Chaos Ensues for ?Vendorville?

Chaos Designs LLC, a graphic design firm in Bentonville’s Beau Terre office complex, has tripled its vendor sales preparation business from last year. Larry Topping, Chaos’ creative director, said that segment increasingly has become both enjoyable and profitable.

He declined to discuss the private company’s revenue. But Topping said the firm was founded in July 2000 with about $4,500 worth of pre-billings, and that revenue has grown significantly. Chaos employs five full-time people.

“We’ve done more business during the first quarter of 2002 than we did during all of last year,” said Topping, a former graphic artist for retail behemoth Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

“We’re really enjoying and becoming more skilled at prepping vendors for sales meetings with buyers from any mass retailer.”

Chad Smith is sales manager for retail supplier Pacific Connections, a distributor of luggage, backpacks and women’s’ handbags. He said Chaos’ creative atmosphere sets it apart.

“Chaos has helped increase our visibility and sales,” Smith said. “We’ve done business with them for about two years now, and they have been really good to us. Their diligence, persistence and commitment to deadlines and services has given our business strengths we could not achieve with an in-house design team.”

A Macintosh-based design house, Chaos works with 25-30 clients at one time. Topping said his firm specializes in building company and product identity with logos, packaging and other promotional materials. But Chaos is a total turnkey business, offering every phase of service from concept to distribution.

“More and more clients want one firm to handle everything instead of trying to find different people to design, print and co-pack their materials,” Topping said. “The bar has been raised from year to year, and it’s very difficult for one of our clients to walk into a meeting with a retail buyer with nothing but the product in their hands.

“[The buyer] wants to see packaging — merchandising on the shelf — and we’ve developed a way to get a vendor in there with an effective mockup package. They go in with a full presentation.”

Topping, a Bartlesville, Okla., native, said establishing a flexible production schedule has enabled Chaos to turn projects around quickly.

Chaos has never solicited business. Instead, it has relied on word-of-mouth from clients such as Wal-Mart vendors Brass Eagle Inc., Body Glove, Buck Knives, Great Outdoor Grill and Blue Rhino.