Agency Bytes Ep 047 – Dan Antonelli, KickCharge Creative
In this episode, I got to speak with Dan Antonelli, President and Chief Creative Officer of KickCharge Creative. Dan’s agency is by far one of the most deeply niched teams I know of, literally owning the home service branding space and having written the book on it. Dan and I dug into the difference his agency saw once they declared ownership over that space, stopped chasing service-based work that they didn’t find profitable, and rebranded themselves to drink their own cool-aid. Dan experienced a near-death event a few years ago and he spoke about how that was a driving force for him to realign some of his priorities and team structure so they can have more impact and help more people. He also shared how that led to selling some equity in the agency by bringing on a partner this summer and the benefits that will have for KickCharge. Lastly, Dan’s team faces regular copyright infringement, mostly from freelancers stealing their designs and using them as their own. Dan shares how they deal with that, as well as what not to do in instances like that.
Dan Antonelli is the President and Chief Creative Officer of KickCharge Creative, an award-winning New Jersey-based branding agency that specializes in helping home service businesses redefine themselves and stand out with disruptive brands. Dan is a nationally recognized speaker and expert on home service branding, with several books on branding to his credit, including Building a Big Small Business Brand and his new Amazon best-selling book, Branded Not Branded: KickCharge Your Home Service Brand. During more than 25 years running his own agency, Dan’s marketing expertise has been featured on MSNBC and in industry magazines including Entrepreneur, SignCraft, HVACR Business, Plumbing & Mechanical, and Contracting Business, among many others. His signature wrap style that integrates disruptive branding has served as a model for superior home service fleet branding throughout the world. With more than 2,000 home service brands under his belt, Dan and his team have overseen the branding of more home service businesses than any other brand agency in the world.
Contact Dan on his website, LinkedIn, and Instagram, or grab a copy of his book.