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JP Catholic News, September 30th, 2009
Student Business Highlight - Creative Rhetoric
John Paul the Great Catholic University is not a large school—but that’s how the students like it. At large universities like University of California at San Diego, students are easily lost in the shuffle. The large class sizes often mean that an individual student, no matter how talented, is no more than a face in the crowd. JP Catholic does not have that problem. The intimate classroom setting allows the professors to truly get to know their students. This means that professors can not only help students in the context of schoolwork, but also recognize and foster the talent that students display. Matt Salisbury and his fellow student Justin Wilga have experienced this through the founding of their company, Creative Rhetoric.
Creative Rhetoric presents a uniquely valuable offering to the business world. “We help companies tell their stories,” Matt Salisbury explains. “We help them influence their clients through story.” Creative Rhetoric offers design work, copy writing (the written element of any kind of marketing material) as well as help with company web sites. The core service, however, is presentations. Creative Rhetoric crafts more effective, story-driven Power Point presentations for their clients.
Like most other successful start-ups, Creative Rhetoric was born when a need was identified. Provost Dominic Iocco had spent some time judging business presentation competitions at local schools like UCSD. Many of the presentations being given by these new companies were very weak. “He saw a real need,” according to Matt. “These companies might have all the passion in the world, they might have the funding, but they don’t know their company’s story. Or they may know the story but they don’t know how to present it effectively through Power Point.”
JP Catholic’s Business Launch Pad provided the perfect opportunity to meet this need. At the beginning of the spring 2009 quarter, Dominic Iocco had a meeting with seniors Matt Salisbury and Justin Wilga. “Dominic had been toying with the idea,” Matt recalls. “It wasn’t just going to be an ad agency that crosses borders. He wanted to help start-ups and non-profits improve their Power Points.” Both Matt and Justin were excited about the idea. The team adopted slide:ology by Nancy Duarte as their bible. They used it to help them determine the most effective way to present a company’s story through a business presentation.
Creative Rhetoric is a unique mix of perspectives and expertise. Dominic Iocco is Provost and Professor of Business. Matt Salisbury is an Entertainment Media major. Justin Wilga is an Entrepreneurial Business major. The diversity of this team is a major aspect of their success. Provost Iocco provides the experience and the know-how—he has raised millions in venture capital and run two highly successful businesses. Justin gives the team a firm grounding in reality. “He is much more business, financial, bare bones,” Matt says. “He brings it down to specifics.” Matt brings a lot of creativity to the company; he focuses on visuals. The individual talents of each team member are used to the fullest through the creative process. “We sit down as a group and brainstorm, trying to find the client’s story,” Matt explains. “Everyone brings their own experience and talents to the table.”
Working with Creative Rhetoric has taught Matt about the genius of the group. For the past five years he has worked as a freelance graphic designer. “It’s just me and the computer,” he says. He has learned how valuable a good team is and how important it is to trust the team and respect everyone’s contributions. “As long as we go back to that teamwork, the company is going to stay strong,” says Matt. “The teamwork helps our clients get the most out of everyone’s talents.”
Creative Rhetoric certainly does help their clients. Their first client was Kids 4 Jesus (also known as K4J), a faith formation program aimed at children. K4J contacted Creative Rhetoric for help with their new School of Virtue program. The goal of the program is to bring virtue and Catholic spirit back into parochial school classrooms. K4J was scheduled to give a presentation to a group of parochial school principals at a keynote event in New York. “We gave them a really effective presentation that communicates what their program does and how it can help the principals of parochial schools,” Matt explains. Creative Rhetoric also wrote a script for the presentation. In fact, the script is one of the most valuable components of the package. It was written in such a way that it could be given in any context with only slight modification. This way K4J can send the presentation to its offices as an effective marketing tool. The presentation could be recorded and embedded on K4J’s web site. It could even be loaded on a Blackberry or an iPhone and used as a digital business card. “That’s part of the value we offer,” says Matt. “We make sure our slides are very light so they can be used in different ways.”
Creative Rhetoric’s primary target market is non-profit organizations, but they also work with for-profit businesses. Lloyd/Flanders, a company specializing in outdoor furniture, approached Creative Rhetoric with a request for copy. The company was releasing a new line of high-end furniture and needed copy for their catalog. “Our client was really happy with the work,” Matt says. “It’s good to do work for someone, even if it’s for-profit. We take pride in doing solid work, in truly helping our clients.”
Matt, Justin and Provost Iocco are currently working with Sacerdos, an organization dedicated to helping diocesan priests deepen their vocation. Creative Rhetoric is working with Sacerdos’s program Curso de Hispanidad, which sends priests from the US to Mexico to help them understand how best to serve their Hispanic parishioners. Creative Rhetoric is working on Curso de Hispanidad’s web site as well as a re-design of their presentation. “When you pay your bills with projects like this, you’re doing business like other companies but you’re helping causes you believe in,” Matt says. “That’s where the real reward comes from.”
JP Catholic’s Business Launch Pad made the current success of Creative Rhetoric possible. “Without the Launch Pad, there would be no Creative Rhetoric,” Matt states. “Dominic was the first one to come up with the idea; none of us would have come up with it on our own.” Provost Iocco, Justin and Matt worked together to make their company what it is today. As students move through the Launch Pad, they are required to attend weekly meetings to discuss and work on their businesses. If they do not come to the meetings, they do not get the grade for the class. Matt found this very helpful. “It’s not that I hated the meetings,” he recalls, “but the academic requirement really helped us lay the groundwork and the framework to build the company. The requirements of the curriculum really helped us set a solid foundation.”
September marks the beginning of the end for Matt and Justin—they are entering their final quarter before graduation on December 12. Both are planning to continue with Creative Rhetoric past graduation. Provost Iocco will also continue to be involved. “It’s a lot more than just a class project for him and for all of us,” Matt says. He is confident that the company will continue to survive and thrive as long as there are clients who need help. “At Creative Rhetoric, everyone’s engaged, everyone’s involved,” Matt states. “We’re all passionate about the company.”
Passion is what it all comes down to for Matt. “Try to take some time and really identify what kind of business you want to get into and who you want to work with,” he advises students entering the Launch Pad. “The team is the most important part. You need a team that’s as passionate about an idea as you are. It really makes a difference.”
Passion is what JP Catholic is all about, too. The professors are constantly reminding their students to do what they really love, whether that be writing a screenplay or crafting a business. The professors truly want their students to succeed. They foster talent and push students to climb the steep path to success. JP Catholic’s professors give students the opportunity to grow their God-given talents.
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