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Audio
Branding, Inc.
Ike LaFontaine
by Rod Brandt
"Our
resume is really on the radio here in town,”
said Ike LaFontaine, ABI’s creative director
and CEO. “Our core competency, what we’ve
been doing mostly over the years is jingles. We probably
are the most prominently heard company.”
"A
gifted bassist, drummer and singer, Ike has produced
albums for several other artists. When the opportunity
came five years ago to form a company, it was a dream
come true. “I never thought in a million years
I’d be able to have a regular, daily job where
I do what I love to do, which is music,” he
said.”
"What
God chooses to bless us with is sometimes–at
the moment it may seem like a curse,” said Steven.
"'Why isn’t this thriving, why isn’t
this moving forward?’ It’s not until you
look at things from a walk with God, and you look
backwards and you go, ‘Wow, that really was
a blessing’ because this opened the door to
here and allowed this to happen.”
 You
may not know them, but you certainly know their music.
They write those catchy tunes that you find yourself
humming for no apparent reason, other than they’re
catchy.
Audio Branding Incorporated’s jingles have helped
sell washers and dryers, motorcycles, engagement rings,
telephone service, automobiles, orthodontia and more.
“Our resume is really on the radio here in town,”
said Ike LaFontaine, ABI’s creative director
and CEO. “Our core competency, what we’ve
been doing mostly over the years is jingles. We probably
are the most prominently heard company.”
In the world of advertising, jingles are considered
a high-ticket item and generally out of the reach
of small businesses. But ABI will try to work with
any budget, believing its service can make a huge
impact. “People are going to reach for something
in their mind that they know and they’ve heard,”
said Vice-president Steven Bills. “If people
tend to hum your business, when that moment in time
comes that they need your service, that’s what
they’re going to reach for.”
ABI is conspicuously family oriented–Ike’s
wife, Amanda, is chief financial officer. Steven’s
wife, Kendra, manages the studio. They also collaborate
with Ike’s sister, Sheri, a national gospel
artist, on many of their recordings. Even the LaFontaine
and Bills children play a part, singing in a widely
recognized jingle for Maumee appliance retailer Appliance
Center. “Most people are surprised when we start
rattling off the list of local companies that we have
worked for.”
Ike was born in Lima, Ohio but raised in Ontario,
Canada. He is the son of a preacher and part of a
musically gifted family that has toured since Ike
was a child and still performs together to this today.
A gifted bassist, drummer and singer, Ike has produced
albums for several other artists. When the opportunity
came five years ago to form a company, it was a dream
come true. “I never thought in a million years
I’d be able to have a regular, daily job where
I do what I love to do, which is music,” he
said.
Ike was contacted by investors, who happened to be
fans of the LaFontaine family’s music. They
had heard of Ike’s desire to start a company
and struck a deal with him to provide the seed money
to get ABI off the ground. But, after a great start,
things went bad quickly. The investors lost money
on a venture not related to ABI and in the backlash
decided to pull the plug on Ike. “Literally,
overnight, all this funding that we had, new equipment,
a salary for me and my wife was all of a sudden gone,”
he said.
Rather than argue breach of contract, Ike decided
to negotiate. With the company dissolved, he could
have escaped repaying the debt, but didn’t.
“I made a promise to these people that I was
going to pay them back,” said Ike. “And
we’re still trying to pay those people back,
just because we think it’s the right thing to
do.”
It was a difficult experience, but one that proved
their determination. “It was scary right after
that because it was just us,” said Ike. “We
literally have scratched and scraped and done everything
we could to go after the business ourselves, picked
up part-time work, sold things, did whatever we could.”
It wasn’t until last August that Ike was able
to sever ties formally with the investment group.
The following season was a boom–ABI’s
largest quarter of revenue.
“What God chooses to bless us with is sometimes–at
the moment it may seem like a curse,” said Steven.
“‘Why isn’t this thriving, why isn’t
this moving forward?’ It’s not until you
look at things from a walk with God, and you look
backwards and you go, ‘Wow, that really was
a blessing’ because this opened the door to
here and allowed this to happen.’”
Many companies from the local area are turning to
ABI for jingles, voiceovers, sound effects, radio
spot creation or even just as an advertising consultant.
Recently ABI has begun to shoot television commercials
and video for Internet, mix surround-sound audio for
film and provide branding materials that complement
an audio/video campaign.
Although much of ABI’s work is done locally,
its jingles can be heard in LA, Chicago, Atlanta,
Orlando, Washington, DC and many other places around
the country.
“We have been tested in that more than anything,
and that’s the great part about what we do,”
said Ike. “We know that if everything fell apart
tomorrow, I would be okay that God somehow walked
me through this for a reason. We’ve got these
guys (gesturing towards Steven) as friends that we
never would have had. My wife and I are closer because
of it. We love each other more.” AUDIO
BRANDING, INC.
6540 West Central Ave.
Phone: 419- 868-7800
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