Highland Multimedia
Relationships are at the heart of James Smeaton’s work. He is president and creative director of Highland Multimedia in Antigonish, Nova Scotia – a full-service communications firm with a focus on digital media.
“I’m about relationships with my community as well as with my clients and I think that’s something that doesn’t change with the times,” he says. “Technology-wise, things are changing every six months. That doesn’t actually influence business anywhere near as much as just respecting a relationship.”
Smeaton’s connection to Antigonish began when he travelled from his home in Gander, Newfoundland, to attend St. Francis Xavier University where he completed degrees in information systems and business administration. During his university years, lessons learned extended beyond the classroom as he ran a website business targeting students. Through this enterprise he became involved in the local business community.
“Every person that I did business with practically took me under their wing and provided me with information and insight as to how business is done in this part of the world and what it means to create a relationship and service that relationship as time goes by.”
In 2002, Smeaton opened Highland Multimedia. Services include web design, graphic design, marketing communications, web tools and web hosting. “As time goes on I intend to take the company in the direction of branded communications and whatever medium or vehicle that entails,” Smeaton says.
In addition to content management solutions, Highland Multimedia has recently started offering fully customized one-on-one computer lessons, and high-end multimedia slideshow presentations for weddings, commercials, and holidays.
About 80 per cent of Highland Multimedia’s business comes from Antigonish and surrounding areas. The firm has also worked with clients from as far afield as North Carolina and the United Kingdom. Sectors represented include retail, transportation, real estate, insurance, pharmaceutical, not-for-profit and tourism.
Smeaton and his part-time employees show resourcefulness as they work collaboratively to address clients’ needs. “Once you develop a relationship with people they come to you with a problem, and sometimes they have no idea of what the solution might be,” he says. “So you have to be resourceful. You have to work together to find the solution.”
Creativity is also essential. “If I was to do the same thing twice, the value of my service would noticeably drop. So creativity is really the fuel that keeps people coming back. My clients expect new ideas.”
Smeaton’s clients speak highly of his approach and understanding of their organizations. Nicole Mann is the youth facilitator and community employment development coordinator for the Antigonish Career Resource Centre. Highland Multimedia redeveloped the centre’s website.
“James met with us initially and mostly listened,” she says. “He wanted to hear about what our vision was, what we wanted to see, how we wanted to utilize the website and from there he drafted a spectacular version of our dream.”
Smeaton’s enthusiasm for the project was contagious. “Web development for me is not something that I would get excited about normally,” Mann says. “We just wanted to make it user friendly and we wanted to have our idea there. But actually we got excited about this because James knew what he was doing, he was always so high-energy and wanted it to be exactly what we wanted.”
Wayne Ezekiel is senior VP of A.A. Munro Insurance Brokers Inc., which he describes as “one of the largest independent insurance brokers in Nova Scotia.” Smeaton does all of the design work for the company and will soon be working on a new website for them.
“James is very creative. He does exceptionally good quality work. He understands our brand,” Ezekiel says. “He’s very easy to work with, very accommodating and he honours his commitments and meets them.”
Ezekiel, an informal mentor, says, “I’m quite a bit older than James. He’s just new in the business….I certainly would like to seem him grow and develop because I like his philosophy about business, I like what he does.”
Smeaton also gives back to the community. For example, he has made classroom presentations through Junior Achievement’s Economics of Staying in School program. “I want to make clear to them that you don’t have to be a superstar to be successful,” he says. “You just have to try hard and do the best that you can for people.” About the classroom experience, Smeaton says, “It’s particularly rewarding because you realize there is so much wonderful potential in our youth here.”
There is also the potential that Highland Multimedia will expand from a small to a medium-sized firm. “I’m at that stage right now where I’m learning how to grow and manage that growth, and really understand what I’m capable of and what I need to find other people to help me with,” Smeaton says.
In addition to Highland Multimedia, Smeaton runs RentAntigonish.ca, a free rental listing website which he started in the fall of 2006 for people who have rooms and apartments and houses for rent.
Smeaton is deeply connected to Antigonish. “I don’t want to be in Toronto, I don’t want to be in Vancouver,” he says. “I want to be in a place where I can’t walk down the street without being interrupted three or four times by people just saying, ‘hello, how are you doing?’”
When not working, Smeaton enjoys going for hikes in the woods with his three dogs, walking with friends and visiting local beaches. With a river essentially in his backyard, he doesn’t have to go far to enjoy nature.
“I fell in love with this place and I’m not going anywhere else unless I have to,” he says. “That’s because everybody here has been great to take care of me, this place is safe and I can’t imagine a more beautiful place to be when I close the office down at the end of the day. Why would I go anywhere else?”
Feature story written by Marie Weeren
