CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Dec. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- In a joint press release, RootsRated, the outdoor media platform, and Rock/Creek, a Grassroots Outdoor Alliance retailer, have announced that long-time Rock/Creek Marketing Director Mark McKnight will join RootsRated in January 2016. McKnight co-founded RootsRated in 2012, but remained operational with Rock/Creek, where he has been in charge of the specialty retailer's e-commerce and marketing for the last 12 years.
McKnight was instrumental in developing Rock/Creek into one of the country's most cutting-edge outdoor retailers and, until recently, had been slated to acquire the company with Chad Wykle and Jonathan Scott from Dawson Wheeler and Marvin Webb. With RootsRated's recent announcement that the company has closed its Series A capital round and Rock/Creek's long-term strategy converging on brick and mortar expansion, the economics of both businesses have aligned to make McKnight's move beneficial for each.
Jeff Bartlett, Marketing Coordinator at Rock/Creek for the last 5 years, has also joined RootsRated, and RootsRated will take on a portion of Rock/Creek's digital marketing.
"I've grown up inside the Rock/Creek family," says McKnight. "I'm proud of the work we've all done and look forward to seeing the company's continued expansion. We created RootsRated to help the outdoor industry engage with its customers through experiences. The brands and retailers in this industry have come under increasing pressure to think and function as publishers, and our mandate is to create relevant local content and turnkey content delivery to power authentic interactions within the constellation of brands, retailers, and consumers."
"As a co-founder, Mark has an intimate understanding of our past, present, and future and has been invaluable to our development," says Fynn Glover, CEO/Founder. "Rock/Creek has been a phenomenal partner to RootsRated since our inception, and we're equally thrilled that this move is supported by the company's leadership. Mark brings over more than a decade of relationships, as well as one of the most elevated marketing minds in the industry."
RootsRated is a platform that connects people and brands through original content about the best outdoor experiences, hand-picked by local experts and authored by professional writers. RootsRated provides sponsored content and subscription-based content licensing to major brand partners in the outdoor, travel, and healthcare industries, including Toad&Co., Marmot, Merrell, Utah Office of Tourism, BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama, and OrthoCarolina.
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SOURCE RootsRated.com
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