We celebrated our 20-year anniversary. We had a bittersweet move from the historic L&N Station Building to a new, stunning space at the Southeastern Glass Building. We gained new employees and energetic clients. We gave our logo a new look, and we gained a new outlook.

Our latest milestone is a new website that’s as sleek as the space we work in. I don’t know when you last visited morriscreative.com, but I invite you to click on and explore. The new site better reflects our mission for the next 20 years: excellence + heart + fun.

We hope you enjoy.

East Tennessee’s First Commercial Aquaponics Business Opens With Ribbon-Cutting, Facility Tours

Lenoir City, TN – Greater Growth, LLC, an aquaponics company, will officially open its new 12,000 square foot facility on Tuesday, May 8 at 10:00 a.m. The public is invited.

Aquaponics is a sustainable food production system that combines a traditional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. More information is available at http://www.greatergrowth.com.

WHAT: Ribbon-cutting and open house of aquaponics facility; tours; photo and video opportunities

WHEN: Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: 6800 Waller Ferry Road, Lenoir City, Tennessee 37771 (off Hwy 321)

WHY: Greater Growth is a sustainable, green business. The company grows fish and leafy greens in an inter-dependent, greenhouse environment. It sells locally because local growers have a vested interest in the safety and quality of their community’s food supply. Greater Growth grows naturally, using no pesticides, hormones or chemical fertilizers, and it operates sustainably, making efficient use of land, sun and water.

WHO: Attendees will include:

Michael Bobo – President, Loudon County Chamber of Commerce
Melodie Godfrey – Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President, ORNL Federal Credit Union
Kirk Huddleston – Regional Director, Tennessee Economic & Community Development
Senator Becky Duncan Massey – Tennessee State Senator
Walter Perry, III – District Director, United States Small Business Administration
Joel Townsend – President, Greater Growth, LLC
Other local and elected officials
Media

The environmentally-friendly heating and cooling system will supply energy to one side of a cottage duplex, a new residential option on the retirement community campus in Blount County. The system uses a network of underwater pipes installed in the campus lake, St. Clair Lake, that capitalize on the water temperature (as warmed by the sun) to provide heating in the winter and uses the water as a heat sink to cool in the summer.

Bernie Bowman, Asbury’s vice president of business development, said tapping into renewable energy has many benefits for the community.

“We are using the geothermal system for one half of the duplex, with the other half using a conventional heating and cooling system. This will provide very accurate comparisons of the utility savings,” he said.

By not burning fossil fuels to generate heat, geothermal energy leads to a cost savings for the consumer and a reduction in carbon footprint for the environment, said Gordy Noe, president of Pioneer Heating and Air Conditioning. “While as a not-for-profit Asbury cannot take advantage of tax savings, it will benefit in lower utility costs and in lower upkeep costs over time.”

This cottage duplex is being constructed along with the St. Clair Apartment homes complex, a 36-unit, $12 million project to be completed by August 2012. The cottage duplex is a 1,620 square foot unit with two bedrooms, plus a den. The St. Clair buildings offer one-, two- and two-bedroom-with-den floor plans. Along with these new residential living options, the Asbury Place Maryville campus has already completed a new clubhouse with a wellness center and bistro.

Founded in 1956, Asbury, Inc. manages a network of not-for-profit retirement communities and health care centers for individuals 55 or better in Maryville, Kingsport, and Johnson City, Tennessee. With a not-for-profit mission of “Senior Communities providing security and freedom with compassion,” Asbury has renovation and expansion projects underway at all of its campuses, positioning it to provide for the rapid growth of the aging population expected over the next several years.

For further information, please visit www.AsburyPlace.org or call (865) 238-8301.

Mr. de Fluiter holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration as well as a Bachelors in Long-Term Health Care from Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee. His roots in the healthcare field began at the age of 16 with a summer job in maintenance and floor care for a 60-bed rest home in Kernersville, North Carolina.  From there, he has held positions in long-term care communities from as far away as Hawaii to closer to home in Pigeon Forge and Newport, TN.

Mr. de Fluiter is married and has two daughters and a son.

About Asbury Place

Founded in 1956, Asbury, Inc., operating as Asbury Place, manages a network of not-for-profit retirement communities and health care centers for individuals 55 or better in Maryville, Kingsport, and Johnson City, Tennessee. With a not-for-profit mission of “Senior Communities providing security and freedom with compassion,” Asbury Place has renovation and expansion projects underway at all of its campuses, positioning it to provide for the rapid growth of the aging population expected over the next several years.

For further information, please visit www.AsburyPlace.org or call (865) 238-8301.

Bill Edwards, President and CEO stated, “We have begun 2012 with positive results.  While all banks have endured a difficult operating environment, MCB continues to be well-capitalized, have strong loan demand, and a solid, growing core deposit base.   I am pleased with our first quarter results, and believe we are now beginning to achieve the operating results and the positive momentum that we have been working to realize.”

MCB’s earnings for the first quarter of 2012 were $700,404 as compared to $608,072 the same period last year. Net interest margin remained strong averaging 3.97% for the quarter.  Operating expenses continue to be reduced as reflected in a $195,000 decrease from the same quarter last year.  Noninterest-bearing deposits increased $7.7 million over the same period last year.

About Mountain Commerce Bank:

Mountain Commerce Bank (MCB) is a state-chartered, FDIC-insured, century-old, privately held financial services institution serving Knoxville, Johnson City, and Unicoi County.  Through Hometown Service and Smart Technology, MCB offers big bank products and services, with the personal attention and exceptional service of a hometown community bank.

At the end of March 2012, MCB had $320.6 million in Total Assets and $285 million in Total Deposits. MCB currently employs more than 60 individuals at six branches and one operations office. For more information, visit us at www.mcb.com or check your account any time at 1-866-MCB-1910. MCB is an equal opportunity employer.

Chuck Morris: “Inbound Marketing” by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, cofounders of Hubspot. “Their thinking behind today’s pull marketing versus traditional push marketing is spot on.”

Jaques Palin: “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. “It is about everyman’s struggle to break from conformity and to pursue your life’s dreams. It has a strong undertone of reverence for the natural world we live in.”

Kellie Crye: “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling. “It’s about time I jumped on that bandwagon!”

Kyle Dyer: March editions of GQ, Esquire, Men’s Health, Details and Monocle. “I’m so behind on my mag stacks. But after this weekend, it’s on to April. The Steve Jobs biography will be my next lengthy read.”

Sherrie DeMarcus: “A Peculiar Grace” by Jeffrey Lent. “This comes highly recommended by my sister. Another good reason is this author also wrote ‘In The Fall,’ which is one of my favorites.”

Stephanie Bullock: “Just My Type” by Simon Garfield. “I got it for Christmas! He approaches typography in a humorous manner, and the periodic table of typefaces is so cool.”

Vince Walker: “Take the Stairs” by Rory Vaden. “I’m reading it because I like his inspiration on getting experience to achieve success.”

If you are not one of the 30 million worldwide photo-snappers, you might not get it. What’s the big deal? Well, here’s the magic of Instagram.

You know that feeling when you look at old photographs—that wave of nostalgia when you see the rusty reds from the 70s or the hazy glow of beach pictures from the 60s? The rounded corners of old black and whites from generations before? That’s what Instagram captures. It morphs your harsh, overly sharp digital images of today into warm, Polaroid-like snapshots worthy to share.

As far as business marketing, Instagram offers another opportunity to connect with your audience. The Instagram interface is streamlined, and users aren’t distracted with ads, pokes and retweets. These photos can capture your brand in ways other social media outlets cannot. This is especially true for companies that promote a lifestyle—magazines, shopping boutiques, micro-breweries and the like.

We know some Instagrammers are crying foul that their favorite social media sold out, like they just heard their cherished indie band playing on a McDonald’s commercial. Some are vowing to delete their accounts and never return to photo-filter land, but not MCG.

We just joined the Instagram party a few weeks ago, and we love the idea of sharing a little bit of our crazy culture. (Our favorite filter: Lomo-fi with the border). If you are looking for someone new to follow, you can find us @MorrisCreative on Instagram.

Additional links:
Check out these examples of companies doing it right.
Commentary on Instagram’s value.
An awesome infographic from Mashable on the rise of Instagram.

Stephanie Bullock

KNOXVILLE, TENN. –  Stephanie Bullock has joined the team at Morris Creative Group LLC, a leading 21-year-old marketing firm in downtown Knoxville. As an intern, she will contribute her design skills to the MCG creative team during the spring semester.

Bullock is a senior at Pellissippi State Community College where she is studying communication graphics technology. She serves as the vice president of Pellissippi State’s student chapter of AIGA and is a member of Phi Theta Kappa honor society. A native of Knoxville, Bullock graduated from Farragut High School in 2009.

She said she is excited about getting a real-world introduction to the business side of creativity. “I can sit down and communicate with the printer and with clients; we don’t get that at school,” she said. “I’m just happy to be here.”

After completing her associate degree in May, Bullock will spend June studying abroad in Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. She plans to continue her education in the fall at Nossi College of Art in Nashville.

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Did you know that 84% of all consumers now use the web to find health-related information.* 78% want online access to medical records and test results; 26% would pay more to get it. 72% want online services to schedule appointments from their doctors, and 18% would pay more for it. 76% are interested in email access to their doctors, and 23% would pay more for this service. **

Using information such as this, Morris Creative Group can help practices develop and execute a strategy for providing excellent patient care while increasing profit.

Working collaboratively, we can:
• Help your practice to gain market share by increasing awareness
• Increase revenue
• Build patient volume to add new physician(s) and new offices
• Change patient mix, i.e., more electives or in-house diagnostics
• Minimize the impact of managed care
• Offset lower reimbursements

The process is simple:
Step 1: DISCOVERY
Step 2: PLAN THE PROGRAM
Step 3: EXECUTE/TEST
Step 4: ADJUST

Our approach is programmatic, not project oriented, and it makes a big difference.

• Source: Burst Research. August 2007.
• Source: The “2008 Survey of Health Care Consumers,” a representative poll of 3,031 Americans between the ages of 18 and 75, conducted by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions Sept. 10-23, 2007.

Resource Anesthesia

Phil Haynie, MBA, MSN, CRNA, president of Resource Anesthesia, announced today that the company has added the following facilities to its roster of anesthesia management clients: The Specialty Hospital of Washington — Hadley, 4601 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue S.W., Washington, D.C. 20032-1199; Saint Joseph — London, 1001 Saint Joseph Lane, London, KY 40741 (Obstetric Anesthesia Services only); Fayette County Memorial Hospital, 1430 Columbus Avenue, Washington Court House, OH 43160; and Southeastern Center for Fertility and Reproductive Surgery, 11126 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37934.

In addition, the company announced that it has partnered with HealthStream®, a healthcare learning company, to provide ongoing training for its staff. HealthStream’s LearningCenter® will provide Resource Anesthesia staff with consistent training and access to a large library of regulatory content that is continually updated, including topics for The Joint Commission, AAAHC, OSHA, CMS and HIPAA.

“Resource Anesthesia’s partnership with HealthStream demonstrates our ongoing commitment to quality-care and exceeding our clients’ needs for consistent and verifiable regulatory compliance,” said Noel Poindexter, CRNA, MSN, vice president of Resource Anesthesia.

About Resource Anesthesia

Resource Anesthesia is a multi-state company that provides centralized anesthesia management and support by establishing local teams who are active members of the community. Through these teams, comprehensive or customized department management is provided to community hospitals and surgery centers. The company assumes responsibilities such as recruitment, compliance, quality monitoring, and revenue cycle management. For further information, please visit http://www.resourceanesthesia.com.