About Webacom
The education of our marketing and website design team represents the best of what can be offered, with degrees from accredited universities in computer sciences, interactive web design and information technology, with a deep background in business and marketing.
The Founders
I am Jay Somerville, father of my three children, and founder of Webacom. I’ve been in the technology industry since 1980 operating a security company, then a computer company, and now a full service advertising agency. I’ve always had a real passion for helping businesses of any size adapt to new marketing technologies. I’m married to my beautiful wife Kathy who has been by my side for 25 years. I’m a marketing guru and internationally recognized speaker giving key note speeches to thousands of people.
I love the community in Nanaimo and Vancouver and have always tried to give back as much as it’s given me. I served Crime Stoppers as President for four years, assisted in starting a scholastic program for students, volunteer my time helping the Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce, and avidly promote the protection of our environment.
In my free time I jam. I mostly play drums but picked up the guitar, keyboard, and even the djembe over the years and can proudly say I am fully addicted to music. I never miss a good concert and love to see drummers like Neil Pert give incredible solos.
I am Jason Somerville, entrepreneur at heart, and co-founder of Webacom. I mostly manage the operations side of the company and help bridge the communication gap with clients, monitor deadlines, and solve any mysterious elements of a project. They call me “Eagle Eye” because I’ll analyze things to the pixel to ensure perfection. I’ve been a manager since my early 20′s and couldn’t imagine anything better.
I have a wonderful fiancée of four years and we recently bought our new home in North Vancouver, BC. I have a real passion for creativity and love contributing fresh marketing ideas and new advertising concepts.
Outside of work, I hike, I ski, I travel as much as I can, and I have a green belt in judo. I love seeing new parts of the world and never pass up a chance to let loose and have some fun.
The Team
She’s been told she’s an invaluable asset to the Webacom team, and often the first contact for our clients.
Originally, she was brought on board as the Receptionist, with her friendly nature, insatiable curiosity – combined with her listening skills and deep belief in customer care – has caused her position to evolve during her tenure at Webacom. Now she’s affectionately known to clients and staff as “the go-to gal”.
She’s often heard to cheerfully say: “If I don’t know the answer, at least I know where to find it!”
For fun she read books, plays online games, plays card games, astrology, and hangs out with her family and friends at home.
Kandace Knutson, Senior Web Developer
Graphic and Web Design is a natural and vibrant template for what has been an enduring love of visual art. She’s always loved to paint and draw for as long as she can remember, but when computers came along, it opened up a whole new approach to her visual expression. This innovative approach was the catalyst and vehicle for self-directed education in Webpage Creation, Animation and Coding.
Kandace is blissfully married to her husband Rob and the proud mother of two daughters, Mikaela and Adie. They keep Kandace captivated from day to day, and force her to look upon the world anew with the enthusiastic eyes of youth. This fresh perspective is the impetus for the creative excellence that infuses her work at Webacom.
Ashwani Sinha, Search Engine Strategist
There has been a tremendous change in the way Internet is now being surfed and used by “netizens”, the Internet citizens. Ashwani is your guide who understands this ocean of digital stream, your specific needs, the current trends and navigates you such that you emerge as the digital winner. Having a background in business administration and information technology he’s the marvel you need for effective search engine marketing and optimization.
Ashwani loves his community and has voluntarily assisted with coordination and fundraising at Silly Boat Regatta, Dragon Boat festival, and assisted with coordination and setup of the Annual State of the Island Economic Summit hosted by Vancouver Island Economic Alliance. I also love travelling, photography, hiking, and researching the marketing arena.
In her spare time she likes to read, travel, and go on play dates with her sweet little granddaughter Brooklyn.
Our Roots
Webacom Media Corp. was created in 1995 originally called Advanced Advertising, one of the first web design and development companies on Vancouver Island, BC.
In 2000, Jay Somerville – with a past in marketing & technology – purchased the company and changed the name to better reflect what the company did, “web and communications” resulting in the new name Webacom Media Corporation.
In only a few years we were well established with a commercial office. As our agency grew, new marketing services were offered including printing services, video production, copywriting, social media marketing, mobile marketing, and custom database programming. We learned to truly help our customers we needed to offer all levels of marketing expertise without relying on any sub-contracting. After the service expansion, we started attracting much larger clients with assets in the billions. In addition, our service area expanded from North America to clients from all over the world.
Today, our core business remains the same, serving clients of all sizes and helping businesses succeed with the latest marketing strategies available. We now have two main locations in Nanaimo, BC and Vancouver, BC, plus representatives in Victoria, BC and Los Angeles, California.
The Webacom Way
As professional communicators, we take great responsibility in our marketing abilities to create perfect results for our clients we fundamentally support. Our marketing and design team has spent the last seventeen years refining our process through learning, adapting and evolving. As a result we have weeded out the guess work to ensure that our creative is in line with your company’s goals, building its branding and driving its sales time and time again.
Our unique approach brings together new ways of listening carefully to our customers for actionable insights. We have implemented new practices for content creation, digital production, data analytics, and operations to support and measure more dynamic customer interaction and content distribution.
Above all, we are committed to our clients, inspired by their successes, excited by change, and fueled by a passion for collaboration and bold invention.
Excitement & Innovation
We try to make work a stimulating and happy experience. We put this first, believing that superior service to our clients depends on the high morale of our staff. Respect and kindness goes a long way.
We are free of prejudice of any kind and have developed a truly multinational, multitalented team from around the globe to offer more insight in a growing international market.
We like people who are honest and admire people who speak their minds. All of our marketing and web design staff’s thoughts, ideas, and opinions are welcomed and valued.
We exist to build the business of our clients. The recommendations we make to them should be the recommendations we would make if we owned their companies, without regard to our own short-term interest. This earns their respect, which is the greatest asset we can have.
We want all of our clients from around the world to know that no matter where they are from and no matter which location they employ, they can expect the same standards of behaviors no matter what.
Our Community, Our Home – Marketing for the Greater Good
Members of:
Chamber of Commerce (Member of the Year 2010)
BuiltGreen
Tourism Nanaimo
We cherish helping others through our time, resources, ideas, and donations. Our success over the years has given us the incredible opportunity to partner with a host of charitable and community organizations. We work with these groups as we would any of our clients; our goal is help each organization grow financially and socially, while also growing awareness of their great causes.
Our Responsibility
We feel that business isn’t worth doing if we can’t do it in good conscience. For example, the environment, whether we like it or not global warming is not something that can be repaired easily and millions of people are now looking for environmentally friendly companies.
We have taken many steps ourselves towards going green. Our websites are hosted on wind powered servers drastically reducing power consumption, our office is almost paperless, and we recycle everything. We even wrote a children’s book called “The Adventures of Eco Gal” and created our own eco characters to help promote environmental issues to youth.
No business is perfect but we continue to make strenuous efforts towards sustainability. Big change is a result of many little changes.
