January 18, 2019 Upstate Business Journal by Community Journals

THE MARKETING ISSUE JANUARY 18, 2019 | VOL. 8 ISSUE 2

NAVIGATING

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TOP-OF-MIND AND IN THE MIX THIS WEEK

| THE RUNDOWN

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2 Featured this issue: EP+Co looks forward after year of record growth .................................................4 Ferebee Lane brings brands to life...............................................................................8 Poe West bringing culinary school, retail, restaurants......................................12 Photo provided.

WORTH REPEATING “I look at Henderson as the first great creative agency, and Erwin Penland was absolutely the second greatest. Who’s going to be that third great agency? That’s what we aspire to be.” Josh Lane, Page 9

The Countybank Foundation recently donated $5,000 to the Creative Advancement Centers, an organization that partners with Greenville County Schools and the city of Greer to provide after-school tutoring and creative activities for at-risk children. Pictured (left to right) are Dan Dudley, President of Creative Advancement Centers, and Kevin Duncan, Greer City Executive for Countybank.

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JEFF HOFFMAN, KAREN MAWHINNEY, & ALLEN BOSWORTH

REIMAGINED NATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL FIRMS LOOK TO GREENVILLE’S EP+CO TO HELP DELIVER THEIR MESSAGES n story by SARA PEARCE & STAFF | photos by WILL CROOKS

It was the snarky voice of the social media campaign for Hollywood’s smash hit, “Deadpool 2.” It introduced a nation of do-it-yourselfers to Lowe’s as the new home for the iconic Craftsman-brand tools. “It” is EP+Co, formerly Erwin Penland Inc., a force in the advertising industry that has called Greenville home since it was incorporated here in 1985. The firm has morphed over the decades, as the name refresh at least partially reflects. Now EP+Co offers its clients a host of communications services including traditional advertising campaigns; strategy and planning; media planning and buying; social media campaigns and content; unique technological innovations designed to deliver clients’ messages; and more. 4

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“The explosion of digital and social channels — everybody is still wrestling with it and the most effective way to use it,” Allen Bosworth, EP+Co president, explained in a recent interview. “Staying ahead of all this change is a huge challenge for anybody, and if they say it’s not, then they aren’t telling you the truth.”

Helping keep old brands fresh

It can be hard for brands that once seemed to own their respective markets to maintain industry dominance or even relevance as times and tastes change. Heritage brands — those that are 60 years old or older — make up more than 50 percent of the agency’s current clientele, according to Jeff Hoffman, EP+Co’s chief growth officer. EP+Co focuses on helping these clients continue to be

successful as their respective industries evolve and new competitors appear on the landscape, Hoffman said. John Deere and Denny’s are two of EP+Co’s biggest client-success stories in this category, and as other companies in their respective industries struggle to maintain sales, EP+Co has helped John Deere and Denny’s re-imagine their brands — and maintain their worth. As EP+Co has rebranded and adjusted to change in the last five years, it has seen the most positive growth in the company’s long history, Bosworth said. Despite the growth and the ever-changing market, EP+Co has stayed true to the ideals on which the company was built. “There is a big agency who’s saying is ‘It’s all about the work, the work, the work,’ and I would say ‘I couldn’t agree more, it’s all about the people,

IN THEIR ELEMENT the people, the people, who make the work, the work, the work,’ because there is no ‘the work’ without the people,” Bosworth said. “We are trying to be the best we can be. We are not perfect, but we will always strive to be.”

From rough waters to smooth sailing

The list of clients the agency has added in recent years includes brands such as LinkedIn, 20th Century Fox, and Tempur Sealy International. But as the company celebrated the 30th anniversary of its incorporation in 2015, the news was not as good. The firm was reeling from the partial loss of a major client and 25 percent of the staff had been laid off. “The great thing about being a place that revolves around people is that it revolves around people,” Bosworth recalled. “The bad thing is that when you have a downturn, your only significant cost is people. We had layoffs. We had to reimagine our company. We had to do a number of things. Let me tell you, 2015 and 2016 were a very difficult time for this company.” Also during this time, Joe Erwin, the company’s founder and longtime

AND

Denny’s is especially known for their cheeky and irreverent Twitter account, which has been recognized by Buzzfeed, Forbes, and many more. This is thanks to EP+Co.

EP & CO

CLIENTS EP+Co has clients spanning across the United States as well as through 23 countries worldwide. Some are pictured above. Image provided. 1.18.2019 | upstatebusinessjournal.com

HOW IT WORKS:

WINNING PITCHES The stakes are high in the world of marketing on an international stage, so when an agency like EP+Co pitches to a potential client and wins a contract, those victories are times of celebration. Over the years, EP+Co has been notified in various ways that they’ve won the right to represent a business to its public. Some of the ways companies have said “thanks” include:

The arrival of a crate at the EP+Co offices marked the beginning of the agency’s affiliation with the big-box home improvement chain. “Our pitch was around the ability to bring the smart-home technology that Lowe’s has to life,” Hoffman said. “So they embedded all of the smart-home technology into this crate.” The crate opened with a literal bang as confetti shot out, along with a congratulatory sign and champagne — and a Roomba to clean up the mess, Hoffman said.

public face, left to pursue other projects. It was during this period the business rebranded from Erwin Penland to EP+Co. “It was trying in every way you can imagine,” Bosworth said. “However, coming out of that, we have really found our footing and really know who we are again. We have hit our stride.” As proof, Hoffman pointed out that, since 2015, the company has experienced its most successful run of client growth in its history. “We have hunkered down and identified what we are really good at and applied those resources in a way that says this is who we are, and this is what we are going to do,” he said. “To manage the volume of such large clients at a time when you’re shifting your portfolio is amazing. It’s not to be diminished that we are in the most-significant growth period that we have ever seen in this agency.” Those clients include Morgan Stanley, Lowe’s, Tumi, and The UPS Store, all of which have come on board since 2015.

Social media darlings

The 187-year old company stayed true to its roots when it presented EP+Co with a box filled with green and yellow John Deere hats, along with a handwritten letter.

The opportunity to pitch for Men’s Wearhouse initially came from a single project that grew into more. After the pitch, the Men’s Wearhouse team asked if they should keep the familiar “You’re going to like the way you look” slogan. “We told them they needed to keep it; we just need to make it mean something,” Hoffman said. That was good enough for Men’s Wearhouse. “They said ‘you’re hired and we’re moving our calendar; we want to work through this for lunch right now,’” Hoffman said. “That never happens for a brand that size to award the business right there and (then) get to work.”

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EP+Co’s notable work in social media for longtime client Denny’s not only earned the company greater exposure, it helped lure several of the new clients, which were impressed by the firm’s work. The agency’s handling of Denny’s Twitter account in particular caught the attention of companies everywhere. “We get a lot of props for their social,” Hoffman said. “We were named by Contently magazine as the Best Corporate Social Presence on the internet for our Twitter feed. It is really funny and irreverent.” The Denny’s twitter account gained notices from Forbes, Ranker, and Buzzfeed, and even caught the attention of 20th Century Fox. The company was working on the sequel, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” when director Matthew Vaughn noticed the Denny’s Twitter presence. “He was looking for a particular voice for the movie’s social media and he really liked what Denny’s was doing,” Hoffman said. EP+Co was hired to do the social media for the sequel to “Kingsman,” and went on to sign a six-movie deal

with 20th Century Fox. “We got the all-time greatest assignment in movie history, which was ‘Deadpool 2,’” Hoffman said. “If you saw social content come out from ‘Deadpool 2,’ it was either EP or Ryan Reynolds himself.”

“

We have really found our footing and really know who we are again. We have hit our stride.” ALLEN BOSWORTH EP+Co president

The character of Peter in “Deadpool 2” exemplifies the everyman surrounded by the heroes of the film. When Peter joined the X-force team, EP+Co saw an opportunity. “We decided to make Peter a thing. And Ryan Reynolds loved that idea, so we created a Twitter for him and a LinkedIn for Peter, which (LinkedIn) had never done,” Hoffman said. EP+Co created Peter’s backstory through the use of social media, which caught LinkedIn’s notice. “LinkedIn called us and asked us to pitch for their social business,” Hoffman said. “Which is weird because we are now doing the social marketing for one of the biggest social marketing companies in the world.” EP+Co has not only expanded its client base in recent years, it continues to actively work with its valued, long-standing clients to grow their businesses, which is one of the rewards of the work, according to Hoffman. “Men’s Wearhouse in the past year has quadrupled their stock price,” he said. “Now one in every five suits in America is a Men’s Wearhouse suit. Denny’s has had eight years of sales growth. It is great to be able to do creative work and do it in really interesting ways.”

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DISTINCTION n story by STEPHANIE TROTTER | photos by WILL CROOKS

If you walk fast, you might miss it: an understated glass door sandwiched between Aloft and Caviar & Bananas, in the heart of downtown Greenville. But the work taking place inside FerebeeLane is rippling across continents, influencing consumer purchasing decisions and operations at multimillion-dollar companies. “I may tell my mother this is an advertising agency,” says co-founder, partner, and director of account strategy Josh Lane. “But we are really a brand communications firm. Everything we do starts with a brand’s position.” It’s been that way since Lane and Matt Ferebee (pronounced “fair-bee”), struck out on their own after meeting at Erwin Penland in 2001. “Yeah, my first impression of him was very smart, and will we get along?” laughs Lane. “He was a writer and I was an account person. We found very quickly we wanted the same thing.” Ferebee adds, “We are both competitive. Very unwilling to stay the same in any way that isn’t optimal, isn’t perfect. If something’s not the best it can be, we are going to push it to make it better.” FerebeeLane’s been pushing for 14 years now, amassing almost $10 million in accounts. Half hold parent companies in other countries, like Miele, BMW, and Chimay, with many seeking consumers with discerning tastes, including legacy clients Le Creuset and Blackberry Farm. Lane and Ferebee credit the creative agency’s success to their ability to tell a compelling story for clients. “The notion of storytelling is much less about being contrived; we don’t do that,” says Ferebee, director of creative strategy and a writer at heart. “Ours is more of, let’s create a narrative that people can internally connect with and bring to life, that can be operationalized for a brand, and used to help break down the barriers that would normally exist.” And my, how they’ve learned to make those connections, persuading consumers to act. Exhibit A: Prompting people to purchase a $310 cast iron Dutch oven because it’s made in France and pretty. Exhibit B: Encouraging travelers to spend $1,200 a night on a hotel in the middle of nowhere, Tennessee (Walland — you can look it up), to seize some Great Smoky Mountain R&R. “My dad’s an Episcopal priest,” says Ferebee. “I’ve watched over the years when you take something abstract and emotional and give it shape and form through a story, and with that, you 8

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MATT FEREBEE & JOSH LANE

facilitate some sort of desired outcome and reaction. I think that’s what we do differently in our efforts to leverage the consumer.” The duo started small back in 2005. They had one client, Hickory Chair, and worked without a company name, nor business cards, for two months. Nowadays, the FerebeeLane team tops out at 25 employees. They’re settling into a relatively new 10,000-square-foot space overlooking ONE City Plaza, with room for traditional advertising and PR teams, as well as squads running social influence, photography, animation, and motion graphics. The day we visited, associate creative director Chris Bradley was spritzing a field of clover under a fluorescent light, encouraging seedlings to bloom for an upcoming product shoot. He’s one of the more recent hires. A few years ago, an industry colleague encouraged Ferebee and Lane to grow the firm, instructing them to hire people with skills in rapidly advancing areas (like social media), or presenting writing and management talents as strong as theirs, so the founders would be free to work on other tasks. The agency increased in size by 25 percent and is now breaking beyond the three-hour footprint that holds most U.S. headquarters of their clients – Atlanta to Raleigh, North Carolina; Charleston to Knoxville, Tennessee. While the firm’s cemented a niche with connoisseur home-andhearth companies, it’s also landed clients in banking (Wells Fargo), finance (Dixon Hughes Goodman), and manufacturing (Milliken). FerebeeLane is working both the consumer and retail side of health care with CaroMont Health in Gastonia, North Carolina, where their brand communication even guides how leaders lead 4,000 employees. “The fact we help internally operationalize, that sort of thing happens; it’s well beyond my expectations,” says Ferebee. Lane sees it as one more step toward the future. “I look at Henderson as the first great creative agency, and Erwin Penland was absolutely the second greatest,” he says. “Who’s going to be that third great agency? That’s what we aspire to be. We may not be the biggest, may not be the largest, but if we can be one of the most respected agencies in the Southeast, that’s what we’re striving to be.” They’re well on their way.

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CRAWFORD STRATEGY SOUNDS THE RALLY CRY FOR HAYWOOD COUNTY n story by STEPHANIE TROTTER | photo by CRAWFORD STRATEGY

STEP ONE: Learning to surf Windham remembers exploring the original website, which was supposed to lure tourists to Haywood County. “The site was very slow, and the speed of a website is a critical component as to whether Google shows results,” he explains. For months, the Crawford team worked on technical issues to make the site load faster and visible to search engines, and then they loaded the back-end with influential content. One year after taking over the site, analytics show web sessions jumped 5400%.

STEP TWO: Go big or go home Trip Advisor to travel agents tout Asheville’s allure, with its mountain vistas, boutique shopping, trendy restaurants and eclectic art scene. CNN, Condé Nast, and Forbes name it a “top destination.” So, how do you grab a piece of the city’s tourism dollars if you’re half an hour down the road? Three years ago, and after two failed agency relationships, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority cautiously entered a partnership with Crawford Strategy. “They had a website that was not in very good shape,” reveals Andy Windham, SVP, director of client strategy. “Originally, they hired us to right the ship in regard to the website. Then, over the course of a year and a half, as they began to trust us and see we are going to deliver, we became a fully integrated partner.” The result is an award-winning campaign that captures the spirit of the destination, while nailing the all-important tourism indicator – an 11% bump in accommodations tax collections in 2018. “This campaign has been incredibly successful in bringing more visitors to the area and helping to drive economic benefit for our entire community,” states Lynn Collins, president of Haywood County TDA. Crawford Strategy, a full-service marketing and communications agency in Greenville, developed a three-step plan to roll out a red carpet to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

With the website in place, Crawford Strategy focused on overhauling the brand. They were hired to promote the county, but tourists rarely start researching vacation destinations using a specific county name. “We decided, let’s be bold,” recalls Windham. “Let’s take ownership of the Smoky Mountains! When people generally think of the Smoky Mountains, they think of Tennessee, Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. But we have a lot of the Smoky Mountains in Haywood County. Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited national park in the U.S.” “Haywood County – Authentic Appalachian, Pure & Simple” was replaced with “Visit NC Smokies,” featuring the new website: VisitNCSmokies.com.

STEP THREE: Making people notice “What we wanted to do was bring the quirky, tongue-in-cheek attitude and vibe of the area to life in a way that was memorable and different,” Wyndham shares. With two words, just six letters, Hay Now, they’re transforming the county. “’Hay Now’ is a nod to Haywood County without saying Haywood County,” Windham points out with a sly smile. “It’s an invitation, come here now. It’s sort of like you’re giving someone the elbow, an attention grabber.” They walked into the pitch meeting with just the one idea. “We knew we were on to something,” the V.P. recalls. “The minute we presented it, they went out saying, ‘hay now!,’ ‘hay now!’ It’s become a thing.”

HAY NOW The U.S. Travel Association Destinations Council named “Hay Now” one of the top three $1 million - $2.5 million destination marketing campaigns in the nation. Crawford now runs Hay Now, Play Now, Eat Now, Stay Now themes pushing people to Haywood County’s five towns. In winter, there’s even Shred Now. Crawford’s campaign also embraces technology, placing “aspirational and inspiration10

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al” visuals on living room big screens across the Southeast through streaming services including Hulu and Roku. Meanwhile, the website’s homepage uses CrowdRiff to post real-time photos from visitors who use #HayNow in captions on social media. The Haywood County has earned six awards, but most importantly, the work is resonating with travelers. The Magellan Strategy Group,

a third-party monitor, surveyed visitors and found perceptions were spot-on for messages targeting uniqueness, outdoor activities, wildlife viewing and family attractions. “We are very fortunate,” reveals Marion Crawford, the company’s president. “To live and work in this region of the country, we have the best of all worlds, to help our client create demands for the beautiful features that surround us.”

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Being in the technology business, I am often asked by frustrated acquaintances how to stay safe, Next, Backup. At the risk of sounding repetitive, protect their identity, and keep from becoming Backup. Backup. Backup. You have probably a victim. I empathize with folks because the heard IT folks saying this for years – so in 2018, DEREK DAVIS answers can sound incredibly complicated and there is NO EXCUSE not to have your systems Principal | Managing Partner expensive. But burying your head in the sand backed up. and hoping you are safe is not a good strategy. That’s what the bad Lastly, keep current. If your equipment is several years old, it’s likely guys hope for. that there are vulnerabilities that can be exploited. This is certainly Here is some of the advice that I tell people: First, treat every electronic transaction with suspicion. This means texts, emails, social media, online shopping, etc. If you don’t think defensively, you are certainly vulnerable. Socially engineered threats today make spoofed / phishing emails and websites look incredibly authentic. If anyone asks you to identify yourself online – PLEASE STOP and recheck to make sure. Don’t give away the keys to your (online) castle. For example, If I can scan your Facebook page and learn just a few facts about you, it’s possible I can hack into your online account and use the information from Facebook to answer password reset questions. Typical password reset questions are things like “What is your mother’s maiden name?”, “What elementary school did you attend?”, etc. Next, layer your protection. Use a throw-away email address for non-critical communications. I give people I don’t want to interact with a Gmail address that I rarely look at. In that account, there are thousands of useless emails that I never have to deal with.

the case with the home routers the FBI warned about recently. Your computer updates are often inconvenient, but important. Do them. Make sure your AntiVirus programs are up-to-date, and are working. Install a free copy of MalwareBytes (www.malwarebytes.com) and scan your system periodically. These tools, along with others can help keep your computers operating well. However, there are also some products that appear to be helpful, but actually install malware onto your systems. Don’t just blindly download and install a product on your computer without checking it out. Look at the Bleeping Computer site for helpful suggestions (www.bleepingcomputer.com) Most of these things sound like common sense. And, to a large degree, they are. However, there has never been a better time to use some common sense and protect yourself. 703 Laurens Road Greenville, SC 29607

SQUARE FEET |

REAL ESTATE DEALS AND DEVELOPMENTS

ARIEL TURNER | STAFF aturner@communityjournals.com |

FRONT ROW

@arielhturner

December Design Review Board Urban Panel

The first public hearing of the City of Greenville Design Review Board Urban Panel of 2019 was held Jan. 4, with a short agenda and the low attendance expected due to the shortened holiday week. New panelist William Crawford joined the board to take the seat of Bogue Wallin, who resigned from the panel this month. The one informal review of a nine-story proposed development in the West End consumed the majority of the meeting following a quick approval of the 1 Augusta St. application for a certificate of appropriateness. 1 Augusta St. The new exterior paint colors of three buildings that house Smoke on the Water, The Emporium, and Mellow Mushroom were approved at the November 2018 DRB meeting, but this time the steel canopy to replace the awning over the Mellow Mushroom entrance and the new storefront was up for approval. Rob Couch, architect with McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture, said the storefront would be altered to created a street entrance for The Velo Fellow on the basement level of the same building, under Mellow Mushroom. “I think it’s a big improvement,” said panelist Robert Benedict. The certificate of appropriateness was unanimously approved.

1 Augusta St. rendering provided by McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture ADVICE & COMMENT 322 Rhett St., 106, 108, and 110 Wardlaw St. The former Ballentine Equipment warehouse and three adjoining properties that were sold mid-2018 to Lighthouse Greenville LLC is the site of a proposed nine-story multi-family development that was presented to the panel for advice and comment. The current design calls for 14,200 square feet of commercial space on the ground level with 244 residential units, a pool, common areas,

50 5

Celebrating Celebrating 14

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REAL ESTATE DEALS AND DEVELOPMENTS

and a rooftop restaurant for a total of 319,000 square feet of constructed space. Additionally, the developer will be working with the City of Greenville and Department of Transportation on a pocket park at the corner of Academy and Wardlaw streets to connect the West End to the GHS Swamp Rabbit Trail. Architect on the project, Scott Johnston of Johnston Design Group said the current timeline is to submit the site design for formal approval in March and the full architectural design in April or May. Johnston presented three place-making opportunities for the project: the Academy Street gateway into the city, an urban plaza at Rhett and Wardlaw streets, and the rooftop restaurant that would have 360-degree views.

| SQUARE FEET

Aside from the lengthy introduction to the project, the majority of the discussion focused on the property at 110 Wardlaw St., on which sits the former McClaren Medical Shelter built in 1940 that served the African American community for many years. Most recently it was used as an art studio. Panelist Danielle Fontaine raised the issue of preserving the building, which led to discussion of how best to commemorate that part of Greenvilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history. Johnston said at this time, the plan is to demolish the building rather than incorporate it into the design because it is in poor condition, but moving the building or creating a significant public art component is being considered. No f inal decision has been made, so plans could change, he said.

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OPINION |

FROM YOUR COMMUNITY

An organizational approach to 360-degree marketing By WILLIAM RUSSELL managing partner The Marketing Beacon

Most definitions of 360-degree marketing refer to strategies led by a sales and marketing team to communicate your solutions and brand through high-visibility channels. But what if you involved your whole business in your marketing efforts? Ideally, you should. A successful 360-degree organizational marketing approach has the greatest opportunity to support the business’s the overall goals. With company leadership, outline how the different areas within your organization can play a key role for a successful implementation. Milestone checkpoints can measure a plan’s overall success and gauge the performance of organizational

areas outside sales and marketing. A 360-degree marketing approach should involve all people within your company that have touch points with the market, your customers, suppliers, and influencers. Let’s take a closer look to see what this means.

LEVERAGE RELATIONSHIPS Customer service reps have golden opportunities with client interaction to reinforce your brand, highlight special promotions, and bolster your company’s messaging. This group of key personnel often has strong relationships built from serving your customers. With great customer service comes customers willing to sing your praises and likely recommend your company to others. Similarly, your operations personnel have daily interaction with suppliers and vendors who can help spread your marketing story to

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FROM YOUR COMMUNITY

those within their circles of influence. Their contribution could be as simple as a promotional link in an email signature or an informational flyer in your billings.

BE A PART OF KEY CONVERSATIONS Your company stakeholders and executive leadership team interact with influencers who often have powerful inner circles that need to know about your marketing initiatives. This group isn’t directly responsible for plan implementation, but they can carry the company’s message and serve as brand ambassadors. Remember, people are going to talk to each other, so make your marketing message and campaigns a part of the conversation. Key customers are almost always willing to serve as advocates for your business. Your account managers can help determine who would best promote your products and services. Key customers understand that when your marketing efforts are successful, your company is successful, which bodes well for

| OPINION

them. Customers are fantastic advocates because they already know you, your company, and your products and services.

EVERYONE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SALES AND MARKETING While your marketing team maintains the ultimate responsibility for effectively implementing the marketing plan, involve others in a 360-degree marketing approach who can help create successful channels and paths. Company leadership will back this up and roll up their sleeves to ensure this is done in a manner that achieves stated goals and objectives. Isn’t that a much better option than attempting to execute your marketing activities in a silo? We think it is!

C L E M S O N

M B A

P R O G R A M

CONGRATS TO THE

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OPINION |

FROM YOUR COMMUNITY

Data Privacy Day

5 risks & remedies for businesses By LAURA HAIGHT president, portfoliosc.com

Privacy and security may seem unattainable. Every day, we learn of some new hack, some new incidence of a trusted partner or service exposing or selling our information. Securing your business and personal information — the focus of Data Privacy Day on January 28 — takes diligence, consistency and maintenance. Here are five risks and how to better guard against them for businesses.

l a u n n A i m e S e l a S e c n a r a e l C

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The biggest risk to any business is an authenticated employee. Employees, regardless of their level of authority, need training to help them identify ever more authentic-appearing phishing and whaling emails. And you need a mechanism for reporting and publicizing attempted breaches to other employees.

Keep your data inside your business where your internal network security can best protect it. Businesses need to stop employees from taking sensitive info outside of the office. Block USB’s and external drives on desktops. But establish secure alternative ways for employees to access data remotely. Start by limiting data access to people who really need it; then implement a secure VPN for remote access.

About 50 percent of former employees have access to network and data, according to researchers at the identity management company OneLogin, which surveyed 500 CIOs. Start the year

off right by getting IT and HR together to compare current employees with authorized users, as well as looking at whether their access levels are still matching up with their jobs.

Don’t keep what you don’t need. That’s a keystone of security. If your businesses doesn’t have an email retention policy, you need one. Employees cannot be left to their own devices on this. But make sure you think outside the desktop as you develop it. In the mobile device age, employees get email on multiple devices. Once on a non-work device, email is sort of out of your control. The employee can send it to someone else, save it to another file location, move it to an online service they use separate from a work resource. Never send sensitive info (like credit card numbers, SSNs, passwords) or copies of databases containing client or company proprietary information through email.

Got a website? Then you’ve got a possibly overlooked security issue. Chances are another company maintains it, which means they should be regularly installing security updates, security fixes and patches for widgets, and reviewing analytics that can identify potential exploits or nuisance spammers of your website. Ask them to report on the status of these items and, if they haven’t been done, this is a good time to do it.

Personal protection is important too. Find the five biggest risks and remedies for personal users online at upstatebusinessjournal.com. Portfolio is proud to be a champion of the National Cyber Security Alliance, which sponsors Data Privacy Day.

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UBJ milestone jackson Marketing Group’s 25 Years 1988 Jackson Dawson opens in Greenville at Downtown Airport

1988

1997 Jackson Dawson launches motorsports Division 1993

1990 Jackson Dawson acquires therapon marketing Group and moves to Piedmont office Center on Villa.

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1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

UBJ milestone

CLIENT SERVICES

Jackson Marketing Group celebrates 25 years By sherry Jackson | staff | sjackson@communityjournals.com

Solve. Serve. Grow. Those three words summarize Jackson Marketing Group’s guiding principles, and according to owner Larry Jackson, form the motivation that has kept the firm thriving for the past 25 years.

Jackson graduated from Bob Jones University with a degree in video and film production and started his 41-year career in the communications industry with the U.S. Army’s Public Information Office. He served during

Vietnam, where he said he was “luckily” stationed in the middle of Texas at Fort Hood. He left the service and went to work in public affairs and motorsports at Ford Motor Company in Detroit. After a stint at Bell and Howell, where he was responsible for managing Ford’s dealer marketing and training, the entrepreneurial bug hit and he co-founded Jackson-Dawson Marketing Communications, a company specializing in dealer training and product launches for the auto industry in 1980. In 1987, Jackson wanted to move back south and thought Greenville would be a good fit. An avid pilot, he

learned of an opportunity to purchase Cornerstone Aviation, a fixed base operation (FBO) that served as a service station for the Greenville Downtown Airport, providing fuel, maintenance and storage. In fact, when he started the Greenville office of what is now Jackson Marketing Group (JMG) in 1988, the offices were housed on the second floor in an airport hangar. “Clients would get distracted by the airplanes in the hangars and we’d have to corral them to get back upstairs to the meeting,” Jackson said. Jackson sold the FBO in 1993, but says it was a great way to get to know Greenville’s fathers and leaders

with a majority of them utilizing the general aviation airport as a “corporate gateway to the city.” In 1997, Jackson and his son, Darrell, launched Jackson Motorsports Group. The new division was designed to sell race tires and go to racetracks to sell and mount the tires. Darrell Jackson now serves as president of the motorsports group and Larry Jackson has two other children and a son-in-law who work there. Jackson said all his children started at the bottom and “earned their way up.” Jackson kept the Jackson-Dawson branches in Detroit and others in Los Angeles and New York until he sold his portion of that partnership in 2009 as part of his estate planning. The company now operates a small office in Charlotte, but its main headquarters are in Greenville in a large office space off Woodruff Road, complete with a vision gallery that displays local artwork and an auditorium Jackson makes available for non-profit use. The Motorsports Group is housed in an additional 26,000 square feet building just down the street, and the agency is currently looking for another 20,000 square feet. Jackson said JMG has expanded into other verticals such as financial, healthcare, manufacturing and pro-bono work, but still has a strong focus on the auto industry and transportation. It’s

2003 motorsports Division acquires an additional 26,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space

1998 1998 Jackson Dawson moves to task industrial Court

also one of the few marketing companies in South Carolina to handle all aspects of a project in-house, with four suites handling video production, copywriting, media and research and web design. Clients include heavyweights such as BMW, Bob Jones University, the Peace Center, Michelin and Sage Automotive. Recent projects have included an interactive mobile application for Milliken’s arboretum and 600-acre Spartanburg campus and a marketing campaign for the 2013 Big League World Series. “In my opinion, our greatest single achievement is the longevity of our client relationships,” said Darrell Jackson. “Our first client from back in 1988 is still a client today. I can count on one hand the number of clients who have gone elsewhere in the past decade.” Larry Jackson says his Christian faith and belief in service to others, coupled with business values rooted in solving clients’ problems, have kept

2009 Jackson Dawson changes name to Jackson marketing Group when larry sells his partnership in Detroit and lA 2003

2009-2012 Jackson marketing Group named a top BtoB agency by BtoB magazine 4 years running

him going and growing his business over the years. He is passionate about giving back and outreach to non-profits. The company was recently awarded the Community Foundation Spirit Award. The company reaffirmed its commitment to serving the community last week by celebrating its 25th anniversary with a birthday party and a 25-hour Serve-A-Thon partnership with Hands on Greenville and Habitat for Humanity. JMG’s 103 full-time employees worked in shifts around the clock on October 22 and 23 to help construct a house for a deserving family. As Jackson inches towards retirement, he says he hasn’t quite figured out his succession plan yet, but sees the companies staying under the same umbrella. He wants to continue to strategically grow the business. “From the beginning, my father has taught me that this business is all about our people – both our clients and our associates,” said his son, Darrell. “We have created a focus and a culture that strives to solve problems, serve people and grow careers.” Darrell Jackson said he wants to “continue helping lead a culture where we solve, serve and grow. If we are successful, we will continue to grow towards our ultimate goal of becoming the leading integrated marketing communications brand in the Southeast.”

2011 Jackson marketing Group/Jackson motorsports Group employee base reaches 100 people

2008 2012 Jackson marketing Group recognized by Community Foundation with Creative spirit Award

pro-bono/non-proFit Clients American Red Cross of Western Carolinas Metropolitan Arts Council Artisphere Big League World Series The Wilds Advance SC South Carolina Charities, Inc. Aloft Hidden Treasure Christian School

CoMMUnitY inVolVeMent & boarD positions lArry JACkson (ChAirmAn): Bob Jones University Board chairman, The Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center board member, Gospel Fellowship Association board member, Past Greenville Area Development Corporation board member, Past Chamber of Commerce Headquarters Recruiting Committee member, Past Greenville Tech Foundation board member David Jones (Vice President Client services, Chief marketing officer): Hands on Greenville board chairman mike Zeller (Vice President, Brand marketing): Artisphere Board, Metropolitan Arts Council Board, American Red Cross Board, Greenville Tech Foundation Board, South Carolina Chamber Board eric Jackson (Jackson motorsports Group sales specialist): Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club Advisory Board

November 1, 2013 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal 21

20 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal November 1, 2013

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