Damn Right Your Dad Drank It!

I had planned to blog this article when it came out and never got around to it. However now I am and it is more relevant and an example of an ad that worked on me.

In Daytona this past weekend for the American Advertising Federation, Fourth District, Fall Conference I was of course at the lobby bar Saturday evening after dinner talking shop and hanging out.

I ordered my usual Maker's on the rocks, and was shocked to find that myself and another woman at the hotel over the weekend finished the supply.

What to do, I debated...

I went to the hospitality suite for a beer... not what I wanted

I walked two blocks to the liquor store... closed

I remembered talking about the new "Damn Right Your Dad Drank It!" to some fellow ad men and though heck, I'll give it try...

You know what? It's pretty "Damn" good!

Cheers to Canadian Club and great campaign that worked on me.

Hauling out imagery 60's and 70's imagery from actual Beam Global employees and positioning Dad as a once cool manly man, ads state "Your Mom Wasn't Your Dad's First," "Your Dad Was Not a Metrosexual" and "Your Dad Never Got a Pedicure."

Read the commentary from AdRANTS, Steve Hall here.

Times editorial on the FTBRC

Just thought I'd share today's Time's editorial with you, where they mention some questions that the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission should bring up. Below are the debate questions they pose, with the second being of concern to our industry.

Among the questions the commissions should debate:

• How could voters be enticed to give up Save Our Homes for a fairer property tax system?
• What is the best way to close sales tax exemptions and tax services to broaden the tax base?
• How could some of that money be used to uniformly reduce property taxes?
• What is the smartest way to provide property tax relief for businesses, owners of investment properties and renters who would get little or no benefit from the amendment approved by lawmakers?

You can read the full editorial here.

TBCN get its message out how?

An update on TBCN from the post earlier this month. It seems that TBCN is working hard to raise funds for their legal defence.

So you might ask what is the best way for TBCN to get its message out to the public?

Create poor quality TV spots and post them to YouTube!

In typical public access style the spots are inconsistent in message, with low quality video, voice overs that sound unrehearsed and tasteless content that does not even begin to be persuasive. I've heard better persuasion arguments given by high school students.

In one of the spots they even compare certain county commissioners to Hitler, Stalin & Castro.

Views them and let me know what you think.

SEO Practices: Black Hat vs. White Hat SEO

Before selecting an SEO consultant you should that there are two sects
so to speak and are usually referred to as Black Hats or White Hats.

The difference between the two is a long discussion on ethics and risk calculation which I will try to summarize and provide additionally reading for.

There are numerous SEOs, blogs and websites that support the use of typically black hat practices. I personally am not one of them.

There are challenges when trying to measure the validity of using black hat practices when regarding a website. Jill Whallen at HighRankings.com as this insightful article.

I don't have to keep up with every tiny algorithm shift, or the latest technique that the engines haven't caught onto yet. It's completely irrelevant to what I do. In my biz, I simply have to be aware that search engines exist, understand how and why
people use them, and fix my clients' sites so that there's a good fit between the site, the user, and the search engine.

The above is true and poses two major problems for a small business that might be considering an SEO that is offering fast, simple results.

1. If the SEO is really that good this is going to cost you a bundle because their service is in high demand.
2. If the SEO is cheap, free or doing this "on the side" what guarantee do you have they are keeping up with all the latest algorithms? What is your recourse if a method they used today gets you banned in six months?

When selecting an SEO consultant you should take the time to follow up on what they've told you they know and what they will do for you. You should do as Google says and not only ask for references but, "talk to many SEOs, and ask other SEOs if they'd recommend the firm you're considering."

The consequences for not following the above suggestions as well as each of the ones mentioned here can be great.

Example #1: The High Cost Knowledgeable Black Hat SEO

The SEO: You've found the budget and land the best SEO consultant that knows the ins and outs, has the references and results, as well as respect though not agreement of practices from white hats.

The War: Six months after creaming your two competitors in the search results things couldn't be better. Until one of them hires another black hat to counter your ways. You can now add to your budget time for espionage and counter attacks. Additionally you can be certain that your competitor will use this, http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html.

Example #2: The Not So Well Known SEO

The SEO: You settle for the SEO that has had some success doing this on the side and was not able to answer all of your questions. This SEO will likely not discuss in detail the SEO practices they use and use the term Meta Tags often. They also will not provide industry information for you to review. But, they sounded knowledgeable enough and promise its only a few changes and you'll see some great results.

Banned: This not so well practiced SEO created a doorway page for your site that pushed you right to the top. What you did not know is this part-timer didn't check the site in all browsers and that the search engines don't see things the same as Internet Explorer. After a short time at the top the site was further reviewed and banned. This can be best illustrated by Google's Matt Cutts, here.

In conclusion there will be SEO's that can ague both sides of the coin, all I ask as a fellow full-time business owner is that you find an SEO that is willing to talk to you about the risks you will be taking with your business' Internet presence.

Can someone please think outside the box?

A partial casualty of the recent Hillsborough County budget cuts is our public access station, known also as Speak Up Tampa Bay or the Tampa Bay Community Network.

When I read the St Pete Times article, "Group sues as TV fund is cut" in early October I was very aggravated by the complete lack of innovation our growing government is enabling by funding some non-profits.

My commentary on the article that day:

With outlets today such as YouTube and the numerous other places to post video for free online there is no longer a need for the government to underwrite public access. Private industry has done so on its own and in a far better way.

A good topic can go a lot further on YouTube then a fixed programming schedule on subscriber based cable. Public access is a dinosaur of technology and TBCN should try to innovate rather then sue.

TBCN's take of course is that this is censorship of the community's public access. This is completely untrue however, as many of us know that the blogoshere in Tampa Bay went nuts during the recent EPC uproar and a certain YouTube video got more views then any recent TBTN broadcast.

So tell me again is the public being denied access to get a message out?

No, TBCN is just another non-profit too used to government funding and unwilling to innovate.

Did you know that if a citizen had an issue today it could take a month or more for them to get that message out via TBCN? While uploading and emailing a video on YouTube is free and instant.

Please don't give me the "put its not free" talk because I could work at WalMart less hours for pay and an employee discount to buy my own camera, then the volunteer hours TBCN would require to get my message out. Unless of course they agreed with me then it would be instant.

SEO Practices: Flash Websites

A discussion I regularly have with clients, potential clients and other website designers is how they can make their site(s) better with Flash.

Especially on the client side because they would love to have an intro movie that really highlighted their company before bringing the visitor to the actual website home page.

By default I suggest not creating a complete Flash website or even a Flash intro. Instead I suggest they use Flash sparing as on-page accents.

Supporting Points

Complete Flash websites are very cumbersome to design, difficult to update and extremely expensive to have developed if quality is one of your concerns. Flash websites are also make SEO more difficult and expensive as well, usually requiring a complete HTML website also to be built. They are best suited for the websites of movies and pop stars that have the budgets to support site creation and mass media advertising to drive traffic directly.

Flash Intros are short movie type presentations that highlight the great points of a company visually before bringing you to the regular HTML website. Problems posed by intros are long load times and customer dissatisfaction proven through the high use of the "skip flash intro" button that should accommodate any site with an intro.

This article from Idaho State University, Office of Web Communications gives some good supporting arguments to the above points.

My typical suggestion of using Flash as on-page accents is well supported by this Google Webmaster Central Blog.

Try to use Flash only where it is needed. Many rich media sites such as Google's YouTube use Flash for rich media but rely on HTML for content and navigation. You can too, by limiting Flash to on-page accents and rich media, not content and navigation. In addition to making your site Googlebot-friendly, this makes you site accessible to a larger audience, including, for example, blind people using screen readers, users of old or non-standard browsers, and those on limited low-bandwidth connections such as on a cell phone or PDA. As a bonus, your visitors can use bookmarks effectively, and can email links to your pages to their friends.

SEO & Flash Sites/Intros

In addition to all of the above arguments when considering the creation of an all Flash site or even just an intro you must consider that even if you get the site to rank well for desired keywords, that in doing so the site visitors that you get would never see the Flash site or intro.

So the visitors you are seeking will completely miss all of the time, energy and money that was spent on the Flash work.

Why is this so?

When someone searches to find something the search engine results do not direct the visitor to the home page (in the case of a site using an intro) or the Flash version (in the case of a full Flash site).

Take this Google search for, Constant Contact Tampa. In the results Dynamic Creations shows up (at the time of writing) on the first page with a link.

Notice however that the link directs people to the Internet Marketing page and not my homepage.

Had I had a Flash intro this visitor would never see it. Had the site been completely Flash the visitor would have not only have missed the Flash site, but would have been directed to the HTML site which likely would not have received the same design attention as the Flash version.

The nightmare Sprint's business customers will face next week...

I've been anticipating the news and got my first bite this morning courtesy of an Associated Press article, New Sprint Ads To Highlight Clients' Need For Speed about Sprint Nextel's new spot coming out this Friday in theaters and then begin airing Sunday on television.

The article continues with Michelle Emerson, vice president of brand for Reston, Va.-based Sprint Nextel Corp., stating "the initial ads will get consumers to see speed as important, and subsequent ads will show how Sprint Nextel's network and devices can make that speed work for them in terms of music and movie downloads and instantaneous Internet browsing."

Now the paragraph just before this changing the consumer's priority statement by Emerson highlights surveys by David Chamberlain, wireless analyst for In-Stat, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based research group.

'If your most compelling feature is measured in bits per second, it's not
very compelling,' said Chamberlain, 'I think if you're looking at the consumer
market, speed doesn't have much to offer. I've done surveys, and 60 percent of
the population say they just want a phone.'

Based on the initial article this morning I had a feeling that my previous posts on the subject might be on target.

A late evening check of Adweek gave me confirmation... Telco Tries to 'Sprint Ahead' With Goodby's 1st Work. You can view the ad directly here.

Tim Kelly, Sprint's CMO, stated "This advertising taps in to how customers wants to experience service and brings emotion much more into it than we had in past."

The written description of the first spot highlights the biggest issue I feel the company has as a brand.

In "Dreams," a series of artists creates simple artistic images, such as jump
ropes and stars, out of flashlights on a darkened street. As a narrator talks
about a magic screen holding your favorite music, pictures and stories,
additional images made of light continue to play across the screen. It ends with
the tagline, "Sprint ahead."

There is not one benefit or feature directed to the majority of Sprint's customer base that were Nextel business customers and most likely a large portion last months first quarter report stating a loss of 220,000 high-quality customers who pay their bills at the end of the month and typically spend more.

The ads will be out and so will the jury on this one, but my prediction is there is no "dream" in store for Sprint's business customers.

I'm just too busy to do anything for the community...

So its another Monday almost exactly a month later and I read another article pointing out how apathetic (or maybe just plain pathetic) my generation has handled volunteering.

Today's Tampa Tribune article, Longtime Service Club Calling It Quits, sites "Many younger men don't want the commitment of weekly meetings" according to Kiwanis Club of Palma Ceia-Westshore club President Dan Moore, 73. The club is down to six members now.

Of course maybe there are additional reasons that this particular club has not been able to recruit young members but the overall trend of non-involvement certainly contributes to the problem.

The case can be made that we all have busier lives with more hectic jobs and far more personal commitments than in years past but that does not mean that we don't have any time. I personally know of too many people in my generation who commit absolutely ZERO time and energy to anything relating to the community.

Many of us will work through lunch day after day for no measurable bonus but rather just because it is the "norm" now instead of taking that hour and applying it to something useful...

UPDATE 5/30/07:
I highly doubt the Tampa Tribune is using my blog for editorial suggestions (yet) but I found today's opinion, Trading Kiwanis For 'American Idol', on the subject to be right on track.

Sprint Ahead... of a fast sinking ship?

An Advertising Age article today, Sprint Nextel CMO Mark Schweitzer Resigns, does not come as a surprise. However I find it odd that they give absolutely no reason for Schweitzer's departure.

Could it be he is jumping ship before new ad campaigns by Goodby prove to be entertaining but not convincing enough to help the brand?

I'm getting a Realty Check, Tampa Bay!

I received in the mail this week the official Participant Guidebook for the Realty Check Tampa Bay exercise I am participating in next Friday the Tampa Convention Center.

The guide book is a step by step how to for the event with a great deal of background information on the exercise as well as Tampa Bay's growth projections as compared to other cities.

The exercise will basically produce Lego enhanced zoning maps that show the Tampa Bay region's future population and job distribution as decided by the team of 8-10 people assembled at each table.

The teams will use red Lego's (commercial) and yellow Lego's (residential) to "build out" the Tampa Bay region. The height of the stacks of Lego's will designate the density of any one square mile on the map.

Interestingly Reality Check's exercise occurring just after the State Legislature's creation of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority.

Ironically though Tampa Bay was defined differently by the two with Reality Check leaving out Citrus and including Polk counties while TBARTA included Citrus County with Polk County voluntarily opting out of the group.

Part of the Reality Check exercise is to designate new and/or improved transit and roadway corridors through the region which means the map does not equally match what the new authority will be overseeing.

Personally I don't think it will be much of an issue though. In all reality considering the proximity to Orlando and Tampa Bay the post likely plan for Polk County will be to build whatever future required link between the two metropolitans is needed, (most likely in the I-4 corridor).

The variable will be in weather or not Tampa Bay and Orlando build systems that can be linked... i.e. we build light rail they build tri-rail.

What is Sprint Nextel thinking?

Here's a follow up on my favorite brand mis-match. Today in my AAF SmartBrief, I notice a banner ad for Sprint together with NEXTEL.

So following up on my mention from last month, I guess that Mark Schweitzer, Sprint's chief marketing officer has so much confidence in Goodby that the company now plans to chase customers away with targeted advertising.

There is a quote in the CNET News.com article Advertising seeps into the cell phone from Lowell McAdam, chief operating officer of Verizon Wireless that Sprint Nextel, who according to the article "will be the first of the four major U.S. carriers to move in this direction", should heed as a warning.

"We are being careful about jumping into advertising," Lowell McAdam, chief operating officer of Verizon Wireless, said during a panel at the CTIA show. "People view their cell phones as their personal space, more so than their PC. If they get an ad they don't want to view, that is a violation."

Why in the world would Sprint Nextel think that this might be a even a slightly good idea?

The company is consistently losing market share, has no brand identity, zero customer loyalty and are just plain fun to beat up on as a brand and company. Being the first in the industry to show ads to its subscribers is certainly not an area of business they should be focusing on.

Really sad statistics on volunteering.

According to an Associated Press article published today in the St. Pete Times, both the state I currently live in and the one I am originally from rank among the lowest of all the states in volunteerism rates.

Most of you know the amount of time I put into volunteering and the importance I feel it has for the community and personal growth.

Here is the URL for the article if you are interested:
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/04/16/Worldandnation/Volunteer_rates_dip_s.shtml

Here's the lowest five states...

• 47. Mississippi, 24.2 percent
• 48. Florida, 21.8 percent
• 49. Louisiana, 21.2 percent
• 50. New York, 20.1 percent
• 51. Nevada, 17.5 percent

If this statistic makes you feel like we should do more, then just take some time and do something. It's a pretty pathetic statistic to read on a Monday morning.

Using Blogs/Community for Career Advancement

I read the following WSJ.com article on "How Blogging Can Help You Get a New Job" and decided it would be a good reference for some of the young professionals and business associates that I interact with to review or see in writing somewhere validation for what I try to have them do for their own business or professional career.

Utilizing Blogs such as this the one you are reading now is of value and a good start to getting your name out there for people to find you and learn more about you.

However, more powerful than that is to grow an active Blog for an association, charity or other community related organization that is bigger than yourself alone. The power of many is just as important in on the Internet as it is in the real world.

I have personally worked to put this to the test with the Blog projects started for Ad 2 Tampa Bay and the National Ad 2 organization. These two blogs, although currently new and maybe a bit anemic on content should prove to be a huge resource to the current and future board members who decide to fully utilize the voice that we have created for them as young professional leaders.

Article Summary & Link: WSJ.com - How Blogging Can Help You Get a New Job
Corporate recruiters have long surfed the Web to vet potential hires, but now they are also surfing blogs to unearth job candidates, expanding their talent pool and gaining insights they say they can't get from résumés and interviews.

Ryan Loken, a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recruitment manager, says he spends one to two hours a week searching through blogs for new talent or additional information about the candidates he has interviewed. "Blogs are a tool in the tool kit," he says. Since he joined the Bentonville, Ark., retail giant three years ago, Mr. Logen estimates that Web journals have helped him ...

Here's a link to the entire article if you are a WSJ subscriber.

Revamped Website for the Red Cross Tampa Bay

I worked relentlessly this afternoon and evening (from La Casa Dolce ;-) to get a fresh update done for the Red Cross Tampa Bay so that the website looked a cleaner and had correct information. They will be doing a complete overhaul later this year but for now this was to just get the information out there and correct... quickly.

Red Cross Tampa Bay Chapter, Serving the Community of Tampa Bay since 1917. The Tampa Bay Chapter serves the 2.6 million residents of Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties, with offices in Tampa, Brandon, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Hudson and MacDill Air Force Base. This Chapter is governed by a volunteer board of directors, made up of dedicated and civic-minded community and corporate leaders.

To visit the website please click here.

Who's to blame for Sprint Nextel's woes?

Today's AdAge article, Goodby Scoops Up Sprint's $1.2 Billion Business, quoted Mark Schweitzer, Sprint's chief marketing officer, "Goodby's sterling reputation and creative talents are second to none and together we will deliver a more integrated and strategic brand execution,"

I wish Goodby luck on this one. Merging a top consumer oriented mobile carrier (Sprint) with the top business oriented mobile carrier (Nextel) was a bad idea and I am not sure if any branding is going to fix that. Among casual users the products are too clunky and have no style; while business users are now alienated with varied services that are just not needed.

Sprint, together with Nextel may never "power up" and the agency may end up taking the blame.

Consumers love to love HP and the the Goodby campaigns enhanced that image. Meanwhile consumers and business users alike seem to love to hate Sprint Nextel right now. How does any agency counter that?

Florida Animal Friend Application Deadline

Florida – 4/1/2007 – Florida Animal Friend, Inc. has set out to save lives of the state’s cat and dog population by preventing overpopulation through the awarding of grant money to local non-profit organizations for spay/neuter programs throughout the state.

The fast approaching deadline for the 2007 grant application to be received by Florida Animal Friends is April 15, 2007.

Grant application forms, details and instructions can be found on the Florida Animal Friend website, www.floridaanimalfriend.org.

In 2006 the Florida Animal Friend license plate program provided funds to 18 programs throughout the state by assisting these local programs to develop more comprehensive and far-reaching dog and cat spay/neuter programs.

Florida Animal Friend, president, Larry Dee, DVM is extremely grateful for the strong support the program has received. “After three years of work it has been a great delight to participate in the distribution of $202,000 in grant monies to Florida non-profits for the neutering of companion animals.”

“Thanks to the generosity of the Florida animal lovers who buy the spay/neuter license plate, we can put a brake on the pet overpopulation epidemic and reduce the senseless killing of unwanted dogs and cats in the state.”

Florida Animal Friend’s specialty license plates are available at all state-wide DMV locations and can be purchased for $25 in addition to renewal fees. All funds benefit the further development of state-wide spay/neuter programs.

Client Profile: Donica Mediation Services

Herb Donica and I met last fall while volunteering together for the 2006 Toys for Tots program where he served as Chairman of the Volunteer Committee.

Last month we launched a new website for his company Donica Mediation Solutions, LLC.

Donica Mediation Solutions, LLC. was formed by Herbert R. Donica, Esq., to provide mediation services to parties seeking to resolve disputes. With over two decades of practice in the areas of bankruptcy and commercial litigation, Herb is prepared to mediate a broad range of disputes. Each mediation session will be conducted in a manner that encourages the parties to consider the risks of litigation and the cost-effectiveness of a mediated solution. In complex financial disputes, parties will be challenged to quantify the financial aspects of their respective positions. Herb has the ability to use empathy and humor to defuse stressful situations. Through Herb’s approach, he puts the parties at ease in order to facilitate the productive dialogue necessary for a successful mediation.

Google to offer more click fraud protection

Google to offer more click fraud protection
By Elinor Mills Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: February 28, 2007, 9:01 PM PST

From the article: Beginning next month, Google plans to give advertisers the ability to prevent their pay-per-click ads from being shown to competitors suspected of repeatedly clicking on the ads to drive up their cost.

The move, to be announced in Google's AdWords blog on Thursday, is an effort to curb click fraud, which involves generating clicks solely for the purpose of increasing the cost of an advertiser's pay-per-click ad.

I number of people that I talk to about AdWords always seem to have the same question about competitors clicking their ads and costing them money so this is an article that can help some of you understand how seriously Google is taking click fraud and working to avoid it.

New website for the American Victory

We have been quietly working pro-bono on a new website for the SS American Victory Mariner’s Memorial and Museum Ship. The previous website also designed by Dynamic Creations had served the ship well but was long overdue for a revamp as the American Victory had outgrown it's original layout and structure.

The new website, designed by University of South Florida Senior, Fatin Jacob and built out by Dynamic Creations was the culmination of efforts by Dynamic Creations and the American Victory's volunteer leadership to make the new site more user friendly and visually appealing.

To view the website, click here.

Play with Legos = Plan Tampa Bay's future!

Anyone who knew me in the preteen years can testify that Legos were the lifeblood of my childhood. Anyone who know me today knows that quality of life in Tampa Bay is a top priority for me.

Today the Tampa Tribune made me aware that someone had decided to combine the two for me!

Citizens Can Help Plan Lay Of Land
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBKSFEL6YE.html

Here's a short description of the exercise from the Realty Check Tampa Bay website (http://www.realitychecktampabay.org).

"The tabletop exercises are designed to increase awareness and to educate about the interrelationships among regional land use, transportation systems, and natural resources. Participants, led by trained facilitators, join 10-person groups to use a detailed map to plan future growth by placing Lego® building blocks to represent additional homes and jobs. These individuals are asked to determine where new residents will live and new employment will locate. "

Best High School American Government Class

I have followed the high school "Ought to be a Law" contest the last three years and was very pleased to see that it had grown to be a countywide. This program started at my Alma mater, Gaither High School by my neighborhood's State Representative, Kevin Ambler and personal friend Senator Victor Crist as a lesson in civics for students.

The concept of allowing students to actually introduce a real bill with the potential to become law seems so simple it is amazing it is not actually part of the curriculum. What better way to engage students in the process then letting them watch it happen.

I remember my American Government classes pretty well and even though I enoyed the subject personaly I still remember the whole "how a bill becomes a law" lession being ambiguous in nature since its a concept that even many adults don't quite get.

Here's a link to the complete St Pete Times article:
Students compete to turn bills into laws By ELISABETH DYER Published February 9, 2007
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/02/09/Citytimes/Students_compete__to_.shtml.

Julie Brown, Young Professional & Candidate

I recently launched a website for Julie Brown who is running for Tampa City Council, District 4 in the upcoming election on March 6, 2007.

In addition to working on her campaign website I have also begun volunteering on Saturday mornings by walking for her in the neighborhoods of South Tampa.

It has proven to be a great experience and an opportunity to get to know a wonderful person who will make a great leader for the city.

Julie is mother, wife, active citizen and attorney but most importantly to me; at 31 Julie is a young professional living in Tampa Bay. She is in tune with what we as young professionals are looking for in a city where we are establishing careers and deciding to settle down, grow some roots and start families.

As a candidate she is approachable, energetic, optimistic and level headed. She is someone that you can feel comfortable with quickly and is sincere when you talk with her.

I have only known her a couple months but am certainly glad I have had that chance and hope you will take the time to get to know her as well.

Her campaign website is, http://www.juliebrownforcitycouncil.com.

Florida Animal Friend MySpace Page

I've launched the MySpace profile for Florida Animal Friend. Hoping that as this grows we can use it as a volunteer recruitment tool as well as a way to increase sales and awareness of the license plate.

You can check it out here, http://www.myspace.com/floridaanimalfriend, and if you have a MySpace page of your own, please add us as a friend.

Client Profile: SunBelt Contruction Services

We recently launched newly designed materials including brochures, postcards, and a website for SunBelt Construction Services based in Tampa Fla. Please take some time to look over the materials as well as this clients exceptional services in Timber Bridge Construction.

SunBelt is a full service Design/Build Timber Construction Company with several years of successful experience in Florida and Southeastern USA. Our customer base includes Municipalities, Residential, Commercial, Resort and Golf Course Developers.

SunBelt's predominate construction sites are located in environmental sensitive areas including seaside beach locations that require protecting sand dunes and wetland property where structures must be “built from the top”. A key capability for SunBelt versus competition is the ability to construct a 6-foot boardwalk from the deck saving the client project funds by eliminating the need to build wider structures; however, SunBelt has the capability to build any size structure to meet client specifications.