? That's ice your heart. I content I

Rich: always put ice in and then I blend, and then if it doesn't seem like it's thick enough, I throw more ice in and blend some more.

Okay.

Rich: Um, I do think, like for us, the silver tequila that I get is whatever's in the ginormous bottle at Costco. I don't know who makes it. It's gonna be the Kirkland brand, but I have no idea who makes it. But that's what we do. Oh, mm-hmm.

Catelin: Probably just Midwest distilling anyway. Uh, you need salt for the glass rims, which is optional, but I, I like a salted rim.

Catelin: I'm not a sugar on the rim kind of gal. I

Rich: like a t heen on the rim for the mango. Oh.

Catelin: That would be my, mm-hmm.

Rich: Adriana would support this. I feel

Catelin: approved. Approved. Oh, I'm counting the days until Dorothy calls it the mango truck. Like how long the orange truck opens 'cause they're a summer only food truck.

Catelin: So good. Uh, so you're gonna put your mango, lime, juice, tequila, and quantro in a blender, uh, blend until smooth or, um, until it is the desired consistency. You may or may not want to add more ice, as we have discussed. Um. If the mixture is too thick to blend, you can let it sit and and melt for a few minutes.

Catelin: Um, otherwise you could like throw on some more tequila if you wanna get weird. Mm-hmm. That's up to you. Um, this is not a medical podcast. If you desire, you can use a lime wedge to, as we have discussed, moist in the rims of your glasses and dip your rims in a small plate of salt and or tahin. Mm-hmm. And pour the mango mixture in the glasses garnish with your lime.

Catelin: Away you go. And this recipe is from Love and Lemons. Um, I've used some of their, I've made some of their, um, their like food recipes and have been very happy with them. Oh yeah. Yeah. Couldn't remember what they are right now, but, you know,

Rich: I wonder if love and Lemon this is, I wonder if that's, I feel like that's where I got the, um, the lemon cello lemon bars recipe where you actually use lemon cello May.

Cathy: Right. Yeah. It seems like it would be lemons.

Rich: Um,

Cathy: yeah.

Rich: I the got my the last time,

Cathy: oh, go ahead. Oh, go

Rich: ahead. I was just saying we got our Costco rewards certificate, like it's, it's right here. Um, I'll cover it up so nobody can see it. Um, that's the one from Citibank from the Visa. But I am, have to go to Costco anyway 'cause there's like three things that I need.

Rich: I'm gonna get a bag of.

Cathy: You're gonna make, make one of these today.

Rich: And I think I'm just gonna get a bag of limes too 'cause why not? Like,

Cathy: yeah, I can always use something

Rich: else. That's true. So last, all good. Are you last tell us. You can

Catelin: tell us. Yeah. The last time that I had a, I had a mango margarita, I, when I ruined a water bottle, 'cause I was like it, this was many years ago.

Catelin: Uh, so I was making, I was making choices that you make in your twenties, your late twenties and not choices that you make in your late thirties. Uh, infer from that what she will. I ruined a, a water bottle and also was convinced that I needed a cat, and I, at the time was severely allergic to cats. Um, immunotherapy has changed that, but um.

Catelin: Tony, the cat and I, he was a big, he was beautiful. Um, but I definitely wanted to take Tony home, which is not fair to Tony and his legitimate owner.

Rich: So, or you're sneezing. Yeah, you're right. You really kidnapping cats is not,

Catelin: not, it was not for me. It's not a good luck. Also, the in-home bartender is allergic to cats, so he was not on board.

Catelin: Um, my,

Rich: uh, last time I had a mango margarita, I was actually with you and the team at Chili's in Sioux City. Um. Which is a good place to get those. It's spread to go

Catelin: wrong with a Chili's Mar. I gotta be honest, I think they get a, I think they get a bad rap, but the Chili's, bartenders,

Rich: I've been, at least in sse, I've been evangelizing chilies in Omaha.

Rich: But ever since they redid their menu, it's been like five years, I think since they read your menu. But like, it's

like

Rich: people are like, oh, it's just like Applebee's. It is not, it is not like Apple. Not just like Apple be's. It is a step above Applebee's. Yes.

Catelin: Like, yes.

Rich: So yes. All right. Well, my mango Marguerite is at Chili's, but we need to talk to Courtney and figure out what the heck we're talking did with our office.

Rich: This is Kathy's long sister. Oh my, my gosh. So changed my

Cathy (2): sister. So it's okay.

Rich: Yeah, there's three people in that office at the same, with the same spelled last name. It's pronounced a little differently. Kathy, I am so sorry. It's okay. We need to talk Kathy. It happens

Catelin: frequently. It's just like it's a Tuesday for me.

Catelin: It's cool.

Rich: We'll take a break.

Rich: Okay. We're back. And I am less of a disaster. I got a glass of water, so I think I'll be fine. Lyn

Catelin: is, how high is the. I

Rich: mean, what are we talking

Catelin: here?

Rich: I don't know. I guess calling somebody the wrong name isn't, at least it was somebody who, who works with her, so like

Catelin: Yeah. It wasn't like you called her Steve or something like, like No.

Catelin: And it was

Rich: somebody who worked on the project when we were looking at buying a building. Yes, that's true.

Catelin: Correct.

Rich: Yeah. So yeah, so Courtney worked on that helping us advise us on purchasing buildings, um, which we did not do. Um. Because one was going to be probably over a million dollars in Reno. Uh, the other one, the back of the building was quite literally falling off.

Catelin: The rest of that block has also been determined to, uh, be structurally unsafe, which is really sad. Sad as, as much as I hate getting rid of

Rich: old buildings, I do think that those just like, they need to come down. Yeah. They're, they're gonna get dangerous. It's gonna fall into the alley on somebody, but,

Catelin: mm-hmm.

Rich: Anyway.

Catelin: Yeah. Yeah. Um,

Rich: we, but instead

Catelin: we leased this beautiful space that you can see behind me, right? Yes. After rejecting

Rich: it like four times. Finally went and looked at it. Thought it

Catelin: was three,

Rich: might've been three. Is it three? Maybe the fourth time was the time that I said yes.

Catelin: Um. That's not dating advice, just so we're Well, and I took Jesse

Rich: and Jessica over, um, yeah, I don't remember if you came over or not.

Rich: Did you have to climb up the scaffolding, Caitlyn ever? I

Catelin: never had to climb the scaffolding, but the time that I did come, there was no AC up here and it was hot.

Rich: Yeah, it was really warm. Yeah. So essentially we got a big open raw space and Zach can put some of our photos. Uh, from that first visit in, um, in the episode.

Cathy: Yeah.

Rich: Um, I don't think we've ever done after pictures. We should have Chris do that like while we were there. Right. Um, we've got some could A-C-N-B-A portfolio. I,

Cathy (2): yeah. Why aren't we doing that? You could add yourselves to our website. How would be great? We could, we could No permission. We'll just dial, sneak it on there.

Cathy (2): Yeah.

Catelin: Yeah. Um, yeah, so, so. We're, I mean, we're a Nebraska corporation, but mm-hmm. A majority of our team is in Sioux City. Mm-hmm. And, uh, kind of even before Covid, we knew that we liked each other and we liked working in a dedicated space. And so we have the option to work remotely, but for the most part, those of us that are in Sioux City really like being around each other and like having a space to collaborate and a space.

Catelin: For some of us to get away from our roommates, if you will. Mm-hmm. Like

Cathy: it's,

Catelin: and believe

Rich: me, I tried to get everybody to go remote. That was an option. There was gonna be a stipend for everybody who was remote. Right. If we didn't have any rent. 'cause no rent. I'll pay for your internet. I'll pay for part of your cell phone.

Rich: Like whatever. Yeah. Um, and overwhelming, I think it was everybody, but one person was like, no.

Catelin: And that person is probably working remotely in Sioux City today as you

Rich: speak. Yep.

Catelin: Um, and

Rich: then we had another one who's like, well, I wanna go to Mexico when it's cold, but I won't be in the office when it's warm.

Rich: And so yeah, we ended up with an office and it was just a big blank slate. And I knew that we loved like the brick and we loved the black ceiling and the hardwood floors were original to the 18 hundreds, like. All of that. And so I'd never worked with an interior designer before. We guys were working with you on the structural piece and helping us pick our location, which I know is where you like to start projects because you can really have influence from the beginning.

Rich: Um, so yeah, we just kind of came to you and said like, here's our brand guidelines. We sent that over to you. Mm-hmm. We sent you a few other things. Um, we said don't go heavy on orange, but orange is okay. Mm-hmm. Like, you don't wanna overdo it. I think we also said we really like your space. 'cause you're in a very similar loft space Yes.

Rich: With like rafters and brick and everything.

Cathy (2): Yep.

Rich: Um, so yeah. How do you take that when somebody just like dumps here are a bunch of, uh. Things about us. Considerations. Yeah. Yeah. Make something look nice for us.

Cathy (2): Yeah. Honestly, you guys coming to me with that was an ideal situation because it gives me a lot of inspiration to know.

Cathy (2): What you guys are hoping to get out of your new space, which I love. Um, so I actually didn't even have to take you through like a visioning exercise, as we call it, where I sit down with the client and go through, you know, what do you aspire for your space to look like? You know, you knew that you wanted even the works down to the workstations.

Cathy (2): You had inspiration images for that and mm-hmm kind of had this vibe. And as a culture, as you guys had talked about, you do have this fun, quirky, casual, collaborative vibe. And it's very clear. So how do you then make that come through in your space that your people really wanna be in? So it was really fun to take your guys' vision and make it come to life.

Cathy (2): And it was actually, I will say it was pretty easy. 'cause you guys were clear on your culture. And I know we're gonna talk about this a little bit, but when companies are clear on their branding and their culture, it does make their space come to life a lot more easily. Mm-hmm. Because you know, you work on developing what, what is your culture?

Cathy (2): What is your brand? And then if you come to work every day, or, um, if you have clients coming into your space, if you're a client-based company, you know, well, what are they experiencing? Because your space is part of that, whether you realize it or not, uh, is really part of that client and employee experience as well.

Catelin: Yep. Can we back up like half of a step? Yeah. Penny. And just, will you tell us what your role is with CNBA? Oh, yes. So we, we should do that. Um, we jumped in, we jumped right, right to the did we got excited, but tell Yeah. Right. Which is part of course you said quirky and I'm like, chick,

Cathy (2): we're here. Um, so yeah.

Cathy (2): So I am a registered interior designer with CMBA Architects. I am actually out of the Des Moines office, which is really fun too. Oh, wow. Yeah, so before I, um, came to CMBA, I actually spent five years in the furniture industry, um, at a furniture dealer. So did that for a while, worked on some cool projects there, and then moved over to the architecture side.

Cathy (2): So, yeah, so. Um, Courtney thought I was a good fit for you guys too, just based on, on the furniture side. I also did a lot of corporate, big corporate projects. Mm-hmm. Um, so understood. You know, you guys had a blank slate that really we weren't gonna put a bunch of walls in. Um, it was a furniture based project.

Cathy (2): And then also that corporate experience since CMBA is pretty focused on education and healthcare, but we still do a smattering of corporate too, just naturally, but mm-hmm. So, yeah, so that's how, um. Courtney and I discuss, you know, how Courtney decided to pull me into your guys' project was Yeah. Based on experience and background.

Cathy (2): And it was a lot of fun

Rich: and I think we're so glad she did that. That's really right. Yeah. Like, and when you talk about our culture in space, I know the first thing we said was we're gonna have a bar.

Cathy (2): Mm-hmm. There'll be a

Rich: bar and we probably told you 43 times. There needs to be a bar.

Cathy (2): Yep. Um, and the ski ball machine.

Rich: Yep. The ski ball machine, which isn't there yet, but, um, we do have pinball. Yeah. We've never, we haven't bought it. It like goes on and off sale. Yeah, it's a thousand dollars. It's a big, big purchase. It was like covid times and it was like, eh. So we'll get it though. We'll get it there sometime. But what we did buy is the big green refrigerator.

Rich: Yes. Um,

Catelin: the rich is apparently gonna be buried in.

Rich: Yeah, probably not. I had, um, well, I'm supposed to be, I, I should be buried with Brian, which will be in a national cemetery and I don't think they'll bury a refrigerator in a national cemetery, so,

Catelin: doesn't seem like the most people. You never know. Friendly option either, maybe.

Rich: Um, but yeah, so it's from, um, big Chill. They make these retro refrigerators inside. It's like a Maytag or something, like, it's a brand new refrigerator inside. Mm-hmm. But the outside is that curved, retro look like from your grandma's house,

Catelin: the fifties with the cr, the big chrome handles and Yep.

Rich: It's like the, the Chevy door door handles are what they use for those.

Rich: So replica those for the handles.

Cathy (2): It's super cool.

Rich: Super, very cool. And we were, you know, Jesse was playing with our brand and the navy and the green were coming out and the green was an accent color. And I just wanted to be sure that when you came in there was some sort of a grab and a focal point, so that's why it's right there by the back door.

Rich: So when you come in or through our office, you can't miss that fridge. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like everybody sees it and they had a special color that was so close to our green, like you almost couldn't tell. I had to pay $150 extra for that. But that's nothing. I mean, the refrigerator was in the price of that fridge.

Rich: It was nothing. Um, yeah. And so that, I think inspired like the, okay, well if the fridge is gonna be green then, and the green and the Navy go together, the cabinets need to be our Navy. And so we ordered samples and got all those in. Um, but I think the biggest thing was the layout of the spaces. Okay. So we wanted a place to eat and gather.

Rich: We wanted a place to meet, we wanted a place to work. We wanted a place to socialize. Okay. Um, and a and a place to game and play. And that was, I think the biggest thing is like, okay, we have 3,300 square feet, or whatever it is. I think that's about right. Um, how do we break this up but not break it up?

Rich: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um.

Cathy (2): And keeping it fluid too. 'cause you know, you're not always, somebody isn't always taking a break, so what is that break spot when you're not taking a break? It can be an additional collaboration zone. Um, you know, can this loungey area that you guys wanna, you know, take a break on, also be a meeting space.

Cathy (2): So keeping those spaces fluid with each other as well was key to making your space successful. Yeah.

Rich: Yep. Yeah. And, and we had the orange couch that moved from our old office. Oh,

Cathy (2): yes. Yes.

Rich: Um, so yeah, and I think, I think that's the important thing. So we're very open concept. Like Caitlyn has people all around her right now.

Rich: Mm-hmm. Um, and I think I saw Jessie walk behind you a little bit ago. Um, uh, and that's important to us, but we also want to be sure that we can talk and we can have mm-hmm. You know, conversations and we can have spaces where we need to be. And we do have one little room that's private and there's a conference room in the back that's shared with the, the building owner.

Rich: Um, but other than that it's just, it's very, very open. Um,

Cathy (2): creativity is collaborative, right?

Catelin: Yeah. Yeah. And I find too, like the, the thing that is so evident in just kind of our office culture here again, is that like we enjoy each other as people, as well as coworkers. And so that like natural kind of.

Catelin: Relationship building that happens in a space like this is really fortifying when we get to times in the day where we're frustrated. Mm-hmm. Or we wanna, you know, work through something that's a little stickier than, than normal. And so the idea that yes, our, our branding plays into it, but also just the nature of being like, good, efficient.

Catelin: Work partners. Yeah. Um, is really, really evident in the way that we work here.

Rich: Yeah. And I think the way we dedicated that, um, I think as you come in, it's the right side. Yeah, it is. I'm looking at you and I'm like, it's the left side from where I am right now, but it's the right side as you come in the front door, basically the way the pillars were up.

Rich: Mm-hmm. Like it gave you some natural separation and we took pretty much all of that space for 12 desks. Okay. Um, so we've got room to expand 'cause that was important to us as well. And then that flows right into the bar area and kitchen, which are kind of all one. Um, and the, the way that we use carpet for that, like you found a great carpet for us, um, locally even.

Rich: Um, and it was, uh, the carpet squares that all got put down, but it just helped with the sound in that workspace, so it's softer. Um, I know we did talk about, um, ceiling fixtures or light fixtures that were like sound absorbent and baffles. Yep. They're real expensive. They are like real expensive. Um, we haven't done those yet, but I do.

Rich: I, every once in a while I could just go look at 'em. I've saved the link from when you sent it to me.

Catelin: I love it. It's an aspirational purchase, but I

Rich: mean, you know, we want a, we want a dining table for 12 people. Mm-hmm. Like, that's sort of a ridiculous request, but, but not at all. You like, okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Rich: That's good. Do other people eat together? Like we're big on it.

Cathy (2): Yeah. So that's funny you actually bring this up. 'cause I have a school district right now, we're working on their district office. They're a larger district and we're outfitting the building for 12 people now. And that was the superintendent's big thing was she wanted a break room where everybody could sit together and mm-hmm hmm.

Cathy (2): Have lunch together and that was really special. You know, I think we're hearing in this post covid world. Do people not wanna come back to the office or do they, so it's really fun hearing your story too, that, you know, people do wanna come back. Mm-hmm. Because research also shows that people thrive off of being with each other.

Cathy (2): So, you know, that's a big part of space design too, is that it's not just doesn't look pretty, but how do people interact with the space and how are they productive within that space? Because, you know, like Caitlyn being in that open office environment, it's how you get to know people better. And even when I started at CMBA.

Cathy (2): Um, our Des Moines office was in a much more larger workstations, more enclosed. There were people I didn't talk to mm-hmm. Until we moved to the new location and we were 12 people at the time. So it's like the space you're in can really dictate how people interact with each other and mm-hmm. It's just important to keep in mind.

Catelin: Yeah. I appreciate too. And that's a, I think that's another thing that kind of feeds into our culture too, is that we do have the flexibility

Cathy (2): to say

Catelin: like, you've got a desk here if you want it. Right. Or we'll see you when it's convenient. Yeah. But we have the space to accommodate our team here when it's necessary.

Catelin: Okay. And, um, a few weeks ago we hosted kind of a community networking event. Oh. Oh, cool. Yeah. And this space was. Perfect. Yeah. Like, it, it, it lends itself to being flexed in a way that like, we just kind of rearranged some chairs and we had like a nice high, you know, like cocktail table almost. Yeah. And it was a morning event, so we were drinking coffee, but.

Catelin: Stones, like gathering tables. Yeah, exactly. That anchor point for people when they're like, I dunno what to do with my hands, so I will just lean on this table and Yes, yes, try and act natural. But then we had, you know, the larger couch space that lends itself to kind of stadium or that theater style seating with Yep.

Catelin: Just a little bit of rearranging and it, it people, I mean, the first thing people said was that fridge is so cool when they walk in. Yes. Like that's. Almost immediately is like the first thing that people notice, but then it was really just like. So many people were surprised that we were here 'cause we do kind of keep a low profile.

Catelin: Yeah. You know, most of the rest of the Sioux City staff is more introverted than I. And so we get a little weird statement of the year's, like, why, who's coming up those stairs? And like who Yeah, exactly. Like what? What are you trying to sell? But, uh, girl Scout cookies come on in. Mm-hmm. Always. We have a, we do have a sign

Rich: downstairs that says, I think it's, um, like anecdote 71, staff and guests only.

Rich: Unless you have puppies. Unless puppy, we love puppies. Oh. And I think we did. Oh, I love that. I think we also put, and food deliveries are okay. Like, yeah. Because we like food and we like puppies. Yeah. Um, but so far I'm, I'm amazed nobody's ever come up the stairs with like a puppy and just been like, hi, I saw your sign and I went and got my puppy and came back.

Rich: Well,

Catelin: I don't think that the, um, I know they don't allow it downstairs. The health code allows the coffee shop non service. Animals. Yeah, I was gonna say, speaking

Cathy (2): of Courtney, I know Courtney has a dog, so I could send Courtney in. Her lab dog is in there.

Catelin: Don't they have a very cute golden do, do they have like a doodle, right?

Catelin: Did I make that up? What kind of dogs? I

Cathy (2): think they have a chocolate lab or a black lab.

Rich: Mm, okay. Okay. You might be making it up.

Cathy (2): I think. I think I, I could also be making it up, but it's fine. Yeah. Have I know of unknown origin?

Rich: Yeah. I, I just sat there and, and bring my dogs in and I know I brought 'em up the back staircase and it was on a day mm-hmm.

Rich: When the coffee shop was closed. But yeah. Um, it is kind of weird 'cause you have to kind of. Pay attention to your neighbor, like

mm-hmm. What

Rich: can they do? What can we do?

Yeah.

Rich: Um, I think one of the other things, getting back to the branding, and you mentioned this, Kathy, um, we had gone through some painstaking, uh, steps in, um, pretty much 2019 and 2020 to start defining our brand.

Rich: And by the time we started this project. We had defined our brand. Like we even had a list, list of these are our brand.

Cathy (2): Yep. Our

Rich: cul our culture words.

Cathy (2): Mm-hmm.

Rich: And, um, we do have those up on the wall now. Oh good. Um, next time you're in Sioux City, you should definitely go take, I take a look at that. Um, but Caitlin and Megan, yes.

Rich: Yes. You can come up the stairs and you don't have to bring a dog. Yes. I don't have to bring a dog.

Cathy (2): Maybe I'll bring treats though.

Rich: Perfect. But I found a place that would, um, would do them actually in our web font. So they did, had all the Google fonts. So it's in Montserrat Cool. Which is our web font. Um, and then it was just a matter of once they got here, it was just a whole bunch of letters and templates and getting them up on the wall.

Rich: Um, but Caitlin did it, I think, in part, 'cause we were hosting something and that orange Wall has always just looked so bare.

Catelin: Yeah. It was time. The letters had sat on a desk, um, for a, for a someday project. For a few months. Months, yeah. And maybe close to 12 months. Uh, coasting

Cathy (2): an event to finish out a space.

Cathy (2): I will. It's this thing our own

Catelin: home. Ah, quick make it look like nobody lives here. Yeah. Like you shoving shit in closets and Yeah.

Rich: Yeah. And I think our big thing was, um, you know, people wanted to come back to the office and that was great. So then mm-hmm. It becomes, well, let's make an office people want to be in.

Rich: Correct. Yeah. That feels good. And 'cause also, I know when we go over to your offices in Sioux City and I've been to Des Moines, Spencer in Grand Island as well. Um, and I've actually been to the Omaha office too. Oh good. They all have a similar, I guess they bend all your offices. Yeah. They have a similar feel.

Rich: Yeah. In that more like. Uh, industrial open, you know, the brick they like, you've got brick behind you there. Yep. Uh, painted white, but it's still brick. Um, and when we, every, every time we would go over to CNBA, Jessica used to say this, I used to say this, it just felt like we were in our own office. Like we could just sit down, grab a desk and work.

Rich: Now we can't do your work. But it felt culturally nobody like that.

A really

Rich: good place. And I know Christia had said the same thing. About like when she comes over to our pla our space. Like it just feels, yeah. Good. And it's like, well, your people designed it so it should, and it's also a very similar vibe, you know, old warehousy.

Cathy (2): Yeah.

Rich: Brick building. Um, and I think that, um, I. Do you ever have clients who like, are like, yeah, we're just not really gonna put any branding in, we're just gonna do, you know, something more basic and stark just glass and steal? Or do you guys tell those clients to take a hike?

Cathy (2): No. Well, we never tell clients to take a hike, but I was like, I either, um, I will say, and especially again going back to kind of my K 12 experience recently, is that mm-hmm some schools have a really strong brand.

Cathy (2): And some schools do not, some schools can't even tell me what their RBG colors are. You know, they just, their color is red. They don't know what the actual red color is. Yeah. So it can even just make it challenging from that perspective of making sure the correct colors get in the gym and mm-hmm. You know, making, putting your pride through in a K 12 building.

Cathy (2): So we have tried to nudge some of those clients that don't have as strong of a branding, you know, like, Hey, maybe you should consider this because. The unfortunate part is that you're putting all this money towards, you know, putting new branding up on the gym walls and in the office spaces, you know, and in the hallways you're doing all these cool infographics, and then if you then do your branding after that.

Cathy (2): You're having to update all that mm-hmm. Stuff that you just integrated. So I don't know that it's necessarily a, we're not gonna integrate it, but just more of a

Rich: we don't know how

Cathy (2): Yeah. And you have to be more careful than, but we don't dunno what it's Yeah.

Rich: Right. We are happy to help any of them figure out their brand.

Rich: Yeah. Um,

Cathy (2): we've

Rich: absolutely, in

Cathy (2): an ideal world, the package is done for branding when I come in and start designing the interior. Mm-hmm. It just. It really does just make my job so much easier if I know what the colors are, what logos I can use for graphics in different locations. You know, what are, I'm speaking, graphics, logo, what is the rules for what logos can go on black versus what can go on white?

Cathy (2): Yeah. You know?

Mm-hmm.

Cathy (2): It just, it makes a space come to life a lot easier than trying to take an old logo and try to squeeze it into places and.

Catelin: Well, and it, it's you, it's an extension of the consistency too. Correct. Where you can like come off of somebody's website and walk into their space, right?

Catelin: Mm-hmm. Whether that's a school building or an office or Yeah. You know, a healthcare facility in your case where like, yeah, that, that extension of consistency, but also like reinforcing what's important to. Them and the people that they're serving mm-hmm. Is just, you know, like you can really, really do that when, when those standards are are strong.

Cathy (2): Or even, um, in a healthcare environment. I actually spoke at a healthcare conference recently about the importance of branding and integrating it. And one of my key topics there was that, you know, you put so much money into marketing campaigns to get people to come to your facility and what that logo and what that color is, and then when they come to your facility, what is that brand experience when they get there?

Cathy (2): You know, it doesn't stop at the appointment being made. Right. It needs to continue through their customer experience, and I think that's true no matter what business sector you're in is. You know, if you're gonna put all this effort into marketing, it needs to also translate through to your space. And how do you reinforce

Catelin: what made somebody come to you in the first place?

Catelin: Right. It's so much client interaction starts with a website or mm-hmm. You know, social media post, that's hopefully Right. Branded in a way that's consistent with your other efforts. Mm-hmm. And so how do you just like reinforce what got them to you in the first place? 100%.

Rich: Yeah. I think making sure that's also how you know you're at the right place, right?

Rich: Because it just feels right

Catelin: hanging. Yeah. You walk in and you're like, uh, this is purple. And I thought it was gonna be green and I don't know what to do. Am I here? Yeah. It's

Rich: a different green than I thought. Is this really the right place? The logo, yellow color? Yeah. Um, I wanna go back to two things. One, I want to point out that what I'm hearing is we are the perfect client for an interior designer.

Rich: We probably could use more budget 'cause I know budget. I was constantly saying budget. Always budget, budget, budget, budget. Um, and that's the same thing in our business. It's the more money you have, the more we can do and the cooler it is. Right. But one, one thing that I think was really helpful for us is we had, when we defined our colors, um, one, we, we had the match to Sherwin-Williams paints.

Rich: Mm-hmm. So we found a Sherwood Williams paint that was very close. So like, um, our Explorer Navy. At the time, you could actually go to Sherwin Williams and find, explore Navy as the color, and it's the exact right color, which is great. But like, you know, they all had flexible red, thrive Green, invigorate Orange.

Rich: That one's also a Sherwin Williams in Discovery Blue. So is that one. They all have this idea that they're, they're beyond colors. The colors actually tied back to, you know, our feeling and our brand and our culture. Um. And I think that's like one of the most important things, like it really helps you. I feel sad for somebody who's like, our, our logo is red.

Rich: Yum. What? Red? Mm-hmm. What red? And is it a blue red or a black red? Yeah. Right. You know how

Cathy (2): or how many French red, or even just you go into the different buildings on the campus and the elementary red is different from the middle school red, which is different from the high school red and it's just, it's hard to make things cohesive.

Cathy (2): And then, you know, even as a parent who would have a high schooler and a middle schooler, is that brand experience the same? You know, it's gonna be a little different, especially, you know, in elementary building. Um. Again, once you get through the main public spaces, you don't want that red because red's very overstimulating for kids.

Cathy (2): So, you know, back to that place comment when you come in the door, do you know you're in the right place? But then from there, integrating some of that other, um, mm-hmm. Design research from there. But yeah, that initial reaction when you walk into a place is really important from a brand perspective. Yeah.

Cathy (2): Yep.

Catelin: Well, and

Cathy (2): even like

Catelin: in the case of a school student perspective, right? Right. Like, I have belonged here in this, in this place. Yes. From the time I was seven and now I'm, you know, 17. And, and what does that feel like too? Like

Rich: mm-hmm. If my, again reinforcing

Catelin: that like for sure. Point of pride too. Yes.

Rich: If my high school changed their purple and gold and what those values were, people would like revolt.

Cathy (2): Yeah. School colors are hard and even, um, mm-hmm. Teachers are attached to 'em when we come in. And you know, nature based design is huge in K 12 right now, and mm-hmm. So really reinforcing like, yes, your school colors are going to be in those public spaces when you first come in, but then when we get to the classroom wings, we gotta soften it.

Cathy (2): And they have a hard time getting on board with that. And I get it. 'cause I come from small town Iowa. You know, you bleed your colors so you don't wanna come off of 'em. But at the same time, you wanna create these invigorating learning environments that the kids can thrive in. So yeah. What's that balance?

Cathy (2): Very cool. Yeah.

Alright, well I think, can we come back?

Catelin: This is so fun. We can do another one. Yes. Yeah. Okay, great.

We'll find another old cocktail we can

Rich: make.

Cathy (2): Oh, that's easy. That's not a big deal.

Rich: Does this mean I gonna, can I buy another office? Can I buy a building or no? I, I'm not gonna Omaha office. Am I hearing Omaha like the Omaha office?

Rich: So, uh, everybody in Omaha works remotely now, so we're actually, you know, looking at giving up our lease.

Cathy (2): Oh, wow. So

Rich: the opposite effect. Yeah. To have a physical space where. Every, I mean, 'cause and Omaha's more spread out, right? So one of the employees, she's like, I'm 45 minutes from the office because she's out in Gretna.

Rich: And it's like, yeah, no, I get it. Yeah. So we did look at like, we've been debating like, do we move it closer? Do we move more central? But, um, but yeah, it's hard. So no nothing there right now.

Cathy: You can come visit us in city anytime I need to do this. Oh yes, I do.

Rich: I do wanna encourage everybody to go to, uh, your website, cba architects.com and Zach will put it in the notes, check out the portfolios.

Rich: Um mm-hmm. The, especially, I love the K 12 and the higher ed, especially how you like Yeah. You get those colors in, you gotta get those colors in. Mm-hmm. But then like magical stuff happens in other spaces. Yeah. And I love the way education in particular, and even medical to some extent is having more collaborative spaces.

Rich: For sure. So cool. So definitely go check those out. Um, I don't know. And we'll

Cathy (2): plug for you guys 'cause you designed our brand new website, so you did, we have to put the plug back to you guys as well that our beautiful new website was like all together there.

Rich: I think we've done, I think we've done three websites for you guys over the years, if I remember right.

Rich: Awesome. They just keep getting better. Yes, they do. They do. They

Cathy (2): keep evolving. All right. Much like design. Thank, thank you for being here so much. Yes, thank you guys for having me.

Catelin: So fun. Oh my gosh. Our pleasure. Our pleasure. We will be back obviously next week with another exciting episode. You can find our agency at Antidote seven one.

Catelin: If you have a question you'd like to send our way, you can visit CTA podcast live. To send us a message. You can also leave us a voice message on our hotline at 4 0 2 7 1 8 9 9 7 1. Your question will absolutely make it into a future episode. Rich, can you tell our listeners what's coming up? Do we know?

Rich: Um, we don't know what's coming. Coming up for. It's gonna be another episode, episode. Episode. Uh, yeah. We've, um, with winter and colds and sickness we've been on, like our schedule, we've been recording a little bit wonky. Mm-hmm. Uh, but trust me, Zach has something great for next week and it's gonna be

Catelin: awesome.

Rich: If you want to, uh, fight me or fight Caitlin about why Chili's is better than Applebee's, we'll take that call too. Yeah. Uh, you will lose. But we would absolutely take that call. Apple, while isn't even on

Cathy (2): the table. No.

Rich: Right. No, exactly. So

Cathy (2): they used to be good. They used to be

Catelin: good. I think Applebee's, the last time they were good was when they had like the $1 margaritas

Cathy (2): and that was

Catelin: at least 10 years ago.

Catelin: So, and when they're like

Cathy (2): after 9:00 PM special of like $2 long Islands and half price apps. Yeah, we did, we did a lot of that when I was in college. But that was long enough ago now also exactly what I, I was just gonna say, it was like, sounds similar. We probably, that's episode

Catelin: for podcast. After Dark, we'll relive our ours at Applebee's.

Catelin: Alright,

Rich: and then with that, we will see everybody next week.