Ex-Jetstar boss Bruce Buchanan invests in Rocklive, becomes CEO

Digital advertising venture Rocklive has appointed Bruce Buchanan, the former group chief executive of Jetstar, as its new CEO, with the new boss also taking a substantial stake in the start-up.

Buchanan, who is credited with leading Jetstar’s expansion into Asia, left the airline in July to seek a new challenge.

He bought half of skincare company Vanessa Megan with his wife, Elizabeth, with the aim of taking the Australian firm into international markets.

Buchanan says that he had offers from blue chip companies to small start-ups but decided to opt for Rocklive, becoming an equal shareholder with the founders, Justin Viles and Ben Voltz.

Rocklive was launched in 2010 by Viles, a former senior executive at Google, and Voltz, who was sales director at Adconion.

The start-up has a marketing technology platform, called Rocklive 4D, that allows online publishers and advertisers to better connect with consumers.

Rocklive says the technology works by “analysing and serving responses in real time, entrusting us with an incredible databank of insight.”

Buchanan says that Rocklive stood out from the crowd due to its potential for rapid growth.

“I was very impressed by the calibre of many Australian businesses that had aspirations to expand offshore, but when I had my first discussion with Rocklive I immediately knew they had all the ingredients to go global, and quickly, in a category worth $100 billion,” he says.

“Rocklive is exactly the kind of opportunity I was looking for, one that keeps you up all night excited about the future.”

“Rocklive has developed an entirely new platform for digital business – it improves revenue performance for publishers by up to 10 fold and connects advertisers to new customers.”

“Ebay, NineMSN, Ticketek and Webjet are all believers and partners already. Rocklive has a very bright future and I’m honoured to join the team.”

Viles adds: “We have known we were onto something unique and powerful for sometime, however we were looking for how to best take the business to the next level.”

“We considered opening ourselves up for investment and interviewed many experienced senior executives for potential active or board/advisory roles.”

“When we met with Bruce Buchanan we knew we’d found the right person for our team and our future. His global experience, his entrepreneurial spirit and his incredible passion and proven track-record for success will be powerful attributes for Rocklive.”