Revolutionary new social media 'Crowd Marketing' platform tackling overseas markets
Monday 27 May 2013, 3:27PM
By enthuse
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The investors behind the hugely successful online companies, ValueClick and ValueCommerce have developed a revolutionary new social media "Crowd Marketing" platform that enables businesses to leverage content generated from their existing customer or fan base.
Shuttlerock was launched in beta form in New Zealand last October and has now officially opened its offices in the United States, Australia and the UK.
CEO Jonny Hendriksen and investor Tim Williams, founders of ValueClick and ValueCommerce, together with director and social media guru, Jeff Bullas and Air New Zealand director Paul Bingham joined forces in 2013 to launch ‘Shuttlerock’.
Fully developed in New Zealand, the new company aims to help clients gather fresh content and drive customer’s friends to a company home page.
It has been well received in New Zealand with a number of leading brands from real estate, tourism, housing, car dealerships and sport using Shuttlerock, and Hendriksen says they are very excited about their first American clients in the building and travel sector.
Shuttlerock have also signed their first client in the UK, Photo World, and in Australia, the Queensland Rugby Union.
Hendriksen said companies using Shuttlerock in New Zealand included the All Blacks, Mike Pero Real Estate, Jucy Car Rentals, Mike Greer Homes, Lonestar Restaurants and Fly Buys.
“Shuttlerock clients are finding it really works as an on line marketing tool because it enables them to reach customer’s friends and receive recognition from search engines for content that is then created on their website,” he said. “It creates content that is relevant and really encourages potential customers to stay on the site longer and engage with the company.”
Hendriksen said that Shuttlerock also has the ability to gather email addresses of both customers and their friends, who are an extremely relevant group of potential customers.
“Content can be generated from a range of other sources including staff, Instagram, flickr, sponsors and others. It’s easily uploaded and images are automatically sized, very much like Facebook, reducing the need for complex content management systems,” Hendriksen said.
“We have a team of 10 people working the North American market from bases in Oregon, Los Angeles and Toronto. The platform works across a number of different sectors and has proven to be very flexible. We have definitely felt there is a need for this software based on our early discussions in the USA and remain positive about our prospects in this market.”
Shuttlerock is eight months old and Hendriksen said it is approaching break even status ahead of schedule.