Everybody knows Rock-It Cargo as the leading freight forwarding and logistics services provider in concert touring. Over the last 40 years, the iconic company has joined that coveted list of corporations whose name is not only synonymous for the product it provides but works as both a verb and noun. Gotta ship something time sensitive, fragile, or out of the ordinary? Rock-It. Like the name of the Holding company that now owns them, Rock-It is and always has been, Rock Solid.
The story they also want you to know, in short, is “If you loved us in rock-n-roll, you’ll love us in live events too.”
Diversification into other types of live events started when Dave Bernstein, founder, chairman and CEO of Rock-It Cargo, uttered the words, “I’m going out of business.”
He was speaking with his senior people, including Thos Paine, now Rock-It’s chief marketing officer, just after the millennium. Bernstein was sure that because all the bands that were his clients were getting older, they would stop touring and his business would falter.
The senior team got started by identifying the areas a company was really good at, and then pointing them at opportunities where those competencies could apply elsewhere.
The team assessed Rock-It’s core competencies and narrowed them down to four disciplines: International, Time Sensitive, Fragile and Complex. “So we started looking at industries that required those attributes.” explains Paine, “because we’re good at that. We looked at other industries like fine art, film, trade show, sports, theater and other kinds of specialty freight forwarding and pointed our lens on that.”
The team looked at businesses that had huge consequential damages if the freight didn’t arrive correctly. Paine jokes that when people ask him what he does for a living, he tells them, “ I’m in the ‘Oh sh*t’ freight business. As soon somebody starts a sentence with those words, that’s our job. People run from the hard stuff; we run at the hard stuff. We like the difficult jobs. We like the important jobs, where a lot is riding on a perfect delivery.”
Meanwhile, back in Silicon Valley, this guy name Steve Jobs invents the iPod and turns the music business upside down. Nobody’s buying albums anymore, which was where the artist used to make their money. Now people are buying songs for 99 cents. Touring took on a whole new scale because that’s where all the money is.
“So, at the same time David thought his core business was going away,” laughs Paine, “it triples! Those guys are all still touring! We took Metallica to Antarctica. We just finished Iron Maiden and Guns N’ Roses tours. All these older bands are still going strong. Even McCartney has a full schedule this year,” he says, noting that the former Beatle tends to jump between continents on a fairly regular basis — and takes much of his production with him.
Using trial and error, a bit of planned experimentation with film and fine arts, and making some mistakes, Rock-It “realized that we could do it, despite losing some money during the process.” With a combination of strategic hires and acquisitions, Rock-It added business sectors that fit their corporate personality and complemented their type of “no fail” service. Soon Rock-It was in the corporate live event, sports and theater and trade show businesses too.
The Breadth of the Organization
Rock-It is now one of the leading freight forwarders in all these fields. One major success is in Fine Arts, with the Dietl International division. Dietl is one of the premier providers specializing in organizing the storage, packing and transport of all types of fine art, from museums, to art shows, to private collections and auction houses.
“It’s a great business, and it has a lot to do with our commitment to quality. Everything we do is specialized; the white gloved high touch kind of stuff,” Paine says. “That’s what bonds all these things together. It’s a commitment to doing a project and doing it completely right from top to bottom. Even though we are in different industries, for the operations people the job is largely the same. If you go to Art Basel in Miami with the Dietl guys, behind the scenes you’ll see the same skills in action, working the same hours, in a kind of crazy environment, with the must get done, never fails, attitude you find at a rock concert,” Paine adds.
Rock-It’s expertise and services are also found in sports. Rock-It Cargo has been the official freight forwarder for the U.S. Olympic Committee for the past four games, beginning in Vancouver; and the Canadian Olympic Committee beginning with the Rio Games. Rock-It also handles all the freight for the NFL International games in London and the PGA Tour’s international events including the Ryder and President’s Cups
Their corporate live events group includes transporting huge product launch road shows around the world. The live event company George P. Johnson hired Rock-It to move the BMW i Born Tour, introducing the world to the all-electric i3 and i8 models. The tour included seven stops in major metropolitan cities and included getting the cars and exhibit materials into a Roman era museum in Rome and up to the 52rd floor of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Tokyo. Other assignments included Nike product launches for satis&fy, Boeing’s introduction of the 787 Dreamliner with The Production Network and IBM Town Meetings in Bangalore, India with Jack Morton.
In addition to customers like sports teams and live event planning companies, Rock-It Cargo works with almost all the major live event equipment providers. Many of these vendors are the same ones that Rock-It has served for years on the rock and roll business. “We share a lot of vendors,” Paine says. “Lighting vendors that are on the rock-n-roll side need our services for their corporate projects, too. Tait Towers called on us to transport a set for Lady Gaga as well as the opening ceremonies staging equipment for the Sochi Olympics.”
Rock Solid Holdings
Rock-It has purchased companies around the globe that fit into their way of doing business, but they don’t assimilate them. “The only thing that changes is the name on the paycheck,” says Paine. “They keep their logo on the door, and we leave them to do what they do best. It’s simple. We leave them pretty much alone — they were successful when we got to them, and remain successful due to autonomy.”
Rock Solid Holdings now includes eight different brands, including Dietl International (fine art), Rogers Worldwide (trade show), Cosdel International (vintage cars), Cargo Live (agent services in Japan, Australia and Mexico), Waiver Logistics (South America) and JJPM (theater).Rock-It also has three different air charter companies that are part of Rock Solid holdings; Rock-It Air Charter on the West Coast, Air Works on the East Coast and another one in Miami called Jet Charter Solutions. All fly people, not freight.
Concierge Service
In the logistics space, including supply chain demand, which is the majority of freight companies, Rock-It has least been impacted by technology. That field has been highly automated. It used to be that stevedores handled freight at the docks. Now, four guys and a couple of robots do the same amount of loading or offloading.
“Ours is much more customized,” says Paine. “What we have is a global operational platform. Our guys in Sydney, Australia can see manifests and bills of lading that originate in New York. Communications obviously have improved. Our guys used to sleep with two pagers; now it’s two cell phones and a tablet.
“But our secret sauce is the personal touch,” Paine adds. “Our customers have tales of calling these bigger logistics companies and being bounced around to different people depending on where the freight is along the route to get any information. At Rock-It, you get an agent, and that one guy, be it Ed Butler, Dan Preston or David Bernstein, is your guy. You get one number to call, and all your answers are on the end of that line.
“Some might consider that low-tech service. We call it concierge, which our guys hate, but it’s a very apt description,” Paine says. “We’re good at providing that high-touch, high-service ethic. Our people are still the most important part of our equation.”
Speed of service is critical in live event freight forwarding. Rock-It has internalized a lot of processes usually handled by outside agencies. “We do our own customs clearance, and we’re the only freight company that can issue an ATA Carnet ourselves. Our U.S. international business group handles all that. This gives us better control and faster turnaround times by having them internal. We can better advise our customers if something will hold us up. We know when to be prepared so we clear customs in a couple of hours, not days.”
This also includes developing an international network, working with some overseas agents for decades. Owning the office facilitates “local knowledge,” like the right vendors and that country’s custom law. “We have 24 offices around the world now, and that gives us the confidence of knowing what’s going to happen with each and every shipment,” says Paine.
The music touring world is undoubtedly one of the roughest proving grounds for logistics in the world. Rock-It ‘s success over the last 40 years was built on those grounds, and that helped pave the way toward success in other sectors like sports and corporate live events.
“That’s the story we want to tell,” says Paine. “Not to diminish in any way our rock ‘n’ roll story. We’re still the 800 pound gorilla. We still have a majority of the market. We just want everyone to know we can provide the same service to their live events as well.”
Company Snapshot
Rock-It Cargo
Rock-It Cargo is the leading provider of live event freight forwarding and logistics services. The company has spent decades building relationships with the most reliable and accredited cargo agencies around the world to ensure that its customers’ shipments arrive safely and on time, no matter the location.
- Headquarters: Lititz, PA
- Year Founded: 1978
- Ownership: Privately Held
- Company Size: 201-500 employees
- Specialties: Domestic and international air freight, air charters, ocean containers, ocean charters, rail traffic, oversized, fragile and complicated freight moves, FTL and/or LTL trucking, customs brokerage, ATA carnets in-house and time-critical specialty freight forwarding.
- More information: www.rockitcargo.com.
