"We're unique as the only one applying the principles of consumer
marketing and branding and bringing the advertising and marketing
world into play," claimed Dave Knox, chief marketing officer of
Rockfish
Interactive, who was brand manager for global branded
entertainment at P&G when he began work on the Brandery
(Brandery.org) earlier this year.
The Brandery most resembles TechStars, an accelerator launched
in Boulder, Colo., in 2007 by digital entrepreneur and investor
Dave Cohen, branching later into Boston, Seattle and New York.
TechStars has mentors from a host of digital and social-media
marketers, including Microsoft, Google and Foursquare, as well as
from Wieden & Kennedy, and advised the Brandery on its launch
earlier this year.
Providing guidance to Brandery startups have been executives
from P&G, Nielsen Co., E.W. Scripps Co., and agencies Rockfish,
Northlich, BBDO's Barefoot
Proximity, WPP's Bridge Worldwide,
Empower MediaMarketing and Resource Interactive.
P&G has the largest contingent of mentors, with three current
marketing executives joining two recent departees, Mr. Knox and
Bryan Radtke, another P&G brand manager who went to Rockfish in
September after starting on the Brandery while at P&G.
After $20,000 of seed funding and 12 weeks of mentoring, the
first class of startups are largely in or about to enter beta
launches. While checks weren't signed yet after yesterday's
presentation to about 50 angel and venture investors, Mr. Knox said
it appears all six will get the $250,000 to $1 million they sought
-- ahead of the two thirds the Brandery initially projected.
They include LifeBlinx (LifeBlinx.com), which got perhaps the
most input from P&G. It's the brainchild for Darcy Crociata,
wife of Kevin Croiata, associate marketing director on Tide at
P&G and a member of the LifeBlinx advisory board along with
Lucas Watson, P&G's global team leader for digital business
strategy.
The idea is to take what's become a virtual scrapbook for many
moms -- Facebook -- and create an app that can be used to organize
all the status updates and photos into an actual 24-page scrapbook
for $20 to $25, with digital versions also available.
Other Brandery graduates that got $20,000 each from the
incubator in addition to free mentoring, include:
- Giftiki, a Brandery startup founded by two Houston
entrepreneurs. It's an online version of a greeting card with money
enclosed, designed to let Facebook users send friends small cash
gifts easily, perhaps as a digital way to buy a friend a beer to
celebrate a promotion or as a way for a group of friends to go in
on a gift. Giftiki makes money on the redemption, and through
resale of gift cards.
- TurboBOTZ.com, which has provisionally struck a partnership
with Major League Gaming to help launch its video game exchange. It
comes from two University of Chicago M.B.A. students who aim to
provide both higher prices for sellers and lower prices for buyers
than retailers such as GameStop and a more convenient experience
than eBay.
- VenueAgent.com, launched by Cincinnati wedding planner Jocelyn
Cates and her husband, which aims to provide a sort of Orbitz or
Travelocity for meeting and event space. Ms. Cates said such space
often goes unsold because of a lack of a comprehensive online
marketplace for available inventory.
- VenturePax.com, which aims to create a web-based information,
advertising and social-media hub for all things outdoors, providing
information sourced by guide publishers and heavily supplemented by
local users on parks, hiking, running, kayaking and other outdoor
activities. It will allow users to post reviews, photos and videos
of their experiences too.
- IdeaRally, which would ply a new niche in what its founders
estimate is already a $1.6 billion crowdsourcing space for product
and marketing ideas by linking marketers with as many as 500,000
college students at more than 20 universities globally. Marketers
will offer prizes in contests that can also be judged by students,
with IdeaRally taking a commission on the prize money.
