Impact Magazine Issue One 2017

THE triple bottom line:
profit, environmental impact,
and social impact.
EUDEMONIA
Aristotelian marketing gurus
Aristotle first used the word eudemonia to describe
the theoretical notion of the “greatest human good.”
The word is composed of two Greek terms: eu meaning
“good” and daimon meaning “spirit.” While, Aristotle
never explicitly said what the greatest human good was,
the word acts as a sort of placeholder for us to explore
the possibilities of what that might be.
Erik Joule (‘EJ’) and Gabe Fox, founders of Eudemonia, a
flourishing creative agency, pursue their own form of the
greatest good through the work they do and the businesses
they help grow.
In EJ’s words, their agency was created, “To help brands
become the best they can be and make the greatest possible
impact that they can.” The unique value that EJ and Gabe are
committed to upholding, and perhaps can attribute to their
early success, is that they choose to work with clients who
want to make an environmental or social impact - businesses
with a triple bottom line: profit, environmental impact, and
social impact.
Spend a few minutes with these guys and you’ll get to know
a dynamic duo of savvy, articulate, creative businessmen
with a clear mission. Eudemonia helps brands effectively
communicate their vision and mission in order to attract
more clients and, ultimately, become more profitable. EJ and
Gabe provide comprehensive marketing services, including
but not limited to brand positioning, website design, content
management, and social media strategy.
“To help brands
become the best they
can be and make the
greatest possible
impact that they can.”
Combining their individual skills sets,
EJ and Gabe explain that Eudemonia
takes a comprehensive approach when
compared to a standard creative agency.
“Usually the creative agency is separate
from the sales operation, but we offer
a solution where the two departments
talk to each other,” EJ says.
Past, present and future: crafting a
new way forward
Gabe and EJ are both cycling enthusiasts
who met at Stinner Frameworks, a
small company in Goleta that makes
custom steel bicycles, and became fast
friends. At the time, Gabe was working
for Stinner’s parent company, and EJ
was transitioning from an executivelevel
position at Strava in the Bay Area.
Realizing that they had complementary
skills and got along effortlessly, the two
initially came together to help evolve
the Stinner brand. This first project
proved to be a huge success and gave
them the confidence, and clientele,
needed to start their own venture.
Through Eudemonia, they are excited
to help change the way businesspeople,
and business in general, are perceived
in the world. “Businesses can do really,
really positive things,” EJ shared. In
addition to developing businesses with
good professional relationships, they
are enthusiastic to develop a community
of people who care about one another
and understand that businesses have
the potential to connect people deeply.
Part of this vision is to work with and
be surrounded by friends and those
who inspire them. Gabe and EJ have
successfully evolved their friendship
to include a business partnership,
and this is simply the way they intend
to roll. To this point, EJ added, “It
would be really wonderful to always
work with friends and not be scared
of the word ‘love’ in business. I was
fortunate enough to spend five years
at Levis, and, at the executive level, we
were very comfortable with that. We
wanted to work in a community-based
environment, and understood that if
we could actually love each other and
be great together, we could build really
great brands.”
They say that if you want to make the
world a better place, you have to live
your own life in an exemplary way; if
there is something you want changed
in the world, change it in your own life
first.
After getting to know EJ and Gabe, it
seems plausible that heart-centered
business practice is one way that
Aristotle hoped we might realize our
own unique forms of eudemonia.
our people / 29