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PIA uses the tag line
"The
Ben & Jerry's of Internet Services" to communicate our
company values, and in tribute to the socially
responsible policies, reputation for integrity, and high quality
products of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, a leader in field of
socially responsible business. PIA aspires to the same
reputation for excellence in its operations and service to its
customers and communities, but PIA has no business relationship of
any sort with Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.
Can You
SAY That?
Ben & Jerry's Homemade
Inc. operates in a completely different sphere of commerce than
PIA. They are directly associated in customers' minds with their
ice cream products and
stores, and they don't compete
in any other market sectors. No one associates their name with
technical offerings of any kind. We don't use their logos or
trademarked visual motifs. Therefore,
we feel there is no danger of consumer confusion.
How it came about
When Dick joined PIA,
he found it difficult to tell prospective customers about PIA's
company values and its high quality services concisely. A believer
in socially responsible business, he really wanted to pitch all the aspects of PIA's socially responsible viewpoint,
its organizational aspirations, as well as describe its high quality
operations.
Dick needed a concise way to position PIA in a prospective customer's mind and then move on to
discussing the client's needs and PIA's services. A tag line. A nice, clean, short
way to communicate PIA's being socially responsible, having high
aspirations, and offering quality products and services.
One afternoon, frustrated at stumbling over too many words one more time, Dick blurted out,
"Well... We're the Ben & Jerry's of Internet services!" The
people in the meeting immediately lit up! "OK, I get it! Socially
responsible company! High quality products! Great! Now, we need
this, can you do this for us?"
As time went on, he tried this line out with more
people, and every person, regardless of age, gender, sexual
orientation, or political affiliation, got the point immediately.
Soon, we added it to our web site.
PIA
was originally incorporated in Brooklyn, New York,
in 1995 by a multi-racial, multi-cultural group of partners. The company built its first office and hosting center at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard and began offering web site design, programming, and hosting services as Progressive Internet
Alternatives, Inc.
In 1996, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development
Corporation, along with the City of New York and other development authorities,
announced a competition to identify and fund a project that would serve as an
"anchor" for the re-development of the Navy Yard. PIA and Delphi
Studios, a scenery and set construction company also based at the Navy Yard,
entered that competition, proposing to develop a 15 acre, 21st century film production complex,
including the largest sound stage in the world, integrated post-production
facilities, and a production office building on the site. New
York Studios represented an extraordinary opportunity, and as such, consumed the
majority of the company's attention and resources until the Spring of
2000, when NYS successfully consummated its deal with the City of New York, and with Steiner
Equities, which constructed
Steiner Studios. Having
successfully given birth to this extraordinary
development project, PIA re-focused its' management efforts and resources on its
roots as an Internet technical services, e-marketing and content development venture,
at the same time, PIA changed it's corporate name to Progressive
Internet Action, Inc. Shortly thereafter, it became advantageous
for the initial partners and early investors to dissolve the
corporation and pursue exit strategies. Dick
Jones, then head of the corporation being dissolved, purchased
the rights to the name Progressive Internet Action, the pia.net
domain name, and the then-existing client list. Dick's company, Richard R. Jones Communications,
now owns all rights to the name.
PIA Today
Progressive Internet Action is focused on ACTION.
We are a web
services outsource partner, offering web site
marketing strategy, site design and
development, web and email hosting, Search Engine Optimization, streaming media
services, web-based back-up services,
and related web-based operations and support services.
Progressive Internet
Action's Mission
To serve America and planet Earth
in socially responsible ways while providing our customers the highest quality Internet
and
World Wide Web services, Internet-based marketing services,
and interactive entertainment.
To apply our expertise affiliation
marketing concepts and virtual community development to
organizational communications, Internet content, entertainment, and
business strategies.
To provide economical
services for non-profit, progressive organizations. To perform pro bono
services for worthy causes as business permits, and
To
contribute a portion of our profits to worthy social causes.
Want
to talk? Call Dick at 212-496-7574, or send a message to
DickJones AT pia.net
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