Embark on a journey into the dynamic world of marketing with “Advertising Champions,” where our host connects with media experts from coast to coast every week. Dive deep into compelling conversations that explore the latest trends, groundbreaking strategies, and transformative innovations driving the marketing industry forward. Today our hosts, Mike White and Michael McDowd, spoke with Chris Falzone and Jason Reitzer.
Chris Falzone
President, Creative Director and Senior Developer at RockIT Interactive
Website Address: https://www.rockitinteractive.com/
Short company description:
We are a bunch of friends and colleagues that got together to cultivate a work environment that was flexible so we could still have a life outside an office. We could develop concepts, designs, programs, and work on projects that we love. We have a huge network of advanced senior level specialists with a wide range of skill sets from marketing to mobile apps and database software. RockIT has the staff and the capacity to do anything in today’s modern marketing work place!
Here is the best part, because of our low overhead, highly qualified and efficient staff, we can charge our client’s less than what the traditional agencies charge. That savings makes our clients happy which in turn means more work through the door. It’s a win, win situation. We have a staff of 15 in 7 states and growing, all of which have 5+ years experience in their respective fields. We don’t get your job and outsource it. All jobs are assigned to the most well suited RockIT specialist to ensure that you get energetic quality in your project.
Jason Reitzer
Director of Digital Transformation at Canvasblu Digital
Website Address: https://www.canvasblu.com/Home
Short company description:
We solve complex business challenges and deliver innovative marketing and software solutions that position our clients for long-term success. We believe that true uniqueness isn’t achieved by following others — it’s created through bold thinking and inventive methods that build on proven best practices.
Our work blends design aesthetics, messaging precision, social connection, and dynamic content — all enabled by the latest technologies — to help brands realize new visions, evolve, and grow. Whether through web, mobile, or social platforms, our marketing-driven solutions create meaningful connections between businesses and customers, delivering measurable outcomes that drive real, sustainable growth.
Transcript:
Mike White:
Welcome back to Advertising Champions, a show where we get together with experts in the industry talking about the tips, the tricks, the trends, the technologies and everything they’re doing to help make their clients campaigns successful. So join me on today’s show. We’re in Jacksonville, Florida, and Michael’s joining me. Michael, welcome back to the program.
Michael McDowd:
Absolutely. Great to see it. Mike.
Mike White:
We’re talking about partners today. What is the importance in life in business. Having a good partner depends on chemistry.
Michael McDowd:
Chemistry. Chemistry is huge. The ability to get along with somebody. So you have a cohesive unit so you can communicate. And that’s the power of taking it to the next level.
Mike White:
What’s it take to get along with you?
Michael McDowd:
Well, first of all, you give me some super discount, all right.
Mike White:
That come into our studios and you can experience every Thursdays and Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Michael McDowd:
Yeah. Soup is a great starter. Easygoing guy. Love people, love connecting with them. My goal in life for one of them is trying to bring out the best in people. So if I can do that, and I’ve kind of done my job in many respects, you know.
Mike White:
Actually bringing out the best in people. Joining us today, we’ve got two other Jacksonville, Florida natives. We’ve got Chris Val Zone and Jason Reiser. Welcome to the program, guys.
Chris Falzone:
Thanks, guys.
Mike White:
Now actually when I say Jacksonville, Florida natives, where are you guys from originally?
Chris Falzone:
I am from South Jersey, but I have been here since 1994.
Mike White:
That makes you a native.
Jason Reitzer:
And I am from South Texas, and I’ve been here since year 2000. June of 2000.
Mike White:
Excellent. Well, as we talk about partnerships, both of you, Chris and Jason, you guys both have successful marketing and advertising firms, and you found that you have strengths that the other one doesn’t have. Tell me about your partnership and how you came together to help clients campaigns.
Chris Falzone:
So Jason and I met years ago. I, Jason was a director at the Saint John Partners and Jacksonville was a it was a large agency and I was I was kind of doing a lot of freelance at the time. And we, we partnered up on a lot of things. And, and then it just kind of evolved over time.
Chris Falzone:
It was like we would talk to each other about what new trends are coming out and things like that. And we were both kind of in, you know, heavy and web dev and, and, usability and functionality and things like that. So we were always just kind of touching base. And then, when I started rocket in 2010, Jason and had just kind of went out and, and I think in about 2014 or 15 went to, went and started Canvas Blue and we decided, you know, if there was something that he needed me for, I would, you know, use his, you know, work with him on.
Chris Falzone:
And if vice versa, there were some things. Jason was a heavy backend developer, so I needed some backend because I was more front end in usability. So when we started talking and and getting things together and, and over time we ended up, you know, just coexisting together and then probably in the last five years, we, we came together and really, really partnered up on a lot of projects.
Mike White:
So Jason and that’s Chris’s side to the story. Tell us the real side of this.
Jason Reitzer:
No, it’s, it’s true. I mean, me and Chris have known each other, I think for, you know, 20 plus years now. And, you know, Chris and I have a lot of overlap, in terms of things, we do the same. And so where I needed where I needed capacity or I needed scale, I could trust Chris to do that.
Jason Reitzer:
And likewise, he would trust, me when he had the capacity or issues to, you know, be able to scale and move faster. And, you know, we kind of speak the same language. We kind of think the same. We have the same philosophical belief about, you know, how to service our clients and why they’re there, which I think differs from a lot of folks, you know, it’s we’re really here, for the long haul, wanting to do the best we possibly can for our clients so they stay with us for a really long time.
Jason Reitzer:
I think we’ve experienced that.
Mike White:
So talking about scale and, and Michael is as we grow companies and I built a marketing firm and other companies, but ultimately, no one can do everything nowadays. And so it’s important to find partners that you can scale with and prior. So, Chris, we were talking about you have a partnership with a technology, a tool called Van Desta.
Mike White:
And so tell me about your experiences, why you went to them and prior to the show, you’re talking about amazing partners. You talked about them. So tell me about your experience and what services and tools that you utilize.
Chris Falzone:
So one of the core foundations that we always provide for our clients is making sure that their their Google business profiles optimize. And I, I’ve been a partner with a company called Yext for years. And that’s just one aspect of what we do. We don’t just kind of set it and forget it on one of those tools, but I was approached by Van Daoust, and they and they were able to give me a starter, a starter program where I could bring all of my clients in and give them a little bit more, a little bit more, while still partnering with them to get local results for them.
Chris Falzone:
And, and I started digging into it and using that, that tool and that system has AI chat bots. Some, some CRM assets and things like that, that they have a ton of tools, but realistically like going through it and finding what are core tools that are usable that we can provide. And they also have a great, a great, if you’re a partner with them, the prices are right.
Chris Falzone:
So we can offer lower, lower, basically lower prices to our clients because we’re partners with them. The pay grade that we have to pay them is lower, so we can reflect that in our billing. So that was one of the reasons that we did it. So that Jason and I could come up with packages and solutions for each of our clients, that that would be affordable for them to continue to, to, to run with on a long period of time.
Mike White:
And it’s important, I guess, with partners to have a whole team behind you and and research in the nest that they’ve got like 6 to 700 employees and full teams of web developers and SEO people to allow really, the small agencies to be able to scale their companies and provide the best service for their customers. Have you noticed talk about the customer service that they have being a large company?
Chris Falzone:
Customer service is great. Their chat bots are great. And they’re very educational. So when you have a problem, you can reach out and you can always say, I need to talk to someone live, and they will get back to you. They they get back to you pretty, pretty fast. A lot of companies will not get back to you for 24, 48 hours, and they’re pretty much on point with getting back to you, you know, within within 20 minutes, half an hour.
Chris Falzone:
And then your problem solved. You know, by the end of the day, usually.
Mike White:
Jason, are there based upon your tech stack on what you and Chris bring together. Are there any tools or other companies that you’re looking to bring into your network that can help either provide an additional service or complement what you guys are doing?
Jason Reitzer:
Well, I mean, for Canvas Blue, we’ve been partnered with a small company called Microsoft for about, 12 years.
Mike White:
Can you spell that for our producers?
Jason Reitzer:
So, what’s great about Microsoft Partnership is they provide, you know, the technology stack. They provide the tools, the dev tools, integrated development environments and all of that, which is very much a uniform sort of way of development so that it’s not as dependent upon this developer versus that developer. So we’ve been using them a lot. And then, you know, obviously where there’s tools you don’t have to build, like, Chris is brought to the table then we always are kind of vetting which solution makes a sense to build it from scratch or to partner and a lot of times partnership is the way to go because it’s mutually beneficial.
Mike White:
You know, well, you know what. And we can make a drinking game out of that. Every time you say, partner.
Michael McDowd:
I like it.
Mike White:
So tell wrapping up so most what is it half of marriages end in divorce. So what makes you divorce a partner? What are some of the things that stand out that would cause a partnership that lead to divorce?
Michael McDowd:
There’s so many variables. I mean, I don’t think you could pinpoint it, just there’s just very real after variable. No, marriage is perfect. We know that. And so.
Mike White:
Mine’s communication. I think communication is key. My wife constantly tells me I need to be a better communicator. So I’m going to focus on that one in trust and, and dependability. Sure. So what do you think? Chris? Jason, final words with you, Chris, what would lead a partnership to end in divorce?
Chris Falzone:
I think if you if you don’t think about the other person, you know, that’s that’s in it, what the what their business is bringing to the table. So like when we were looking at, at scaling up, you know, I bring a lot of people to the table and, and I include Jason in, in all of my thoughts of, you know, what’s going to be beneficial to him as well.
Chris Falzone:
Like, like, you know, if I’m doing pricing or something like that, I make sure that I’m completely communicating. You know, communication I would say is number one. And then always looking out for the best and well-being of your partner and understanding that that you’re in this together. So that’s that’s the biggest thing to me is, is that, you know, when you’re complimenting someone, you also need to let them know how valued that they are in, in you, you know, in your business as well.
Chris Falzone:
So that’s something that we both kind of always tell each other. Is that, you know, thank you for your help. And also thank you for, for being who you are and bringing out the best in me and and, and helping challenge me and, and things like that. So those are, those are things that I think are important.
Chris Falzone:
So acknowledgment of the job that the other person is doing with you and, just letting them know how, you know that you’re grateful for having them in, in your business with you. And I think if you go one side and, and it’s two one sided, that that’s what causes that’s what causes break ups.
Mike White:
I think I think I’m going to cry. That was so nice. As you’re looking straight into his eyes and saying, Jason, I love you. Do you guys, do you guys man hug it out ever.
Chris Falzone:
Christmas time.
Chris Falzone:
We decided to have a Christmas party last year because we were like, hey, we don’t have we don’t have any other workers that we work with. So we were like, we need to have a Christmas party ourselves.
Mike White:
So I’ll make Zuppa Tuscan. If I’m invited, I’ll bring you the full Italian, Christmas dinner sounds good. So, Jason, what would cause, what is most important, in your relationship to not lead to divorce?
Jason Reitzer:
Oh, I think I think Chris did a really good job of it. I think communication is number one. I think it’s trust and believing in the other person. And, you know, not not putting yourself first, but thinking about what’s best for both of you guys and what’s, and I think the appreciation that Chris mentions to and the acknowledgment is another key component, but, you know, it all comes back to communication.
Jason Reitzer:
It’s about communication causes trust. It can also cause mistrust if you’re not getting enough of it. So, yeah, I, I don’t want to just echo what Chris said, but, he did a really good job.
Mike White:
He did a great job with the words of affirmation. So, gentlemen, congratulations on all of your success that you’ve not only had for your own company, but your customers. You can really tell that you guys are putting them first and doing what’s in their best interests. So thank you for joining us today.
Chris Falzone:
Thank you.
Jason Reitzer:
Thank you for having us.
Mike White:
And thank you for coming on. Thank you. I appreciate it. We’re going to go put down some bourbon with the soup. Let’s do it. To find out more about Chris and Jason and all the amazing things that a company can do for you. Visit us at Advertising champions.com. We’ll see you next time on Advertising Champions TV. It’s.
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