Who Is GeniusRocket?

We do advertising differently.

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In The News Crowdsourcing helps preserve Social Security and Medicare
In less than three weeks from the first meeting to premiering during NBC's "Meet the Press" on July 17th, GeniusRocket delivered a high quality production for a third of the typical cost. GeniusRocket Client, Big Red, Back On TV With "Different" Campaign
The #1 red soda brand Big Red is returning to TV for the first time in more than 25 years, as part of a new "Tastes Good to Be Different" integrated campaign... The Business Monthly - 'Crowdsourcer' Mark Walsh Picks the Global Brain
The reason crowdsourcing works for GeniusRocket is because the company has honed a business structure that combines the resources of the crowd with thoughtful checks and controls... Mashable - 18 Ways to Earn Money From Crowdworking
GeniusRocket shows how professionals and creatives benefit from their new crowdsourcing model. Fast Company - The Future Of Advertising
GeniusRocket is what an ad agency looks like when it's stripped of Madison Avenue skyscrapers, high-priced creatives on payroll, sushi dinners at Nobu, and two-week shoots at the Viceroy in Santa Monica... TechCrunch - Extraordinary Chickpeas and the Madness of Crowdsourcing
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one... BtoB Magazine - Making direct marketing viral with video
Online video content is growing at a rapid pace, with marketers using video to spread their messages...
History The GeniusRocket Team News

It's A 'Brand' New World

The world of advertising and marketing has changed. It's no longer good enough for companies to trot out the same tired advertisements through TV, print, and radio. To achieve success, companies need to venture into the new media environments that are increasingly dominating consumer attention: YouTube, social networks, blogs. They must realize that they can't just talk at consumers; they must engage them with fresh, dynamic messages and experiences that will capture their attention.

The GeniusRocket Team

Mark Walsh

CO-FOUNDER & CEO

Mark Walsh is the CEO and co founder of GeniusRocket, a leading provider of user generated, “crowdsourced” advertising media. GeniusRocket creates marketing and video content for businesses ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to local retailers. It operates a community of over 20,000 creative artists across 170 countries generating video, animation, graphic design, copy, and more.

Prior to GeniusRocket, Mark served as Chairman and CEO of VerticalNet from August 1997 to July 2001. He joined VerticalNet when it was a small, venture-backed company with 20 employees and a value of $10MM. With his colleagues, he grew the company and took it public on the NASDAQ, where it peaked out at almost a $13 Billion valuation.

Since 2001 Mark has been active in politics, serving as the first Chief Technology Advisor to the Democratic National Committee, Head of Internet Strategy for John Kerry for President and as the founding CEO of Air America Radio. He also co-hosts a weekly talk show on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio, called “Left Jab”.

Since 2000, Mr. Walsh has managed a small angel-investment fund, Ruxton Ventures LLC. He has invested in a number of small to medium technology/startup companies and serves on a number of their boards. Investment and/or board highlights include Day Software, NutriSystems, Blackboard, Half.com, Transactis, MobilePosse, SpectrumK12 Solutions and ARPU. He is also active in a number of non-profits, serving or having served on the boards of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony and In2Books.

He is very active in the educational sector, as well. He serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of his college alma mater, Union College in NY. He is the Chair of the board of advisors to the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland Business School, and is the Chairman of the Board of the New Leaders Council, a training organization for young adults focusing on political entrepreneurship. He also coaches lacrosse at the high school level in the Washington DC area.

Mark received a BA in American Studies from Union College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

PETER H. LAMOTTE

President


Peter LaMotte is President of GeniusRocket overseeing all functions of the company. He came to GeniusRocket from Corporate Executive Board where he was a Marketing Consultant and Executive Educator for the Marketing Leadership Council and Customer Contact Council. He has worked in the sales and marketing divisions of IBM, Apple, and Intrepid Aviation, an aircraft leasing company. Peter's career has often been focused on the leading edge of internet technology. While at IBM Peter was one of the original NetGen account executives, IBM's first industry vertical focused on internet based companies. He holds a B.A. in International Business from Rhodes College and a Masters in Business Administration from Vanderbilt University.

Peter has taught classes and seminars on innovation, crowdsourcing, social media, and advertising trends at Georgetown University, George Mason University and University of Maryland's Smith School of Business. He was voted as on Washington DC's Tech Titans by Washingtonian Magazine in 2011.


GR Team (In Alphabetical Order)

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JAMES BARKER

Curation Director


Jim manages the engagement and communications platform for GeniusRocket's creative professionals, as well as directing corporate creative services. He is a veteran digital communications technologist, with over 25 years of experience in the advertising and software development industries. Before joining GeniusRocket, Jim was Co-founder and President of Transcendigital, a digital marketing services agency, where he directed successful campaigns for clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small businesses. Earlier, he served in leadership roles at digital services and traditional advertising agencies, including Outrider North America, where he was VP of Online Customer Development Services. Jim began his career serving with the U.S. Navy in communications technologies and micro-engineering and repair with NASA.

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MARESA BECERRA

Vice President of Operations


Maresa Becerra is Director of Operations at GeniusRocket, managing and coordinating all internal company processes, along with participating in daily facilitation of client and creator efforts. Prior to joining GeniusRocket Maresa held Project Management roles within several Washington, DC based international consulting firms, and acted as a Client Manager for multiple Italian organizations. Maresa has BA in Psychology and Business Administration from George Mason University and a Masters in Marketing from IED Milano.

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ADAM LEHMAN

Company Advisor and Board Member


Adam Lehman is the chief operating officer of Lotame Solutions, a leading internet advertising and social networking platform. He directs all general business operations including business administration and strategic partnerships.

Lehman joins Lotame with deep market and operational experience, having led a wide variety of new business development initiatives for America Online (AOL) and several successful start ups in the social web arena. As a Senior Vice President with AOL, he negotiated strategic partnerships with leading Internet, media, technology and consumer marketing companies, closed billions worth of investment, M&A and joint venture transactions, and managed operations for AOL's central business and corporate development unit. He also had a hand in the original development and implementation of first-generation digital advertising and e-commerce business models.

Since then, he has served as an entrepreneur and active investor in the social media and marketing space, with companies including Wondir, Carmun.com, NaturalPath Media, Goozex and, most recently, as co-founder, President and COO of GeniusRocket, an online service enabling brands to crowdsource viral marketing videos and other creative marketing content.

He is an honors graduate of Dartmouth College and has a law degree from Harvard Law School.

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ROGER W. LOCKHART

Business Development Team


Roger is responsible for sales and business development and brings a unique blend of Integrated Marketing Communications expertise to the GR team with over 25 years experience in brand marketing and strategic communications.

Roger was previously the Director of Marketing Communications at The Associated Press and before that served in senior VP Client Service roles at numerous advertising agencies including DDB Needham, Arnold Worldwide, Henry J. Kaufman and Fahlgren.

He has twice served as President of the Washington, DC Ad Club, has received numerous Addy and Telly awards, was an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at American University and is a graduate of West Virginia University.

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TIM MELECA

Director of Sales


Tim Meleca is the Director of Sales and Customer Support at GeniusRocket. He came to GeniusRocket from American Community Newspapers where he was a Advertising Consultant and Account Manager. He also spent time as the Mid-Atlantic Sales rep for Techne a manufacture of laboratory research equipment. Tim holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Mary Washington where he also played lacrosse for 4 years.

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GM O'CONNELL

Company Advisor and Board Member


Gm O'Connell is Senior Partner at Tango Modem an international interactive marketing firm with offices in the United States, Mexico, and Argentina.

From 1987 to 2005, GM O'Connell, was Partner, CEO, Chairman, of Modem Media, a publically traded interactive marketing firm that service Fortune 500 companies. After Modem Media was sold to Publicis, GM joined the advisory board of Brand Studio. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Compass Health Care.

He graduated from Middlebury College.

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HUGH PANERO

Company Advisor and Board Member


Hugh Panero is a venture partner with the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA). His efforts are focused on consumer technology.

Prior to NEA, Panero was the co-founder and CEO of DC-based XM Satellite Radio from 1998 August 2007, shortly before the company merged with Sirius Satellite Radio. (NASD: SIRI)

At its height, XM had more than 9.3 million subscribers.

Panero started his career as a journalist, and prior to XM served as the president and CEO of Request Television, a pay-per-view network owned by TCI's Liberty Media and Twentieth Century Fox.

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ALEX PRIEST

Director of Marketing


Alex oversees the management of the brand, digital and social media, events, and all other marketing efforts. In the past Alex worked in various capacities with the United States Institute of Peace, the Consumer Electronics Association, TechChange: The Institute for Technology and Social Change, MS&L Public Relations Worldwide, the American Legacy Foundation and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. As a undergraduate student at American University he was responsible for founding and leading the first and largest student-organized Social Media Club in the country. He holds a B.S.B.A. in marketing from American University's Kogod School of Business and a B.A. in Public Communication from American University's School of Communication, as well as a minor in statistics.

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POLLY VAIL

Business Development Team


Polly Vail comes to GeniusRocket with a broad base of experience in media, communications and business development.

For the past two years, Polly has been the Communications Director for the Water Alliance. She developed an executed the communications strategy and plan for this prestigious environmental advocacy group. Water Alliance was a client of GeniusRocket and give credit the GR team for the success of the enterprise.

Prior to this, Polly was intricately involved with Washington DC based non-profit organizations. She developed and ran micro-enterprise training programs for the Women’s Business Center where she served on the Board and became Board Chair. She served on the Board of Presidential Classroom; the premier civics education organization serving students from around the globe. She also served on the Board of Maret School, where she focused on fundraising, development and public-private partnerships.

Polly also brings a wealth of experience in advertising and media to the GR team. She worked for The New York Times from 1982-1998. Her focus throughout was advertising sales and business development. She worked with all national advertising categories, and helped launch the first interactive classified advertising program for the industry. She was named Managing Director, Advertising Sales for the Washington DC office in 1995, where she went on to pioneer many new business programs for advocacy groups.

She graduated from Skidmore College with a BA in American Studies in 1976 and graduated from Georgetown Universities professional development program in Training in 2002.

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CURT VIEBRANZ

Company Advisor and Board Member


Curtis G. Viebranz is a marketing consultant and venture investor. He was the Chief Executive Officer of TACODA, Inc, where he joined as President & Chief Operating Officer in April 2004. In July of 2006, Mr. Viebranz was named Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Viebranz was one of TACODA's original investors and served on its board of directors since the company was founded in 2001. He engineered the successful sale of the company to AOL/Time Warner in early 2008.

Viebranz spent 17 years at Time Warner and its predecessor company, Time Inc. During that time, Mr. Viebranz held numerous senior management positions with operating responsibility for major businesses both in the U.S. and abroad. He has also served as President of HBO International, the international arm of Time Warner's Home Box Office unit. Previously, he was the first president of Time Inc. Multimedia, the new media division of Time Inc., Time Warner's book and magazine publishing subsidiary. He also served as President of Time Inc. Europe and President of HBO Video, the home video distribution unit of Home Box Office. Viebranz is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Viebranz holds an M.B.A. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Middlebury College.

GeniusRocket In The News


Crowdsourcing helps preserve Social Security and Medicare
Crowdsourcing.org -- July, 2011
In another landmark win for the crowdsourcing industry and GeniusRocket, crowdsourced vídeo production proves it’s a very real threat to the traditional big agency model for TV advertising production....

Cannes Takes One Small Step Toward Catching Up With Reality
AdAge -- July, 2011
What if young filmmakers did not merely knock off the status quo, but came at advertising solutions from a wholly different angle? Increasingly we've seen evidence of this from the realm of PopTent, Victors & Spoils, GeniusRocket, et al...

The 5th Model “Crowdsourcing” Hits Madison Ave
Blue Focus Marketing -- July, 2011
In the era of seismic change now occurring on Madison Avenue, ad agencies are starting to strap on an extra seat belt. There is a lot of talk about revamping traditional ad agency models...

Crowds Swarm Madison Avenue and CMO’s
Blue Focus Marketing -- July, 2011
The rise of “crowdsourcing” is challenging Madison Avenue’s elite and CMO’s everywhere to re-think how they manage their client’s creative process...

Ingredients of a Successful Company
Forbes -- July, 2011
Community. Perseverance. Design. Execution. Relationships. If you were to make the perfect drink, what would you include? If you were to make the perfect company, what would you throw into the mix?...

GeniusRocket Client, Big Red, Back On TV With "Different" Campaign
MediaPost -- June, 2011
The #1 red soda brand Big Red is returning to TV for the first time in more than 25 years, as part of a new "Tastes Good to Be Different" integrated campaign...

How nonprofits can use crowdsourcing to work smarter and save money
SocialBrite -- June, 2011
High-quality work at a low cost. That’s what crowdsourcing can achieve for nonprofts that wish to save money while pursuing their mission....

Startup Mixology Ingredients Infographic
Tech Coctail -- June, 2011
GeniusRocket President, Peter LaMotte, speaks at the Startup Mixology Conference in Washington, D.C. about breaking down the various ingredients that go into starting and running a new venture....

The Origins of Top Entrepreneurs
Tech Cocktail -- June, 2011
Video interview with GeniusRocket President, Peter LaMotte, (and other entrepreneurs) about how they first came to see themselves as entrepreneurs...

Tech Cocktail: Ingredients Infographic:
Tech Cocktail -- June, 2011
Video interview with GeniusRocket President, Peter LaMotte, (and other entrepreneurs) about finding out what motivates entrepreneurs....

Rebuild, Bootstrap Style
Tech Cocktail -- June, 2011
Read about how Peter LaMotte, president of GeniusRocket, bootstrapped his company to adapt to a changing marketplace...

Startup Ingredients: Perseverance, Crowdsourcing & Design
JESS3 Blog -- June, 2011
"On the concept of crowdsourcing, Peter LaMotte suggested that the concept does not inherently guarantee success. The trick is picking the right step of the creative process to crowdsource..."

‘Crowdsourcer’ Mark Walsh Picks the Global Brain
The Business Monthly -- May, 2011
The reason crowdsourcing works for GeniusRocket is because the company has honed a business structure that combines the resources of the crowd with thoughtful checks and controls...

18 Ways to Earn Money From Crowdworking
Mashable -- April, 2011
GeniusRocket emphasizes a no spec and no contest approach to crowdsourcing. You get paid for work you do...

The Future of Advertising
FastCompany -- January, 2011
GeniusRocket is what an ad agency looks like when it's stripped of Madison Avenue skyscrapers, high-priced creatives on payroll, sushi dinners at Nobu, and two-week shoots at the Viceroy in Santa Monica...

10 DC Start-UPs You Should Know About
TNW -- December 1, 2010
GeniusRocket started out like a lot of other quirky crowdsourcing companies to provide businesses, brand managers and agencies with custom solutions sourced from thousands of creative professionals...

Don Draper's Revenge
BusinessWeek -- November 24, 2010
Everyone is waiting for Omnicom, Interpublic, WPP, and Publicis to fade away. But these lumbering advertising behemoths have advantages over smaller, cutting-edge firms...

Crowd sourcing keeps gathering Moss
Marketing Muse -- November 21, 2010
Two extracts from the post "Future of advertising" at www.fastcompany.com...

The End of the World As We Know It?
Storyboard Central -- November 21, 2010
Whether you specialize in advertising, film, animation or comics, whether you do finished illustration, graphic design or concept art (or some combination of those specialties) you've probably noticed; Business sucks...

The Future of Advertising
Knowledge Bank -- November 17, 2010
Twenty creative directors, planners, media strategists, and account executives from agencies across the country are down on all fours on the floor of a 100-year-old tenement on Manhattan's Lower East Side...

What Does the Future of Advertising Look Like?
Media Bistro -- November 17, 2010
Danielle Sacks Fills Us In...

The Future of Advertising
Warc.com -- November 17, 2010
NEW YORK: Online ad-spend reached a record high in the US during the last quarter, but many agencies are still struggling to build models and processes tailored to the digital age....

GeniusRockets's Mark Walsh on what the elections mean for entreprenuers
SmartBlog -- November 03, 2010
Unlike some, I feel yesterday was predictable and similar to other general elections during or soon after a meaningful recession...

Extraordinary Chickpeas and the Madness of Crowdsourcing
TechCrunch - October 19, 2010
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one...

View more GeniusRocket in the news »