The greatest thing you can be is curious.
Just ask Jason Cormier, co-founder, Room 214, a leader in the marketing industry. After serving four years as an Operations Specialist in the US Navy, Cormier used his GI Bill to study computer science at Santa Barbara City College. It was the mid-90s and Cormier began playing with a new, front-end scripting language called HTML. Soon after, from the junior colleges computer lab, he launched one of the first web development firms on Californias central coast.
After growing his firm for four years, Cormier sold it to a public Internet communications company and assumed a VP role. Yet again he heard his entrepreneurial voice calling. Soon after he left the company, he re-grouped to co-found a business called Vital Sourcing in 2003. While growing his firm, he got several opportunities to collaborate with his long-time high school friend, James Clark, who was building a career in public relations. The two taught each other about their professions and vowed that, someday, they would work together. Lucky for them, they did.
We developed a PDF-formatted guide known as The Top 5 Things You Need to Know About Manufacturing in China, Cormier said. It was suddenly being downloaded and shared globally. Relatively few companies were applying this kind of (content marketing) practice at the time, and the average cost of their Google ads were only twelve cents per click.
Practically overnight, Vital Sourcing became the perceived leader in the industry.
After a successful run with Vital Sourcing, Cormier and Clark co-founded Room 214, one of the first, pure-play digital marketing agencies in Colorado. An industry Titan in every sense of the word, Cormiers contribution to excellence speaks for itself. For Microsoft in 2008: Room 214 pioneered the first social media listening effort for Microsoft, helping them select the software and customize the configuration to monitor online mentions of their competitors.
For Travel Channel in 2010: Hiring a PhD candidate at CU Boulder, Room 214 was the first organization to positively correlate an increase in Nielsen television ratings due to the social media engagement of viewers while watching a TV show (2-screen viewing).
And as far as Cormier can see, in the next five years, Room 214 will be widely known as the first growth studio and one of the top US companies to work with for organizations seeking to be category leaders in their industries. The company culture will remain boutique, additional office locations are expected, but there will be no more than 40 employees in any given location.
Core internal practices will also remain, including a unique approach to open book management, and giving-back initiatives that pull from the time, talent and treasure of the organization to make a local impact, Cormier said.
He sees things early, accepts change promptly, and decisively evolves new visions with which others can effectively contribute and grow. To be successful, Cormier says to take chances and be willing to grow.
He added, Act out of love instead of fear.
For his entrepreneurial spirit, ingenuity and visionary mindset, Jason has been named a Titan of industry.
