Rockfish Blog

Rockfish COO, Jeremy Wilson, Recognized by the NW Arkansas Business Journal

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:00:00 GMT

Each year, the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal highlights those who are doing great things before the age of 40. Our own Jeremy Wilson, COO and EVP, made this year's list. We're proud of what he's accomplished thus far, and especially proud of the work he's done to help us grow at such an extraordinary rate.

Former Walmart CEO Lee Scott, an influential mentor, said of Wilson: "His success begins with his believability and integrity."

"Jeremy is an important part of our success here at Rockfish," said Kenny Tomlin, Rockfish founder and CEO. "And, his job is only going to become more important as we reach for our goal to be the world's digital innovation partner."

View Jeremy's "40 Under 40" profile online at the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal.

Rockfish Added to the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:00:00 GMT

The year before Rockfish was started, I was sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room and thumbing through the Inc. 500 companies. At the time, Rockfish was still only an idea, but I remember how reading through that list of businesses, I was motivated to turn this idea into something real.

To now find our name as a part of the Inc. 500 is truly an honor, and a highlight of what has proved to be an amazing start for Rockfish.

It's a great privilege to share this news with our leadership, our amazing team, and most of all, our clients, without whom this wouldn't have happened.

At Rockfish, we are still experiencing rapid growth. The challenge for us moving forward is managing this growth while maintaining who we are.

We are not just a technology firm, though we have an amazing team of engineers that have built award-winning technologies like mywalmart.com.

We are not just an ad agency, though we were recently recognized by Ad Age as one of the top agencies in the world.

And we are not just a consultancy, though many companies count on us for their digital strategy and innovation.

We are all of those things and much, much more. We are a true, full-service business partner for digital innovation. And we’re here to help our clients revolutionize their communications, their brands, and most importantly, grow their businesses.

How do we do it? We deliver on the full promise and potential of the Internet by seamlessly integrating strategy, creative and technology into digital solutions that work for our clients.

Innovation is a key driver. Based on insight and creative excellence. All supported by proven technology.

At Rockfish, we believe that if it doesn’t work, if it doesn’t help our clients grow, then it simply doesn’t matter.

Being part of the Inc. 500 is an important milestone and honor. It’s an accomplishment that we will always celebrate. But it’s only the beginning.

Kenny Tomlin, Founder & CEO

Wired Magazine Touts PlayNextLevel

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 10:00:00 GMT

In an article posted on August 9, 2010, Wired magazine's Erik Malinowski said, "Play Next Level is the leader in helping players who hope they haven't played their last down of football once this fall's Friday night lights dim for good."

PlayNextLevel, a Rockfish Labs incubation company, launched this past spring as an interactive recruiting platform that allows high school and junior college football players to showcase their skills to college coaches across the country. PlayNextLevel has already acquired more than 1000 player profiles for college coaches to peruse and it's growing daily.

Malinowski also writes, "Each player's profile does offer a impressive amount of info on each prospect. All the standards are there -- height, weight, academic achievements -- along with a dedicated statistics page, an easy-to-find list of colleges the player is interested, and the ability to upload a video highlight reel as well as a photo album."

"Visiting football camps this summer has been hectic, but we're now seeing the rewards from our effort," said PlayNextLevel Founder Alex Mortensen. "The need for players to leverage technology is obvious. And, where the best players can be found, coaches will be soon to follow."

Read the entire article, http://www.wired.com/playbook/2010/08/play-next-level.

About Rockfish Labs
Rockfish Interactive is an entrepreneurial company where our ideas and insights are born from the experiences that we've had building our own companies. Rockfish Labs is our business incubator focused on:

Bringing entrepreneurs' ideas to life by providing our support/resources.
Partnering with companies/clients to bring new products to market.
Developing new technologies and/or companies wholly owned by us.

We have launched 8 new companies from Rockfish Labs: PlayNextLevel, TidyTweet, Silver Joe’s Coffee, Fourthbook, CrazyHotJob, Filesend.us, Genofish and Mind of Moms.

Rockfish Announces the Launch of its "Rockfish Retail" Division

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 09:00:00 GMT

Rockfish Interactive today launched its newest division, Rockfish Retail, to specifically organize the agency's expertise around the unique needs of the retail industry. This specialty retail group will provide holistic marketing solutions that include everything a retailer would need to improve its business, drive traffic and boost advocacy.

"Retailers are looking for comprehensive solutions that enable them to connect with their customers. Given our heritage and expertise in technology and digital, Rockfish is in a unique position to deliver on this need," says Rockfish CSO Dawn Maire. "Too many retailers still treat the online landscape with siloed marketing tactics. Digital is no longer a channel; it's how consumers live their lives. To be successful in today's environment, retailers need to embrace digital solutions as drivers of an overarching strategy, not as bolt-on tactics to traditional advertising. Rockfish Retail creates holistic digital platforms for our retail clients that drive connectivity, engagement and sales."

With decades of retail expertise, the Rockfish Retail division will focus on the delivery of holistic, insight and data-driven solutions, including:

Brand, Business and Marketing Strategy
Customer Relationship Management
Shopper Marketing Platforms
Integrated Communications Design and Deployment
Loyalty Programs

"The retail business is all about loyalty—taking care of the customers you do have, and giving them the social tools to tell their friends and family members about you." Kenny Tomlin, CEO and founder of Rockfish continued, "The platform that delivers and allows users to echo your message has become as important as the message itself."

No stranger to retail, Rockfish’s other divisions (IT, Labs, Studio and Technology) already provide retail solutions to Walmart, Sam's Club, Tyson Food Service and Silver Joe's Coffee, a company that was conceived and launched from the Rockfish Labs division itself.

Join Us: Career Fair on June 22 in Little Rock, AR to Fill New Rockfish Office

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Rockfish will be hosting a career fair in search of local web developers, web designers and account managers in the Little Rock area. The fair will take place on June 22 from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at The Peabody Little Rock, located at:

Peabody Little Rock

Three Statehouse Plaza

Little Rock, AR 72201

If interested in working for the #3 Ad Agency (that’s Rockfish!) on Ad Age’s A-List, which ranks the top ten in the world, then meet us on the 22nd for an interview by:

Reviewing available positions online and submitting your resume, or
Showing up at the hotel between the hours listed above.

We are particularly looking for web developers with solid experience in the following areas:

Microsoft.Net
Mobile
SQL Server
XHTML
Objective C
Python
Ruby
Django
Java
JavaScript
C#

Want to know a bit more about the office we’re opening up in Little Rock? Read the article in the Arkansas Business Journal about our expansion.

If you have questions, please email our Senior Recruiter.

Rockfish Interactive Joins the Society of Digital Agencies

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:00:00 GMT

Rockfish is excited to lend its voice as a new member of SoDA. As one of 43 international member agencies, we'll be actively contributing to our industry's advocacy and education.

"Strategically we are looking for digital marketing agencies, wherever they might be located, who aren't just talking about digital marketing but are actually producing successful work for recognizable brands. We're also really excited about the opportunities to engage rising digital stars in increasingly relevant global emerging markets." Steve Wages, Founding Member and Executive Director of SoDA.

SoDA will gather in Las Vegas this July to discuss future business strategies. More can be learned about the organization at http://www.sodaspeaks.com.

This industry-leading group includes: AgencyNet, BEAM, Big Spaceship, Blitz, B-Reel, Colmeia, Colossal Squid, Deep Focus, Domani Studios, Effective UI, Enlighten, Evolution Bureau, Exopolis, Firstborn, Fjord West, Fuel Industries, Fullhouse, Geary Interactive, GRAPE, Great Fridays, Gringo, GrupoW, IE, IQ Interactive, Made by Many, Magnani Caruso Dutton, Mekanism, Obscura Digital, Odopod, Perfect Fools, Profero, R/GA, Rain, Reactive, ReSN, Rockfish, SOAP Creative, Soleil Noir, Struck/Axiom, Terralever, Unit 9, WDDG-Funtank and Zemoga.

Rockfish Welcomes Dawn Maire as First Chief Strategy Officer

Thu, 27 May 2010 08:00:00 GMT

We're excited to announce the addition of Dawn Maire as our first chief strategy officer. Since 2005, she had been the chief retail officer for North America at RAPP.

Her addition brings more marketing and CRM leadership to our successful digital marketing and technology team that works with such clients as Walmart, Sam's Club, Procter & Gamble, Tyson and Cisco. As CSO, Ms. Maire will be responsible for marketing thought leadership for client and internal projects, both of which are growing rapidly.

The hiring of Ms. Maire adds to the trend of senior executives making the jump from big agencies to smaller, more nimble environments.

"The business landscape is obviously becoming more and more dependent on digital innovation," said Ms. Maire. "I joined Rockfish because it's an idea company and--let me tell ya--we’re already talking about some big ideas."

With nearly two decades of multi-channel marketing experience, Ms. Maire has authored successful campaigns for such brands as Bank of America, Best Buy, Famous Footwear, HEB, Macy's, Mercedes Benz USA, Sears Holdings, SUPERVALU and Toyota USA.

"Rockfish is growing, and there's no plan to slow down anytime soon," said Kenny Tomlin, Rockfish Founder and CEO. "We’ve helped evolve the agency model from design-focused to design-build, but we're not done. Dawn will play a big part in where we're going next."

Ms. Maire has joined us in our Dallas, TX, office.

Rockfish Studio

Thu, 06 May 2010 15:00:00 GMT

Over the past year we have slowly developed a very impressive portfolio of studio services. Following is the formal description of Rockfish Studio along with a short demo reel the team put together that highlights some of the work we have done over the past year.

Rockfish can take your video from sketch to screen. Our in-house team of writers, graphic artists, editors and motion designers are skilled at every facet of production: conceptualization, storyboarding, scripting, film-production, post-production and distribution. If acting or voice talent is needed, we can also assist with acquiring those assets. Our video expertise includes the following range of services:

· Storyboards

· Scripting

· 3D Graphics

· Editing

· Compositing

· Motion graphics

· Video production

Sam's Club launches "Giving Made Simple" program

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Make a difference for millions, with millions. Rockfish Interactive and Sam's Club have launched a donation-voting campaign that allows Club Members to divvy up $4 million among eight non-profits.

How does it work?
Members can vote online once per day from April 8th to May 2nd for their favorite non-profit in each of two categories: youth education and entrepreneurship. The top vote-getters in each will receive $1 million, second place non-profits will get $500,000, while the third and fourth place organizations get $250,000 apiece.

Participate
There are several ways to get involved in the program, whether you're a Club Member or not:

Visit Sam's Club Giving to vote and/or learn more.
Chat with the non-profits (and friends) on the Facebook Fan Page.
Follow @samsclub on Twitter to learn about Twitter Parties and Double Points Days.

Here are the non-profits!

Youth Education	Entrepreneurship
Girls Inc.	ACCION USA
Junior Achievement	Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED)
Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)	Community Reinvestment Fund (CRF)
YMCA	Kiva

Sam's Club Makes Giving Simple from Rockfish Interactive on Vimeo.

Read the Sam's Club press release.

Rockfish Interactive becomes a certified Green Plus Mover

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:00:00 GMT

The Green Plus™ program helps educate and certify small businesses and nonprofit organizations in the areas of triple bottom line sustainability (People, Planet and Performance). A program of the Institute for Sustainable Development, Green Plus™ focuses on an organization's policies and procedures and therefore applies to businesses across sectors and industries.

"We are motivated by our clients' commitment to the environment and their communities," says Chris Carmody, Institute for Sustainable Development Executive Director. "Their involvement is what makes Green Plus a great community hub for sharing best practices and helping American small businesses understand that sustainability is a growth opportunity."

Congrats to the rest of our certification class!

Learn more about Green Plus.

Are you ready for the next level?

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:00:00 GMT

How do high school football players get recruited? The NCAA states that roughly 5.8%, or less than one in 17 high school seniors, will play at the NCAA level. Yet, there are 20,000 high schools in the country and nearly 900 college programs trying to find the right players for their respective teams.

In other words, it's tough if you're not the star player or on a team with a star player. Introducing PlayNextLevel.com, one of the largest joint ventures to come from the Rockfish Labs incubation division.

"Players spend hours cutting highlight film, compiling stats and then mailing video tapes or DVDs to the collegiate programs that interest them," says Alex Mortensen, founder of PlayNextLevel.com and son of Senior NFL Analyst Chris Mortensen.

Together, Rockfish and Alex built Play Next Level as the place where players, coaches and fans benefit from an improved, innovative high school football recruiting experience:

Players, of any skill level, can create a personal profile on the web site as a showcase for their physical metrics, performance stats and highlight videos.
Coaches gain access to profiles for more players than they could ever see in person. This allows them to more efficiently schedule their time, more effectively fill their roster needs, and avoid sorting through a mailbox of DVDs.
Fans can follow their favorite players to receive alerts whenever the player updates his personal profile.
Advice, most prevalent in the "Film Room" videos, includes direction from Chris Mortensen for players and parents on how to successfully create a highlight video and navigate the recruiting process.

The Rockfish Labs Joint Venture Opportunity
Got a great idea? Then, you should check out Rockfish Labs, where we develop new technologies, build new products with existing brands, and help entrepreneurs bring their great ideas to the marketplace. Play Next Level is the eighth company to be launched from Labs, and the most ambitious effort to date. The joint venture is co-owned by Alex and Rockfish, which is a model business relationship that we will look to duplicate frequently in the future.

Rockfish launches “Paws To Click” web site for Bergan and the ASPCA®

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Did you know that unrestrained pets cause more than 30,000 accidents per year? That's one every eighteen minutes of every day. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelt y to Animals (ASPCA®) and Bergan, a company focused on active lifestyle solutions for dog and cat owners, asked Rockfish to build them an online community that supports responsible and safe pet travel.

At Paws To Click, you'll find:

The ability to post a picture and travel stories about your pet.
A Store Finder that will locate your nearest store carrying auto travel harnesses and pet travel carriers.
11 Safe Travel Tips like, "Don't allow your pet to ride with his head outside the window, which subjects him to injury from flying objects."
Links to the Paws To Click Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Information about Bergan and the ASPCA.

How do you get involved?
With a simple click of the button, you can pledge and add your name to the growing list of supporters of safe pet travel. Pledge your oath of responsibility by visiting Paws To Click now.

What to expect after being named the Small Agency of the Year

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Our CEO, Kenny Tomlin, was asked to write an article for Ad Age about the experience that Rockfish has had since the announcement roughly six months ago. Read the article about Rockfish's (Positive) Growing Pains.

In a nutshell:

Satisfaction! "It's incredibly satisfying to be recognized for your hard work, and the team will feel energized and motivated to be part of your workplace."

Talent! "It's not just about the number of (new) heads -- it's about what's in them."

Ring! Ring! "Money does not begin to fall from the sky when the award is announced; you still have to earn the business."

Ad Age

the A-List Award

CEO Kenny Tomlin to Speak at Two Upcoming Conferences

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:00:00 GMT

Mirren New Business Conference

Touted as the place to learn from the rule-breakers, contrarians, and innovators that are reinventing business, the MNBC is the place to be in NYC from April 12-14. Kenny will be sitting on the Agency Growth Case Study panel that will discuss how some agencies have experienced tremendous growth despite the struggling economy (Tuesday, April 13, 10 a.m.).

You can already engage the speaker panel by submitting a question on the conference site.

next10

Rockfish CEO, Kenny Tomlin, will be speaking at the next10 conference, which is a global networking and trend conference that brings brands and leading companies together. This year’s conference will take place in Berlin, Germany, on May 11th and 12th.

The BBC has claimed that mobile apps will be as “big as the Internet” with 10 million apps created by 2010. Therefore, a “next app” conference track has been added this year to explore this burgeoning world. As an Ad Age A-List interactive agency focused on solutions for the digital age, Rockfish has placed a stake in the ground as a leader in what’s next.

We hope to see you there!

New Insta-print Coupon Widget

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Rockfish Interactive and White Cloud® Bath Tissue have launched an online coupon widget that, when clicked, automatically prints the coupon on the user’s local printer. This technology furthers the advertising-without-interruption mentality that Rockfish Founder and CEO, Kenny Tomlin, often cites when discussing the future of interactive marketing. In this case, the insta-print coupon does not force the reader into a series of printing prompts. Instead, it allows them to quickly continue their reading experience without leaving the site with the coupon offer.

The technology behind the widget provides great flexibility. The corporate content manager can set each site to a number of maximum prints or an expiration date, and the system will automatically remove or replace the widget when either of those limits is reached.

The widget has been launched by the White Cloud® Bloggers, which include (Go get your $1 off coupon at any of the following sites!):

· www.greenandcleanmom.org

· www.bargainbriana.com

· www.kingdomfirstmom.com

· www.keeperofthecheerios.com

· www.getbuttonedup.com

Contact us if you’d like to discuss how we can apply this technology to your products for your site or for your bloggers’ sites.

Rockfish Selected as One2Watch

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:00:00 GMT

Talk Business selected Rockfish Interactive as their 2010 "One to Watch" company. The award recognizes and honors a company or operation in Arkansas that shows significant promise to positively change the state's business landscape.

Click here to read the full story.

Rockfish is No. 3 on Ad Age's Agency A-List

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 08:00:00 GMT

A number of months ago Rockfish was selected by Ad Age as their Top Small Agency of the Year for 2008. As significant as that recognition was, today I have even bigger news. Every year Ad Age publishes their Agency A-List where they select the 10 best agencies in the world regardless of size or specialty and Rockfish was chosen for that distinction! I really can’t put into words how satisfying this recognition is for our company and for everyone who works here.

I want to personally appreciate and thank you for your support and partnership. We are a four-year-old agency that has accomplished a lot in a very short period of time and we could have never done it without you!

Ad Age has the full story and details on their website here.

mywalmart.com Named One of World’s Top Intranets

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:00:00 GMT

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS, January 11, 2010: Walmart’s internal social network is one of theTen Best Intranets in the world according to user-experience research firm Nielsen Norman Group. Nielsen Norman Group has been conducting an annual intranet design contest over the past ten years.

To engage associates more effectively, Walmart created mywalmart.com, an online community specifically for associates. This virtual community provides associates a place to learn about Walmart, find co-workers, discuss topics with one another, chat online with company leaders and become more involved in the company. In addition to connecting associates and fostering conversations, the site contains company benefits information, news, and access to third party applications, making it a true “one-stop-shop” destination.

“A social networking site which functions as a corporate intranet, the Walmart site allows store associates scattered across the U.S. to meet and interact online. An emphasis on the personal is clear throughout the site, while the site still provides the necessary corporate information,” said usability expert Jakob Nielsen, principal of Nielsen Norman Group.

Full-service interactive agency Rockfish Interactive worked closely with Walmart to conceive, design, develop and launch mywalmart.com.

“Rockfish Interactive was thrilled to partner with Walmart on such a groundbreaking project like mywalmart.com. Working closely with Walmart we were able to custom build a new kind of intranet from the ground up to match the needs of one of the largest workforces in the world,” said Kenny Tomlin, Rockfish CEO and Founder.

Currently, 1.4 million associates in the U.S. have access to mywalmart.com and nearly 900,000 associates have registered.

Nielsen Norman Group’s “Intranet Design Annual 2010: The Year’s Best Intranets,” is available for download from the Nielsen Norman Group website at http://www.nngroup.com/reports/intranet/design

About Rockfish Interactive

Rockfish Interactive is a full-service interactive agency that applies technical savvy, creativity and business accountability to all projects. Rockfish delivers technology and marketing strategies for many Fortune 500 clients, such as Walmart, Sam’s Club, Kimberly-Clark, Tyson Foods, Sara Lee, Con Agra, and Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Rockfish has locations in Rogers, Arkansas, and Dallas, Texas. Rockfish is Ad Age’s 2009 Small Agency of the Year. For more information on Rockfish Interactive visit www.rockfishinteractive.com.

About Nielsen Norman Group
Nielsen Norman Group (http://www.nngroup.com) is a user-experience research firm that advises companies on how to succeed through human-centered design of products and services. NN/g principals Jakob Nielsen, Don Norman and Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini are world-renowned user-experience pioneers who advocated human-centered design and usability long before it became popular to do so. Besides authoring books and evangelizing at NN/g events about user experience, they and others on the NN/g team offer high-level strategic consultation on the usability of websites, consumer products, software designs and anything else that needs to be easy-to-use. Media contact: Darcy Provo, darcy@nngroup.com, 415-871-1831.

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Looking for Tasty Holiday Ideas?

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Rockfish partnered with Sara Lee and Hillshire Farm to create a website that centers around recipes and entertaining ideas for the holiday season.

The site includes:

A contest: Explain how Sara Lee and Hillshire Farm have made your family holidays special and you could win a $500 Walmart gift card.
A recipe exchange: Add the hashtag #tastyholiday at the end of your tweets to join in the exchange!
Recipes for meals such as Waldorf Chicken Salad, Cocktail Links in Sauce and Pigs in a Blanket

Want Silver Joe’s Coffee in Seconds? There's an App for That!

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Get your Silver Joe’s caffeine fix – fast. The Silver Joe's Mobile Ordering iPhone App hit the App Store today! Not only will coffee-lovers be able to see a Silver Joe’s Café menu on their iPhone, they can also order anything from the menu and pay for it on the fly from their mobile phone.

How does it work? Once the app is on their iPhone, users can browse the Silver Joe's menu by coffees, teas or smoothies and build a customized order with numerous options, such as an extra shot of espresso. The user can pay for the drink with a credit or debit card through the iPhone app and schedule a time to pick up their complete order.

The app also makes it convenient for users to call the cafe, view hours of operation, see cafe locations on Google Maps and launch SilverJoes.com!

Find the Silver Joe's Mobile Ordering App in the iTunes App Store here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/silver-joes-mobile-ordering/id345559098?mt=8