The consumer brand landscape is evolving

Consumer preferences and business models have radically changed in the past 5 years, and more change is coming. Both incumbents and upstarts are strategically reorganizing and redeploying billions of capital. Making it one of the most exciting and opportune times in industrial history. RockWater provides real-time market intelligence, financial and operational planning, and strategic relationships to help our clients outperform.

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“Chris and the RockWater team truly get where modern media is today and where it’s headed, with a special expertise around the intersection of commerce / consumer revenues, brands, and IP.”

Christian Baesler, CEO at Complex Networks

What We Offer

Focus Areas

Case Studies

Portal-A

PORTAL A is an award-winning branded and original content company. The company's accolades include being named Agency of the Year by The Streamys...

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ViacomCBS

We specifically hired Chris and his team to support competitive landscape analysis, market intelligence and growth planning for branded ad sales ...

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XL Media

XL Media (LSE: XLMedia PLC) is a global performance publisher. It combines the power of people, data-driven behavioral insight, and captivating ...

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Team Coco / WarnerMedia

Team Coco is a digitally-native comedy brand, and a joint venture between Conan O’Brien and WarnerMedia. Entering 2020 Team Coco sought to ...

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FAO Schwarz

FAO Schwarz is the world's most renowned specialty kids toy manufacturer and retailer. Since being founded over 160 years ago, the company has ...

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Atmosphere

Atmosphere is a free multi-channel TV streaming service with content designed for businesses offering 51 original and partner TV channels. ...

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Red Seat Ventures

Red Seat Ventures partners with talent, brands, and influencers to fund, build, and operate unique businesses. Founder and executive leadership ...

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FilmNation

FilmNation Entertainment, one of the world’s preeminent independent entertainment companies, sought to diversify and complement its core film and ...

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Prism Labs

At Prism Labs, the cutting edges of computer vision, machine learning, depth cameras, and human physiology are being fused into powerful software ...

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Portal-A

PORTAL A is an award-winning branded and original content company. The company’s accolades include being named Agency of the Year by The Streamys, Video Agency of the Year by Digiday, and a Top 20 Content Creator by AdWeek. Its clients include Google, Amazon, Target, Disney, MLB, and Snapchat. The company’s founders engaged RockWater to evaluate both its existing and new planned business lines within branded and original content. The strategy assignment resulted in a new investment and resource plan, to help drive revenue growth and accelerate new market entry.

RockWater was a great executive ally. They took time to understand our growth needs, created a custom workplan, and executed with precision. Their recommendations were data-based and actionable, and are now part of our operating plan. RockWater also brought good energy to our org, which helped get team buy-in. We look forward to working with them again.

Zach Blume, Co-Founder and President at Portal-A

 

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Zach Blume

Co-Founder, President

ViacomCBS

We specifically hired Chris and his team to support competitive landscape analysis, market intelligence and growth planning for branded ad sales solutions – as we better understood his broader capability set, we expanded our engagement to include new IP incubation ideas, IP valuation and more. I highly recommend RockWater to any client in need of sharp and actionable strategy advisory.

Thomas De Napoli, Sr. Director of Viacom Velocity

Who to know

Thomas De Napoli

Sr. Director of Viacom Velocity

XL Media

XL Media (LSE: XLMedia PLC) is a global performance publisher. It combines the power of people, data-driven behavioral insight, and captivating editorial content to build valuable connections between brands and consumers.

When we began looking for intelligence partners, we knew we wanted a group who would work with us as part of a team, not a vendor. We found exactly what we were looking for in RockWater. Starting from a very open place, they were comfortable with and capable of helping us identify and focus on the most advantageous areas of business for the group. The research they deliver is consistently contextual, actionable and valuable in driving strategic decisions and growth.

Elizabeth Carter, VP of Marketing and Taylor Quist, Head of Global Brand Strategy

Who to know

Elizabeth Carter

VP of Marketing

Taylor Quist

Head of Global Brand Strategy

Team Coco / WarnerMedia

Team Coco is a digitally-native comedy brand, and a joint venture between Conan O’Brien and WarnerMedia. Entering 2020 Team Coco sought to capitalize on incredible revenue and M&A market momentum. Their executive leadership required advisory to define their growth strategy and execution plan, board communications, and buy-side M&A diligence and valuation.

In my role as COO of Team Coco, when we decided we needed help strategizing and plotting new growth initiatives, RockWater was the first call I made.

Adam Sachs, COO

Who to know

Adam Sachs

COO

William Navarre

Sr. Director of BD & Revenue

FAO Schwarz

FAO Schwarz is the world’s most renowned specialty kids toy manufacturer and retailer. Since being founded over 160 years ago, the company has transformed into an omnichannel brand across brick & mortar, wholesale, and web and social commerce. The company is owned by ThreeSixty Group, which owns and operates 5+ global consumer brands including Vornado and Sharper Image.

To plan FAO’s digital transformation, we needed an expert team who understood how parents and kids are spending their time and money online, which is powering new direct-to-consumer business models for toy retailers. RockWater was a great bolt-on partner to us and facilitated outlining an exciting new growth strategy for FAO Schwarz.

 

Jan-Eric Kloth, President, International Sales, Retail, & Corporate Strategy at ThreeSixty Group

Who to know

Jan-Eric Kloth

President, International Sales, Retail, & Corporate Strategy at ThreeSixty Group

Atmosphere

Atmosphere is a free multi-channel TV streaming service with content designed for businesses offering 51 original and partner TV channels. Atmosphere offers an incredibly powerful advertising medium where brands can develop contextualized advertising campaigns with highly targeted delivery by venue-type, geography, or content channel type. The platform was developed using proprietary content, technology, and data to deliver unparalleled experiences for businesses, consumers, and advertisers. The business was incubated within Chive Media Group and spun out in 2019.

Chris and the RockWater team gave us the exact leverage we were looking for in an advisor. The team brings deep industry perspective, thoughtful frameworks, and a strong network of relationships.

Mike Grisko, CFO

Who to know

Mike Grisko

CFO

Eric Spielman

CSO

Red Seat Ventures

Red Seat Ventures partners with talent, brands, and influencers to fund, build, and operate unique businesses. Founder and executive leadership sought investment targets for a Content x Commerce investor roll-up strategy, optimization of their user acquisition “funnel” across 6+ digital channels, and an audience and marketing forecast model.

RockWater delivers something few others can: unique perspective. Chris and his team analyze the complicated playing field and cut through the BS to deliver actionable insights that add immediate value. RockWater acts as an extension of my own team, adding a tool to our toolbox at the exact moment we need it.

Chris Balfe, Founder & Partner

Who to know

Chris Balfe

Founder & Partner

FilmNation

FilmNation Entertainment, one of the world’s preeminent independent entertainment companies, sought to diversify and complement its core film and TV businesses by expanding into audio and digital, with the end goal of broadening its storytelling platform and driving additional enterprise value.

RockWater’s team dovetails incredibly sophisticated marketplace intelligence with an impressive, far-reaching network of leading professionals at nearly every top digital-focused company – with this powerful combination, they provide clients with invaluable strategic insights and guidance. Chris and the team helped us quickly identify and prioritize opportunity lanes for FilmNation as we expanded our global content platform into the digital space. We’d recommend them with the highest praise, in a heartbeat.

Milan Popelka, COO

Who to know

Milan Popelka

COO

Alyssa Martino

VP of Podcasts

Prism Labs

At Prism Labs, the cutting edges of computer vision, machine learning, depth cameras, and human physiology are being fused into powerful software solutions that will transform the fitness and wellness industries and lead the way towards the reliable and robust capture of human performance in the metaverse.

 

Prism Labs is built by a team of experts in a variety of fields that have come together to push the limits of what is possible in 3D human reconstruction. The company has offices in Vienna and Graz, Austria and Los Angeles, CA. The company’s leadership engaged RockWater to help them evaluate strategic go-to-market and capital allocation decisions.

Prism Labs isn’t a media company, but having worked with Chris closely in the past I jumped at the chance to use his advisory services to help us evaluate some strategic options. With Rockwater you can count on thoughtful, flexible, diligent and extremely capable support. RockWater’s strong positive culture shines through with every interaction.

Steve Raymond, CEO 

Who to know

Steve Raymond

Chief Executive Officer

Testimonials

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