As
a child, Robin Fisher Roffer loved TV. She remembers a time before her parents'
separation when she would take her small, black-and-white Sony TV to the
laundromat and watch her favorite programs while her mother did the laundry. "It
made me feel safe. I could see the entire world in this little box," Roffer
says. By age 6, her parents had separated, and she and her sister moved with
their father to Cleveland, where he was in the advertising business. "TV was
also babysitter to my sister and me for many years. It's no wonder I chose to be
in the media business," she says.
Roffer, who was close to her father, attended the University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa for three reasons: "My father's WATTS line didn't go further south;
it was affordable; and my father was a huge football fan." After graduation, she
stayed in the South, working in retail, radio and the newspaper business,
eventually becoming manager of creative services for Turner Network Television
and director of affiliate advertising and promotions for CNN Headline News, TNT
and TBS.
By 1994, Roffer had relocated to Los Angeles and founded Big Fish Marketing
Inc. Now, she and her management team, along with resources from Fishnet in Los
Angeles and Little Pond Productions in Atlanta, which are part of Big Fish
Marketing, develop and produce brand-building marketing plans, websites and
promotional campaigns for TV networks and the entertainment industry. Roffer's
branding strategies drive audiences to Big Fish clients' networks and programs
and create a strong emotional attachment to the brand.
An expert at taking her clients into the global marketplace, Roffer, 45, has
produced TV promotions and websites for AOL, Turner Networks, Oxygen, AT&T and
the Hallmark Channel, and helped build CNN into one of TV's most recognized news
sources.
Roffer and her husband, Steven, who had been in the dot-com business when
they met, run the company with 10 associates on the management team and 40 to 50
freelancers--designers, computer technicians, writers, printers, legal experts
and more. The company reported gross sales of more than $10 million over the
past three years.
With all her creative projects, Roffer finds writing the most interesting.
"When I'm writing a book, especially, I'm discovering myself. The process of
writing teaches me what I need to know at a time when I'm facing a growth state
in the business." Her first book, Make a Name for Yourself: Eight Steps Every
Woman Needs to Create a Personal Brand Strategy for Success, written in
2001, emphasizes her cardinal rule: Branding success is based on authenticity,
clarity and consistency.
"I try to help my clients--the big fish--uncover and promote who they really
are: their special talents and strengths, what they have to work with. And,
today, you need to do that on multiple platforms: the internet, cable, TV, all
media," says Roffer. "It's a matter of telling your greatest story--not being
grandiose about it--but being true to yourself."
Inspired by her experience as president of the only Jewish sorority on the UA
campus years ago, she's currently writing A Fearless Fish Out of Water: How
to Succeed When You're the Only One Like You. "Women need to build their
confidence and market themselves as their own best asset," Roffer says. "They
can learn to do this graciously, without being egotistical or aggressive. I
always advise women clients to stay close to their core values and tell the
truth. If you don't brand yourself, someone else will do it for you."