Electrifying e-commerce powers Voltage

LOUISVILLE — Eric Fowles always has been a man on a mission — whether it’s the two years he served as a Mormon missionary in Paraguay, his role as father of six children, or his time behind the wheel of The Beast, a white 15-passenger van he uses as a recruiting tool to bring young new talent into his growing four-year-old business, Voltage Advertising & Design.

That sense of purpose has helped him propel Voltage to No. 2 on the Boulder County Business Report’s Mercury 100 list of fastest-growing private companies based in Boulder and Broomfield counties that report annual revenue of less than $2 million.

Voltage reported a 179 percent increase in revenue from $287,000 in 2009 to $801,000 in 2011.

Fowles credits doing “honest, straightforward business” for that growth. “Doing good work just leads to more work,” he said. “We’re not an aggressive, oversell business. We take little steps at a time. But each one of those small steps has been a big step for us.”

One of those little steps was a digital partnership with Colorado Springs agency Vladimir Jones.

Some bigger steps are taken in Reebok shoes.

“We partner with their e-commerce team to provide creative strategy, design and deployment of e-blasts, banner ads, online marketing and on-site creative,” Fowles said. Voltage has redesigned Reebok’s e-commerce website, which will launch at the end of July.

The list of major rebranding clients is long: Major accounts such as Centura Health and Smashburger, local players such as Xcel Energy and Boulder-based Cloud 9 Living, international brands such as European outdoor-equipment brands FjallRaven and HanWag, and even a few quirky clients such as Big Chill, manufacturers of retro appliances.

He developed a typeface that won a certificate of excellence from the New York Type Directors Club, and will offer it in Voltage’s new font store, Voltage Limited.

Fowles, 38, graduated from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, with a degree in graphic arts and a clearly defined set of values.

“My faith absolutely has an influence on our business,” he said, “the way we treat people, clients, and the office environment. I hope our agency is different in the fact that family is very important, and even though we do have tough deadlines, we believe a proper balance is needed to be creative and keep a positive work environment.

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