Q+A: Jeremie Watkins and Shaun Habibian:

Advertising execs: Stand by your word and provide the wow factor

Jeremie Watkins, left, and Shaun Habibian are managing partners at Kre8 Media Outdoor Advertising, which is behind many of the mobile billboards seen driving the Strip.

Kre8 Media Outdoor Advertising started, Jeremie Watkins says, because he relocated to Las Vegas to support his wife’s career move. The company he had worked for had to let him go, so he launched his own business. He connected with Shaun Habibian professionally, and since 2012, the two — managing partners at the firm — have grown the business to more than 200 employees.

Do you have any recent news or updates about yourself, your work or your company that you’d like to share?

Jeremie: My wife, Jamie, and I are expecting our first child due in May, a baby girl. Jamie and I went to the same middle school and high school and connected later in life. Our journey since we’ve reconnected has been nothing less than amazing.

Two years after we launched Kre8, we bought the company that had let me go.

What is the best business advice you’ve received?

Shaun: Do what you say. It sounds so simple, yet it’s true. Our company has a motto: “We say it … we do it.” Our employees and customers know they can rely on our word.

What has been your most exciting professional project?

Jeremie: We were tasked by Cirque du Soleil to re-create the “Wheel of Death” on a mobile billboard. We worked closely with Cirque and took the lead in every step from concept, to design, manufacturing and implementation. The preparation for a project like that was heavy. We had a behind-the-scenes tour at the “Ka” showroom to give our engineers and creative team the opportunity to make the custom build-out spot on. The final product is a real-life wheel of death on the Strip with motion, audio, custom lighting and fog effects.

It has been greatly received. These enhancements on mobile billboards just don’t exist anywhere else.

Describe your management style.

Amy Matthews (director of human resources and administration): Jeremie tends to have an involved management style, hands on and participatory with his team. However, he knows when to step back.

Shaun tends to let the team find their way, and will only step into situations when asked or he sees the opportunity to.

Where do you see yourself and your company in 10 years?

Shaun: We will expand our business model in major regional metropolitan cities in the western United States. My goal is to take this company public and allow anyone to own a piece of this great company.

What is your dream job outside of your current field?

Jeremie: I’ve always had a passion to coach football. I was fortunate to play quarterback for Arkansas State University. The element of team and competition is of great value in my personal and professional life.

If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be?

Shaun: Somewhere close to water. Life brings enough at you; it’s nice to be near water. The ocean has always had a soothing effect on me.

Whom do you admire?

Jeremie: People who are honest, transparent and hold to their word.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

Jeremie: When someone’s response to a question over email is “yep” or “yup.” For some reason that just gets me every time.

Shaun: Bad customer service. This is something that has gone downhill and seems to be the norm now; I always appreciate a great customer service experience.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Shaun: I’m shy, so being in a leadership role while being shy has been a challenge for me.

Jeremie: I wish I could multitask; my wife says that she’s always amazed that if you give me more than one thing to do at a time, I short circuit.

What is something people might not know about you?

Jeremie: My name was supposed to be Jason, but my mom’s friend named her son Jason a week before I was born, so Jeremie it was. I was born in Italy. My parents didn’t know how to spell Jeremie so they added the “ie” instead of the “y.” It’s turned out to be a blessing; it has stood out my entire life.

Were you two friends or colleagues before starting Kre8?

Shaun: We started as a client/customer relationship and it took off from there. Jeremie had experience in outdoor advertising sales and I had the operational and technology experience.

What makes Las Vegas such a great place for mobile billboards?

Jeremie: The Strip is the perfect habitat for mobile billboards because of the proximity to the ads of both pedestrians and vehicles, as well as the 24/7 schedule of business operations. Also, due to the leisurely state of people seeing our ads, they are more apt to recall the messages and ultimately act on them.

We have the best hotels in the world, the most renowned restaurants and the most elaborate show productions, so why not have the best advertisements? People have come to expect the “wow factor,” and we deliver it.

What are your thoughts on driverless vehicles? Do you see them taking over your industry in the near future?

Jeremie: I believe it will be some time before this happens. We believe in safety first, and we’d want to take a very close look at this before implementing it with our fleet.

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