‘We tell a story in a sign’

As the co-founder of Imagination Graphics in Coeur d’Alene, a full-service ad agency co-owned by Lisa, 30, Jeremy Deming and the six-member staff, have created a variety of distinctive ways to get any point across.

Whether the message is a one-word blurb on a sticker, a few sentences on a billboard, a picture on a package or an eye-catching graphic wrapped around a bus, there’s almost no limit to the ad agency’s creative capacity.

“We tell a story in a sign,” said the 31-year-old Jeremy Deming, while seated at the conference room table in their Fourth Street office. “We do everything creative, including coming up with concepts, for whatever the purpose may be. We come up with creative concepts for whatever message (the clients) want to get out.”

To that end, Imagination Graphics can create everything from the smallest sticker to the largest mural, from magazine ads, Web design and apparel, to their specialty bumper-to-bumper vehicle wraps that use custom-made vinyl prints; whatever it takes to make the client look better than they ever imagined.

Their handiwork can be seen on signs dotting the area, such as at Gozzer Ranch, and on vehicles traveling across Kootenai County, including on the outdoor-themed Citylink buses, the Pita Pit RV, and even on boats, Jet Skis and motorcycles.

“We’re not a typical ad agency,” he explained.

A quick tour through their midtown office offers evidence of that.

Inside their corner-lot headquarters of the eight-year-old business, just beyond the vinyl-wrapped forested entrance, the graphic design room is a showcase of employee inspiration, with snowboards, skateboards and custom decals lining the walls.

For the bigger commercial projects, illustrations are created on a computer in the building’s rear shop, then sent to an oversized inkjet printer where the heat-applied vinyl wraps roll off and are applied onto an array of cleaned objects. The vehicle wraps cost between $3,000 and $3,500 on average and will weather the elements for three to five years. “The vehicle stuff is our forté; there’s nobody around here who can do what we do,” the owner said. “We’ve really learned all the little tricks of how to keep it on.”

Touting a progressive and youthful attitude, the business is a blend of artistic talents, infused with the different adrenaline-seeking extreme sports that the employees enjoy.

“That’s who we are, and we aren’t going to try and be somebody we’re not,” said Jeremy Deming, adding that they have hosted several Fourth Street Expo events in their parking lot, which included ramps, half-pipes and even a long pool for skateboarding, BMX riding and wakeboarding.

The ad agency opened in 2002 in a smaller, 1,000-square-foot building several blocks south of their current location. It was so small they had to block off part of the street to do vinyl applications. Since then, the Demings have grown the business in a number of ways. Although they recently had to downsize their staff, the billboards and bigger prints have remained business mainstays, while layout design, guerrilla tactics such as placing stickers around ski resorts, and Web development have in the past few years become some of their more popular services.

“You can just come to us with a blank slate,” Jeremy Deming said. “We do logo design, business cards; we try to do it as a package to build an identity. …We kind of just cover everything.”

An example of Imagination Graphics’ work can be seen at the new Honeysuckle Glade development in Hayden, an 18-acre condominium and town home community being built by the developer SilverStone Homes and Land Co.. Promoting the development’s ready-to-be-lived-in framework, a caption beneath a picture of an elderly man cutting grass with a pair of scissors asks, “How are you spending your summer?”

“With these guys, it’s very creative,” said SilverStone co-founder Wade Jacklin. “That’s why we keep coming back, because their ideas are awesome.”

After having tried other ad agencies first, Jacklin said the Demings’ business approach proved much more beneficial. “The integrity, value, and you’re getting a superior product. They are easy to work with. We have worked with other people, and these guys by far listen to you and do what you want, rather than shove their idea down your throat.”

That’s another thing that separates Imagination Graphics: When you love what you do for a living, coming to work every day is much more enjoyable, the owners said. “I’m pretty fortunate,” Jeremy Deming said. “The ownership side of it isn’t always fun, but when I get to sit down and create something for somebody, it’s great.”