Riot Lounge was birthed out of the depths of frustration and disillusionment with today's Advertising and Entertainment industries.
For more than 10 years Damian Skinner (founder and President) and Jeff Niems (Vice President) had struggled with what they call "addiction to mediocrity".
The dissatisfaction derived from poorly executing the same methodology over and over with the same result.
That result? Grotesque outlay of capital for the most lackluster of return and usually zero retention of brand awareness or message.
With Damian's history of close to a decade building an entertainment company in Dallas and Los Angeles, his education took a unique turn.
The constant meshing of "big budget" studio techniques in marketing combined with grass roots tactics that proved successful in marketing his own films and client's projects left an indelible impression.
With an ever-growing affection for problem solving, Damian worked tirelessly to build a pipeline of both film/tv and commercial production while seeing the waste of resources and lack of imagination/innovation in the marketing process.
It was during this time that Damian met Jeff Niems. Jeff had cut his teeth on product development, marketing, and the film industry. Overseeing the development of over 40 scripts with Damian, Jeff was also key in raising funding for films produced by Damian's company.
Jeff grew increasingly frustrated with the consistent loss of potential, whether in the form of joint ventures and co-branding opportunities or the assignment of funds in marketing budgets.
When Damian was presented with an opportunity to sell his company to a global media company with a viral marketing division, technology divisions, an entertainment division, a product division, and a management division with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas, he felt he had found his solution.
As president of the newly formed entertainment division, Damian spent months traveling back and forth from Los Angeles to Dallas.
He met with the presidents of Endeavor, ICM, and CAA, giving him open access to agents and actors.
Damian's division soon produced a live MMA (mixed martial arts) show and was also awarded the highly coveted contract for the DVD sales and marketing of American Idol: Season 5.
Working closely with the technology division, Damian was able to learn the methods used by major film & television studios to make sales without the world knowing they were the ones making those sales. He also learned the techniques that allowed the viral marketing division to earn close to a million dollars a year, in their first year!
Damian attended the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and sat on many boards as an expert in business development through joint ventures, foreign sales, and production. He also worked on and oversaw production and marketing on book deals, TV pilots, direct response campaigns, etc.
It was only when this company, with all its great resources and execs, began to take the dreaded turn towards the old familiar methods of traditional marketing and guess work that Damian decided he simply could not participate and his own personal Riot began.
With an intimate association with most entrepreneurs marketing methods, attitudes, and short falls, Riot Lounge was formed. Its express purpose: to remain a small boutique specializing in a "multi-prong" methodology. Principles were implemented to ensure the highest level of innovation and delivery to a protected small roster of clients (or what Damian would refer to as their Lounge).
Every client's marketing strategy would be customized with a blended approach of effective known methods and crucial momentum generating innovations. With Jeff's proven experience in merchandising and marketing, it was only natural Damian would bring him on board to help grow and manage Riot Lounge.
Today, Riot Lounge is a vibrant boutique with a dynamic range of clients.
Our motto is simple. "Let's do what we came here to do. Innovate, maximize and implement!"
