Alcoa, Tenn. – Mary Beth West Communications, LLC, announced today the expansion of the public relations and strategic communications firm to include a full interactive division, with the addition of three key managers and a development team with expertise in website, mobile application and social media campaign development as well as proprietary software and data management.
The addition will effectively double the size of the business and establish Mary Beth West Communications as the only public relations firm in East Tennessee with a level of in-house digital expertise to include such services as enterprise resource planning; mobile platform development for iOS, Android and Windows Phone; e-commerce; payment and freight gateways; custom-designed social media contesting strategy and implementation; and marketing information databasing, among many other technical capabilities.
The new division will significantly enhance the firm’s in-house services to help clients build, manage and measure the competitive impact of their overall marketing communications programs, relationship-building efforts and brand reputations – with a fully integrated mix of both traditional and digital media.
All three new staff members come to Mary Beth West from Knoxville-based Efficience, LLC, which is now focusing its oversight on a wholly owned technical development subsidiary.
The addition of the interactive team will open immediate opportunities for clients of both the incoming business portfolio and Mary Beth West’s existing account base. Clients will have a one-stop solution for launching digital communications tools and then promoting those tools to diverse audiences, measuring the impact, and evolving technical features and services over time, in step with customer insights and new, emerging technologies.
Rich James joins Mary Beth West Communications as director of operations, having served as a partner and co-founder of Efficience and with a career of nearly 20 years in Knoxville managing corporate operations, finance, resource development and client relations. James holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Tennessee.
With 20 years experience in digital communications, Tori Rose will serve as creative director, digital media. Rose managed her own firm, Blue Media Boutique, prior to her merging that firm with Efficience in 2012. Previously, she served as vice president and creative director of RIVR Media Interactive.
Rose’s career started with an initial 10-year post with Chris Whittle’s Edison Schools in New York, where she was a key player in the design and development of Edison’s distance-learning initiative, using live video, animation and Internet resources to deliver a K-12 curriculum program and professional development training to classrooms nationwide.
Rose and West have collaborated actively over the past five years on many client campaigns and projects, with award-winning work produced for such clients as Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Red Chair Architects and several education non-profits. Rose holds a master’s degree in media from The New School University and a bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University.
Sarah Williams joins the team as technical services project manager, with expertise managing complex data-driven web, mobile and social media campaigns and platforms – all with a focus on the end-user experience. Williams holds a bachelor’s degree in international business from St. Petersburg College.
“Having celebrated a decade in business this past spring – and, recovered from a fire that completely destroyed our physical infrastructure only 14 months ago – our evolution as a firm in 2013 has been substantial,” said Principal and Founder Mary Beth West, whose clients include Alcoa-Tennessee Operations, City of Knoxville, Girl Scouts of Southern Appalachians, Hickory Construction, Information International Associates and Roane State Community College.
“What excites me most about our team is the level of collaboration we are already realizing – both internally with the digital/PR integration of our client base, and externally with prospects who want to take their interactive presence and entire brand reputation to a more competitive position in 2014,” West said. “As the only public relations firm in the region with this level of in-house digital capacity, we are poised to deliver very compelling value going forward.”
As a full complement to its interactive services capabilities, Mary Beth West Communications’ other services include brand strategy, media relations, employee communications, crisis preparedness and response, consumer and business-to-business marketing communications, event planning, strategic charitable giving programs and financial communications.