The Chicken Man Of Panama City
By Mary Fisher | Sunday, May 30, 2010
Shooting ruffles neighbor's feathers
A neighborhood feud turned fowl Tuesday when a Bay County man shot and killed three chickens and a turkey with a .357-caliber Magnum during an argument in his neighbor's front yard.
Ron Daniel, 54, said he got into an argument with Sandra Lawrence when his birds wandered onto her property near State 22 in eastern Bay County. Daniel said he couldn't catch the birds, so he got angry and shot them.
Daniel, who was raising the birds for food, said he had every intention of eating what he had killed, but he was arrested and charged with one count of misdemeanor animal cruelty before he could put the birds in a pot.
"I intended to take them to the house and make chicken and dumplings out of them," Daniel said. "They never knew what hit them. I'm one hell of a shot."
Lawrence said she demanded that Daniel remove the birds from her yard, but was appalled and disgusted at his methods.
"It's not hunting season," she said. "I didn't even comprehend what he was doing until I heard the bang. My mouth fell open. You don't expect somebody to do something like that. It was just uncalled for."
The neighbors both admit having a problem keeping their animals on their respective properties. Daniel said Lawrence's dog has come onto his property several times and killed his chickens.
"I'd go out in my yard and find a dead chicken here and a dead chicken there," Daniel said. "I told them I've got a problem with your dog killing my fowl. I talked to them three times, and got a good cussing out."
Daniel said he has called Bay County deputies and animal control out to his house on several occasions to report problems with Lawrence's dog. Needless to say, when Daniel's chickens wandered onto Lawrence's property Tuesday, they were not well-received.
"I was going to get those chickens," Daniel said. "I took my cane and started over there to catch them, but they ran from me, which is natural."
Unable to catch the chickens, Daniel, a disabled veteran, admits that he lost his temper and told his son to bring him his gun.
"We used to call it 'going south' in 'Nam," Daniel said. "She (Lawrence) said, 'Get your chickens off of my property or kill them.' These people have aggravated me and aggravated me. I had to put a stop to it.
"I thought well I can shoot my neighbors or I can shoot my chickens, but if I shoot my neighbors, I won't have any dinner," he added.
Lawrence said her 19-year-old daughter, an animal lover who was horrified by the shooting, called the Humane Society.
Animal control officials responded to the scene with Bay County deputies, who took Daniel into custody. Two chickens and a turkey were found dead at the scene. One chicken was rushed to Parkway Animal Hospital where it died in surgery.
The shooting, Daniel said, was more humane than euthanasia practiced in animal shelters, and it had a purpose - food.
"Some people may think it's cold-blooded, but those same people will go to the grocery store and buy chicken wrapped in plastic," Daniel said. "I'm a country boy. I was raised on a farm. If you didn't raise something to eat, you didn't eat."
According to Florida Statute 828.12, misdemeanor animal cruelty is defined as unnecessarily mutilating or killing an animal. The offense is punishable by up to a year in jail or a fine of not more than $5,000.
Setting It Straight
A News Herald story Wednesday on the shooting of three chickens and a turkey should have said one of the chickens was euthanized at Parkway Animal Hospital because it could not survive its injuries.
Follow up story:
Local News: Chicken killer flies coop after state drops charges
Saturday, July 13, 2002
DANIEL JACKSON
The News Herald
The State Attorney's Office cleared Ron Daniel of animal cruelty charges Friday, three days after he was arrested for shooting three chickens and a turkey with a .357-caliber Magnum in his neighbor's yard.
Assistant State Attorney Zachary Taylor filed a "no information" in the case, saying the state could not prove the incident was malicious. "It is not a crime for the owner of chickens to kill them when attempting to do so in a humane manner," he explained.
Daniel said he plans to get his gun back from the Bay County Sheriff's Office on Monday.
After The News Herald reported his arrest on Wednesday, Daniel said the state attorney's office called him for an interview, and people all over Bay County started calling him the Chicken Man.
"I'm not guilty of animal cruelty," said Daniel who raises the birds for food. "Now, everywhere I go people are asking me for fried chicken. They want me to open a chicken franchise."
Daniel shot the birds after they wandered onto the property of his neighbors, Sandra and Richard Lawrence. He said he'd been feuding with the Lawrence family because their daughter's dog had killed some of his chickens.
Sandra Lawrence, who witnessed the shooting, said she feels she is now the laughingstock of Bay County, but she can't find the humor in a man firing a gun in her front yard. She said Daniel shot the birds in an effort to intimidate her, after she asked him to get them out of her yard.
"I feel like our judicial system has failed us," she said. "I don't even feel safe in my own yard anymore. People aren't taking this seriously. We're scared that it's open season on us."
Daniel, a disabled veteran who raises chickens, ducks, quail and turkeys, said he got mad trying to catch the birds, and decided to have them for dinner instead. He got his gun and shot them in front of his neighbors.
The Lawrences' 19-year-old daughter, Shonda, made an emergency call to the Humane Society that was answered by Bay County Animal Control and deputies, who took Daniel into custody. Two chickens and the turkey died immediately. One chicken was taken to Parkway Animal Hospital, where it was euthanized.
After he was released from jail Wednesday, Daniel told The News Herald he'd planned to make chicken and dumplings, but animal control took the chickens before he could get them back to the house. "They never knew what hit them," he said. "I'm one hell of a shot."
Richard Lawrence said he doesn't care if Daniel kills his chickens, but he should do it on his own property. He said if he'd been home at the time of the incident, he'd have probably gone to jail too - for fighting.
"He never should have brought that gun down here," he said.
Mary Fisher Design on Google Stories
By Mirko | Monday, May 17, 2010
Create your own story on Google Stories
Is your website iPad ready?
By Mirko | Thursday, May 13, 2010
Simulated view of what happens when people try to see a flash-based websites on an iPad. The infamous "blue lego block" is displayed.
Apple has already sold 1 million of iPads in the U.S. and in the next weeks they will start to deliver millions of iPads outside the U.S. Ipad is an ingenious touch-based computer that lets you surf the web, listen music, watch videos, write emails. But if you are not aware Apple decided to not support Flash, so if your site is built using this technology, 1 million iPad users will not able to view your site.
Apple CEO, Steve Jobs explained in detail why he doesn't want to support Flash on Apple's devices. He says is not touch compatible, it's slow, it's an Adobe's closed proprietary technology.
On the other hand, Adobe responded about his technology. However many major companies don't want to lose any iPad users and they have already started to build their sites without using Flash, using new standards as HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript, for example, Youtube, Vimeo, CBS, ABC, Netflix are totally compatible with Apple products.
Mary Fisher Design already started to avoid flash technology when possible. Most of our sites use html/css/javascript to emulate what flash can do. In my opinion, Flash is still a good web development tool and it won't disappear in a few weeks or months, also because the new html5 and css3 are not fully supported by the most used browsers on earth, Internet Explorer, but flash technology will die sooner or later.
Is your website iPad-ready? Are you ready to lose 1 million+ potential visitors to your site?
Lynx browser: how Google sees your website
By Mirko |
Lynx is a text-only Web browser for use on cursor-addressable character cell terminals. It is released as Free software under the GNU General Public License.
Learning how Google and other search engines, see your website is the key to a good search engine optimization of your site (SEO).
One way is to view google cache text-version.
However this method won't show the cache unless Google has crawled your page.
The other way is to use the Lynx browser. It is a text-based very ugly looking software, but it will show exactly how spiders will see your site. Check your site with Lynx and discover new way to optimize your site!
Trendler USA, compatible toner cartridges
By Mary Fisher | Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Website Design by Ron Hubbard. Programming by Mirko Bonet. Site includes a flippable catalog that you can print.
We had the great fortune to work on Stephen Trendler's website: TrendlerUSA.com. The company will begin to save costs immediately because of the flippable catalog on the homepage. They will no longer have to print and mail out catalogs. And their compatible toner cartridge customers will have a catalog immediately without having to wait on the postal service. And on top of that, he is saving trees. We will call this the "Trendler Green Initiative". We have also used Trendler's toner cartridges in our Xerox 7300 machine. Color is critical to us. They work as well as the manufacturers' cartridges and save us a ton of money. And in this economy, who doesn't want to save a little "green".
http://www.trendlerusa.com
Something lumpy in your direct mail
By Mary Fisher | Sunday, April 04, 2010
Lumpy Mail: An Engine for Lead-Generation
By Steve Cuno
There’s nothing quite like a box or bulging padded envelope in the mail. It makes your inner child hop up and down, tug your sleeve and ask — nay, nag: “What’s inside? Huh? HUH? WHAT’S INSIDE?” This happens even when the package contains something you ordered. The effect is multiplied when it’s something you didn’t order.
An eager, inner child dwells within us all. Even hard-to-reach corporate curmudgeons, who take pride in chucking unopened direct mail or delegating the task to administrative assistants, harbor such a child. And that is precisely why well-executed lumpy mail works. It has the uncanny ability to find its way to the curmudgeon’s hands — and heart. It even charms their administrative assistants, some of whom, rumor has it, also once had hearts.
If you want to reach business decision-makers, lumpy mail is your secret weapon. (I could use the more common term, “three-dimensional direct mail.” But my own inner child, who likes saying “lumpy,” begs your indulgence.)
How powerful is lumpy mail? Consider a credit card provider seeking face-to-face meetings with bank CEOs. Our agency mailed each CEO a box containing a sales letter and a First-Class Mail® reply card. I should also mention that the box was five feet long, to accommodate the pair of stilts that we enclosed. The sales letter promised to help banks compete with “the big guys.” Our client set appointments with 40 percent of the mailing list and booked more than $65 million in business the first year alone.
Not that lumpy mail must be so elaborate. For a client with a tiny budget, we mailed a letter, reply card — and fake mustache — in a Number 10 envelope. The envelope headline read, “Clever disguise enclosed.” The pitch? That retailing our client’s product would be immensely profitable. The mustache? To hide from long-lost friends showing up for a handout. The package pulled a 25-percent response.
Then there was the air horn we mailed for a community bank (36-percent response), the kazoo for a business service (25 percent), the Lone Ranger mask for a half-million-dollar software product (25 percent), the beanbag elephant for a regional bank (56 percent), the two-headed coin for a transit company (47 percent) …
I’ll resist the temptation to keep raving. Let’s move on to what makes lumpy mail work from a strategic standpoint. Here are six musts:
1. Mail something of value. Junk doesn’t impress. Neither does a pen or mug with your logo. Note that “of value” needn’t mean “expensive.” The mustache cost our client less than a buck. Recipients kept it because it was fun. Many donned it and paraded around the office.
2. Mail something with “head-scratcher” value. The last thing you need is for recipients to know what you plan to say before you say it. Make them scratch their head and wonder, “Why did XYZ Company send me a hockey puck?” (The hockey puck mailing, by the way, pulled an 8-percent response.) To find out, they will have to read.
3. Write a darned good sales letter. The lumpy enclosure charms, grabs attention and makes people read, but the letter sells. Do not enclose — and for heaven’s sake do not substitute — a flyer. Not even a really cool one. It will drive response down.
4. Don’t tell too much. Too much information relieves prospects of having to meet with you. Tell enough to create curiosity. Then invite the reader to contact you to learn more. Keep the letter to a page, and add no literature other than a reply card.
5. Be relevant. “Now that I have your attention …” isn’t strategic; it’s juvenile. Your lumpy enclosure must underscore a salient point. When we mailed high-end wooden puzzles to hospital-based pathologists, we likened the puzzle to laboratory management challenges. Recipients could receive the puzzle’s solution by meeting with a sales rep. (15-percent response.)
6. Follow up by phone. In every case cited here resulting in meetings with more than 25 percent of recipients, there was telephone follow-up. Lumpy mail generates inquiries on its own, but you’ll double or triple results by calling every name on the list. Try opening with, “I’m the one who sent you the [life preserver].” (Yes, we mailed those, too. 40 percent.) Then ask for an appointment. (Hint: Limit mailing quantities to what you can realistically follow up.)
A rare stick-in-the mud may say, “If you must do this to get my attention, you can’t be any good.” Should that happen, congratulations. You’ve just identified someone you don’t want for a customer. Move on to the next name.
Lumpy mailings are powerful, effective and a blast. Right now, we’re preparing to mail deodorant soap for a high-end audio products manufacturer. Next, we’re mailing volleyballs for a law firm.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Steve Cuno heads the RESPONSE Agency in Salt Lake City. He is a popular speaker and the author of the book Prove It Before You Promote It: How to Take the Guesswork Out of Marketing (John Wiley & Sons). E-mail him at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Read his blog at http://www.responseagency.com/blog/index.php.
Picerno Construction Company Jacksonville Florida
By Mary Fisher | Saturday, March 20, 2010
Rick Picerno, a commercial and residential contractor in Jacksonville, is one of the most honest and talented craftsmen I know.
There has never been a better time to build or purchase the home that you have always wanted. You will find that the market is ripe for buyers, and Picerno Construction is the perfect partner to help you achieve your goals.
Picerno Construction, a family-owned business, has been a premier designer, builder and renovation contractor throughout the Florida area for over 40 years. Being a turnkey operation, they can build a new home for you and your family, or remodel your current home to your specifications.
http://www.apchome.com
New Website for Pioneer Technology Group of Orlando Florida
By Mary Fisher |
We were tasked with developing a website for a government software developer and records management company in Sanford Florida. Pioneer Technology Group develops software for municipalities all over the United States. If you have ever been to your city's website and found that it was hard to navigate and didn't work well, they can do it better. Pioneer Technology Group helps county and local governments increase productivity and reduce costs.
Pioneer Technology Group
Dynamic website for Katherine Ashley CPA
By Mary Fisher |
Now, this is not your typical CPA website. Katherine Ashley wanted a site that was not your usual stuffy CPA site, but instead had vibrant colors, unusual photos (no stuffy shirts, no tax forms, no pens and glasses) and made prospective clients feel comfortable. She also wanted it to be a good resource for her current clients. This website even works on the iphone. Katherine B. Ashley CPA
The Savannah Project book cover
By Mary Fisher | Wednesday, October 07, 2009
The Savannah Project, a thriller by Chuck Barrett
Book cover design by Mary Fisher
Jacksonville Orthopaedic Institute Website
By Mary Fisher |
We have just published the new Jacksonville Orthopaedic Institute website.
Mirko Bonet, our web architect worked alongside Joanelle Mulrain to produce a dynamic new website for JOI. The site uses a Expression Engine as the content management system. This is a dashboard so that the client can update many sections of the site themselves, without any formal HTML training. Each of the doctors has a section in the site, so you can see where each doctor practices, their field of expertise and their education. You can also cross reference your problem area to what doctors perform surgery on that part of the body.
Jacksonville Orthopaedic Institute
New Website for Florida Farm Bureau of Jacksonville Florida
By Mary Fisher | Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Mary Fisher Design has just completed the new website for Florida Farm Bureau.
The visitor can make a payment, report a claim, get a quote or find the nearest location.
The site was designed for agency manager Chuck Allen by art director Ron Hubbard and programmed by Mirko Bonet of Mary Fisher Design
http://www.fbinsurancejacksonville.com/
Jacksonville Real Estate Website
By Mary Fisher | Thursday, July 09, 2009
We have just completed a new website for Ponte Vedra Beach, FL Realtor Mandy Morrow. The competition is tough in the Real Estate world. Even tougher to compete with the other realtors to come up on the search engines. This site includes IDX integration, a full content management system utilizing Expression Engine and has an arm loadful of useful widgets, resources and videos. The site is fully expandable and editable by the client.
The site was designed and programmed by Mirko Bonet of Mary Fisher Design: Mary Fisher Design
http://www.besthomeviews.com
New Logo and Expression Engine on Mary Fisher Design
By Mirko | Monday, April 13, 2009
Mary Fisher Design's Logo and EE admin interface
Finally, the new Mary Fisher Design's logo has been approved! Everyone likes the new perspective illustration of the trigger fish and the mason serif font. While the logo was under constant review, I was busy recoding the website with cleaner table-less code, adding a blog and retrofitting into Expression Engine CMS content management system for easy update by our entire staff.
For those who don't know: Expression Engine seems to be one of the most robust and easily configurable Content Management Systems (CMS) on the market. I worked in the past with Drupal CMS and wordpress blog which are open source cms/blog platforms, but I always had some problems, especially on the theming process. In contrast on Expression Engine (EE) I had very few technical problems.
We have been using this same CMS platform for our clients. We've tried several platforms and like this one best.
New Website for Bushnell and Company
By Mary Fisher | Sunday, April 05, 2009
We have just completed the new website for Bushnell & Company. Of course a website is never finished. We just keep perfecting it. Daily tweaking, making it better, working to make sure it comes up on the search engines for CPA Jacksonville, FL. We still have our work cut out for us. This will not only bring new business to Bushnell, but will save them time and money. There is a Quickbooks upload, links to federal and Florida state tax information. The site includes a page with content management. Bushnell will be able to update the resources page herself, without software or extensive training.
The site was designed by Ron Hubbard and programmed by Mirko Bonet of Mary Fisher Design
http://www.bushnellandcompany.com
Spend Locally
By Mary Fisher | Sunday, March 15, 2009
Employees at a call center in India work during their night shift. (STR/AFP/Getty Images). From America Media Marketplace® online story.
I am a proponent of spending locally. If you find something online for less than you can buy it locally, ask your local retailer if they will match the price. I did exactly that at Christmas. I bought personalized notecards for some of my friends. I found it online for a bargain. But I went to The Write Touch in San Marco and asked for a discount to match what I found online. They matched it. And the money went back into Jacksonville's economy. My friend and colleague, Cinda Sherman, founder of Arbus Magazine has been promoting buying locally in the last few issues of her magazine. In her recent issue she quotes "For every $100 spent in a chain store, $14 goes back into the local economy. For a locally owned business $45 goes back." (into your own economy) Don't get me wrong, I love Amazon. But, I don't want to support the Seattle, WA economy; I want to support Jacksonville's economy. So, give it a try with your local retailers. See if they will match the price and get back to me. But don't ask me to match the prices in India. I just can't do it. You'll just make me cranky. Well heck, I'll just say it. We are almost as cheap as India.
I know we are more competitive now.
Jacksonville, FL - San Marco Neighbors Fight Rezoning
By Mary Fisher | Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Watch the video from First Coast News
95% of the neighbors signed a petition against rezoning a residential property to Commercial on Hendricks Ave. City Council voted to change the zoning anyway. The neighbors felt there was enough commercial property on Hendricks Ave. and that it posed a safety issue for school children at the elementary school. They don't want historic San Marco to turn into a road like Emerson Street. And I don't blame them. This piece of property touches five pieces of residential property. I thought City Council was supposed to stand behind the people. They voted 11-6 Tuesday to approve the change of zoning on Hendricks Ave.
UPDATE
After losing support of Council member Art Shad, the bill was withdrawn in a 19-0 vote.Paul Harden and his brother Steve decided against rezoning the residence. The neighborhood is really thankful. In the end, that sentiment of the neighborhood persuaded City Council members; not lobbyists. Thank you to Art Shad and the other city council members who finally stood with this San Marco neighborhood!
How To Market Your Business During A Recession
By Mary Fisher | Thursday, February 19, 2009
“In good times, people want to advertise;
in bad times, they have to”
-Bruce F. Barton, Advertising Executive and Congressman
MARKETING DURING A RECESSION
When times are tough, the tough start marketing. That’s especially true in challenging economic times. The number of unemployed people is off the charts, and experts say they don’t see any fix-all solutions on the horizon. That means business owners everywhere have to stand together to save their businesses and their employees. But what do you do? You feel the pinch, your revenue is down. It’s time to make a decision. You either have to fish or cut bait. If you don’t pay attention to your marketing now, you may find yourself out of business.
People in business know that now is the time to cast your marketing net to bring in new clients. But you need to do it strategically, and you have to pull in a sure catch. The trick is to focus on smart marketing that will strengthen your competitive advantage and leave your competition wallowing in shallow water.
Here are a few tips:
• Create a simple marketing plan. Work with experts that will help you increase your catch by developing a simple marketing plan that targets your audience, fits your budget, and includes measuring results. They will be able to show you the most cost-effective use of your marketing dollars. The key is to effectively communicate the benefits of your products and services. Be sure to put some fresh bait on your advertising hook and explore every avenue – advertising, public relations, brochures and other print marketing material, the Internet and all its possibilities, social networking, billboards and other outside media. If you cannot afford to hire a professional to do a marketing plan for you, then sit down and do one for yourself. You can find one online. Look at your calendar, determine the slow times, and market to fill those slow times at least a month in advance. Fill every week with some type of marketing effort.
Remember, you don’t have to do everything in the plan all at once and, in many cases, you can implement some of the tactics yourself, at no cost
• Communicate with your existing client base. Find out how they’re doing and see what you can do to help them stay the on course. Ask how you can help, and ask for a testimonial.
• Ask for specials from your local advertising avenues (newspapers, magazines, radio, television, billboards). There are some specials targeted to small business owners. Ask about running on a preemptible basis at a discount. Television advertising has a special plan for preemptible ads.
• Advertising frequency is important. Never place just one ad. In print advertising, run a minimum of three to four ads consecutively. If you cannot afford three large ads, run one larger ad and scale down the size for the others. Instead of running every issue, run every other issue.
• Update your website. Add timely articles. Consider adding a blog. Keep your site current. Making small changes to your website will help bring it up higher on the search engines. Create a marketing database by collecting names from your website. Offer something valuable in trade like a timely white paper on something of interest. For example: The Top Ten Marketing Mistakes to Avoid.
• Search engine optimization. How does your website rank online? If it is not ranking well, hire a professional to bring it up higher. This is not an expense that will break the bank. If done successfully, it brings in more business, without having to hire additional salespeople. Do not list your website on paid “link farms,” it will hurt your rankings. Google looks for any unnatural number of back links to your site. Too many at once, will ban you from Google. Page titles, subheads, bulleted lists, keyword rich copy are most important.
• Social Internet marketing. This has become increasingly important. It is free. Establish a few online accounts for your business: Linkedin.com, Plaxo.com, Facebook.com, Merchantcircle.com, YouTube.com, Twitter. Be sure to put your website on each source. It will help your search engine ranking. Reach out and touch old customers and friends through these sources. Ask a colleague to “make an introduction” through LinkedIn. Ask clients to post a recommendation for you or your business. Business people are closing sales with social marketing.
• Focus on your niche market. Instead of every market. Look at your client base and determine your perfect customer. People like to buy from specialty providers. You can have several niche markets. Perhaps you work with people in the healthcare industry, or small businesses, or women-owned businesses, or multi-cultural businesses. Focus your marketing efforts (brochures, websites, tradeshows, sponsorships) on those industries.
• Network at professional organizations. The Women Business Owners of North Florida (http://www.wbonfl.org) or Southside Businessmen’s (http://www.southsidebusinessmensclub.com). Volunteer to make presentations on subjects of interest that fall within your area of expertise. Groups like the Beaver Street Enterprise Center (http://www.bsecenter.net), Small Business Development Center at UNF (http://www.sbdc.unf.edu), Rotary Club (http://www.jaxrotary.org) and Chamber of Commerce (http://www.myjaxchamber.com) are always looking for good speakers with interesting topics.
• Enhance your image. Use your storefront to draw attention to your business. Update your sign or add a bright flag or something distinctive outside your business. Make your business stand out from other businesses near yours.
• Send an html-rich email blast. Use this inexpensive, quick marketing tool to send short, easy-to-read messages that offer specials and other items of interest.
• Don’t forget your telephone message on-hold script. You have a captive audience. Use it to inform your customers of new services or products.
• Send a press release to the media. Write a column for your local newspaper or trade publication. Position yourself as an expert. The news media is begging for stories. Look in the newspaper and magazines and determine which writer is suited for your type of story. If you are not a writer, rough out a story and have a public relations professional finish the work for you: http://www.maryfisherdesign.com. Also send this press release to your clients. It can be sent via snail mail, via regular email, or as an email blast. And add it to your website. A news story is normally cheaper than an ad and has a lot more credibility.
• Offer an easy payment plan. Let your clients pay over several months, or pay the invoice on a credit card. If you don’t take credit cards, and don’t want to pay a monthly fee, consider taking credit cards through Google Checkout or PayPal. You can send an invoice with either system. You will pay the service about 3%, but don’t have a recurring monthly fee like most merchant service accounts.
Mary -vs- Goliath (from Harrington Design Blog)
By Mirko | Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Local Designer and friend, Mary Fisher Design, publicly takes on the Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA). In today's Times-Union article brilliantly written by Alison Trinidad, Mary claims that the JEA made little to no effort to publicize a $7,000,000.00 contract (numerical for emphasis) that came up for renewal this June.
And why should they? Just because it's the Jacksonville Electric Authority doesn't mean they should use a Jacksonville agency. And just because they have absolutely no competition, doesn't mean they should make an effort to at least alert the top 4 agencies so they may compete for the business. After all, what's the fun of working with a podunk local agency for local advertising, when you can work with an Agency that has Worldwide in the title.
With a contract with this many zeros behind it, one would hope that the person in charge would be well-versed in arithmetic. Read below:
"JEA imposed the revenue floor to ensure that the utility represented only 10 to 15 percent of the agency's business, McCarthy said. Fisher argues that the floor was too high, because the contract is worth $1.4 million per year ($7 million over five years), which equates to 2 percent of business at an agency with $70 million in annual capitalized billings"
So you do the math. With property tax cuts causing budget shortfalls all over the city, would you rather see those dollars stay in Jacksonville and flow into the local tax revenue stream or go to Boston?
Could there be something fishy here? (Sorry for the reference Mary). I'd also like to know why JTA uses a PR Firm out of Tampa and our very own Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce uses a New York PR Firm (that one really hurts).
Props to Jan Korb for the heads up.
Source: http://www.designcanblog.com/2007/08/mary-and-goliath.html
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