From the desk (and BlackBerry) of Keith Parnell

I attended a pre-proposal meeting this morning that our agency was invited to. Without divulging too many details, this city commission asked several regional advertising agencies, marketing agencies, new media agencies and communications firms to participate in their RFP process. JASE was selected to be a part of this prestigious process.

As I quite often do, I exited the meeting wanting to call every person on our team and begin brainstorming ideas instantly. As I ran through this list of people in my head I noticed the types of folks I wanted to talk to - creatives, operational, techies, thinkers, and the list goes on.

Now to make my point - I promise there is one.

In order to keep your agency in the running during the bidding process of a project, both right-brain folks and left-brain folks are equally important and must work together. One side out maneuvering the other would be catastrophic. What do I mean?

Left Brain

Your initial contact (in our case, the written Answer to the RFP) with the potential client is all about convincing them that you belong on their pitch process. They need to see:

• Your team’s professionalism and confidence in your work.
• How your team thinks logically, strategically and on-task.
• The quality of your team’s credentials.
• Examples of successful campaigns.
• The creativity your team can demonstrate.

Right Brain

Once your pitch has made it through the cut process, you must then address the more emotional senses and concerns that will differentiate you from the next agency. They need to see:

• The passion your team has for their project.
• The overwhelming innovation your team’s brainstorming processes have produced.
• Your team’s creative concepts have aligned with their strategic goals.
• The working chemistry your team can share with the client.

We hope to have a very successful bid process on this particular RFP. And hopefully these points can help you. Good luck in your agency’s next pitch.

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Listening to Take Five by Acoustic Alchemy.

JASE Group is featured in the current Inside Business, The Hampton Roads [VA] Business Journal, March 30th print edition.

Recognized for being named marketing and advertising agency of record for a local Virginia Beach business, JASE is a full-service advertising, marketing and information technology agency specializing in social media, branding, advertising, marketing and next generation engineering.

Norfolk-based JASE Group, an advertising and marketing agency, has been name the agency of record for Ballyhoo Home Improvement in Virginia Beach. JASE will be responsible for all creative and strategic brand development, traditional and online advertising, collateral design, public relations and marketing initiatives with emphasis on inbound marketing, search engine optimization, web and blog development, and online social media presences for Ballyhoo.

See the full press release here.

Very exciting news for our team. Official press release from our company blog:

JASE Group (JASE), a full-service advertising and marketing agency specializing in social media, branding, marketing and advertising, announced today that it has been named the agency of record for Ballyhoo Home Improvement in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

NORFOLK, VA, MARCH 19, 2009:  JASE Group (JASE), a full-service advertising and marketing agency specializing in social media, branding, marketing and advertising, announced today that it has been named the agency of record for Ballyhoo Home Improvement in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

As part of the agreement, JASE will be responsible for all creative and strategic brand development, traditional & online advertising, collateral design, public relations, marketing initiatives with emphasis on inbound marketing, search engine optimization, web & blog development and online social media presences for Ballyhoo Home Improvement.

“Our goal is to grow Ballyhoo’s business line to support several crews throughout Hampton Roads. The quality of our workmanship is excellent; we need to get the word out to the community,” said Michael Sedlacek, Owner of Ballyhoo Home Improvement.

“Working with Ballyhoo to expose their established brand to a greater audience will be an exciting venture for our team. The excitement of positive growth in the current economy has already spawned many creative ideas,” said Keith Parnell, CEO of JASE Group.

About JASE Group
Founded in 1997, JASE is a Norfolk, VA based full-service advertising, marketing and information technology agency, specializing in social media, branding, advertising, marketing and next generation engineering. JASE’s scalable web, network and marketing solutions are tailor-made to fully address each customer’s unique needs and business strategy. The Company’s  engineers and strategists have decades of experience in marketing solutions analysis, network design and maintenance, e-commerce, web development and web hosting, systems integration and regulations compliance. JASE provides marketing solutions analysis, custom IT consulting, Internet services and network solutions for small, mid-sized and enterprise businesses. A privately held company, JASE is headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia. For more information, visit www.jasegroup.com or www.jasemarketing.com or call (757) 715-4595.

About Ballyhoo Home Improvement
Ballyhoo Home Improvement is an Insured, Class B licensed, Building Contractor specializing in residential remodeling, including kitchen and bathroom remodeling, interior painting, ceramic tile work and home repair. A privately held company, Ballyhoo Home Improvement is headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia. For more information, call (757) 575-8828.

I think a very important question for company decision-makers is, How Tethered Should My Team Be?

My world is very interesting and overall I think unique. Not unique for the tech industry but unique as compared to the work force as a whole. I require myself to be electronically connected at almost all hours of every night and day. Much to Nicole’s chagrin, yes, ‘every’ night and day. My tech team is nearly the same and during their disconnected times there should be another connected person capable of filling the needs of the organization.

Let’s move to other member (sets) of the organization’s team. Should the Operations team be consistently connected? Should the Creative team be consistently connected? Should the Sales team be consistently connected? Should the Marketing team be consistently connected? Within each of these teams an evaluation of senior management, team leads and team members should also be weighed. Should they, or at least their role, be consistently connected?

Here’s my answer - YES! Yes, they absolutely sure should. Each of these teams occupy a vital role in the decision-making processes that are important to the organization’s success. A senior member of each of these teams should be always available, reachable and able to communication at any given time as dictated by the real-time needs of the organization.

So how do we make this connectability happen? Smartphones. Smartphones that are reliable, (platform) stable, secure, usable, functional and yes, okay attractive. RIM’s BlackBerry tops the list of recommendations from every top organization around the globe. Nokia (the N95) makes fine smartphone products as does Palm (the Treo).

CIO.com’s Survey Results for “How Addicted to Your SmartPhone Are You?
5% - My phone is for business. I put it away at night, unless I’m traveling for work.
2% - I check messages every few hours after work and on weekends. But I’d never bring my smartphone on vacation.
19% - I’m more productive because of my smartphone, and it doesn’t negatively affect my work/life balance. I wouldn’t call it an addiction.
67% - My smartphone never leaves my side. At work, rest, play, vacation, you name itmy best electronic friend is with me.
7% - IMHO That’s NOYB. BB4N. EOM. (In my humble opinion, that’s none of your business. Bye bye for now. End of message.)

Where do you stand?

JASE Group is featured in the current Inside Business, The Hampton Roads [VA] Business Journal, February 9th print edition.

Recognized for being named marketing and advertising agency of record for a local Chesapeake business, JASE is a full-service advertising, marketing and information technology agency specializing in social media, branding, advertising, marketing and next generation engineering.

JASE Group, a Norfolk advertising and marketing agency, has been named the agency of record for Concrete Concepts in Chesapeake. As part of the agreement, JASE will handle all creative and strategic brand development, traditional & online advertising, collateral design, public relations, marketing initiatives, search engine optimization, web development and online social media presences for Concrete Concepts.

See the full press release here.