Leaning On The Importance Of Relationship Building
For over 26 years, Jynné Harris has been passionately working at Kreber to tell the stories of companies in the home and furnishing industry through content creation. As the Vice President of Client Solutions, she has a passion for building relationships and understanding the goals for each client and each project.
We had the chance to sit down with Jynné to learn more about her career path, her passion for her work and how she found her way to WithIt. Keep reading for the full interview!
Q&A
In your own words, what is Kreber?
Kreber is a strategic, creative agency and visual content studio that specializes in brands for the home. Or, more simply put, we are a whopping 250,000+ square feet photography/video production studio offering over 40 large-scale, fully customizable sets that can handle any style or any size content production project. We have a robust staff of photographers, videographers, set-stylists, softgoods stylists, carpenters/painters, post-production editors. We also have a 70,000 square feet on-site logistics warehouse to manage the flow of products in and out of the studio (which is more important than you think). All of this is led by creative direction and supported by producers and project managers that oversee the production process ensuring each project stays on time and on budget.
Throughout all my years in the business, it’s been exciting to witness the evolution from film photography to robust, digital content that is now required across marketing assets: catalogs, sales tools, video and now especially, social media content. That’s where the breadth of what we do really plays into a brand’s marketing plans. Not only can we create beautiful roomscene imagery, we can then help our clients to capitalize on the opportunity to take those same room scenes and build them into a multitude of usable assets such as web/pdp images, video production, stop-motion or social media. We offer different price-point packages to help maximize budgets. Not only are we creating all this content, but are also helping our clients strategically through branding, seasonal planning calendars, website/pdp (A+ content), catalog design production, social media and CGI. There are SO many different needs for storytelling through visual content! Additionally, we have on-site post-production/editing, giving us the ability to control the quality of the final assets, including still photography, video and CGI imagery.
What do you like most about your role?
It’s definitely relationship building. I’m both extroverted and curious and I love getting to know people on a personal level. But I’ve also really enjoyed having a different perspective into companies and product categories and how each one brings their products to market. I am exposed to both manufacturers and retailers so I see how their go-to-market strategies differ. Understanding the retail marketing landscape helps us to provide guidance to the manufacturer’s strategy. One of the things that is most rewarding to me is to plan and propose a project scope, watch our team flawlessly execute it on time and on budget, and then have that client come back with the next project because not only are they happy with the results but also because they trust us as we build our relationship.
One of the things that is most rewarding to me is to…have that client come back with the next project because not only are they happy with the results but also because they trust us as we build our relationship.
Jynne Harris, Kreber
What’s a lesson you’ve learned in your career?
To be flexible and also be honest. There are times that either a time-frame or budget consideration is unrealistic or unreasonable so communicating that upfront and having those open conversations are really important. So instead of drawing a hard line in the sand, my approach is to offer an alternate solution so everyone is happy with the result.
What are you most proud of in your career at Kreber?
I’m most proud of the tenure of the accounts that I personally work with. I’ve had longstanding relationships with most of my clients and have developed other relationships from references that were sent to me from these relationships I’ve cultivated. I’m also proud of the relationships within our own company. I’m an intermediary between our client and our team. Not only am I responsible for our clients project needs but I’m also responsible for communicating all of that information back to our team. That constant communication and collaboration with the client and the creative team is really important.
How did you become involved in WithIt?
I witnessed the very early stages of WithIt’s development within the home furnishings industry. I never really felt like I should be a part of the group because I wasn’t directly involved in furniture. But then as I started following WithIt and had a better understanding that the group includes women in businesses that support the industry that I decided to join and become involved. Mentorship is very important to me so being able to show the next generation of women there are different roles and businesses that are indirectly related to home furnishings but are critical to the success of the industry in general.
###
If you’re considering WithIt membership for your professional journey, find out more about WithIt’s mission here or join today.
