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DOM360 GROWS by blending marketing with tech

LOCAL PROS on strategy, engagement,

millennials and digital media

WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Marketing terms defined

JANUARY 22, 2016 | VOL. 5 ISSUE 4

MARKETING BULLSEYEGoing beyond the buzzwords to build the brand

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01.22.2016 | upstatebusinessjournal.com

The $231 million state project to redo the I-85/I-385 interchange will also involve work on Woodruff Road, including adding turning lanes and reconstructing three intersections.

Those intersections are at Miller Road/Garlington Road, Market Point Drive and Carolina Point Parkway.

The state Department of Transportation is also updating the traffi c signal system on Woodruff Road between Ketron Court and Highway 14.

SCDOT will break ground on Feb. 5 for the offi cial start of the I-85/I-385 gateway project. Preliminary work began last summer with the repaving of road sections on I-85, and the entire project is scheduled for completion in 2019.

SCDOT is beginning nighttime closures of lanes this month to put up construction signs and a temporary barrier wall in both directions of travel on both interstate highways, the department said in a release.

In February and March motorists should expect additional nighttime closures on I-85 for the workers to begin shoulder reconstruction and temporary pavement installation. I-385 will also have nighttime closures those two months for temporary pavement

installation, ramp realignment for Woodruff Road and widening of the road, according to SCDOT.

Drivers should also expect daytime and nighttime fl agging operations on Chrome Drive and Roper Mountain Drive.

Work on the interchange will include making both the northbound and southbound sides of I-85 four

lanes between I-385 and Pelham Road. Crews will widen I-385 from four lanes to six lanes between Butler Road to Roper Mountain Road.

They will also construct 11 bridges, including two fl yovers that will replace the existing loop ramps that connect I-85 and I-385, and add fl ood-warning lights on I-85 near Rocky Creek.

INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW | TRANSPORTATION | 3

I-85/I-385 work includes Woodruff Road intersectionsBENJAMIN JEFFERS | STAFFbjeffers@communityjournals.com

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UBJ | 01.22.2016

MONEY SHOT: Construction has gone vertical at Falls Park Place on South Main Street in downtown Greenville. The six-story building by developer Hughes Investments is expected to have a rooftop terrace with a swimming pool, residential, retail and restaurant space, along with 12,000 square feet of Class A office space.

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VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4

Featured this issue:I-85/I-385 project will revamp Woodruff Road 3First look: Halls Chophouse in downtown Greenville 7Who mourns for Internet Explorer? 10

VERBATIM

On the roads tax

“She can’t address a $40 billion shortfall [for roads] with $400 million. It’s not even close. It’s not a drop in the bucket.”

S.C. House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, referring to the Transportation Department’s estimated shortfall through 2040, quoted in The State newspaper. Gov. Nikki Haley says $400 million a year is needed to repair the state’s roads and bridges. For more on her proposed state budget, read this week’s Greenville Journal.

Owners of The Chuck Truck food truck are building a

brand-new food truck (called “Half-Apped”) that

will serve appetizers. A grand debut is projected

around Feb. 1.

Look for Chez Madeleine, a French-themed creperie, to open in early March in

the former Sandwich Factory space at 137 W. Main St.

across from Morgan Square in Spartanburg.

Word is the fast food chain Popeye’s Louisiana

Kitchen is planning to build its first Spartanburg

County restaurant in Boiling Springs.

Phot

o pr

ovid

ed

Sherry Jackson/Staff

01.22.2016 | upstatebusinessjournal.com INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW | MANUFACTURING | 5

Fortune 250 company Praxair building Spartanburg plant

Praxair Inc., a Fortune 250 industrial gas company, is planning to build an air separation plant to serve a variety of existing and new custom-ers with oxygen, nitrogen and argon.

The company recently signed a long-term contract with Toray Carbon Fibers America Inc., which broke ground on its Spartanburg facility on Tuesday, to provide nitrogen for use in manufacturing carbon fiber, which is used by aerospace, automotive, sporting goods and other manufactur-ing customers regionally and interna-tionally. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Representatives from Praxair expect their plant to be operational by 2017 and anticipate hiring about 15 people

to fill technician and truck driver positions. Praxair employs 27,000 people globally.

“We are very pleased to have been selected by Toray and are looking forward to providing one of the world’s leading carbon fiber manufacturers an efficient, reliable supply of indus-trial gases as it continues to grow in South Carolina and globally,” Todd F. Lawson, vice president of the east region for Praxair’s U.S. industrial gases business, said in a statement.

“With this plant, we are also en-hancing density in our strong Caroli-n a s s u p p l y network, further enabling us to serve the growing d e m a n d f o r our products by aerospace, auto-motive and food customers.”

Praxair has one other plant in the state in Camden and 11 total plants in the Southeast.

A spokesperson also said the company wants to expand its cylinder business and hard goods business for products such as safety equipment and welding sup-plies through its distribution arm.

Praxair has dis-tribution sites in Greer, Columbia, Florence and North Charleston.

BENJAMIN JEFFERS | STAFFbjeffers@communityjournals.com WHAT IS IT?

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UBJ | 01.22.20166 | FOOD & BEVERAGE | INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

Vicario Wine and Spirits’ “little dragon” is a winner. The Dragoncello Liqueur handcrafted by Renato Vicario at his Greer micro-distillery Salute! LLC was named as recipient of a 2016 Good Food Award.

The awards honor “people who make food that is delicious, respectful of the environment and connected to

communities and cultural traditions,” according to Good Food Awards. Dragoncello was chosen from among 263 finalists in 13 categories for the Good Food Awards that were distrib-uted by chef Alice Waters, Slow Food International founder Carlo Petrini and organics advocate Nell Newman.

Vicario creates the Dragoncello using Artemisia dracunculus, also known as French tarragon, and distills the liqueur for an after-dinner drink or dessert companion.

Renato Vicario and Janette Wesley own Salute!, which makes multiple liqueurs, brandy and grappa along with importing wines produced at the couple’s vineyard in Cortona, Italy.

“We work well together, in the sense that I grow the herbs, he makes the liqueurs,” said Wesley. “We are very proud to share Vicario Dragoncello, our handmade, artisan liqueur from our homegrown tarragon, with our fellow Greenvillians. Great for cooking, baking, mixing in cocktails or on its own after dinner; we hope you enjoy it.”

The liqueurs are created by hand using traditional styles inspired by historical recipes and containing ingredients like locally grown wild blackberries or licorice, walnuts or olive leaves from Italy. Liqueur varieties range from a refreshing lemony liqueur to an “exquisitely round and exotic liqueur” with more than 15 herbs and spices, Monk’s Secret Liqueur.

Vicario’s Sorcerer’s Song Liqueur and Monk’s Secret Liqueur are due to be recognized in the April issue of

Wine Enthusiast magazine, according to Vicario Wine and Spirits. Vicario Wines have recently been certified ICEA Bio-Vegan, a classification that includes fewer than 25 other wine producers in Italy.

Local flavor Greer-made Dragoncello liqueur named Good Food Award winner

APRIL A. MORRIS | STAFFamorris@communityjournals.com

VICARIO DESCRIBES ITS SPIRITS

WHERE TO FIND VICARIO PRODUCTS

Dragoncello: “Estate-grown tarragon leaves bring a floral and grassy flavor that dissipates into a persuasive bitterness in this deeply delightful liqueur. Improved immensely by ageing, redolent of spices, faint traces of anise and licorice, scented and aromatic, never coy but enticing, is well served after a meal or alongside biscotti or ice creams and can be used in fine patisserie baking.”

Sorcerer’s Song: “An intensely bittersweet tonic taste leads into an aroma of white currants, rhubarb and spices that create the crescendo while the tannins persist like a bass drum. At the conclusion, the aromas of fruit, chestnuts, vanilla and coffee create an incredibly long finish.”

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FIRST LOOK

Halls Chophouse

After being closed for the past few weeks, a newly branded Halls Chophouse is set to open Saturday, Jan. 23, in the former High Cotton space in Greenville’s West End.

Bill Hall Sr. who along with his wife, Jeanne, and two sons, Billy and Thomas, owns Hall Management Group, which purchased High Cotton in May 2015 from Dick Elliott, presi-dent and founder of Maverick Southern Kitchens. Hall said the company has spent “close to half a million dollars” in renovations with new paint, wallpaper, furniture, artwork, carpeting and lighting. Ex-tensive work was also done in the kitchen with all-new equipment.

“We took over a restaurant that was almost 10 years old that needed to be spruced up, and that’s what we did,” he said.

With those upgrades and modern-ization, the Halls felt it was time to change the restaurant’s name from High Cotton to Halls Chophouse.

“It’s a family environment, and we want every guest that comes in here to feel like our family,” said Matthew Niessner, Halls’ corporate executive chef.

Niessner will be overseeing the restaurant opening until “we make sure we have it right.” Halls is expected to announce its Greenville chef next week.

The restaurant will feature “total prime meats” and dry-aged beef, choices no other restaurants in Green-ville offer, Hall said. Halls Chophouse will also feature bison, veal, lamb and pork chops. Hall said they also listened to longtime High Cotton customers and will be keeping favor-ites such as shrimp and grits, Sunburst Farms trout and wild-caught grouper on the menu.

Brunch will be served on Saturdays and Sundays. Live music will be offered throughout the week and

during brunch. Two happy hours are also planned – a regular evening happy hour and a late happy hour beginning at 9 p.m., which will feature a $6 burger.

Their philosophy is to open quietly, and it’s important to “do dinner right,” said Hall. The family is committed to Green-ville and one family member will be on site at least four days a week.

“Once dinner is down, then we can look at possibly adding a lunch service,” he said. “It’s a great location in a beautiful city. What’s been done here in Greenville is first-class.”

INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW | FOOD & BEVERAGE | 7

SHERRY JACKSON | STAFFsjackson@communityjournals.com

Sher

ry J

acks

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taff

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UBJ | 01.22.20168 | SQUARE FEET | REAL ESTATE DEALS AND DEVELOPMENTS ACROSS THE REGION

After being in the same location on Augusta Street since 1949, Vaughn Russell Candy Kitchen is moving.

But they’re not moving far. The chocolatier has secured new space less than a mile down the road at 401 Augusta St. in the former Jewelry by Design building across from the Claussen Bakery building.

Marybeth Miller, general manager, says that while the move wasn’t really planned, the new building will have better parking.

The store will close for two weeks after Valentine’s Day, and Miller says they expect to be open in their new space by March 1.

According to Greenville County

property records, Cumming, Ga.-based Core Property Management purchased the Vaughn-Russell property and all adjacent property in October 2015. Core Property now owns approximately 1 acre fronting Augusta Street from Conestee Avenue to Aberdeen Drive.

Miller said she has been told that eventually all tenants will need to move. John Graham with Core Prop-erty Management said the company is working with current tenants on relocation over the next 12-24 months. After that, the plan is to raze the ex-isting buildings and redevelop the site into a new retail center. He was not able to comment on possible tenants.

SHERRY JACKSON | STAFFSHERRY JACKSON | sjackson@communityjournals.com | @SJackson_CJ

RealOp adds 2 CRE veterans, closes on $15M fund

RealOp Investments, a private-ly held Greenville-based commer-cial real estate investment and private equity fi rm, has added two commercial real estate veterans to its team: Seph Wunder and Ralph Settle.

Wunder will serve as RealOp’s general counsel, advising team members on various legal matters, negotiat-ing real estate contracts, loan agreements, leases and vendor contracts, managing external legal counsel and assisting with the management of human resource issues. Wunder was previously general counsel for Johnson Development Associ-ates and a private cor-porate attorney for Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd.

Settle will serve as director of development for RealOp. He’ll be

responsible for leading the sourcing and management of new develop-ment opportunities. He was previ-

ously director of devel-opment at Johnson Development Associ-ates, and prior to that he worked with OTO Development as a real e s t a t e f i n a n c e manager.

RealOp also closed on its fi rst Real Estate Opportunities Fund, resulting in more than $15 million of de-ployed capital. The fund is the fi rst in a series of investment funds designed to provide investors with consistent income and cash distributions through high-quality, income-producing commercial real estate

assets across the Southeast. The fund is now closed to new investors, but RealOp Investments will

Vaughn-Russell Candy moves down Augusta

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01.22.2016 | upstatebusinessjournal.com REAL ESTATE DEALS AND DEVELOPMENTS ACROSS THE REGION | SQUARE FEET | 9

Thanks in part to the support of Greer State Bank, Marvin’s Produce got its start in Greenville, SC in 2006. Because they believed in our vision and helped us become a part of this community, Marvin’s Produce continues to bring jobs and revenue to the Upstate. Our business has grown from a small facility where we first began our journey, to a 50,000 square foot warehouse where we are currently located. We expect to continue our growth in both the community and the Upstate, and will continue to look to Greer State Bank and its terrific support group as our journey continues. Greer State Bank is more than a bank on the corner; they are an integral part of the network and fiber of this beautiful area by helping grow the local economy through small business ventures that benefit the Upstate of South Carolina. We all need to join together to keep our local economy strong, and Greer State Bank is doing its part to make that happen.

Marion Kirby & JB Robison Managing Owners, Marvin’s Produce

REALOP ACQUIRED FOUR PROPERTIES IN THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 2015:

• 15 Brendan Way, Greenville 38,316 SF commercial offi ce building

• 40 Concourse Way, Greer7,000 SF commercial offi ce building

• 6000 Pelham Road, Greenville65,942 SF commercial warehouse/offi ce building

• 935 W. Butler Road, Mauldin72,725 SF self-storage facility

have new fund offerings over the next 12 to 18 months.

“We are very excited about the launch of our fi rst fund and deploy-ment of capital into a select group of strategic assets,” said Kyle Putnam, RealOp Investments chief investment offi cer. “This initial of-fering exemplifi es our investor-cen-tric culture and core investment strategy, which is centered on asset fundamentals, value, risk manage-ment and capital preservation. We look forward to the continued growth of our platform and series of forthcoming investment funds.”

>>

UBJ | 01.22.2016

The workhorses of the Web browser class breathed their last breath last Tuesday. That’s when Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer versions 8, 9, and 10. That could be a big problem or a much smaller one, depending on whose statistics you believe.

Different Web trend watchers have a divergent view of the prominence of IE. W3Schools, a training, testing and development site for Web program-mers, gathers information from log fi les globally and reports that IE (that’s all versions, including Edge) has a 6.8 percent user base. StatCounter says 12.5 percent, while Net Market Share tops the charts with 55.1 percent.

But no matter whose stats you look at, one thing seems clear: Microsoft’s browser has been on a downhill slide for a while now.

That stands in stark contrast to Microsoft’s overwhelming global

prominence among op-erating systems. Accord-ing to Net Market Share, Windows OS versions from XP through 10 are

running 90.6 percent of the world’s personal computers (this does not include mobile devices). Macs may seem to be everywhere, but globally represent just under 4 percent of op-erating systems. For the Mac afi cio-nado, don’t worry, the rate is much higher in the U.S. – up to 13 percent.

Going incognito?Whichever browser stat you want

to go with, it certainly appears that a lot of people buy Windows-run computers, but then choose a different browser.

Which one? Google Chrome leads as the top browser for desktops, smartphones and tablets. You will get different opinions about se-curity and privacy depending on which expert you ask. But Chrome generally gets high marks on security – not so great on privacy. After all, Google’s stock-in-trade is knowing everything about what you are doing, where you are going, how you’ll get there and what you’ll buy there. So your “privacy” is kind of an open issue.

Microsoft’s more recent browsers are given very high marks for certain aspects of security, espe-cially in detecting malware on web-sites. But if you set up IE or Edge in the most secure confi guration, you’ll be challenged constantly. That can delay getting to where you’re trying to go while you fi gure out the right answer. Eventually, you get fed up and turn all that stuff off. Risky behavior. And it may be part of the reason why Windows users move away from the installed browser.

Threats lurk withinThe demise of IE 8, 9 and 10 means

you will need to have a computer running a minimum of Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1, and a 1 gigahertz (GHz) processor to run Edge or IE 11. That may send you or your IT team running to check your desktop(s). Or, you could potentially not care less. After all, what does “end of life” mean for a browser – or an operating system?

The old browsers will not stop working – at least not on the outside. But they will stop blocking dangerous threats, they will stop detecting new malware, and they will essentially become an open door for hackers. Microsoft will stop developing patches, fi xes and updates. It is not possible to overstate the risk you run to your se-curity, your privacy, your databases and, potentially, your customers’ sensitive information, by running an unsupported version.

Ending support for these browsers is not a new development. Microsoft announced it more than a year ago. But perhaps it is not surprising that there has been no big rush to change

browsers. As of November, according to StatCounter, 30 percent of all the IE browsers were in these three soon-to-be obsolete versions.

For that matter, however, 10 percent of all Windows users in the world are still running XP, which was eutha-nized in April 2014. In the U.S. alone, one year after support was ended, XP’s share was 6.5 percent.

The future of browsers, if anyWhile security may not be very high

on users’ minds, it’s top of mind for developers, designers and companies who are mindful of the very real costs of exposure.

A discussion that might gain trac-tion revolves around how we should access the Internet in the future. Will a traditional browser be replaced by a greater prevalence of Web apps? With mobile devices the tool of choice for the millennial market, the future likely doesn’t favor the desktop/laptop as the platform we’re developing for. In fact, among the under-30s, laptop ownership has dropped 12 percent in just the past three years, according to the Pew Research Center.

Still, the future many of us need to be thinking about right now is how safe our businesses or homes are from the army of hackers who count on our complacency. If you are running XP on your desktop, there is a good chance you have already been exploited. If you are running IE 8, 9 or 10, don’t just hang on. While the new Microsoft browsers have higher system requirements, Chrome and Firefox will run on most current systems. If your computer can’t handle any currently supported browser, it is time for a new computer.

Internet Explorer bites the dust – should anybody care?

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Which one? Google Chrome leads as the top browser for desktops, smartphones and tablets. You will get different opinions about se-curity and privacy depending on which expert you ask. But Chrome generally gets high marks on security – not so great on privacy. After all, Google’s stock-in-trade is

The old browsers will not stop working. But they will stop blocking dangerous threats, they will stop detecting new malware, and they will essentially become an open door for hackers.

01.22.2016 | upstatebusinessjournal.com

We are blessed to be part of agreat community in the upstate of South Carolina. The economy is moving forward at a record pace. With all of this growth and development, it’s im-portant that we develop our people for the jobs that are coming and the op-portunities that are already here.

As with many communities, ours has folks from various backgrounds facing differing challenges in life. Some in our community could benefi t from a hand up to better position themselves to contribute to this area that we love. In many cases, our local businesses and schools can help to create opportunities for these folks, possibly by a slight adjustment to business as usual.

In my job as department head of transportation at Greenville Technical College, I monitor all facets of the transportation industry and make calculated assessments on how we best meet the needs of each segment of the industry. It seems that no matter which business I am visiting, they all have the same needs: hardworking and dependable employees. Most businesses can fi nd the capital, the equipment and the facilities, yet fi nding the right people seems to be the missing ingredient in many of these conversations.

What if some of those people we are looking for are stuck in a diffi cult season of life? Better yet, what if there was something that we could do to help those who are working to help themselves?

One of the challenges we see with many students is a lack of dependable transportation. Whether it is an old worn-out car or no car at all, it is hard to become a dependable employee if

you are not sure you can get to work every day. Routine tasks become difficult or impossible without a vehicle. Granted, there is public transporta-

tion for those who live in town, but in our area far more people are living outside the routes of public transpor-tation than living inside those routes.

Recycled ridesIn 2012, a coworker and I attended

a conference in Detroit where we walked by a trade show booth for an initiative called Recycled Rides. This is a program created by the National Auto Body Council to repair colli-sion-damaged vehicles and donate them to deserving individuals who are working to get their lives in order.

While in Detroit, I saw my fi rst “gifting” ceremony. Once a car is re-paired and the candidate selected, there is a small ceremony where the recipients and the repairers get to meet and the donors are recognized. The family receiving the car had been without transportation for several months because of a lost job. A local collision repair facility had worked with an insurer and various parts vendors to fi x a lightly damaged in-surance total loss for this family at no cost to the recipients. The family was so grateful, and the look on the faces of the technicians who repaired the vehicle was priceless.

As we left the conference, we knew that we had to bring this program to our community.

What we can do to helpWe decided that somehow we had to

get our students involved in helping others. Our job is to teach these students a trade, but also to help grow our com-munity – and what a way to get them involved in a service-learning project. We knew that this would be our opportuni-ty to help those in our community who needed help with transportation.

Last year, we started repairing vehi-cles for the Recycled Rides program. The students in our program have embraced the opportunity to use their skills to benefi t those needing some assistance in order to get back on their feet. The students, through our under-graduate research program called

Creative Inquiry, have learned not only specifi cs of repairing the car, but also how to approach sponsors of the repair, such as Allstate, CoPart, and Keystone Automotive, as they have worked with others to help secure the parts and vehicles to complete the project.

Not only do these cars give oppor-

tunity to those outside of the college, they teach our students the value of giving to others. Through Recycled Rides, we and our students have seen that sometimes business as usual can be adjusted to provide a hand up that benefi ts the entire community.

By SHANE ISBELLTransportation department head,Greenville Technical College

MOVERS, SHAKERS AND DISRUPTORS SHAPING OUR FUTURE | INNOVATE | 11

Giving workers a liftRecycled Rides makes an important adjustment to business as usual

It is hard to become a dependable employee if you are not sure you can get to work every day. Routine tasks become diffi cult or impossible without a vehicle.

For more information, visit nationalautobodycouncil.org/

programs/recycled-rides.C

indy Landrum/Staff

Greenville Tech auto body students (from left) Nikkie Sims, Josh Gilliam, Eden Mays and Virginia Davis work on repairs to a car to be donated to a family in need.

UBJ | 01.22.201612 | COVER | THE MARKETING ISSUE

Robert Donovan had a great job in advertising in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., but he saw the industry changing and presented a new strategy for his agency. When they weren’t willing to move in a different direction, he knew it was time to go out on his own.

He launched Dealer Online Marketing in Green-ville in 2007 and has seen rapid growth focusing on digital and traditional marketing services for auto-motive manufacturers and dealerships. Now known as DOM360, the company was recently named the 167th fastest-growing technology company in North America on the Fast 500 list compiled by Deloitte US. Donovan, CEO of the business with 65 employ-ees serving more than 300 clients, said that growth is just beginning. “We’re on the uptick,” he said. “We want to diversify the portfolio in a way that makes sense for us. We just need some good people that can jump on board.”

What separates your company from other market-ing and advertising companies?

We spend more money on development each month than most local agencies spend on payroll. We have a technology platform as a backbone that is second to none. So while most companies scale through addition of people, we scale through mul-tiplication because we have a strong backbone that supports our clients.

How does your Web-based marketing platform benefi t clients?

Google, Bing, Facebook, Angie’s List – most digital properties have a back end to these systems, the API [application programming interface]. DOM360’s marketing tool is integrated with over 100 APIs at this moment in time, which is unprecedented. We try to keep tabs on our competition, and I haven’t seen another marketing tool in North America that has as many APIs as we do.

So we can post directly through our tool. We have a layer of artifi cial intelligence on top of that so we can fi nd the sweet spot for our customer. We hard-code that for our customers.

Does it benefi t traditional marketing clients as well as digital? Are most clients moving away from traditional advertising?

We can also integrate with Arbitron and Nielsen. You can see the impact through running analytics for a traditional media campaign. This whole thing is continuing to shake out, but I think it will eventually be a 50-50 split. Right now we have some clients who are all digital, some who are 70 percent traditional, but no clients who are no digital.

How rapidly has your company been growing?We’ve had basically 300-600 percent growth

over the last several years – every year. We’re the fastest-growing technology company in

South Carolina, based on percentage of growth, while most advertising and marketing agencies are dying on the vine.

Did you have rapid growth immediately? How have you managed such steady growth?

We made money our fi rst year in business, and it has just gone up from there. It has been about scaling and being able to fi nd the correct talent. When you look at digital marketing companies or traditional, they don’t have that technology background. Tech companies just develop and develop and then fi gure out how to support it. We created this amazing customer service organization that is more powerful because of the tech backbone we have.

Do you worry about growing too rapidly?

Our mantra has always been having one less client than we can handle. We have had a waiting

360-degree viewDOM360 CEO Robert Donovan finds rapid growth in a changing market

LEIGH SAVAGE | CONTRIBUTOR

Our mantra has always beenhaving one less client than

we can handle. Robert Donovan, CEO of DOM360

01.22.2016 | upstatebusinessjournal.com

list, because we pride ourselves on being customer service fi rst and foremost. We’re not under any pressure.

What is the biggest challenge currently facing your company?

I would like to see the talent pool get a little deeper. I’ve sat down with leaders to devise ways to get more talent to Greenville. There are great people, but many are time-off driven. Money-driven people are what drive an advertising agency.

What can we do to improve that talent? I’ve spoken with USC and Clemson. They weren’t

producing the people we needed. If you’re going to be a marketer, you need to know front-end coding. I found universities that produce those people, but not in our area. The local programs were a little

dated. Over the next couple of years, they should begin producing

the people we need because we need to produce our

own talent locally – that’s the goal.

How have you had to change your business since opening in

2007?We’ve gone through a

couple of iterations. When we started, my vision was

more grandiose – print, radio, direct mail, TV and digital. Then came the

worst recession since the Great Depression. It focused us on just digital, which allowed us to show some return on investment. Then several years later, we added

back traditional.

What are your plans moving forward?

I’d like to cast some lines in the water and see what bites, and what aligns with our company. We’ve solidified the automotive vertical, and we never want to take our eye off of that. We want to diversify the portfolio in a way that make sense for us. We just attended the Com-puter Electronics Show in Vegas, the biggest in the world, and we’re ready.

they should begin producing the people we need because

couple of iterations. When we started, my vision was

more grandiose – print, radio, direct mail, TV and digital. Then came the

worst recession since the Great Depression. It focused us on just digital, which allowed us to show some return on investment. Then several years later, we added

back traditional.

What are your plans moving forward?

THE MARKETING ISSUE | COVER | 13

Getting the word(s) out

Marketing

Public Relations

Branding

Advertising

Many terms are used interchangeably in the world of marketing and public relations that don’t necessarily share the same meaning. Here are four of the most commonly used, and the shades of di� erence in their definitions.

Marketing is the promotion of a product or service, centered on sales and how consumers view the goods a company o� ers. Marketing deals with the development of a product, the price, the best methods to reach a customer and implementing and promotional strategy.

Public relations focuses on the relationship between a company and customers, clients and others involved with that company, as opposed to a product or service. It is more of a two-way form of communication than marketing. Companies usually rely on publicity and other nonpaid forms of communication for public relations.

Branding involves the creation of a name, logo and design of a product to set it apart from competitors and leave an impression in consumers’ minds. Branding can create a perceived quality or emotional connection among consumers.

Advertising is a component of marketing and involves giving consumers information about a product to help promote sales.

[Sources: businessdictionary.com, prnewsonline.com and entrepreneur.com]

UBJ | 01.22.2016

When a new year arrives, we often find ourselves refl ecting on the past with an eye on the future. In business, this means we’re looking for ways to improve performance, generate more revenue, and fi nd additional customers. So how do we turn these into actionable items and avoid the “new years’ resolution” pitfalls?

By developing attainable goals, realistic objectives and a strategic marketing plan for your business, you’ll start the year off on the right foot. Doing so will allow you to face your marketing challenges head-on in order to know what to do, when, where, how and why. You’ll also know where you are going and how to get there.

How do you get there?Just as a map illustrates the best way to reach a

destination, a marketing road map serves as a guide that outlines how your company will connect to the market to create revenue-generating opportunities. Your marketing road map will provide details about the proper “marketing routes” that will work best for your business.

Strategies and tactics designed to accomplish your objectives are critical to the effectiveness of your marketing road map. Include the best methods for connecting with your buying market by bridging the gap between your offerings and your potential customers. Create a foothold in your market where your presence will be visible, known and stand out from competitors.

Within the road map, you will want a timeline for executing the plan; resources to implement the components; milestones for measuring progress; reporting for documenting success; and a supporting budget.

Wise marketing investmentsA key component to your marketing road map is

your budget, which should be considered as an in-vestment that pays a return. Like most investments, a desired return often factors in time. Be patient. Don’t fall into the trap of whacking your marketing budget at the fi rst sign of poor revenue or sales performance. Your marketing investment dollars represent the fuel for your revenue-generating efforts. Cutting your sales fuel supply will only create sputter in your revenue-generating engine and deliver mediocre results.

Establish realistic expectationsWhen you create a marketing road map and the

investment dollars required to implement the plan, place measures and expectations against these dollars. For example, suppose you were planning to build a new website. As you create the budget for the project, create a list of objectives and ROI ex-pectations for the new site.

Some marketing tactics will have an immediate and direct impact toward your business goals while others are considered “enablers” for sales and business development efforts. The point is to have measures in place so that the reason for your investment is clear to all. You may otherwise fi nd yourself spending your marketing dollars with false expectations that only lead to frustration.

Focus and commitLike any investment, your marketing dollars will

yield their highest return when you commit to maximizing them through your efforts and focus. Taking this approach mentally and tactically will make your marketing investment rewarding. Even when economic slumps occur, avoid the temptation of slamming on the marketing brakes. Instead, juice up your sales and business development engine with high-octane fuel, and your revenue opportunities will keep your business moving upward.

Preparing for roadblocks and the unexpectedWhen fi nalizing your marketing road map, make

sure you plan for the unexpected. As a traveler often fi nds, obstacles and unexpected events can hinder momentum. For your business, it could mean ag-gressive project schedules, a new competitor, a lost customer, budget cuts and the like. Although it is nearly impossible to avoid all obstacles, being ready for the unexpected will help reduce the impact.

Staying on track Finally, track your progress. Managing your

marketing road map and performing routine checks will help determine where change may be required on a project or re-prioritizing a particular marketing tactic is needed. While the primary framework of your marketing road map remains unchanged, you do want to have enough fl exibility to make any re-quired adjustments that will improve it. Stick with it and commit to working the plan. Taking this approach to your marketing planning and execution will help ensure that your new year starts off on the right track and continues to progress along the pathway to your desired business destination.

14 | COVER | THE MARKETING ISSUE

By WILLIAM RUSSELLManaging Partner,The Marketing Beacon

Strategic marketing requires a road map

By developing attainable goals, realistic objectives and a strategic marketing plan for your business, you’ll start the year off on the right foot.

01.22.2016 | upstatebusinessjournal.com THE MARKETING ISSUE | COVER | 15

Millennials. The word itself is one of the biggest buzzwords in today’s society. Many are fascinated with what motivates them, their work ethic, their spending habits and their lifestyles in general, while others underestimate the percentage of the entire population born between 1977 and 2000.

Millennials have incredible buying power in today’s market. They currently make up 21 percent of consumer discretionary purchases. That’s over $1 trillion of direct buying power. Some theories suspect this amount is so high because millennials are more likely to have children later in life, leaving them with more disposable income now. Others suspect it has something to do with the fact that many millennials move back home after college before living on their own. Regardless of the reason for the signifi cant buying power, businesses must understand how to effectively reach this generation of customers in order to cash in on this opportunity.

What does this mean for business owners and marketing professionals? When creating a market-ing strategy for your business, it is vital that you consider this group and understand what motivates them in order to remain successful. Old sales tactics simply do not work on millennials.

While transitioning your efforts to online instead of print is a good start, it’s not the only answer. Regardless of where the message is coming from, whether that is traditional media or more contemporary means, millennials have grown up being bombarded with sales pitches and advertisements. They have become experts at tuning this type of messaging out and avoiding it altogether. For example, it is now common practice to record television shows to be able to fast-forward commercials. They are willing to pay extra for music providers to avoid advertisements, and they barely even notice banner ads and pop-up boxes on websites anymore.

So how can businesses make a lasting connection with millennials? Here are three things to consider.

1. Relying purely on advertisements is a thing of the past. Instead of using your message to inter-rupt and bombard your audience to make a sale, create useful content your ideal customer would want to read and share. This strategy, known as “content marketing,” builds trust around your brand and positions you as a resource for valuable infor-mation within your industry. Millennials want to know that businesses care about more than just making a sale, and a great way to show that is to provide value to customers, free of charge. Whether your industry is fi nance or fashion, providing expert advice or helpful tips to potential customers is a way to showcase your company’s expertise, and also prove that your company cares.

2. Businesses should also show personality.Multiple studies have shown that millennials want to connect with individuals, as opposed to corpora-tions. A few ways to incorporate this include a “meet the team” section on a company’s website with headshots and bios, or blog posts written from dif-ferent employees. A responsive, personable social media account is another excellent way to defi ne your brand’s personality.

3. The last point probably won’t surprise you: Be mobile. Millennials are the largest segment of smartphone owners. It is vital that organizations’ websites and digital marketing efforts, such as email, are optimized for smartphones and tablets. Mo-bile-friendly doesn’t just mean that a website is accessible on a cellphone or tablet. It means that the user experience is just as good on an iPhone as it

would be using a standard desktop. In fact, updating a website to mobile-friendly is more of an urgent issue than one might think. According to recent studies conducted by Google, 57 percent of mobile consumers wouldn’t recommend a business with a bad mobile website to a friend, and 48 percent of mobile consumers felt that businesses without a mobile-friendly website didn’t care about their business.

Millennials aren’t that diffi cult to understand. Their generation wants to connect with actual people, and they like to feel like they know that we are more than just a number. Combine that with modern-day convenience, and you’re all set.

By RACHEL TESTAMarketing Director, Engenius

Marketing to millennials? Throw out the old sales tacticsMillennials have grown up being bombarded with sales pitches and advertisements. They have become experts at tuning this type of messaging out and avoiding it altogether.

of the U.S. population

of consumer discretionary purchases

are more willing to purchase from a company supporting a cause

will pay more to purchase a product to support a cause they believe in

want brands to entertain them

want to participate in co-creation of products and brands

feel a responsibility to share feedback with companies

Source: MillennialMarketing.com

25%21%50%37%80%40%70%

UBJ | 01.22.201616 | COVER | THE MARKETING ISSUE

Chances are, if you are a marketing prof-essional, you are in the midst of implementing a new campaign for 2016. Budgets have been approved, plans have been laid, and now it is time to start the heavy lifting. Executives have been tossing around buzzwords – “engagement,” among them – and you know that engagement is a key metric for deci-sion-makers around the proverbial table. It’s inter-esting that, with the advent of social media, engage-ment seems to have taken on a more measurable, metric frame of reference (think: the number of likes or the number of followers) and has lost some of the essence of true brand engagement.

I came across an article on Forbes.com the other day, and one particular line jumped out at me:

“Customer engagement is everything. While serving customers – fulfi lling their stated needs – is absolutely crucial, it’s not enough to ensure loyalty. There needs to be something else, something emotional, that involves the customer, that makes a connection with them.”

Source: “Five Customer Experience Truths That Almost Every Company Gets Wrong,” Forbes.com, Jan. 4, 2016

Engagement is far more than a number, statistic or measure. True engagement builds a connection between a consumer and a brand, infl uencing at-tachment to create brand loyalty. While it is import-ant to engage your customers – whatever that means for your business – it is also important to consider the brand experience. It is brand experiences that build emotional or sensible connections to cement brand loyalty.

So, what does that mean for your business? If you fi nd yourself leading the marketing charge

in your company, here are four quick things to consider when building a brand worth experiencing:

1. Home in on emotive messaging. It is import-ant to craft messaging that underscores your brand promise. There is a wide range of emotions – from sensitive to rational – so you can choose what makes the most sense for your business in a given situation or what’s most appropriate for a given marketing or communication platform. Whatever the emotion, your messaging should evoke an intended action – an anticipated response – and reinforce the connection you are building between brand and consumer.

Take Dove’s Real Beauty messaging, for example. If you aren’t familiar with this campaign, simply search YouTube, and you’ll fi nd some of the most emotionally charged messaging out there.

2. Share your message – then repeat. Once you have built your message, share it! But don’t stop at one channel. The campaigns that most resonate with an audience are multi-channel, integrated approach-es. Gone are the days of a “one-and-done” promo-tional approach. Consistent and ever-present mes-saging is key to ensuring a long-lasting connection with consumers.

Ever heard of Coca-Cola’s Share a Coke campaign? The company does a great job of pushing out their message across all platforms – from social media to tradition-al advertising, from packaging to retail presence.

3. Add a personal touch. Whether you incorpo-rate special events or unique experiences, adding a personalized touch is a sure-fi re way to endear yourself to those you serve. Next time you set out to plan an event or develop a special touch point, ask yourself, “How can we make this stand out from the hundreds of other events or campaigns targeted to the same person?” Your best bet is to utilize the passion of key stakeholders who can help “sell” it – by giving it credibility – to folks like themselves. Reach-ing out individually, on a regular basis, to cultivate real relationships with those important to your

brand’s perception is key early in, and throughout, the campaign. With so-called “brand ambassadors” on board, you’ll likely see increased engagement from your target audience as a whole.

This example is a little closer to home. As part of a grand opening rally for Chuy’s Greenville, our firm took the time to hand-deliver invitations to key infl uencers. We took the traditional invitation one step further and created a “lime drop,” where invitees received a lime they could bring to the rally and trade it in for a famous Chuy’s margarita!

4. Brand before all: Your experiences, your special touches, and your messaging should all fl ow from your brand – not the other way around. Keeping your brand at the forefront is key to everything you develop. (In this instance, the egg comes before the chicken!)

By ELIZABETH MORRISSenior Account Manager, Flourish Integrated Communications

4 steps for building a brand worth experiencing

Engagement is far more than a number, statistic or measure. True engagement builds a connection Between a consumer and a brand, influencing attachment to create brand loyalty.

01.22.2016 | upstatebusinessjournal.com THE MARKETING ISSUE | COVER | 17

The digital space can seem like a black hole for advertising dollars with the limited information that is shared and the limited understanding of where and when, or even if it’s running.

With newspaper/magazines, tear sheets and physical copies are proof the ad ran as intended. Pin it on a bulletin board, and it has a longer life of its own. With outdoor billboards, you drive by your location daily and know it’s up. With TV and radio, you know which stations, programs or dayparts you’ve purchased to know that the spots are running. With “traditional” media, you often have friends telling you they heard your spot. Which is great – if they in fact are your appropriate target audience.

The digital space does not have to be a black hole. In fact, there are more opportunities for true trans-parency into where the dollars/impressions/actions take place than most advertisers realize.

Advertisers deserve transparency and accountability for advertising dollars

With the continued growth and fragmentation through more media channels than ever to engage consumers within their daily lives, transparency becomes an even bigger struggle in understanding where the money is going, largely as a lack of visibility into where it runs and when it runs.

Black holes for advertisers do not need to exist. There are multiple ways to gather data, providing comfort that dollars are optimized to actions, not just impressions or clicks.

A few considerations when contemplating a shift to digital:

• Google Analytics is a must-have. And not just a must-have, but monitored continually to provide key insights and actionable opportuni-ties: » Bounce rate: Indicates whether clicks to sites

are intentional or robotic – in addition to site relevancy to users driven to the site

» Conversions: Signify the right audience is getting to the site because they are taking the desired action driving objectives

» Time on site: Indicates a quality audience being driven through extended engagement

» User fl ow/behavior fl ow: Provides visibility into how users are engaging with site and how many pages/clicks it takes to achieve desired action

» Demographics: Allows information on who is visiting the site – helps validate or poke holes in who the perceived target audience may actually be

» And these are just a few of the options available within Google Analytics to truly understand the performance

• Ensure trackable conversions. Sure - impres-sions and clicks can help drive conversions.

But ultimately human actions are what matter. • Consider where the placements are happening – is the site that your ad is appearing on relevant to what

you are selling, and is it a resource where someone would truly be investigating your product category?

Media vendors should be providing campaign transparency

It should be an expectation to have visibility into more than just impressions and clicks. Ultimately, results are the objective – not impressions and clicks. Here are just a few of the options available for data opportunities vendors could share to support per-formance-driven digital campaigns:

• Conversions – Both click-thru and view-thru. Because let’s face it: Few of us click on a banner intentionally. But we may respond to it without realizing it has impacted us.

• Frequency – Visibility into how many impres-sions/touches it takes for a user to take an action. After a certain number of impressions, we may want to shift to another user. Or pay less per impression for each user who has already had exposure.

• Time of day / day of week – When are users most engaged with the ads? If conversions are not taking place in the middle of the night – stop running ads there.

• Creative performance – Sure, clicks may help indicate which creative is driving traffi c, but if it isn’t creating actions on the back end, does it really matter?

• Device – Mobile / tablets / desktop – if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, the options of having a mobile-focused campaign are limited. This can be adjusted until your site is ready.

Transparency brings tangibility to the black hole of digital media

While traditional media still serves a purpose and has a strong audience, the shift to digital engagement with consumers cannot be ignored. While there are many considerations for advertisers to think through, it does not have to be blind endeavor. With anything, having a proper strategy, approach and set-up at the beginning allows for valuable, actionable insights leading to a stronger ROI for any integrated campaign.

By ANNE DECABOOTERPartner, BootCut Media

Navigating the ‘black hole’ of digital mediaHow do you know if you’re

getting what you’re paying for?

UBJ | 01.22.2016

COMMUNITY

The Water Environment Associa-tion of South Carolina named Daniel Fahr as Young Professional of the Year

for 2015. Fahr currently serves as a wastewater operator at the Maple Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greer and is a graduate of USC Upstate.

ENERGY

Lockhart Power Company named Andrena Powell-Baker senior manager of community relations and develop-

ment. Powell-Baker is a South Carolina certifi ed economic developer and pre-viously worked as the executive director of the Union County Development Board. She is also on the board of

Kenneth BoltonNamed national sales manager at Sandlapper Capital Investments LLC. Bolton has more than 30 years of experience in fi nancial services and investment banking. He has worked with several brokerage fi rms and was previously the head of capital markets for several private equity fi rms.

Michael T. PryNamed senior associate with DP3 Architects. Pry has been with the fi rm for nearly 14 years as studio leader for the community studio. He has led several community projects including City of Greenville Public Works, Travelers Rest Fire Station and David Hellams Community Center.

Kevin StiensNamed director of parks and recreation for Spartanburg County. Stiens previously served as business administrator and assistant parks and grounds administrator at the City of Greenville’s Parks and Recreation Department and has held other parks and recreation positions in North Carolina.

Scott LutonNamed managing partner at TalentStream. Luton previously served as president of APICS Atlanta and is the founder of Riverwood Associates, a process improvement consulting and training fi rm. He began his career as a database analyst in the U.S. Air Force and was named to the President’s Club while at EmployBridge.

H.E. Tuttle IIINamed senior vice president and director of trust and investments for Countybank. He has more than 20 years of experience with wealth sales, product development and trust management. Tuttle will provide strategic oversight of the trust and investment operations.

HIRED PROMOTED HIRED HIRED HIRED

Kenneth Bolton

HIRED PROMOTED HIRED

Scott Luton

HIRED

H.E. Tuttle III

HIRED

18 | ON THE MOVE | PLAY-BY-PLAY OF UPSTATE CAREERS

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>>

01.22.2016 | upstatebusinessjournal.com

directors for the South Carolina Economic Developers’ Association.

ENGINEERING

Fluor Corporation was named to

the 2016 list of Best Companies for Leaders by Chief Executive magazine. Fluor was the only publicly traded engineering-construction company recognized out of 40 on the list. The magazine seeks to identify companies that excel in leadership development.

FINANCE

Herlong Bates Burnett hired Kiley Neal as a commercial account manager. Neal is a graduate of Purdue Univer-sity and has a license in property and casualty, as well as life and health.

NBSC, a division of Synovus Bank, named George S. Sutherland branch manager for the Greenville main office. He has more than nine years of local banking experience and volunteers with the South Carolina High School League. Sutherland also serves as finance chair-man for Trinity United Methodist Church.

HOSPITALITY

The South Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association awarded Ed Szuster the Restaurant Front of the House Employee of the Year award. The association selects finalists who exem-plify the highest standards of excellence in service to their company, customers

and community. Szuster has been with Larkin’s on the River for four years.

IT

A3 Communications hired Richie Gibbons as Greenville branch manager and Danny Barrett as senior project manager. Gibbons is a regis-tered communications distribution designer with more than 15 years of experience. Barrett has more than 35 years of experience in the installation and maintenance of technology.

LEGAL

Gallivan, White and Boyd P.A. elected Jared Pretulak as a partner. Pretulak has defended and resolved numerous workers’ compensation matters. He is certified as a mediator by the South Carolina Board of Arbitrator and Me-diator Certification board.

Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP named M. Kevin McCarrell as a partner. McCarrell is a member of the firm’s litigation group. He has experi-

ence representing banks and other fi-nancial services companies in mortgage foreclosures, debt collection and de-fending consumer suits, among others.

MARKETING/PR

Complete Public Relations promoted Kaitlyn Hudson to public relations as-sociate and Sarah Moore to public rela-tions director. Hudson is a Greenville native who previously worked as a business development representative at SYNNEX and serves on the Greenville Chamber’s PULSE program’s social enrichment committee. Moore is part of the PULSE PaceSetters program, serves on the alumni board of St. Joseph’s Catholic School and has worked for a U.S. Congressman.

Proforma Business Impact promot-ed Victoria Riggins to vice president of operations. Riggins has been with the company since 2014 as operations manager. She is a graphic design and communications executive with more than 23 years of experience in com-mercial printing.

CONTRIBUTE: New hires, promotions & award winners may be featured in On the Move. Send information and photos to onthemove@upstatebusinessjournal.com.

PLAY-BY-PLAY OF UPSTATE CAREERS | ON THE MOVE | 19

VIP

Hasmukh P. (H.P.) Rama

The chairman of the board and CEO of JHM Hotels will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) next week in Los Angeles. This award is presented to an individual who has made significant contributions to the hospitality industry over his lifetime.

What if there was a vibrant, new living experience in Greenville’s coveted West End District? A place at once steeped in the history and charm of old Greenville, and yet thoroughly forward-thinking in its conception and vision for the future. A place that celebrates all that has come before in this storied downtown setting, and also points the way to a dynamic, one-of-kind-lifestyle that’s altogether unique. This is the best of both worlds: a rich heritage and a modern living experience, all bound together by a collection of 24 thoughtfully designed, original townhomes.

A new living experience in old Greenville.

www.parkplaceonhudson.com

104 S. Hudson Street | Greenville, SC | 29601 | 864.561.4031 | info@parkplaceonhudson.com

What if there was a vibrant, new living experience in Greenville’s coveted West End District? A place at once steeped in the history and charm of old Greenville, and yet thoroughly forward-thinking its conception and vision for the future. A place that celebrates all that has come before in this storied downtown setting, and also points the way to a dynamic, one-of-a-kind-lifestyle that’s altogether unique. This is the best of both worlds: a rich heritage and a modern living experience, all bound together by a collection of 24 thoughtfully designed, original townhomes.

A new living experience in old Greenville.GRANITE COUNTERTOPS | HARDWOOD FLOORS | GARAGE PARKING

NEARBY PARKS & RECREATION | OUTDOOR LIVING SPACE | KROC CENTER MEMBERSHIP

Renderings and Plans presented are illustrative and shall be used for general information purposes only. Actual layout, room dimensions, window sizes and locations and steps to grade vary per plan and are subject to modification without notice.

www.parkplaceonhudson.com104 S. Hudson Street | Greenville, SC | 29601 864.561.4031 | info@parkplaceonhudson.com

>>

UBJ | 01.22.2016

Tangible Intentions off ers marketing for small businesses

A new business in Greenville’s West End, Tangible Intentions, is opening and will specialize in marketing for businesses with small budgets, said co-owner Anthony Reese.

The business started out in 2012 as a way to help his wife’s parents start a website for their small farm in Henderson, N.C., without spending the $3,000-$9,000 that marketing companies had quoted to create it, Reese said.

Tangible Intentions later moved from Henderson to Greenville, and Reese and his wife were renting offi ce space on Stone Avenue. As the company grew they looked for a more permanent space. They are now renovating a building on Pendleton Street.

He said the company is now a full-service marketing company.“We’re looking to be able to offer businesses anything and everything that

they want,” he said.The marketing world is changing, Reese said, and “there’s such a need for

what we’re doing” by offering a low-cost, full-service marketing strategy.Reese also wants to be able to use the 1,200-square-foot space as a place for

artists to work.He said he also wants the space to be an option for “artists who don’t have the

ability to rent out an art gallery” or who need a space to “just come in and create.” He plans to display artists’ work on the walls.

Reese said the place would be able to help capture the fl avor of the West End.

Brookhaven Medical names Marc Morin as CFO

Atlanta-based Brookhaven Medical Inc., which recently merged with Greenville-based Creati-Vasc, named Marc Morin as CFO. Morin previ-ously served as global controller of EndoChoice Holdings where he oversaw all fi nance, accounting, treasury and tax functions.

He also helped it raise over $200 million in debt and equity financing, including a $100 million in its initial public offering.

Before working with EndoChoice, Morin worked in public accounting with KPMG. Morin will succeed Ross Dedeyn as CFO.

Manufacturer plans $20M Fountain Inn expansion

D&W Fine Pack is investing $20 million to expand its operations in Fountain Inn.

The expansion is expected to create 60 jobs over the next fi ve years.

“It is always good news when an existing indus-try expands in Laurens County,” said Laurens County Council Chairman Joe Wood. “It shows they believe in us and their future.”

D&W is headquartered in Illinois and manufactures a range of products for the foodservice and food packaging industries. The company was established in 2010 and employs 1,700 workers across the United States.

The company is investing in equipment and machinery upgrades at its 650,000-square-foot Fountain Inn facility.

Hiring for the new positions is expected to begin in the summer of 2016.

Denny’s commits to serve 100% cage-free eggs

Spartanburg-based restaurant chain Denny’s announced its commitment to sourcing and serving 100 percent cage-free eggs in all of its U.S. restaurants by 2026.

The restaurant serves more than 400 million eggs each year, according to a release. Company representatives said the move underlines the brand’s dedication to the humane treatment of animals within its supply sourcing and its ongoing focus on quality, fl avor and guest satisfaction.

“We believe our guests care about how their food is sourced, and so do we. For more than 60 years, we have listened to our guests to understand what they care about the most, without sacrifi cing on quality, taste or value,” said John Miller, Denny’s president and CEO. “The humane treatment of animals remains an im-portant part of our brand’s sourcing strategy, and our commitment to this transition underscores our confi dence in the ethical evolution of supplier capabilities.”

Aunt Fannie’s partners with Subway franchisees

The North American Association of Subway Franchisees (NAASF) has partnered with Aunt Fannie’s Inc.

Through this partnership, NAASF’s Subway franchisee members will have access to FlyPunch!, a industrial-grade, non-toxic product that keeps fruit fl ies at bay, as well as Aunt Fannie’s line of vinegar-based non-toxic cleaning products.

“We are thrilled to partner with NAASF and to help extend their Subway franchisee members’ commitment to health through the cleaning and pest control products they use,” said Aunt Fannie’s founder and CEO Mat Franken. “Using our safe-near-food, all-natural products speaks volumes to how much they care about the welfare of their customers and employees.”

Aunt Fannie’s “Safe Near Food” mission seeks to ensure that all cleaning and pest removal products are all-natural, and suitable for use every place where food is eaten, prepared or stored.

Aunt Fannie’s, which started in Greenville, announced this month that the company will move its head-quarters to Portland, Ore., later this year.

20 | THE FINE PRINT | BUSINESS BRIEFS YOU CAN’T MISS

Franken

He said he also wants the space to be an option for “artists who don’t have the ability to rent out an art gallery” or who need a space to “just come in and

create.” He plans to display artists’ work on the walls.Reese said the place would be able to help

capture the fl avor of the West End.

01.22.2016 | upstatebusinessjournal.com THE FRESHEST FACES ON THE BUSINESS LANDSCAPE | NEW TO THE STREET | 21

Open for business1

1. Roots Smokehouse recently opened at 1237 Pendleton St., Greenville. For more information, visit bit.ly/roots-smokehouse or call 864-558-0747.

2. QuikTrip recently opened at 200 S. Harrison Bridge Road, Simpsonville. For more information, visit quiktrip.com.

CONTRIBUTE: Know of a business opening soon? Email information to bjeffers@communityjournals.com.

2

CREDIBILITY

UBJ | 01.22.201622 | #TRENDING | INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

RE: RENOVATION COMING SOON FOR FORMER HANDLEBAR SPACE> Chase Smith upstatebusinessjournal.com“That is garbage. Amy Schumer and Chris Tucker or anyone of their magnitude would not come to a 350 people seater with a possible bowling alley below them. They would attend The Peace Center, where it can actually hold their audience…or maybe The Orange Peel in Asheville. This should have remained primarily a concert venue to try to retain some culture in Greenville that isn’t about amusing the lower upper class white people.”

MG upstatebusinessjournal.com“I agree! AND, the ‘sound engineer’ that’s coming in to make sure that ‘everything’ is not TOO loud for the neighbors… Well, they just blew it. If the neighbors can hear it, it’s too frickin loud.”

> Cynthia Serra “That is great news, but… it will

hold 500 people plus employees and has only 110 parking spaces. If all 500 come as a couple (unlikely) they’re approx. 190 parking spaces short. Where will all those cars be parked? Bennett St? Earle St? Vannoy. Growth and enterprise are wonderful things but the limitations need to be recognized and addressed.”

Howard Dozier “We are securing additional parking as we speak to accommodate”

RE: I-85/I-385 PROJECT TO GO INTO FULL SWING> Upstate Chamber Coalition “Here we go. The gateway to Greenville is about to get a huge upgrade.”

BIZ BUZZ The top 5 stories from last week’s issue ranked by shareability score

1. Stylist Bo Stegall to open Perimeter salon

2. BMW hits record production year in 2015

3. I-85/I-385 project to go into full swing

4. Renovation coming soon for former Handlebar space

5. Young Americans

OVERHEARD @ THE WATERCOOLERDistilled commentary from UBJ readers

>> 1,018

>> 494

>> 354

>> 150

>> 504

DIGITAL FLIPBOOK ARCHIVE >>

The layout of print meets the convenience of the web: fl ip through the digital edition of any of our print issues at >> upstatebusinessjournal.com/past-issues

JANUARY 15, 2016 | VOL. 5 ISSUE 3

MILLENNIALSMILLENNIALSMILLENNIALSwho are they?

what do they want?

where are they going?

Community Journals’

Digital Content Manager

Danielle Car came to the

Upstate for school and

plans to stay... for now.

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01.22.2016 | upstatebusinessjournal.com

PRESIDENT/CEOMark B. Johnstonmjohnston@communityjournals.com

UBJ PUBLISHERRyan L. Johnstonrjohnston@communityjournals.com

EXECUTIVE EDITORSusan Clary Simmonsssimmons@communityjournals.com

MANAGING EDITORJerry Salleyjsalley@communityjournals.com

STAFF WRITERSAshley Boncimino, Lety Good,Sherry Jackson, Benjamin Jeffers, Cindy Landrum, April A. Morris

DIGITAL TEAM Emily Price, Danielle Car

MARKETING & ADVERTISING

SALES REPRESENTATIVESNicole Greer, Donna Johnston, David Kabrin, Annie Langston, Lindsay Oehman, Emily Yepes

DIRECTOR OF EVENTS & ACCOUNT STRATEGY Kate Madden

ART & PRODUCTION

ART DIRECTORWhitney Fincannon

PHOTO COORDINATOR/LAYOUTTammy Smith

OPERATIONS Holly Hardin

ADVERTISING DESIGNKristy Adair, Michael Allen

CLIENT SERVICES Anita Harley, Jane Rogers

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTKristi Fortner

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE

STORY IDEAS: ideas@upstatebusinessjournal.com

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UBJ welcomes expert commentary from business leaders on timely news topics related to their specialties. Guest columns run 700-800 words. Contact Executive Editor Susan Clary Simmons at ssimmons@community-journals.com to submit an article for consideration.

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Copyright ©2015 BY COMMUNITY JOURNALS LLC. All rights reserved. Upstate Business Journal is published weekly by Community Journals LLC. 581 Perry Ave., Greenville, South Carolina, 29611. Upstate Business Journal is a free publication. Annual subscriptions (52 issues) can be purchased for $50. Postmaster: Send address changes to Upstate Business, P581 Perry Ave., Greenville, South Carolina, 29611. Printed in the USA.

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IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE OF UBJ? WANT A COPY FOR YOUR LOBBY?

Order a reprint today, PDFs available for $25. For more information, contact Anita Harley 864.679.1205 or

aharley@communityjournals.com

20 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal November 1, 2013

UBJ milestone

Solve. Serve. Grow. Those three words summarize Jackson Marketing Group’s guiding principles, and ac-cording 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 Mar-keting Communications, a company specializing in dealer training and product launches for the auto indus-try 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 Green-ville 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 up-stairs 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

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

>>

Chairman larry Jackson, Jackson marketing Group. Photos by Greg Beckner / Staff

November 1, 2013 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal 21

UBJ milestone

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 Motor-sports 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 plan-ning.

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 audi-torium Jackson makes available for non-profit use. The Motor-sports 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 expand-ed into other verticals such as financial, healthcare, manufac-turing and pro-bono work, but still has a strong focus on the auto industry and transportation. It’s

also one of the few marketing com-panies 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 appli-cation 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

him going and growing his business over the years. He is passionate about giving back and outreach to non-prof-its. The company was recently awarded the Community Foundation Spirit Award.

The company reaffirmed its com-mitment to serving the community last week by celebrating its 25th an-niversary 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 retire-ment, 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.”

jackson Marketing Group’s 25 Years1988 Jackson Dawson opens in Greenville at Downtown Airport

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

1998 Jackson Dawson moves to task industrial Court

1997 Jackson Dawson launches

motorsports Division

2009-2012 Jackson marketing Group named a top BtoB agency by

BtoB magazine 4 years running

2012 Jackson marketing Group recognized by Community Foundation

with Creative spirit Award

2009 Jackson Dawson changes name to Jackson

marketing Group when larry sells his partnership

in Detroit and lA

1988 19981993 2003 2008

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

1990 Jackson Dawson acquires therapon marketing Group and moves to Piedmont

office Center on Villa.

2011 Jackson marketing Group/Jackson motorsports

Group employee base reaches 100 people

pro-bono/non-proFit Clients

American Red Cross of Western Carolinas

Metropolitan Arts CouncilArtisphere

Big League World SeriesThe Wilds

Advance SCSouth 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

>>

AS SEEN IN NOVEMBER 1, 2013

IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE OF UBJ? WANT A COPY FOR YOUR LOBBY?

Order a reprint today, PDFs available for $25. For more information, contact Anita Harley 864.679.1205 or

20 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal November 1, 2013

UBJ milestone

Solve. Serve. Grow. Those three words summarize Jackson Marketing Group’s guiding principles, and ac-cording 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 Mar-keting Communications, a company specializing in dealer training and product launches for the auto indus-try 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 Green-ville 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 up-stairs 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

Jackson Marketing Group celebrates Jackson Marketing Group celebrates Jackson Marketing

25 yearsBy sherry Jackson | staff | sjackson@communityjournals.com

>>

Chairman larry Jackson, Jackson marketing Group. Photos by Greg Beckner / Staff

November 1, 2013 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal 21

UBJ milestone

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 Motor-sports 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 plan-ning.

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 audi-torium Jackson makes available for non-profit use. The Motor-sports 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 expand-ed into other verticals such as financial, healthcare, manufac-turing and pro-bono work, but still has a strong focus on the auto industry and transportation. It’s

also one of the few marketing com-panies 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 appli-cation 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

him going and growing his business over the years. He is passionate about giving back and outreach to non-prof-giving back and outreach to non-prof-giving back and outreach to non-profits. The company was recently awarded the Community Foundation Spirit Award.

The company reaffirmed its com-mitment to serving the community last week by celebrating its 25th an-niversary 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 retire-ment, 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.”

jackson Marketing Group’s 25 Years1988 Jackson Dawson opensin Greenville at Downtown Airport

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

1998 Jackson Dawson moves to task industrial Court

1997 Jackson Dawson launches

motorsports Division

2009-2012 Jackson marketing Group named a top BtoB agency by

BtoB magazine 4 years running

2012 Jackson marketing Group recognized by Community Foundation

with Creative spirit Award

2009 Jackson Dawson changes name to Jackson

marketing Group when larry sells his partnership

in Detroit and lA

1988 19981993 2003 2008

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

1990 Jackson Dawson acquires therapon marketing Group and moves to Piedmont

office Center on Villa.

2011 Jackson marketing Group/Jackson motorsports

Group employee base reaches 100 people

pro-bono/non-proFitClients

/lients

/

American Red Cross of Western Carolinas

Metropolitan Arts CouncilArtisphere

Big League World SeriesThe Wilds

Advance SCSouth Carolina Charities, Inc.

Aloft

Hidden Treasure Christian School

CoMMUnitY nitY nit inVinVin olVolVol eVeV Ment& 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

>>

AS SEEN IN NOVEMBER 1, 2013

JAN. 29QUARTERLY CRE ISSUEThe state of commercial real estate in the Upstate.

FEB. 19THE TRANSPORTATION ISSUEGetting around in a growing region.

MARCH 18THE TECH ISSUELocal technological innovations and revolutions.

Got any thoughts? Care to contribute? Let us know at ideas@upstatebusinessjournal.com.

UP NEXT

EVENTS YOU SHOULD HAVE ON YOUR CALENDAR | PLANNER | 23

CONTRIBUTE: Got a hot date? Submit event information for consideration to events@upstatebusinessjournal.com.

DATE EVENT INFO WHERE DO I GO? HOW DO I GO?

Friday

1/22FYI Friday with Todd Horne and Allen Smith: Spartanburg’s Community Vision Plan

Spartanburg Marriott299 N. Church St., Spartanburg11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Cost: $15 Chamber members, $25 nonmembers Register: bit.ly/fyifriday-jan2016

Thursday

1/28Upstate Women in Technology LuncheonEducation and networking for women in the IT fi eld

City Range615 Haywood Road, Greenville11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Cost: $17.50Register: uwitsc.com

Friday

1/29Friday Forum Lunch with Congressmen Trey Gowdy and Mick Mulvaney

Embassy Suites Golf Resort &Conference Center670 Verdae Blvd., Greenville12-1 p.m.

Cost: $30 investors, $45 non-investors Register: bit.ly/friforum-jan2016

Friday

2/5Economic Forecast BreakfastLearn economic trends and forecasts from experts

USC Upstate800 University Way, Spartanburg8-9:30 a.m.

Cost: $25 Chamber members$35 nonmembers Register: bit.ly/econbreakfst-jan2016

Friday

2/5HTI Organizational Solutions’ Friday Morning Coffee Monthly series on current HR topics

Human Technologies Inc.105 N. Spring Street Suite 200, Greenville 8:30-9:15 a.m.

Cost: FreeRegister: bit.ly/hti-feb2016

Saturday

2/20 Comprehensive Small Business Start-up Workshop

Greenville County LibraryHughes Branch, 25 Heritage Green Place, Greenville 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Cost: $69 (second person, same company, $25) Register: piedmontscore.org/workshops/register/212