Johnson & Company, The Virtual Agency™

Working Anytime, Anyplace, Any Way at Any Pace™ is the motto at Johnson & Company (jo&co). Originally formed to service the e-learning training and certification niche, jo&co remains 100 percent committed to providing strategic public relations and marketing services to Internet and technology start-up companies. In business since 1997, jo&co has been internationally recognized for its unique "open-collar" work model. Most importantly, jo&co delivers what high-tech companies seeking to go public need from their PR/marketing agency:

Resourcefulness. The jo&co philosophy is to create unique formulas. For example, the company devised its own Superior Execution model that it uses for project management. Virtual brainstorming sessions with the entire agency have led to interviews with high-profile publications for jo&co and its clients. jo&co PR professionals use unique pitching techniques that garner impressive results. In an effort to fully utilize every possible PR angle through a unique technology used throughout jo&co, one jo&co associate secured an important interview with CNET for client Deloitte Consulting prior to talking with the person. jo&co's gritty, out-of-the-box style led to interviews for client Vignette with The Wall Street Journal, a publication that had turned down Vignette's direct requests.
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Responsiveness. Clients want their agency representatives to be no more than a phone call or an e-mail away. Using technology to leverage its virtual position, jo&co is a vigorous competitor against high-tech agencies that only preach the dot-com way of life, but don't walk the walk. "We actually live the dot-com ethic," Johnson says. "As a result of our virtual model, jo&co can more nimbly handle technology than our bricks-and-mortar-bound peers." The Internet is its headquarters (joandco.com) and associates collaborate using Internet file servers (eRoom, Hot Office or Web Folders,) instant messaging (ICQ or AOL Instant Messenger) and electronic faxing (eFax). Core to the virtual work concept is that each jo&co associate has a home office with the latest equipment to run efficiently in a virtual environment. One Oakland-based client was just a few miles away from the end-destination when he realized he forgot his laptop for a very important analyst meeting. In order to solve this business-and-time-critical problem, he opted to call a jo&co associate in her Richmond, Va.-based office, literally thousands of miles and three time zones away, to solve his problem. (Click to read success story).
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Retention. With a 70 percent turnover of high-tech talent among Silicon Valley PR firms, jo&co brings stability and continuity to a client. Johnson has recruited from four time zones amazing talent that is resourceful beyond measure for clients. These associates complete high-stakes projects on a daily basis. jo&co also retains its clients, which is very rare in the PR world. jo&co's premier client, Helius, Inc., continues into its fourth year with the company. jo&co's first associate is also beginning her fourth year as a member of the team.
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Jennifer J. Johnson is a Virtual Visionary

"High-stakes, home-based" is no longer an oxymoron. The past four years, jo&co has proven its ability to effectively compete in the high-tech market with its group of home-based professionals. What began as a "closeted" notion, the powerful results gained through the virtual model now is used for competitive advantage. Internationally recognized as an expert in the field, Johnson has been quoted or featured in more than 75 national publications, web sites and broadcast media, including The New York Times, Working Woman and Home Office Computing.

As a pioneer in the virtual workforce, Johnson's goal is to create "my-sized" careers, which enable home-based professionals to more appropriately balance lifestyle, family and personal needs around their work experiences. Instead of describing themselves as having "full-time jobs," jo&co'ers have full-time lives with appropriately-sized jobs. Developing this virtual approach has helped garner several awards for jo&co's virtual work model. In addition to the coveted Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce Giant Step Award, jo&co has been profiled by the U.S. Department of Labor; hailed as the "office of the future" in a History Channel broadcast; won the Virtual Frontier Award by the International Telework Association and Council (ITAC); and is a nominee for the 2001 Working Woman Entrepreneurial Excellence Award.

Johnson began jo&co after "boomeranging" from her job at Novell Inc., where she began and ended her traditional corporate career. She found unacceptable irony that Novell, a technology company, wouldn't embrace teleworking, job-sharing and flex-hours more aggressively to better the working situation of its employees. Between stints at Novell, she worked at Dahlin Smith White (DSW) Advertising, where she pioneered its PR division and was involved with branding the Intel account and at Penna Powers Cutting & Haynes Advertising. Johnson is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and has served as a chapter president and on multiple national boards.

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