Today we’re excited to announce that we’ve made our second Rockfish Brand Ventures investment in MomentFeed, a platform that centralizes access to analytics and campaign management tools for Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Gowalla. Location-based social media platforms present new challenges and opportunities for brick-and-mortar retailer, and MomentFeed aims to help make sense out the data that is available across this emerging channel. By using MomentFeed, retailers can see aggregated data across four of the most popular location-based service platforms and easily learn how their stores are performing individually and compared to their competitors.

Click here to check out the official press release. 

Today is a big day at Rockfish as we announce Tap.Me as our first investment out of Rockfish Brand Ventures.  Based in Chicago, IL, Tap.Me has created a new mobile advertising platform that truly defines digital innovation.  They have put together an amazing team and we are looking forward to Rockfish joining them as a Digital Innovation Partner.  You can read more about the deal in the press release below.

MOBILE ADVERTISING PLATFORM TAP.ME REELS IN ROCKFISH BRAND VENTURES

Rockfish’s Venture Capital Capability Partners with Tap.Me as First Investment Opportunity

CHICAGO, IL – May 12, 2011 – Tap.Me, creators of a new mobile advertising platform, received the distinction of being named as Rockfish’s first investment by their newly created venture capital capability – Rockfish Brand Ventures. In this latest round of fund raising, Rockfish is joined by existing Tap.Me investors the likes of David Cohen’s Bullet Time Ventures, the i2A Fund and Hyde Park Angels.

Rockfish Brand Ventures, a new model of agency ventures, brings emerging digital innovations together with agency capabilities and client relationships. By securing this partnership, Tap.Me will benefit from access to the diverse client network and services Rockfish provides as an award-winning agency, as well as guidance from experienced and connected Brand Ventures executives. Tap.Me attracted Brand Ventures with a combination of a strong development background, a gamer-first model and a fluid platform with opportunities for virtually any brand to partner with.

“The Rockfish Brand Ventures team brings us more than financial backing, but crucial knowledge of the digital space that is literally priceless” said Joshua Hernandez, CEO of Tap.Me. “Their collaboration with our team has given us insight into the mobile space that, partnered with our development experience, will make Tap.Me the next evolution in mobile advertising.”

“Rockfish has long been on the bleeding edge of digital innovation since we began, and we see Tap.Me as a great opportunity to continue building our capabilities in that market,” said Kenny Tomlin, CEO / Founder of Rockfish. “We’re excited to work with the Tap.Me team and offer our digital expertise to their already impressive platform.”

Tap.Me is a new breed of mobile advertising platform that allows game developers to directly connect gameplay with branded rewards and achievements from any advertiser. Putting the power directly into the developer’s hands, Tap.Me ensures that gamers are never taken out of the gameplay experience, but are rewarded for their achievements and given instantaneous rewards both in-game and in the real world.

About Tap.Me

Tap.Me is a Chicago based start-up focusing on innovating the in-game advertising space. Founded in 2009 with game development roots, Tap.Me, Inc. is channeling the teams experience in advertising and game design to develop a set of products that will disrupt how advertising has traditionally been approached in video games. For more information, visit http://tap.me. Game developers please contact dr@tap.me to find out how to get involved. For press inquiries please contact press@tap.me.

About Rockfish

Rockfish is a Digital Innovation Partner for brands such as Walmart, Sam's Club, Cisco, and Tyson Foods. Through a company purpose of “building a better world through the power of digital innovation,” Rockfish helps clients find solutions that are meaningful to their customers and measurable to their business. Rockfish has been recognized as the OMMA 2010 Agency of the Year for Web Design & Development, ranked third on the 2009 Ad Age Agency A-List that recognizes the ten best agencies in the world, and placed in the 2010 Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies. Rockfish is headquartered in Rogers, AR, with offices in Dallas, TX, Cincinnati, OH and Little Rock, AR.

 Today I’m excited to announce the launch of Rockfish Brand Ventures. Following is a short video we developed to describe our vision for Brand Ventures along with an official press release.

 PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rockfish launches new Brand Ventures division

Rockfish Brand Ventures will be an early-stage investment arm of the award-winning agency

ROGERS, ARKANSAS (March 10, 2011) – Rockfish (http://rockfi.sh) announced today the launch of Rockfish Brand Ventures, a venture capital capability that improves marketing ROI for its clients. Brand Ventures will focus on the latest digital innovations in Consumer Internet, Mobile, and Retail, providing start-ups with both funding and domain-specific expertise in technology and marketing.

“Brand Ventures is another component of what we believe it means to be a digital innovation partner,” said Rockfish Founder / CEO Kenny Tomlin. “It will help us expand our commitment to incubating new companies by creating a unique fund for investing alongside our clients in the businesses of other entrepreneurs. At Rockfish, we don’t just sell digital but are an important partner in shaping the future of digital innovations.”

Rockfish Brand Ventures is a new model of agency ventures, helping start-ups by providing domain-specific expertise in building & creating product, and in marketing & distributing to customers. The company expects to make approximately 10 investments over the next 12 – 24 months, partnering with venture capital firms and other investment groups.

Brand Ventures will also closely partner with Rockfish clients, providing them first access to emerging digital media firms for marketing and potential investment. In addition to distinctive agency services, Rockfish now offers clients venture investment capabilities and relationships. This will help accelerate the ramp of entrepreneurs and start-ups by seeding them with big brand ad spend and relationships.

“From day one, Rockfish has been committed to digital innovation on behalf of our clients and our own company,” said Tomlin. “In only five years, we have incubated and launched more than 10 brands and proprietary technologies, while simultaneously becoming one of the fastest-growing and award-winning digital agencies. This is a natural evolution to our model.”

The investment committee for Brand Ventures will be composed of 6 senior Rockfish executives, each of whom bring experience in marketing, venture capital, corporate finance and start-ups:

         Kenny Tomlin (Rockfish Founder / CEO): Tomlin led Rockfish from a one-man start-up in 2006 to become one of the most recognized and fastest-growing digital agencies in the world.

         Michael Stich (Rockfish COO): Stich’s diverse, global career spans Venture Capital at Dell Ventures, Corporate Strategy at McKinsey, and Strategic Marketing at Texas Instruments.

         Dave Knox (Rockfish CMO): Knox crafted the digital strategy for some of the world’s most recognized brands while at P&G and started The Brandery, a start-up accelerator in Cincinnati.

         Jeremy Wilson (Rockfish CAO): Wilson has 16 years of investor relations, M&A, and financial experience in multinational corporations including Wal-Mart Stores, Brinker, and J.B. Hunt. 

         Dawn Maire (Rockfish CSO): Maire brings over two decades of multi-channel marketing experience including deep retail experience for clients such as Sam’s Club, Best Buy & Macy’s

         Steve Clark (Rockfish Partner):  As the owner / co-founder of five entrepreneurial ventures, Clark brings a wide-ranging background in operations, management and people development.

In addition to the investment committee, Rockfish Brand Ventures will leverage an Advisory Board comprised of industry veterans with backgrounds in technology, venture and marketing. These advisors will provide deal sourcing, perspective on industry trends, and other support.

The first member of the Advisory Board to be publicly announced is technology executive Carl Everett, who was most recently a Partner at venture capital firm Accel Partners. Carl brings a deep industry expertise to Rockfish Brand Ventures as an active advisor and board member to new technology companies. During his career at Intel and Dell, Carl sponsored many new start-up projects inside the companies, and championed corporate venture investments such as Rambus at Intel, and the Chinese internet portal Sina.com at Dell.

“Joining the Board of Advisors at Rockfish Brand Ventures is an exciting opportunity,” said Everett. “I am looking forward to advising the team on a venture strategy that enables growth of the agency and its clients using the power of Digital Innovation.”

The Brand Ventures division will be staffed in all three of Rockfish’s major offices in Rogers, AR, Cincinnati, OH and Dallas, TX

For more information, go to http://rockfi.sh

About Rockfish

Rockfish is a Digital Innovation Partner for brands such as Walmart, Sam's Club, Cisco, Procter & Gamble and Tyson Foods. Through a company purpose of “building a better world through the power of digital innovation,” Rockfish helps clients find solutions that are meaningful to their customers and measurable to their business. Rockfish has been recognized as the OMMA 2010 Agency of the Year for Web Design & Development, ranked third on the 2009 Ad Age Agency A-List that recognizes the ten best agencies in the world, and placed in the 2010 Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies. Rockfish is headquartered in Rogers, AR, with offices in Dallas, TX, Cincinnati, OH and Little Rock, AR.

Contact

Dave Knox, Chief Marketing Officer

513-658-0868

dave.knox@rockfishinteractive.com