Blue Zoo Co-Founder is Into All Things Creative

Blue Zoo Creative co-founder Eric Huber believes everyone’s got a story to tell and, on the Internet, you have about three seconds to do it.

In his estimation, that’s how long a person browsing the Web typically will spend looking for a solution on a company’s website before moving on to another page.

Huber believes businesses should aim to connect to potential customers during those three seconds — and that’s where Blue Zoo comes in. 

The team helps companies with their online presence. Blue Zoo specializes in website design and development, social media management, online marketing, digital advertising, graphic design and blogging services. Each company has unique needs within these realms, Huber said.

Huber, who graduated with an art degree from Hendrix College in Conway, calls himself the chief creative officer and co-founder Collin Condray is the chief technology officer.

In other words, Condray is the left brain and Huber is the right, he said.

The two started Blue Zoo in 2008, although it was at first merely a side project to their work at Tyson Foods Inc.

The startup company in Fayetteville now has six employees, including a web developer, a graphic designer and a copy writer, and serves about 60 clients from throughout the world — most of whom do business in Northwest Arkansas.

Huber said he enjoys his job because he often works with clients who are passionate about their business. “I love it when people are telling you about what they do, and they just light up about it.”

That’s how Huber gets when he is talking about his work. Not only does he have a love for art and design, he is also excited to help business owners translate their own vision in a way that engages their audience.

Passion is an essential trait of any entrepreneur. But, in Huber’s opinion, there is another important characteristic that is necessary, and that’s optimism.

Blue Zoo is not Huber’s first foray into the startup world. When he was a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class in 2005, he was co-owner of Vulcan Creative Labs, a Web and graphic design business that — by startup standards — was very successful, thriving for more than six years since its inception in 1999.

Vulcan Creative ended when several of the principals wanted to go in different professional and personal directions, and Huber subsequently got a job in the corporate world as art director at Tyson.

It was during his five years there that he gained an appreciation for creating a company culture and also for the importance of organizational systems, an element which had, at times, been lost on him as a creative person.

Since being featured in Forty Under 40, Huber said, “I’m a lot more focused. And part of that is a focus on what’s important: people. I always try to take care of the people around me.”

When he gets positive feedback from a client, where he hears sales are growing or Web traffic is up because of Blue Zoo’s work, the first thing he thinks is, “Who else can I help?”

That altruistic factor is his biggest motivator.

Another major change since 2005 has been in Huber’s personal life. He has been married for seven years now and has three children.

Between family life and work, he still tries to take time to explore his own personal creative interests, which include music and writing. He writes columns and short stories, all of which can be found on his website, www.erichuber.com. “And yes, I was able to get that domain name because I’m in websites,” he said.

Huber considers himself a movie buff. His favorite is the original Star Wars, but the first movie that made a huge impression on him was The Wizard of Oz.

In the future, he hopes to find more time to play his trumpet, a hobby that has fallen off in recent years.

He also is involved in the local chapter of Business Networking International, works off-and-on as an instructor for the New Design School in Fayetteville and serves on the school’s board of directors.