Content is the new universal truth for marketing any type of good or service. Commerce brands are investing in content, and content brands are investing in commerce. The winning consumer brands of tomorrow will be the ones that utilize content and personalities across platforms to cultivate passionate fandoms that are monetized through direct-to-consumer commerce.
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...
Learn moreFAO Schwarz is the world's most renowned specialty kids toy manufacturer and retailer. Since being founded over 160 years ago, the company has ...
Learn moreXL Media (LSE: XLMedia PLC) is a global performance publisher. It combines the power of people, data-driven behavioral insight, and captivating ...
Learn moreTeam Coco is a digitally-native comedy brand, and a joint venture between Conan O’Brien and WarnerMedia. Entering 2020 Team Coco sought to ...
Learn moreVERB Technology Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: VERB) is rapidly emerging as the market leader in business-focused interactive video sales and marketing ...
Learn moreRockWater is an active collaborator with Mattson, a global food and CPG innovator behind brands like Popchips, Blue Bottle Cold Brew, White ...
Learn moreRed Seat Ventures partners with talent, brands, and influencers to fund, build, and operate unique businesses. Founder and executive leadership ...
Learn moreSuper Studios is an innovative web3 creative lab founded by acclaimed crypto thought leader Elliot Wainman (@elliotrades) and his partner Dave ...
Learn moreEffinFunny is a full-service creative production company that makes award winning content targeted at the growing US born South Asian ...
Learn moreCollabspace is a mobile-first platform for Creators and Creative Freelancers to connect and transact for paid creative gigs and collab ...
Learn moreAt Prism Labs, the cutting edges of computer vision, machine learning, depth cameras, and human physiology are being fused into powerful software ...
Learn morePORTAL 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
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
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
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
VERB Technology Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: VERB) is rapidly emerging as the market leader in business-focused interactive video sales and marketing tools, including livestream ecommerce, CRM, and content management applications. With offices in California and Utah, VERB services clients in 60 countries and in 48 languages.
Founder and C-suite leadership sought market research, consumer and executive surveys, and go-to-market planning for a new livestream commerce product launch.
RockWater is an active collaborator with Mattson, a global food and CPG innovator behind brands like Popchips, Blue Bottle Cold Brew, White Castle, and Yogurtland. Together, RockWater and Mattson are bringing unique food & beverage commerce solutions to traditional and digital media partners ranging from publishers and celebrities to sports / esports leagues and franchises.
Chris and his team are not just collaborators, they’re visionaries. They see opportunities for clients that they don’t see themselves. We have ideated with RockWater, and think of them as a group of creatives, as well as strategists.
Barb Stuckey, President & Chief Innovation Officer
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
Super Studios is an innovative web3 creative lab founded by acclaimed crypto thought leader Elliot Wainman (@elliotrades) and his partner Dave Murray. Super Studios is building its corner of the Metaverse called The SuperVerse where its protocol ($SUPER) will be the foundation of an array of dapps. The first two dapps include the sophisticated NFT marketplace Gigamart (shipping Q4 ‘22) and the Play-And-Earn game Impostors (www.impostors.gg). Impostors recently saw its genesis drop sell out in 10 seconds generating over $100M in primary and secondary sales.
EffinFunny is a full-service creative production company that makes award winning content targeted at the growing US born South Asian demographic. Their team has developed, created, and produced content for Comedy Central, FX, TBS, Red Hour, and ABC digital.
The company’s leadership tapped RockWater to research whitespace opportunities and develop the go-to-market plan to drive new revenues and grow enterprise value.
Collabspace is a mobile-first platform for Creators and Creative Freelancers to connect and transact for paid creative gigs and collab opportunities. Their unique platform solution makes these creator economy collabs as seamless as possible — facilitating quick discovery, assessment, communication, management, and payment for creator partners.
Collabspace was built by a team of founders and engineers with extensive creator economy, product, and engineering experience, and is the result of over 25,000 engineering hours. The company’s leadership engaged RockWater to help them develop fundraising strategies and M&A opportunities.
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