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.
Who I Am
I’ve lived a bunch of places, but I currently live in Lexington, KY. It’s supposed to be a great town for college basketball and horse racing, but I’m the wrong guy to ask about either.
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, 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).
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.
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 on To find episodes, click here and search for “#categorycreation” in the player.
I’m also the host of Skyfii’s People in Places podcast, a show about customer experience and omnidata intelligence.
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.
Publications
These sites were gracious enough to let me share 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
