Company
Like many small businesses, the Ocean Online Group has humble roots – the company was launched in 2003 out of the founders’ apartment. Since opening their doors the agency has grown exponentially, and today has thirty employees that occupy a five thousand square foot office on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago.
Ocean Online Group’s two founders, Marvin Russell and Jason Saul, met at Illinois State University while studying business development and living on the same dormitory floor. While they maintained a long friendship throughout their college years, their career paths crossed again when both accepted full-time positions at the newly founded CareerBuilder.com. However, the strain of corporate life began to take a toll on both Marvin and Jason and in turn they decided to start Ocean19.com, a web design agency that focused on creative website design for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Starting with virtually zero dollars in the bank, their business strategy and development plan was so successful the agency expanded from a creative web design firm into an online marketing and business development firm.
Although websites are an important element of the Ocean Online Group’s online marketing solutions, Marvin and Jason have learned from their own experience that a creative website is simply a marketing tool. Therefore, in addition to creative design, Ocean Online Group’s core competencies have grown to include online marketing, search engine optimization, and strategic business development solutions.
