From Corporate Burnout to Kentucky Fried Creative
Kevin Klepeis • July 16, 2025
Why We're Rebranding and What It Means for Your Business
From Corporate Burnout to Kentucky Fried Creative: Why We're Rebranding and What It Means for Your Business
After over a decade in the corporate marketing grind, I've learned something important: the best strategies aren't always found in the boardroom. Sometimes they're discovered when you step away from the endless cycle of goals, higher goals, and even higher goals that literally fry you to your core.
That's why I'm excited to announce the rebrand of Ascent Marketing Services to **Kentucky Fried Creative** – a name that represents authenticity, community, and high-level marketing expertise without the corporate BS.
The Story Behind Kentucky Fried Creative
It all started with Kentucky Fried Sports, my hobby that set me free during a time when life was super stressful and mentally unsafe. What began as a creative outlet became a reminder of who I really am: goofy, non-traditional, fun – but someone who gets the job done and treats everyone fairly.
Corporate America taught me valuable lessons, but it also showed me what I don't want to be. I'm tired of making other people money when they don't give a damn about me, my family, or my community. This weird obsession with money and power ages you faster than actually enjoying life.
But the real awakening came through Sprocket Paducah.
Working with the incredibly small and medium-sized businesses in our community opened my eyes to something troubling: so many fantastic local companies are being misled when it comes to marketing. They're getting sold expensive solutions that don't fit their reality, or they're being ignored by agencies that only want the big corporate accounts.
I'm here to help, not take over.
The Collaboration Revolution
Here's what I've learned after years in this industry: the "know-it-all" agencies are dying off, and good riddance. This business is changing faster than ever before. Technology doesn't wait. Consumer behavior shifts overnight. What worked last year might be irrelevant next month.
The agencies and consultants who think they have all the answers? They're getting left behind because they refuse to humble themselves and collaborate. I see it happening constantly – businesses that won't adapt, won't listen, won't work with others because their ego gets in the way.
The truth is, none of us knows it all. And that's exactly why collaboration is the future.
The most successful campaigns I've seen come from teams that combine different perspectives, skills, and experiences. Your business knowledge + our marketing expertise + fresh ideas from unexpected places = strategies that actually move the needle.
What Kentucky Fried Creative Means for Paducah Businesses
As a local marketing agency in Paducah, Kentucky, we're bringing Fortune 500-level strategies to small and medium-sized businesses across the commonwealth and beyond. Here's what makes us different:
Authentic Marketing Solutions
- Strategic Marketing Planning that actually makes sense for your budget and your reality
- Content Creation Services including video production, photography, and graphic design
- Digital Marketing Services from SEO to Google Ads management that adapts as algorithms change
- Website Development that converts visitors into customers and grows with your business
Local Expertise, Corporate-Level Results, Collaborative Approach
We've absorbed high-level strategies across all service lines during our corporate years. But more importantly, we've learned to listen, adapt, and collaborate. We're offering that expertise to Kentucky small businesses
at a fraction of the cost of hiring expensive agencies or additional in-house staff.
And we're doing it as partners, not overlords.
Our Kentucky Marketing Services
Strategic Marketing Consulting
From comprehensive market analysis to 12-month action plans, we develop marketing strategies that actually work for local businesses competing against corporate giants. But we do it together – your industry knowledge combined with our marketing expertise.
Creative Content Solutions
- Professional video production starting at $700/half-day
- Photography sessions from $750-$2,000
- Blog content creation at $250-$500 per article
- Graphic design services at competitive hourly rates
Digital Marketing Excellence
SEO Services Paducah
– Get found by local customers (and adapt as Google changes the rules)
Google Ads Management
with transparent pricing and constant optimization
Website Development
– From $5,000, complete solutions that evolve with technology
Social Media Marketing
that builds real community connections and responds to platform changes
Retainer Packages for Growing Businesses
Our marketing retainer services include everything from content creation to digital marketing management, designed specifically for Kentucky small business marketing needs and built for flexibility as your business grows.
Why Choose Kentucky Fried Creative?
We Listen Because No One Listened to Us
In corporate America, too many voices get lost in the noise. We're different. We listen to your actual needs, not what some playbook says you should need. Your input drives our strategy.
We Adapt Because the Industry Demands It
Unlike agencies stuck in their ways, we embrace change. When platforms update, algorithms shift, or consumer behavior evolves, we evolve with them. We don't pretend to know what's coming next – we stay flexible and ready.
High-Level Experience, Local Prices, Collaborative Spirit
You get the same strategies that corporate giants use, delivered by someone who understands the unique challenges facing Western Kentucky businesses. But you also get a true partner who values your expertise in your industry.
Authentic Partnership
We're not here to blow smoke or promise unrealistic results. We're here to build genuine partnerships that help your business compete effectively in today's market while staying true to who you are.
The Sprocket Paducah Effect
Working with our local business community through Sprocket Paducah showed me something powerful: when small businesses get the right marketing support – honest, collaborative, and adaptive – they don't just compete with the big guys. They often beat them.
Why? Because they care more. They adapt faster. They know their customers personally. They just need marketing partners who understand that and work WITH them, not over them.
Ready to Get Fried? (In the Best Way Possible)
If you're a small business in Paducah
or anywhere across Kentucky, and you're tired of being outgunned by bigger competitors with bigger marketing budgets – or tired of being misled by marketing "experts" who don't listen – let's talk.
We've learned what works at the highest levels, and we're ready to collaborate with businesses that actually matter – the ones that care about their communities, treat their people right, and want to grow without losing their souls in the process.
The marketing landscape will keep changing. Technology will keep evolving. Consumer behavior will keep shifting.
But businesses that stay humble, keep learning, and work together? Those are the ones that thrive.
Contact Kentucky Fried Creative today
for a consultation that could change how you think about marketing your business. Let's build something memorable together.
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Kentucky Fried Creative
serves businesses throughout Paducah, Western Kentucky, and beyond with comprehensive marketing services including strategic planning, content creation, digital marketing, and website development. Ready to compete with corporate America while staying true to your roots? Let's collaborate.*
Kentucky Fried Creative
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This blog is a firsthand account of the first month of running Ascent Marketing Services in Paducah, Kentucky. It shares the owner's key insights about the local marketing landscape, including how many businesses are being overcharged for marketing services, the universal need for video production, and the value of supporting existing marketing teams rather than replacing them. The post emphasizes the importance of community collaboration over competition, highlighting a successful partnership with other local marketers. It concludes with honest reflections on the financial realities of entrepreneurship and the personal satisfaction of building a business that provides executive-level marketing expertise at accessible rates, all while maintaining integrity and work-life balance.
This post introduces Ascent Marketing Services and its founder. It tells you the real story behind the why of this marketing service.