Rex Hammock, our company’s founder and CEO for 30 years, passed away last Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. Family and friends will celebrate Rex’s life Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, at 2:30 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nashville. Over the past few days, many Hammock Inc. team members, clients, alums, and friends have shared special memories of Rex with each other. If you have a memory of Rex to share, please let us know at jlavey@hammock.com.
Here’s more about one of content marketing’s true pioneers:
Harvey Rex Hammock, a visionary entrepreneur and beloved husband, father, and grandfather, passed away peacefully on February 12, 2025, in Nashville, TN, surrounded by his family after a battle with Alzheimer’s. Born on March 29, 1954, in Dothan, AL, to his parents Rev. William Raymond Hammock, Sr. and Mary Frances Wilks Hammock, Rex was the youngest of three brothers.
Rex was a born leader and a pioneer in the field of publishing, media and technology. He attended Samford University in Birmingham, AL, graduating in 1976 and went on to receive a Masters of Divinity from Southern Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. In the early 1980s, he worked as a Congressional aide on Capitol Hill before moving to Nashville in 1984 to work for Buntin Advertising and ultimately run Buntin PR.
Rex’s legacy lives on through Hammock Inc., the company he founded in 1991 and led for over 30 years. As a thought leader in the content marketing industry, he created a positive company culture at Hammock that values teamwork, engagement, communication, and collaboration. He cheered his employees on in professional and personal achievements, celebrated marriages and growing families, and made them laugh more times than they can count. Rex’s impact on the industry was recognized by Forbes, who called him a “leading voice in content marketing.” He was a contrarian who challenged assumptions about the industry and believed in the power of content to help customers accomplish their goals.
He loved to mentor young entrepreneurs in Nashville and beyond, and he had a passion for harnessing technology to help small business owners achieve their goals. In 2000, he founded a second startup, SmallBusiness.com, which grew into a community of small business owners to develop and share ideas and visions.
Rex was a National Advisor for American Business Media, a member of the Downtown Nashville Rotary, served on the boards of the Tennessee Repertory Theater and Walk Bike Nashville, and was a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church, and Belle Meade Country Club.
Rex was also a pioneer and early advocate for expanding bike and greenway access across Nashville. He knew every bike lane in town and loved giving visitors tours and rode his bike to the office almost every day of his life. One of his greatest biking achievements was biking the Natchez Trace in 2019.
An early supporter of the Tennessee Titans who never missed a game, Rex was a fiercely loyal local sports fan. He loved any Vanderbilt sports team and would even support other non-Nashville teams, as long as there was a Nashville connection.
Rex met the love of his life, Ann Knight, in college, and they married soon after. They were together for 48 years and lived in the same house in Nashville for 33 of those years. He was beyond proud of his children, Ann Parker Hammock Weeden (Douglas) and Forrest Knight Hammock (Katie), and adored his granddaughters, Parker, Frances, Caroline, and Walker.
Rex was predeceased by his father, mother, and brother Roy Wilks Hammock. He is survived by his wife, Ann Knight Hammock, children, grandchildren, brother William Raymond Hammock, jr. (Sandra), and nieces and nephews. Rex’s passion for helping small business owners across the country and his dedication to the Nashville community will be long remembered. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him.
A Celebration of Life service will be held in Rex’s memory on Friday, February 21, 2025, at Westminster Presbyterian Church at 2:30pm.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Rex’s memory to any of the following organizations:
• Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3900 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN 37205
• Abe’s Garden, 115 Woodmont Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37205
• Alive Hospice, 1718 Patterson Street, Nashville, TN 27203
• Walk Bike Nashville, 1 South 7th Street, Nashville, TN 37206
Transaction strengthens Hammock’s strategic focus on delivering innovative content marketing solutions for industry-leading clients
Nashville, TN (April 27, 2022) – Hammock Inc, a leading provider of content marketing solutions for businesses and association organizations across the U.S., announced today the completion of its management buyout.
The buyout was led by John Lavey, who has been employed at Hammock since 1996, most recently as president and chief operating officer. Exiting founder and CEO Rex Hammock formed the company in 1991. The transaction represents the culmination of an ownership and management succession plan that was developed over many years.
The new ownership structure will completely align the executive management team’s strategic vision with the market’s need for effective and innovative content market solutions leveraged across a rapidly evolving media landscape.
“Rex Hammock started this business 31 years ago and was a pioneer in the U.S. at building out what we know today as content marketing,” Lavey said. “Rex saw the opportunity for brands to go direct to customers, initially with print magazines, and today, with a whole host of digital media assets, to build loyalty, support branding and drive leads.
“Hammock has become a unique publishing platform that delivers valuable solutions to a marquee client base. Now, with 100% ownership by a committed management team, Hammock has a renewed energy to continue developing the most effective and powerful content marketing solutions to help our clients succeed and grow.”
Hammock is investing in new talent acquisition to provide clients with the latest needs in media creation and the measurement of ROI around investments in content marketing.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
John Lavey and management were represented in the transaction by Silvermark Partners LLC as financial advisor and Hughey Business Law, PLLC as counsel. Rex Hammock was represented by Wood Stabell Law Group, PLLC as counsel.
By Jeff Walter, Editor and Writer
For most of us, 2020 has been an extraordinarily challenging year—but especially for those serving in the healthcare professions. So we at Hammock recently sponsored a “Thank You, Healthcare Heroes” giveaway, asking clients, colleagues and friends to nominate someone working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic to receive a free hammock.
It was just a small but symbolic way for us to honor a group of people who selflessly put their lives on the line every day to provide essential care for their community, and who well deserve a rest. We selected three winners whose stories particularly inspired us.
By Chris Edwards
We’ve all heard about the importance of nonverbal communication, with some experts claiming that as much as 93% of communication is nonverbal in nature.
This idea of merging nonverbal communication with an excellent experience became real for me more than 20 years ago when I was selling shoes at Nordstrom to pay for college. The job required sharp attention to detail: thinking through how to approach a customer, thoughtfully suggesting shoes for them, and following through on their needs and wants. The experience went well beyond talking about a shoe—every interaction with the customer sent a message, positive or negative, to them.
There’s one thing all midterm election voters can agree on: We’re glad it’s over. But whenever there’s a massive investment in marketing and advertising a product (or, in this case, a candidate), those of us who are healthcare marketers need to pause and ask, “Is there a lesson we can learn here?”
During the hectic fourth quarter of each year, we help companies and organizations with those must-do content and media projects they need to deliver by year’s end. For the last 25 years, we’ve developed processes and resources that enable us to complete major projects by January 1 if we begin by November 1. Here’s how.
There’s only one expert who can determine success of the media and content you create for your customers and prospects.
That expert is not found in your C-suite or the departments that oversee marketing, communications, sales or technology. Nor is that expert a consultant, agency, thought leader, keynote speaker, guru or sender of Idea emails.
“All businesses are media businesses.”
That axiom sure sounds believable in 2017. Being a media company means you have the ability to create and distribute your message directly to any audience, without having to pay a toll to intermediaries.
In an Idea Email sent in 2013, we suggested that a möobius strip, or infinity loop, is the best graphical representation of the customer journey, or the “customer life cycle.” We like the möobius metaphor because it demonstrates there are two distinct states of being a customer:
By Rex Hammock
Founder and CEO
About 20 years ago, a Hammock editor made a witty observation that instantly became one of our company’s long-running inside jokes. During a conversation about some wonkish technology trend, the staffer said with a great deal of faux seriousness, “I know I’m going out on a limb here, but I predict that computers will keep getting smaller, and the internet will keep getting faster.” In many subsequent tech discussions, we ask that “futurist,” now the company’s president and COO, to remind us of his tongue-in-cheek prediction.
Funny thing, he was right.