Born: Freehold, New Jersey- USA
Worked in: Cincinnati, Fayetteville and Chicago
Dave Knox strives to be a "Marketing Technopologist,” a term that The Wall Street Journal coined to describe a person who brings together strengths in marketing, technology, and social interaction. His professional roots stem from being a classically trained CPG/Consumer Product Goods brand manager who also wears the hats of connector, technologist, and digital native. Dave bridges the worlds of Brand Management and Digital Media. He is also the author of Hard Knox Life, one of the first blogs to provide an insider’s view into how digital was transforming the role of Brand Manager.
Before joining Rockfish as Chief Marketing Officer, Dave was a founding team member of Procter and Gamble’s Global Digital Business Strategy team, which included leading teams across Western Europe and Asia. In this role, Dave helped train P&G’s 5,000 marketers on the aspects of building their global digital brand strategy. At P&G, he also served as the connector between start-ups and the world’s largest brands, leading P&G’s strategic partnerships with Facebook, Google and others.
As the co-founder of both Rockfish Brand Ventures and The Brandery, Dave is playing a hands-on role as an investor and advisor to the next generation of digital startups.
What is the biggest challenge you face in applying innovative thinking to international projects? “Simply put, innovation is localized. Technology is often centralized in certain parts of the world and spreads at different rates. Platforms are also adopted and popularized by different cultures for different reasons. So, there are multiple factors to consider when applying a new idea to a different geological location”.
Dictionary definitions aside, how would you characterize innovation in the work you do? “‘I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.’ – E.B. White. This quote sums up the importance that innovation in the work place has on my professional philosophy. To me, innovation is taking a different lens to look at a basic business problems and finding a solution that addresses that problem for consumers”.