RipeConcepts is a world-class outsourcing boutique for all things digital, with a core in creative, graphic design, web, animation, 3D modeling and back-office solutions. They can work with anyone, from startups to Fortune 500’s and pride themselves on being twice as fast and HALF the cost of US domestic providers.
RipeConcepts grew out of the needs of the previous business of Paul Lyon, RipeConcepts’ founder and CEO. Twenty years ago, Lyon had a business that did outsourced manufacturing of licensed items. “We had every license from John Wayne and Jimi Hendrix to Sesame Street and Wonder Woman,” says Lyon. But that business struggled with two issues: one was ad agencies’ lack of guaranteed ROI, and the other issue was seasonality. Lyon thought he could do better than the agencies he was hiring, so he started his own.
“I started RipeConcepts to disrupt creative agencies who take your money and never provide you any tangible return,” says Lyon. RipeConcepts does this, first and foremost, by going offshore, to Cebu, Philippines. “In Cebu we have a dozen universities in a fifty mile radius,” he says. Much of the labor pool Lyon is able to access there are first-generation college graduates, who are simply hungrier than most American millennials and have a better work ethic. The Philippines is a natural fit because 96% of the population speaks English.
RipeConcepts also builds “mirror teams” for companies who may want some friendly competition with their domestic staffers. “So maybe they have twenty people doing Photoshop every day,” says Lyon. They create a mirror team doing the same thing, and typically within 3-6 months they outperform that domestic team. “And at a fraction of the cost,” adds Lyon.
The company is now ten years old, has a handful of people in Salt Lake City, Hong Kong, and China, and 600 full-time employees operating out of a state-of-the-art facility in Cebu, Philippines.
“We do work for everyone from Disney to Warner Brothers to Lego and Mattel,” says Lyon. “These are prized brands that typically would not be comfortable going offshore. We also do back-end work for agencies as highlevel as Ogilvy, and branding for a lot of startups.” They handle anything and everything creative, digital, designrelated, which is supported with a lot of development.
Lyon explains the wide breadth of RipeConcepts’ offerings by citing the fact that a company’s CAC (customer acquisition cost) is their highest cost. “Once you develop a customer and you develop trust,” says Lyon, “I find it advantageous to build that partnership and do whatever they need done.”
This agility for Lyons is paramount, and is one aspect of RipeConcepts’ willingness to leverage the advantages others miss. Lyon notes that the internet has dissolved the world’s borders, opening up job markets. “In the digital world, there’s so much disruption, and creative agencies haven’t been keeping up,” he says. “They’re old school.”
RipeConcepts, on the other hand, is a whole new breed. “We’ve created a diamond in the rough,” says Lyon…..” the borders are gone.”
