Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 03.08.2026 
Clients are tired of the classic agency bait-and-switch: being pitched by the A-team, only to have junior resources take over the actual work a few months in. We wanted to offer something else. Plus, if our clients want us there, we work on-premise closely with their teams. Since 2021, we have built Rocket on a simple premise: clients get better advice and move faster when they actually work directly with experienced specialists.
Today, our team consists of 15 senior co-owners with an average of 11 years of experience across media strategy, paid search, paid social, analytics, and martech.
We are incredibly proud to see our philosophy and hard work recognized on an international stage, having been shortlisted for both Best small agency of the year and Innovative agency of the year at the European Agency Awards 2026.
Building a machine that builds a machine
From the start, we felt the media industry was not taking the possibilities of scalable tech seriously enough. We knew that being part of the tech-heavy environment in Nova Consulting Group, with its #datafirst mentality, would make us stronger. It hasn’t been a walk in the park from day one, but we have learned how to utilize extremely skilled developers and system architects the right way.
Because of AI-assisted coding, our consultants don’t have to wait for a dev team to automate a smart workflow. They just build it themselves. Standard software rarely fits our specific needs, so we started building the infrastructure ourselves. Right now, that means a shared portal with more than 30 active tools, hooked directly into the APIs of Google Ads, Meta, TikTok, and Google Analytics. A client favorite right now is our real-time competitor monitoring dashboard.
The real magic happens when we show clients how we actually utilize the core strengths of LLMs – specifically their ability to interpret, understand, and structure massive amounts of text – rather than just generating fluff. It is about knowing the technology’s strengths and its weaknesses. It is human and machine working together, not just the machine.
A translated version (from Norwegian) of the social media competitor landscape tool, showing the main 19 Norwegian banks.
Product analysis for the same 19 banks.
The media plan builder, used to quickly align data from the different media houses in Norway.
Campaign building through conversational AI, using Google Gemini as the working model.
What being shortlisted means to our team
Being shortlisted for the European Agency Awards is huge for us. We have won awards in the past, but always for isolated campaigns or specific jobs. Getting recognized as an agency as a whole is different. It shows that our formula works, and it gives us an extra push to protect our model and keep improving.
The innovation nomination is a great nod to the actual work happening behind the scenes. We genuinely enjoy building systems that remove friction from our workday. Vegard Rohde Garder, who has been heavily involved in developing these solutions, explains it like this:
“Marketing is fundamentally about outsmarting the competition and positioning yourself to win the market. Our goal has always been to build a machine that builds a machine. By letting our custom AI tools handle heavy data processing and routine production work, our seniors can use all their time on strategy and creating actual value for our clients.”
Looking ahead to Ibiza
As we prepare for the awards ceremony on September 22nd, we want to thank our clients who trust us and give us the access we need to build these systems.
Congratulations to all the other nominees in the Best small agency of the year and Innovative agency of the year categories. Looking at the industry right now, we see a lot of large agencies using new tech to cut headcount. Our approach is the exact opposite. We use tech to amplify our senior specialists, allowing them to deliver better work at scale. We cannot wait to celebrate with the best in the industry in Ibiza!
To learn more about how we work, visit our website at rocket.no or follow us on LinkedIn.
