Fish Marketing

What Fish Marketing does

Fish Marketing is a full-service advertising agency headquartered in Portland, Oregon, founded in 2003 by Doug Fish. The agency operates with approximately 15 team members and serves clients across multiple verticals including ski resorts, restaurants, hospitality, casinos, nonprofit organizations, and healthcare. Notable clients include Subaru, Old Spaghetti Factory, Burgerville, Lucky Eagle Casino, and MBT Marketing Communications. The agency holds Google Premier Partner status (achieved 2024) and is Sustainability at Work Gold Certified by the City of Portland.

The agency's core offerings span brand strategy, traditional and digital advertising, media buying, content production, and integrated campaign execution. Fish Marketing has extended beyond pure agency services into proprietary product and event IP, most notably co-founding Indy Pass (a multi-resort ski pass now distributed across 180+ independent resorts) and creating Snowvana, a snow sports festival. These owned assets create additional revenue streams and reinforce the agency's category authority in the ski and outdoor lifestyle verticals.

Fish Marketing is privately held and founder-owned, with no venture capital or private equity backing. The business model combines traditional retainer and project-based agency fees with revenue participation from proprietary products like Indy Pass. Reported client outcomes include a 6.32x return on ad spend, an 880% revenue increase for Indy Pass, and a 16% brand awareness lift for client engagements. Founder Doug Fish transitioned from President to Chairman in 2019, formalizing a generational leadership structure at the firm.

Name

Fish Marketing

Legal name

Fish Marketing

Website

https://fish-marketing.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Fish Marketing is a Portland, Oregon-based full-service advertising agency founded in 2003, serving mid-market clients across ski, hospitality, QSR, healthcare, and nonprofit verticals with integrated brand and digital campaigns.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Full-Service Agency Fees: Fish Marketing generates revenue by providing integrated marketing services to clients across strategy, creative services, media buying, content creation, and web development. Services are delivered on project, retainer, or campaign basis depending on client engagement.
2. Indy Pass Product Revenue: Fish Marketing helped create and manages the Indy Pass, a multi-resort ski pass product. The agency has an equity/ownership stake in this product, generating revenue from pass sales across 180+ partner resorts globally.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Fish Marketing is a full-service advertising and marketing agency that delivers integrated strategy, creative development, media buying, content creation, and web development services for business clients. The agency also operates proprietary products such as Indy Pass and Snowvana that support its client work and the broader marketing ecosystem.

Product overview

Fish Marketing is a full-service advertising and marketing agency based in Portland, Oregon, founded in 2003. The agency offers a unified suite of services organized around five core practice areas: Strategy (data-driven brand strategy, positioning, and integrated campaigns), Creative Services (strategic copywriting, brand identity/logo design, naming, graphic design across print/digital/social), Media Buying (planning and optimization across digital channels including paid search, social, display, video, and traditional channels including TV, radio, out-of-home, and print), Content Creation & Development (SEO optimization, email campaigns, social media strategies, video production, blog writing), and Web Development (responsive/mobile-first design, ADA compliance, UX development). The agency does not offer a standalone software product but rather provides these professional marketing services as a service-based agency.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Advertising Strategy
• Creative Development
• Media Buying
• Content Creation
• Web Development
• Indy Pass
• Snowvana

Quantifiable outcome

• 6.32x return on ad spend for Indy Pass digital campaigns
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Indy Pass (Partner Resorts)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Fish Marketing created and co-founded Indy Pass in 2018-2019 as a multi-resort ski pass alternative to corporate mega-passes. The agency maintains a deep partnership with 180+ independent ski resorts globally, providing marketing, branding, and operational support for the pass program. Indy Pass is now a separate entity under new ownership, but Fish Marketing continues as a key strategic partner.
• GooglecoreTechnology or IntegrationFish Marketing holds Google Premier Partner status with certified capabilities in Google Ads, Google Ad Manager, YouTube, and analytics platforms. This partnership provides access to beta features, dedicated support, and training resources for serving clients.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• McGarrah Jessee: Portland-based independent agency of similar size and structure offering brand strategy, creative, and digital services; comparable as a regional full-service competitor competing for the same Pacific Northwest mid-market and consumer accounts.
• Archie Group: Portland-based independent creative agency with full-service capabilities across strategy, creative, media, and digital; directly comparable in scale, regional footprint, and client verticals to Fish Marketing.
• Bonehook: Portland-based boutique creative agency with a brand and campaign focus similar to Fish; comparable in size, regional positioning, and project-based consumer brand work.
• MDT (formerly 17th & State): Pacific Northwest independent agency offering branding, advertising, and digital services to consumer brands; comparable as a similarly sized regional competitor pursuing overlapping client verticals.
• R2C Group: Portland-based independent agency focused on travel, tourism, and hospitality marketing; highly comparable given Fish's ski/resort vertical specialization, similar client profile, and overlapping service offerings.
• North (now Lane): Portland-based creative and media agency serving consumer brands with similar integrated capabilities and regional client base; competes head-to-head with Fish for Northwest mid-market accounts.

Broad incumbents

• Wieden+Kennedy: Iconic Portland-based independent agency with global reach; comparable as a Pacific Northwest-rooted full-service creative/media shop serving major consumer brands like Nike and Coca-Cola, though at vastly larger scale.
• 72andSunny: Independent creative agency with West Coast roots and global operations; comparable as a full-service creative/media shop serving major consumer brands, but at significantly larger scale and broader geographic reach.
• Publicis Groupe: Global advertising holding company with full-service agency networks (Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, etc.); competes with Fish for enterprise client budgets at the parent-of-agency level with much greater scale and geographic reach.
• Stagwell: Global marketing services holding company assembling challenger agency brands; comparable at the holding-company level as a competitor aggregating capabilities that rival Fish's full-service offering, though with vastly broader portfolio.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/fishmarketing
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fish-marketing
• Instagraminstagram.com/fishmarketing
• Xx.com/fishmarketing

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fish Marketing