About John Rougeux
The reason I started Flag & Frontier is simple: I believe great ideas deserve a lasting place in the world, and I want to do everything I can to make that happen.
Marketing Career
I’ve devoted my marketing career to helping build companies that offer something unique and valuable to the world. I was an early member of Sojo Studios, a social gaming company that partnered with world-class non-profits to build the world’s first ever cause-based social game. Sojo Studios built a network of over two million players and was ultimately acquired by Zynga.
I then went on to co-found Causely, where I served as CMO. Causely offered small businesses a new way of generating referrals using cause marketing. Its more than 6,000 customers raised over $2 million for great charities. Causely was even voted the #1 Place to Work in Kentucky.
Causely was acquired by Skyfii (ASX: SKF), a publicly-traded Australian SaaS company that helps physical venues better understand how their spaces are being used. As the company’s first full-time marketing hire, I joined the Skyfii team to help them establish a marketing discipline, reposition the brand, and design a new business category called omnidata intelligence.
Today, I’m the VP Marketing Strategy at BombBomb, where I lead our efforts to design the the human-centered communication category and head up our content and design teams.
Philosophy on Marketing
My view on marketing is simple: marketers have a responsibility to create positive relationships between the brands they represent and the customers they are trying to serve.
That’s going to look different for each company, but I’m a strong believer in these principles:
- Respect the people you’re trying to serve
- Market to others they way you would want to be marketed to
- Focus on adding value to your community over talking about yourself
- Don’t let near-term goals undermine your long-term strategy
- A great brand and a distinct position in the market will provide immense dividends
Speaking & Podcasting
I’m a co-host on The B2B Growth Show, where I produce episodes for the #categorycreation series. To find episodes, search for “#categorycreation” in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
If you’re interested in being a guest on the show or having me speak on your own podcast, click here to get in touch.
Who I Am
I’ve lived a bunch of places, but I currently live in Colorado Springs, Co. It’s the perfect place to pursue friluftsliv (or getting outdoors to restore your health!)
My lovely wife and I have four daughters. And yes, that was on purpose! Don’t ask me their ages though, because I’ll probably get them wrong.
I will sign up for any trip that involves the outdoors or traveling to another country (ask me about the time I visited a voodoo temple in rural Haiti, or why I’ve been in more auto accidents in Tanzania than at home). Other things I love include Christ, Bach, running, mountain biking, skiing, and Lapsang Souchong tea (it tastes as weird as it sounds).
You also probably don’t know that I once hiked the entire 2,000+ mile Appalachian Trail, I survived an Ironman Triathlon (barely), or that I have two middle names (I still can’t pronounce one of them).
Publications
Here are a few other places where you can find my thoughts:
- Inc. – When to Take Your B2B Brand From ‘Good Enough’ to ‘Amazing’
- Inc. – How to Keep Your B2B Brand From Becoming Devalued
- Inc. – 5 Lessons Learned About Bringing New Ideas to Market
- Huffington Post – Does a Great Brand Name Even Matter?
- Huffington Post – Staying Motivated During A Pivot
- Thrive Global – 15 Habits That Will Make You A Better Leader
- StartupNation – How to Take Your Pitch Deck From Good to Great
- StartupNation – Why Founders Need to Understand Branding vs. Brand Positioning
- MarTech Podcast – Making Digital Marketing Work for Online Businesses
- 1 to 10 Podcast – Apply these 3 Principles to Successfully Position Your B2B Brand
- Sales Acceleration Podcast – Internal Evangelism As Part Of Your Branding Strategy
- Forbes – Why This Overlooked Side Of Branding Is More Important Than Ever
- Forbes – The One Question To Ask Your First Marketing Hire
- Forbes – Is 2018 The Year Your Business Needs To Prep For AI?
- Forbes – How To Balance Between Marketing Strategy And Marketing Tactics
- Forbes – 10 Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Starting Up
- Forbes – How Entrepreneurs Can Stay Ahead In A Rapidly Changing World
