Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Stuart.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Brandon. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up in the Santa Clarita Valley (northern LA County) with four younger brothers, an older sister and amazing parents. I am happy to say we all remain super close and supportive of each other’s creative endeavors to this day! After high school, I went to UC San Diego where I studied Economics and Music. Throughout this whole stretch, I played guitar in punk rock bands and toured over the summers. Music was a wonderful creative outlet and some of the most fun I’ve ever had. During college, I traveled the globe extensively, which opened me up to an incredible amount of inspirational and cultural input. This has always helped me appreciate the human experience and the universal nature of emotion and connection. I am grateful for these experiences.
I always knew that ideas were the currency with which I would build my career. Marketing seemed like the most viable entry point to the workforce so I focused my energy on those types of opportunities. After a few entrepreneurial endeavors of my own, I was lucky enough to land a gig at DreamWorks Animation, an experience I will forever treasure. I supported a number of films with Marketing efforts, including Shrek the Third and Bee Movie and was thrilled to be included in the movie credits for both. I learned a great deal about complex creative processes and storytelling during my time at DreamWorks and also made lifelong friends. One of these friends later introduced me to my (now) wife and also became my business partner in a 501c3 charity we would form called The Sitting Tree that continues to operate and assist families in need today.
The DreamWorks head of HR at the time had joined Comcast Entertainment and recruited me for a manager opportunity at E! Entertainment. This would lead to an incredible few years of creativity, collaboration and learning. The network was in its prime and we had a blast developing advertising integrations and campaigns for all types of on-air programming. I worked with some of the smartest marketing and PR people of my career and had a great deal of fun in the process. I have nothing but great memories from my time at E!.
I then was approached about a role to drive the US launch/marketing for a youth-targeted virtual world, HQ’d in Sweden. This was my first experience in the startup space and was every bit as up and down of a ride as I expected. After two years, I had absorbed quite a bit of perspective on regional marketing on a global scale as well as developing digital products. It is at this point in time that I accepted an opportunity to focus on creative concepts and made the jump to the agency side, formally beginning my journey as a Creative Director.
In 2012, I joined a small social-media agency to build out their in-house creative capabilities. What started with just me, ultimately led to a creative team of 35 with four offices across the country and an executive role within the Omnicom network (the small agency I had joined had been acquired). I spent seven years in Creative leadership, supporting Fortune 500 brands with a team of amazingly talented Creatives and all-around awesome people.
We’d won a Gold Clio and an OMMA award among other achievements, but I found myself craving the buzz of incubating ideas and the startup hustle. I had also gotten married and recently had twins, so my whole world looked different than it had just years before. My kids were born prematurely and spent time in the NICU, with my son being born at only 1lb 13oz. Our journey managing these special needs redirected the trajectory of my life.
In 2018, with two years old twins at home, I was ready to put the agency world at Omnicom behind me and pursue what felt to me to be more meaningful creative work. I formed my own creative studio called Authir under which I set out to incubate my own businesses and products. Authir stands for August third, my twins’ birthday, inspired by the tremendous sense of awe I felt witnessing my kids experience things for the first time. I wanted my studio to pursue creating even a sliver of that magic in the businesses and products I set out to form. I began incubating three products I’d been developing privately for some time, which span three completely different categories (baby products, tech platform, and pet food). Each was inspired by my own experiences where I felt passionately that a better experience should exist. Each of these products is in its first year in market today. Here’s a quick look at each:
• The bökee (www.thebokee.com) – After countless frustrations attempting to prepare a baby bottle while holding a baby, a friend and I created a first of its kind bottle accessory that enables bottles and sippy cups to be prepared with just one hand. The bökee has had an incredible first year in market, being named one of Babylist’s top products of 2020 and winning the ‘best product under $25’ award at the JPMA conference. The bökee is sold online at BuyBuyBaby, Macy’s, Amazon and on our website.
• Pallaby (www.pallaby.com) – I love my ten-year-old golden retriever. But I always found the kibble experience to be lacking. Aside from cumbersome heavy bags and gross Tupperware storage containers, I learned that over the years that unintentional overfeeding of kibble is one of the leading causes of dog obesity! This had to change. I also found it to be unacceptable that the dog food companies are not a partner in the health journey of your pet – you simply buy their bulk food and figure it out from there on your own and with your vet. I found a great partner that also believed a dog food company should play a more accountable and ongoing role in a dog’s health journey. So we created pallaby. Pallaby is a monthly subscription that provides pre-portioned kibble and treats customized for your dog’s healthy caloric intake. We partner with you as your dog grows and their nutritional needs change. Pallaby just completed our beta test phase and launches this month (July 2020)!
• RSVD (www.RSVD.co) – Human beings spend two years of their lives waiting in lines. Despite great examples of optimized experience capabilities to address this in certain environments (i.e., Disney FastPass, TSA Pre-Check, etc.), there has not existed a white-labeled platform that enables reservation and location-based marketing tools to streamline the customer experience anywhere lines and crowds still exist. So we created RSVD to fill this gap for businesses. With COVID-19, our tool took on a new role helping facilitate social distancing via reservations. RSVD launched in 2019 and is available at a number of businesses, including our flagship partnership with Jiffy Lube where reservations are available to safely skip the line at select locations for the first time ever.
I continue to do advertising work with an agency in San Diego as well, and on the startup front am grateful for my incredible partners and teammates. I intend to incubate new business ideas through my creative studio, Authir, as time progresses and infuse the same sense of meaningful brand narrative I’ve worked hard to deliver through all my work over the years. I am grateful for my family for their support and inspiring me daily. My kids will be four this August and I am happy to say are doing well. And so is my golden retriever, Fisher.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Wow, this is a big question. It has not been easy. I am a very driven person and feel passionate about creating meaningful experiences with my ideas. Every avenue has its obstacles, whether they be clients, partners, financial limitations, corporate bureaucracy, etc. Startups are hard, whether they are yours or someone else’s. Companies go through changes all the time, and the bigger the company, the harder I’ve found it to take creative risks. Leading and inspiring teams to produce their best work is a never ending journey of relationship and connection. But nothing has been as hard for me as being a new dad of premature twins. I think being a parent is hard for anyone, but this experience hit me like a ton of bricks, especially given that I was in a high-pressure executive role at Omnicom at the same time. My kids have provided me some of the most humbling and inspiring experiences since, and I am happy to say they’ve strengthened my creative convictions (and even inspired one of my products, the bökee!).
I’ve learned a great deal about not giving all of your creativity to a corporate entity, as the moment your professional livelihood is entirely commercialized you no longer have it to turn to during the difficult times. I am grateful for the challenges I’ve faced as I can’t think of one that hasn’t made me a better creative, leader, dad, friend, brother, or overall human.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Pallaby Pet Food, Bökee, RSVD, Authir – what should we know?
Each of the three products I mentioned earlier are simple solutions to real problems people regularly experience. I am most proud of the fact that each is currently being used by people I don’t know daily. I am also proud of the brand integrity in each case as it has helped deliver the meaning behind its existence.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Passion and collaboration are what have propelled me forward professionally. Good ideas will find their way to the world if you give them a chance!
Pricing:
- The bökee is available online for $19.99
- Pallaby kibble and treat subscriptions range from $49-$89 depending on the size of the dog
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thebokee.com, www.pallaby.com, www.RSVD.co
- Instagram: @the.bokee, @pallabypet, @getRSVD
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