First things first: Yes, this is the Beatley Gravitt website. But with a whole new look. A whole new blog-centered format (so check back often for updates). And featuring a whole new…well, let’s call it a nickname. “Big” is a natural enough abbreviation for us, given the initials of “Beatley Gravitt Incorporated” (if you forgive a little re-ordering). But there’s far more than brevity motivating this new handle. You see, “Big” is perfect shorthand for our new way of doing business. (Did you know we have a new way of doing business? It’s described in “What’s the big idea?”) So “Big” is a great name to go by, representing as it does both our past and our future. All of which means you may not be hearing the words “Beatley” and “Gravitt” from us quite as often. But, rest assured, the gentlemen who lent us those names still loom large here. To find out more about them (if you aren’t lucky enough to know them already), see “Standing on the shoulders of giants.”

We realize that the headline above reads like some kind of acronym MadLib, but for our clients in Investor Relations (the aforementioned “IR”), the question not only makes perfect sense, it’s much on their minds. Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer (even if you already know that “XBRL” stands for “Extensible Business Reporting Language,” that XBRL is a new coding language designed to consistently underlie all electronic financial reporting, and that XBRL will soon be required by the SEC). But just as DNA serves as a blueprint of what’s to come organically, XBRL can be seen as a blueprint of what’s to come electronically, of the future of Investor Relations and the role that the web will play in communications.

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Mike Shackelford, the new vice president and creative director here at Big, has actually been with us about three months, but since our new website had yet to launch when he came on board, allow us to introduce him online now. Most recently at CarMax, where he served as a creative manager for the auto retailer’s 2008 website revamp, Mike has nearly two decades experience as an award-winning creative director, copywriter, and web developer in Richmond’s ad community. We’re excited to have his help leading our team, and hope you have a chance to meet him soon.