Histolosophy (his·to·los·o·phy)
Our history and philosophy are so closely intertwined that we combined them and made up a new word: histolosophy. It’s a cool word, fun to say and even harder to spell. But we think it’s going to catch on.
In the beginning...
Once upon a time (February of 1993, to be exact), friends and fellow designers Patrick Doyle and Marc Lefebvre embarked on a cross-country road trip that would change their lives forever.
Marc recounts the stunning series of events that led to their decision to launch a new ad agency. “We were perched at the edge of the Grand Canyon surveying the breathtaking beauty that lay before us... Ah, who am I kidding? We were chugging up a steep hill in a car that couldn’t get out of its own way,” says Marc.
With all that time spent in the car, plans for their new business began to unfold. By June of that same year, Doyle Lefebvre & Associates became a reality.
Sure, they started out in an office no bigger than a breadbox, with just two computers and a dream. But within a few months, they had enough work to squeeze designer Paula Schulzki into the place.
Getting started
With a focus primarily on print projects, Doyle Lefebvre & Associates made it happen for residential real estate clients as well as the manufacturer of some big, yellow earthmovers (you know who we’re talking about).
Just two years later, they were “movin’ on up... to that de-luxe apartment in the sky.” (Actually, it was the third floor of a nice, downtown Peoria office building, but you get the idea.) Since the office didn’t resemble a crowded subway anymore, they were able to add more employees: a business manager and production artist. They expanded their repertoire, adding more services in order to be more of a one-stop-shop for their growing client base.
Because of their commitment to making things as effortless for clients as possible, they even decided to change their hard-to-spell (and even harder-to-pronounce) company name to simply DLA Creative. They continued to stay one step ahead, incorporating websites and interactive media when those terms were in their infancy. They then began to expand into new industries, adding many healthcare and financial clients.
New directions
In late 2000, Pat became a proud papa, and the following year he decided to take another path. Pat has now gone down a yellow brick road where he works his design wizardry for Peoria’s own big yellow giant.
A few hours (yes, hours!) after Pat's son arrived, Marc’s daughter was born. He and his wife, Michelle, decided that since their personal partnership had worked out so well, a business venture was the obvious next step. So Michelle, after racking up a bazillion miles commuting and accumulating countless frequent flyer miles for her previous job, decided it was time to put her travels to rest and join DLA.
With Michelle on board, things moved fast. DLA expanded its scope of marketing services to include comprehensive marketing planning, in-house copywriting and public relations, becoming the epitome of a full service agency. In 2006 they blew the doors off the joint, adding a designer/web developer, a copywriter/media buyer and a bookkeeper.
The story continues
Today, DLA Creative has an impressive list of loyal clients who we go the extra mile for each and every day. Committed to Central Illinois, we purchased our own dirt in 2008 and turned our unfinished office condo (literally, nothing but a dirt floor and brick walls) into the new DLA World Headquarters. Now the sky’s the limit. It’s almost like viewing the Grand Canyon again.
We’re DLA Creative. We work hard. We have fun. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. But what we are serious about is our ability to please our clients and get the job done — above and beyond what they may have ever expected.