Symetri signs Wachovia and Sara Lee as Clients
By Matt Harrington - The Business Journal (click here for story)
HIGH POINT -- Upstart Web developer Symetri has added Winston-Salem pillars
Wachovia and Sara Lee Hosiery to its growing client base. Terms of the deals
were not disclosed.
Although banking giant Wachovia would not disclose the project Symetri was undertaking, it did confirm in a statement that, "Recently, Symetri became an interactive agency for Wachovia."
Sara Lee has also formed a strategic partnership with Symetri, for which the Web developer will provide "strategic consulting, dynamic Web development and online marketing for its Hanes Hosiery Web site."
Other Symetri clients include bedding manufacturer Sealy Inc., Thomasville Furniture, Metastream.com, Uniroyal Tire and a New York-based 3-D technology company.
Symetri, which was spun off from Trone Advertising in April 1999, is hiring even more employees and has recently re-vamped its image, including its logo, its Web site and its employees' business cards.
Ron Jones, who prefers the title "Crusader-in-Chief" to CEO or president (Symetri employees get to pick their own titles), said further growth may follow.
"In three months we should be close to 30 (employees)," he said. "And in a year ... we could easily be at 50."
Jones said Symetri has been lucky in that it has added new clients despite not having a true new business recruiting effort, and attributes the new clients to word-of-mouth business.
Symetri began with two employees located within Trone's offices in Piedmont Centre, and has grown to the point that it is ready to move into its own separate office in the Trone building.
If the company continues to grow and reaches Jones' estimate of 50 employees, it will begin to look at new space away from its current location, he said.
The company still has a close association with Trone, and continues to do some work for Trone clients, but is paying for its own space and is monetarily independent of the advertising firm.
Jones said the way Symetri is trying to stand out in an area that he admits has "plenty of good healthy competition" is through a team-based work atmosphere.
Instead of having all the creative designers work together and all of the graphic designers work together, Jones said, Symetri has its employees organized into teams with a representative from each field.
Symetri recently was one of the winners in The Business Journal's "Best Places to Work" publication.
Jones also said Symetri's community work helps employees feel good about where they work.
For example, the company just finished redesigning the Greensboro Symphony's Web site for no cost, but rather as part of a partnership with the symphony.
Matt Harrington can be reached at 271-6539 ext. 2864 or mharrington@bizjournals.com.
