The Brandery Debuts First Six Innovators

Back in August we brought you the story of The Brandery, a consumer marketing "accelerator" created by some P&G digital marketing veterans including Dave Knox. We invited Dave to keep in touch with us as the project got rolling.

True to his word, he tells us that tomorrow (Thursday) is Demo Day for the first class of six start-ups in the consumer marketing seed accelerator program.

Fellow entrepreneurs, investors and venture capitalists will be in attendance in Cincinnati, and the rest of us can join virtually on Ustream from 9 AM till 12 PM EST.

Selected from 70 start-ups from 15 states and fresh from three months of mentoring, the six chosen companies will present their pitch for the first time to investors and, critically, consumers.

“The power of The Brandery is the collaboration between people and companies in our community,” says Knox, the Brandery co-founder and P&G alum who’s now CMO at Rockfish Interactive in Cincinnati. “Entrepreneurs will benefit from a wide range of talented people in consumer marketing here as well as globally.” 

The Brandery's first class of six companies:

• Idea Rally, an open innovation Web application that helps students share their ideas for brands in a fun, game-like atmosphere.
• LifeBlinx, whose application creates photo/journal/scrapbooks taken from Facebook statuses, mobile uploads, photo albums, etc., to help capture important memories that could otherwise be fleeting.
• Giftiki, which allows users to conveniently give small gifts digitally to friends and family.
• turboBOTZ, a service that allows video gamers to manage their game libraries as well as to buy, sell and trade video games, all within a single online site.
• VenturePax, a Web-based source of information-sharing on outdoor adventures, travel and vacation planning with strong interactivity and family-oriented locations.
• Venue Agent, a researching tool for planning any special event, connecting venues with qualified leads, and helping brides find love at first “site.”

Each company is armed with $20,000 in seed money from CincyTech, and a Brandery mentor, a distinguished group that includes Bob Gilbreath, Bridge Worldwide’s chief marketing strategist; Pete Blackshaw, EVP, Nielsen Online Digital Strategic Services; and Wendy Lea, CEO of Get Satisfaction. 

Applications for the second round of Brandery participants will open in the spring, ideally “consumer-facing startups such as consumer Internet, media and entertainment companies, based on technology platforms.”
 
Branding the next generation of innovators, The Brandery is a model to watch closely.