Looking at how the Covid-19 pandemic affected businesses in Kansas City, Kansas, couple Taylor Burris and James Spikes merged their individual creative businesses to make IRIS Creative Projects Agency.
IRIS provides full-scale branding, various digital and artistic services, and strategic planning to clients. Spikes said bettering KCK is the top priority for the agency.
When the pandemic hit, Spikes said the agency wasn’t necessarily “rolling in clients,” but the couple recognized an opportunity for growth from the uncertainty Covid-19 brought. The duo realized they had overlapping clients and could strengthen their businesses by combining.
“I think the change that Covid brought to business made our talents and our services more marketable because we need different ways to be visible now, we need more creative ways to do business,” Spikes told the Kansas City Business Journal. “That's kind of what we provided for people and just seeing how, in what seemed like a very bleak spot in our business, or in business in general, we were able to see success or growth.”
The agency’s target audiences are businesses that serve the community and nonprofits.
The merger proved to be the best partnership Spikes has had — in business and in life. The couple is great at communicating with each other, he said.
"It allows us to be more in tune with each other and work with each other a lot better and understand things and from a different perspective,” Spikes said.
