Who is coBRANDiT?
Owen Mack (LinkedIn) and Jesse Buckley (LinkedIn) are the co-founders and creative/strategic heads of coBRANDiT, a video production and social media agency that specializes in creating marketing content about people, brands, and lifestyle for distribution via online networks and VOD. coBRANDiT is a womma member and has been featured in Inc. magazine and Dentsu-ho (the Japanese AdAge). Mack and Buckley have presented at the 2005 BlogOn Social Media and the 2006 New Communication Forum, and in 2007 and 2008 recieved Awards of Excellence from SNCR. coBRANDiT is based in Boston, Mass.

Ok, ok, that's the official text. Here's the story: Jesse has been an independent media producer and high-end video tech for years. He's worked for PBS, Frontline, Harvard, Cambridge Television, and other entities with money. I've got a BA in Art (Graphic Design) and a bunch of time running my own retail business. I'm a consumer, and while I love product, I hate ads. Four years ago I threw out my TV and Jesse (who is my cousin) and I started making the sort of brand communications we wanted to see: web video of real people in real places with real product. Our vids attracted attention: We now produce programs for some of the biggest names in the marketing business.

The media and marketing worlds have changed, are changing, and we've learned a lot along the way. I could tell you what we've learned here, but I'd rather you watch our video, read our blog, or google us. Better yet, you could hire coBRANDiT. Then I'll tell you everything.
--Owen


What people are saying about coBRANDiT:
Inc. Magazine story, August 2004. By Rob Walker

As advertisers struggle to stay relevant in a world that has grown increasingly averse to them, two cousins have come up with a solution, which they call coBRANDiT...The theory is to place the focus on the consumer, not the product.
--Ad Jab

I would be less excited about my upcoming Tivo investment if more commercials were made by actual people and didn’t feature Lee Iacocca and Jason Alexander.
--Andrew Teman, andrewteman.org

coBRANDiT gets high-priest robes for saying on its new site: "We believe that people like you know more about brands and lifestyle than the big marketing conglomerates do." coBRANDiT has the potential to take citizen marketing into new and profitable loyalty dimensions that customers could totally identify with. The question is: Are brands ready for the ride?
--Ben McConnell, Church of the Customer

[coBRANDiT] is doing some breakthrough work on CGM. We've been trading lots of notes...
--Pete Blackshaw, CMO Intelliseek

coBRANDiT joins an emerging cottage industry that provides strategy and tactics designed to produce and control CGM.  Agencies...will focus less on "viral marketing," and more on three key deliverables: 1) campaigns built on authentic community interests; 2) social and vertical search optimization; and 3) integrated measurement services that tie CGM back to ROI. These are the value dimensions that will determine natural selection in this environment.
--Splintered Channels

coBRANDiT believes DIY commercials by brands' fans are more believable than the glamorous agency-made stuff...
--MIT Branding Cultures

How can you use those DIY media tools for good? 1) Take an open source approach to your marketing. Alex Wipperfurth (who wrote the book on what he calls Brand Hijacking) would counsel you to 'scrap the focus groups, fire the cool chasers and hire your audience.' 2) Give them something to talk about. If information wants to be free, the new tools make it easier than ever to spread your memes. 3) Host the party. coBRANDiT is a new idea for an agency, inviting everyday consumers to contribute DIY media bits to showcase the real impact brands can have.
--blog.fastcompany.com

Some of our spotters told us about your initiative, very very clever. I actually included coBRANDiT in a presentation I gave in Johannesburg last week.
--Reinier Evers, Trendwatching.com

The lunatics have taken over the asylum. --adland