Some people put a lot of thought into their college major.
For Chris Kennelly, it was more of a whim. A quick choice under pressure that he based on his love for television.
As an incoming freshman at the University of Florida, Kennelly said he had to immediately declare a major.
Truth be told, he had put more thought into where he was going to college versus what he would study.
Kennelly had applied only to Southern schools after too many winters in Connecticut.
The University of Florida had been his first choice, but now he had another decision to make.
As he looked through a book at possible majors, he saw television production as one of the many options.
“I love TV,” he told himself that day in 1999. “Let’s give it a shot.”
That shot turned out to be a career. One that led him to start Kennetic Productions, a small but mighty video production company whose clients include powerhouses like EverBank, Baptist Health, Fidelity National Information Services and Watson Realty Corp.
For Kennelly, the company serves as a visual storyteller for its clients, to show their heart and mission through videos.
It’s a business he’s as passionate about now as he was the day he celebrated with fist pumps after getting his first paycheck just over a dozen years ago.
‘Young and kind of stupid’ entrepreneur
The University of Florida was an easy choice for Kennelly.
His parents had planned to move to Palm Coast after he graduated from high school.
That 90 minutes from the Gainesville school was the perfect distance, he said. Close enough to be an easy drive to visit, but far enough that there were no surprise drop-bys.
Kennelly took early advice from a telecomm student to volunteer at WUFT TV-5, a PBS affiliate.
Over the next four years, he got experience in all 13 positions available on the 5:30 p.m. newscast, from cameraman through director. The latter was most interesting to Kennelly because it required him to know the other jobs “like the back of your hand.”
An internship in California put Kennelly at two sister companies doing, as he called it, “big stuff.”
At Aspect Ratio, Kennelly got to shadow editors working on trailers for major movies, such as “Spiderman” and “Hulk.”
Level 7 created commercials for national companies, including Red Lobster, Xbox and Burger King.
Kennelly left the West Coast thinking he could make a living doing that kind of work on the East Coast.
With some money from his parents and a loan secured by them as co-signers and his 2000 Chevrolet Blazer as collateral, Kennelly started Kennetic Productions in 2003 in his parents’ spare bedroom.
He was 22. Or as he describes it: “I was young and kind of stupid.”
Growing up as a company
Early on, the company’s work included wedding videos, which it later dropped because Kennelly felt “larger organizations don’t really want to see you as a wedding photographer.”
He grew commercial work through networking as a member of the JAX Chamber and its South Council. He was the council’s small business leader of the year in 2008 and its president in 2010.
But Kennelly’s first major client came from a lead a little closer to home — his father. His dad is a real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty. He was selling property in Palm Coast to an employee of Ocean Spray.
The homebuyer told Kennelly’s father about the need for a training video. Kennelly’s dad had just the person for the job.
Kennelly bought a portable DVD player to show the Ocean Spray official his work from college. He got the job and said company officials loved the video he made for them.
But, at that point, Kennelly didn’t know how to translate it into more than just a one-off.
He later scored a video for Ashley Furniture after Howard Fineman saw his digital business card on the wall at a car wash.
Kennetic produced a video for a job fair at the planned Ashley Furniture store at the St. Johns Town Center.
By then, Kennelly had ditched the portable DVD player for a laptop. He said when Fineman saw the video, he was so pleased he grabbed the laptop and started showing the video to other people.
This time, Kennelly knew how to use the video as a stepping stone to more work with the company. He did the commercial about the store’s grand opening.
Another client would prove to have a major impact in Kennetic’s future.
Finding a new direction
The company produced a video in 2012 for Foundation Financial Group, which Kennelly said was more of a management training firm.
That turned into a big ask of 35 videos. It was a lot for a small $100,000-a-year company with just Kennelly and a crop of freelancers.
Conversations quickly turned toward acquisition. Foundation Financial wanted Kennetic to do all its videos, while also growing Kennetic.
For Kennelly, it came down to either wanting all of a little thing or a piece of a big thing.
The stability of a large organization could increase the risks he could take without putting his family at risk.
Ultimately, he agreed to the acquisition and stayed on to lead Kennetic.
The company was doing a lot of work for Foundation Financial and didn’t have many other clients. When the work with Foundation Financial began to dry up, Kennetic struggled.
Foundation Financial went out of business in 2014, but because Kennetic was an affiliate — not a subsidiary — it was not tied to the closure.
The financial firm’s two owners wanted to keep Kennetic, which Kennelly knew he had to grow in a different way.
He did so by raising prices, making them correspond more to the quality that Kennetic was providing. The move brought them EverBank as a client, Kennelly said.
“They don’t want to use a cheap firm,” he said.
And the company started getting better consideration from larger organizations. The strategy resulted in record profits in 2014 and 2015.
It also brought more financial stability for Kennelly’s growing family.
Always maintaining the fist pumps
Kennelly met his wife in April 2006 at a British pub on Anastasia Island.
He was there to meet one of his buddy’s friend’s roommates named Emily. Turns out the friend had another roommate — Attie, short for Christina Attebery’s last name.
Kennelly was immediately smitten. “I was like ‘wow,’” he said.
They became great friends over the next six months. They played volleyball together, though he was a little outmatched in that respect. Attie had been a star on the Western Carolina University team, her career leading to becoming a member of the school’s Hall of Fame in 2013.
Attie made him work hard for their first date, which came four months later.
The couple married in July 2008 and have adopted three children: Lucy, 4; Leo, 2; and Mia, who turns 1 next month. As a family, they plant flower and vegetable gardens, watch PBS, ride bicycles and make pancakes.
“We chose adoption and they are the beautiful children we’ve been blessed with,” Kennelly said.
He’s got a great balance between a family he adores and a career that still excites him as much as the day he earned his first paycheck in the business.
Kennelly had produced a 10-minute training video for a resort in Palm Coast, which officials loved, he said.
They handed him an envelope, which he opened when he got to his Blazer. It was a check for $1,800 — the amount he had requested.
He pumped his fist several times because he was “so, so excited.”
It’s a moment he still shares during talks, like one he recently had with University of North Florida start-up students.
The importance of not losing their own fist pumps and excitement around being successful. Even if it’s just being successful in that moment.
Does he still celebrate that way?
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I’ve still got the fist pump for sure.”
But they’re worth more than $1,800 now.
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