Cranky Creative

Barbra Denison, CEO

Cranky Creative creates & installs vinyl "wraps" that provide advertising in non-traditional places - creating marketing messages on buses & other vehicles, as well as elevator doors, escalators, walls, tabletops and other surfaces.

Barbra Denison, CEO of Cranky Creative, has been a client of The Women's Business Center of NC since May 2008. She has worked with a WBC counselor in discussing restructuring of the company's HR assets, and internal development of the organization. Since meeting with the WBC, Ms. Denison has re-arranged some staff positions in the company, and is comfortable that now has structured the business to take advantage of each employee's strengths & is utilizing her assets more efficiently.

Ms. Denison has attended several events sponsored by NCIMED-WBC. She continues to work with the Women's Business Center for counseling and special networking events, as well as taking advantage of classes offered at the local Small Business Center.

This fall, Ms. Denison was a winner of the Make Mine a Million $ Business award. Sponsored by American Express OPEN and Count Me In, the Make Mine a Million $ Business is a competition which allowed women entrepreneurs the opportunity to present their business ideas to a panel of business experts and a live audience. Judges chose winners based on the owner's experience and skill, a realistic vision for growth of the business and the ability to execute that vision, and the business's growth potential. As a winner of the competition, Cranky Creative will receive professional coaching & mentoring, financial assistance from American Express OPEN, and a technology package from program sponsors like Dell and Cisco.

Her recent accomplishments include: an elevator wrap for Lenovo highlighting their sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics, Monster Truck wrap for Raleigh's Christmas parade, and a project completed for the Radisson hotel in Aruba; while on site finishing that job, she was also contacted by Weston hotel next door to Radisson; they suggested possibility of obtaining future contracts to work with Weston hotel chain.

Other major opportunities on the horizon, on verge of signing contracts with: EZ-GO (world's largest golf cart manufacturer) and Polly PortaJohns.

Ms. Denison recently returned from NH, where she discussed a franchise-type arrangement with car dealership there. A large auto dealership that sells cars to individuals & also handles fleets for corporate accounts is interested in partnership program. Cranky will provide the auto dealership with materials/ wraps/ graphic products & train their mechanics to install products.

Ms. Denison is considering obtaining certification as woman-owned business. Her WBC counselor discussed with her the requirements needed for certification, and the certification process. We will continue to follow up with Ms. Denison's progress as she expands her business.