Smith & Surrency Digital Marketing at 11 N. Ocean St. has adopted a tagline with a double meaning: "Above the bar."
It refers figuratively to the marketing agency's striving to provide clients with a high level of service and literally to the firm's second-floor office space Downtown above the Lit Downtown nightclub.
Chief Creative Officer Shirley Smith and Chief Marketing Officer Mya Surrency are former staff members at Visit Jacksonville, the tourism and convention marketing arm of the Duval County Tourist Development Council.
They struck out on their own in September 2011 to form their own marketing venture.
Three months later, they discovered the flexible office space concept at CoWork Jax.
That's when the business started to evolve.
"After 10 months at CoWork, we had hired a social media manager and had outgrown the space. We were some of the first CoWork members, the first to lease a suite and the first to leave for our own office space," said Smith.
Desiring to remain Downtown, Smith and Surrency started looking at potential locations.
"A lot of our clients are Downtown and we have a passion for Downtown. We wanted to be in an area with a lot of entrepreneurs," Smith said.
When they found the second floor above the nightclub was available for lease, they knew it was what they were looking for in terms of location and atmosphere.
The open floor plan is complemented by high, beamed ceilings, a vintage advertising mural along an entire wall of the space and open beams in part of the office with a view into the cocktail lounge below.
"We wanted to put our money where our mouths are and you can't find office space like this in the suburbs, or even in a Downtown office tower. The building just felt right the first time we saw it," said Surrency.
The agency has since added a Web developer and an interactive media designer.
The firm specializes in Internet marketing and social media.
Clients include Community First Credit Union, Florida's First Coast of Golf, Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry, Hampton Golf Clubs, East Coast Transportation, The Downtown Jacksonville Marketing Collaborative and the North Florida Hotel & Lodging Association.
Smith and Surrency are headed to California next week for the first meeting with their newest client, the San Francisco Travel Association.
Smith said the agency will develop online and social media marketing strategies for the association's convention sales staff.
"That's going to be a fun project," she said.
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