On this episode of the Bourbon Friday Show we had the opportunity to talk with Tyler Kelley, Co-Founder of SLAM! Agency about one of his latest ventures: the Innovation City podcast.

Innovation City

Innovation City made its debut on April 2nd thanks to the collaboration of Venture Cafe St. Louis and SLAM! Agency co-founders Michael Johnson and Tyler Kelley.

Their aim is to showcase the innovators, disruptors, and creators who are changing the way business happens. Featuring some of the greatest innovators in North America, Innovation City has hit the ground running with refreshing and engaging content.

Here’s the list of fellow St. Louis innovators hosted on the podcast.

• De Nichols, Social Practice Designer
• Darian Wigfall, Music Producer, Author and Activist
• Cami Thomas, Director, For The Culture TV
• Ben Mizes, Co-founder, Clever Real Estate
• Ben Triolla, Game Designer, Happy Badger Studio
• TJ Hughes, Game Designer, Terrifying Jellyfish
• Matt Menietti, Executive Director, Global Hack
• Zach Hatraf, Founder, Anchor Rides
• Louis Quatorze, Video Artist
• Jonathan Allen, Editor-in-Chief, EQ

Tyler’s Story: Doing Something Bigger

A little over five years ago, Tyler and soon to be co-founder, Michael Johnson, found themselves with the same sentiment, wanting to do more. After working together a few times, they decided to join forces; Tyler with his background in digital consulting and Michael with his in cinematography.

“It was the perfect timing to do something bigger than ourselves,” Tyler said.

Like many others, SLAM! started out as a full-service agency—taking on a wide variety of digital marketing projects. But as time went on, they began to focus on content marketing, specifically the areas of content development, social media, and paid media. By honing and refining their skillset, SLAM! Agency has been able to become a notable player in the content marketing industry.

The insight: As an agency, you can do many things well, but to truly be great, you have to focus on what you’re best at to find success.

The Importance of Storytelling

The panel discussion revolved around storytelling, one of the most important aspects of content creation. To start it off, Erik Lutenegger from Tenacity kicked off the discussion by telling the story of the bourbon enjoyed on the show.

The bourbon featured is a Basil Hayden’s, made in Kentucky and known for its distinct spicy notes of rye. Yet that’s far from the most interesting part of its story.

The episode wrapped up with a discussion around these questions of storytelling: what does it mean for a business to tell its story? Is it how you got started? Is it what drives your ambition?

Tyler recommends focusing on what gets you excited about your business and how your business aims to improve the lives of the people you do business for. Storytelling is a great medium for helping businesses make a human connection with their customers. And that can look different for every business.

Storytelling can happen through promoting a unique workspace, bettering the internet by creating fast and well-constructed websites, or promoting client stories with amazing content.

In the end, people want to do business with people, not with brands or corporations, says Tyler. “The purpose of telling your story is to connect your story with another human being’s story, and when that happens, magic happens.”

Fridays are for Bourbon

Bourbon Friday started about a year ago in an effort to build the St. Louis entrepreneurship community and share our stories, over a glass or two of bourbon, of course.

It’s something we all look forward to each week and hope to see grow even more. If you’d like to attend sometime, please let us know! While it’s currently an invite-only event, limited to the T-REX community, we are more than happy to add you to our list. Please email Nick at [email protected] to learn more, and don’t forget to watch The Bourbon Friday Show on EQ’s Facebook page again next week.