F.Y.I.

Rocklive rebranded ROKT

Referral marketing company Rocklive has rebranded as ROKT and  is commencing global expansion with new partners and new offices in Melbourne, Auckland and Singapore.

The announcement:

  • Referral marketing pioneer Rocklive rebranded ROKT
  • Business grows 20% compound monthly in 2013 under new CEO Bruce Buchanan
  • Annual turnover projected to account for 1% of Australia’s digital advertising market in 2013-2014
  • Global expansion begins with new offices in Melbourne, Auckland and Singapore
  • Australia Post, eBay, Harvey Norman, David Jones, Ozsale, epay, Oztix, Tigerair, Dymocks and Ticketek on board
  • Launch of ROKT mobile platform now accounts for 25% of business volume and providing an effective product for monetising mobile traffic.

THE seismic shift of Australia’s biggest advertisers away from traditional media into the digital market continues to gain momentum, Bruce Buchanan, CEO of ROKT, a global pioneer in referral marketing said today.

Announcing Rocklive, an innovator in digital advertising has been rebranded ROKT, Mr. Buchanan said big business is increasingly looking to engage digitally, and globally with their audiences in proven and relevant ways.

‘Things are on a great trajectory and the business has a lot of momentum, and we are starting to lift our share of the digital advertising market,’ said Mr Buchanan, 40, who joined ROKT in December.

‘Advertisers that traditionally haven’t been big digital spenders, like Harvey Norman and David Jones, are starting to shift significant budgets from old media forms into digital formats that work for them, and it’s great to see they are having a lot of success with the ROKT platform.’

ROKT is a global leader in digital ‘word of mouth’ marketing referrals. It uses an exclusive partner network and a unique engagement technology to connect with more than one million users daily across its partner network. Mr. Buchanan joined ROKT as shareholder after stepping down as Group CEO of low cost carrier Jetstar. In seven months he has helped ROKT founders’ ex-Google executive Justin Viles and former Adconion director Ben Voltz rebrand the digital advertising leader, and refocus on its core proposition, referral marketing. He has also overseen a three-fold increase in both staff and revenue. ROKT creates new revenue streams for partners as well as connecting advertisers to new customers.

‘Our new partner numbers have also tripled since December and we have got a more than three-fold increase in traffic volumes’ said Mr. Buchanan. ‘In addition we’ve focussed on our core proposition, our referral marketing platform, which has grown six fold over that period of time.’

Mr. Buchanan said ROKT is enjoying an exciting growth rate of 20% compound month on month, and in six months has welcomed more than 20 Australian and global Blue Chip companies into its digital fold. These include eBay, Australia Post, Oztix, Ozsale, epay, Tigerair, Harvey Norman, David Jones, Ticketek, Moshtix, Dymocks, Greyhound Australia and Zuji. With new offices in Singapore, Melbourne and Auckland, Mr. Buchanan said it is a trend he expects to continue.

‘The premise of referral marketing is enabling one brand you trust and transact with, to recommend you to another that is relevant. There has been a shift in the way consumers respond to advertising and as a result business needs to be smart in responding to changing consumer behaviour. Our objective is now to replicate our success in Australia in overseas markets.’

Mr Buchanan said ROKT’s new mobile platform, released in April, fills a missing gap in the platform. It is already responsible for 25% of the volume on ROKT’s platform.

‘The future of digital advertising is going to be much more mobile than desktop. Mobile is growing very fast and our proposition has been incredibly successful already with many of our partners seeing rapid shifts into mobile,’ Mr Buchanan said.

Source: ROKT press release.

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