"The Lexington marketing, research, public relations and graphic design firm Preston-Osborne was recently named Commerce Lexington's Small Business of the Year. In a conversation with Business Lexington's Tom Martin the firm's co-founder and CEO Phil Osborne reflects on the honor and offers his observations about the market and the times.
TM: Phil, thanks for joining us today.
PO: Thank you, Tom. It's a pleasure to be here.
TM: Tell us what it is like for you after these years in business to be singled out for the honor of Small Business of the Year by the chamber of commerce.
PO: Well, as I told the Chamber that evening of the award, we've won four National Silver Anvils from the Public Relations Society of America, being recognized for campaigns that we've conducted. But (we're) more proud of being selected Small Business of the Year, because it's the local leadership of the local business community who made that decision. I think the fact that we were honored is a testament to my staff and some of the staff members that have come and gone over the course of the 20 years I've been there and the 10 years I've owned the company.
TM: Looking back on it, do you remember a more exciting time in Lexington as compared to now?
PO: Oh, no. No, not at all. I've been in this market ever since I got out of college, so I've been working in the market 25 years — actually 27 years, now that I think of it. And I think with what's going on downtown, with what's going on under Mayor Newberry's leadership, some of the exciting things that Commerce Lexington is doing, that the Convention and Visitors Bureau (is doing) and of course the World Equestrian Games, absolutely nothing approaches the excitement that I feel in this community right now, in the 20 odd years that I've been in the market.
TM: A large component of what you do at Preston-Osborne is research, market research. Anything new and interesting that you all have discovered of late that we might find interesting?
PO: Well, it's interesting and disturbing. Whenever we do kind of generic polling, we always ask what sort of issues are top of mind, or what are the most important issues facing your community Even within the urban areas of Louisville, Lexington, and Northern Kentucky, increasingly we are hearing about drug problems, drug-related issues. You know, it's pandemic in eastern and western Kentucky with meth labs, etc., but it's not without its problems in the urban areas too. And it's actually supplanted education in many communities as being the number one issue, so that's a disturbing trend that obviously (calls for) some attention in all levels of government — federal, state and local.
TM: There are many challenges out there, but it's also a very positive time. What do you see in the near future for Lexington?
PO: One of the things I always tell my staff, because they've swallowed the Kool-Aid, so to speak, in terms of this excitement, this energy in town, back in the old days when I worked at WLAP radio, one of the first news stories I covered in 1980 was a coalition of people throughout the Central Kentucky area talking about collaboration for the Bluegrass region. You know, 1980 to 2007, (and) 27 years later, we are still talking about it. So while it is an exciting time in terms of the electricity for downtown, the electricity for promoting the region, etc., someone still has to take ownership of it and make it happen, because unless that happens, we will still be talking about it 20 years from now. What I suggested to one of my staff members who's very caught up in the downtown development excitement that's going on is we need a downtown czar. We need somebody who can interact with the downtown Lexington Corporation, with the Downtown Development Authority, with the LFUCG, with the LCBB, with the Lexington Convention Center — everything that's involved in downtown needs — to have one conduit to channel a lot of information. So if a czar is in place, then he or she can make things happen. Otherwise it will continue to be a patchwork kind of approach.
TM: Has this idea been suggested to folks up on the 12th floor of LFUCG?
PO: Not yet.
TM: You know, we talk about downtown a lot. A lot of us are very excited about downtown, we work downtown or very close to it, but if you don't, if you work in the suburban areas of Lexington, you may not have quite the same drive or same interest. Why should that person who works in the suburbs, or even the exurbs of Lexington, be interested in the redevelopment of downtown?
PO: Well, I think part of that answer comes with some of the chamber trips that have taken place over the past few years. When you go into a Charleston and you see a vibrant downtown Charleston, South Carolina, or you go into a Providence and you see a vibrant downtown Providence. The heart and soul of any community is its downtown, and it's the only thing that is common. So you have people in suburbs in the east, west, north and south — they're in their own little island, but they call downtown "downtown," and that is where the heart of community is. So I think they have to get beyond coming downtown once a year to renew their drivers license or something like that and make downtown an experience, where people will want to drive in from out on Harrodsburg Road to enjoy something downtown either personally, professionally or with their families. So that's, again, the onus on whoever that czar is to provide arts and entertainment, or social activities or professional development activities to pull, so that downtown truly is the magnet for everybody in the community.
TM: Again, referring back to the recent award by Commerce Lexington, quite an affirmation, a validation. Not that you needed it, but it certainly does elevate that in this community. Where do you take that from here? Where does Preston-Osborne go from here?
PO: Well, we're an old company, but we're a young company. Tommy Preston started the firm 30-something odd years ago. I've been there 22 years, I've owned it for 10, so I look at it from kind of stages. Okay, for the past 10 years we have done this, this and this; as a result of that, we've been recognized by Commerce Lexington for our accomplishments, overcoming some fairly significant challenges in our history, etc. So what I hope to do with the award is leverage that to excite my staff members to go out and do even better things: better things professionally, better services to clients, better things for the community, and just become even more engaged than they already are. And they are a pretty engaged bunch to start with, so again, the award is not about me per say; it's about the gifted people that I have surrounded myself with, and I think it's kind of a catalyst to get them to go do even better things in the future.
TM: Phil Osborne, thank you so much for being with us.
PO: Thank you, Tom.