About Me
Brandon’s career in Marketing parallels a long history in the music industry, including 10 years as a professional nightclub DJ. His passion for music and dance music culture led him to KBA Marketing in 1998, where he worked as a Market Manager for the flagship New York office. His experience working on non-traditional programs for Fortune 500 clients in NYC prepared him for his eventual move back to Atlanta to partner in a new Marketing agency, Trend Influence. TI would provide fertile ground for his knack for consumer marketing and his passion for music and youth culture.
As VP of Client Service, Brandon worked on multiple high-profile accounts, and helped to expand the agency throughout the interactive and strategic arena, including the creation and launch of a lifestyle web community, UMIX.net. He went on to develop UMIX and expand the reach of the agency by opening offices in NYC, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
In 2004, Brandon left the agency and began a consulting career that allowed him to once again use his skills and insight to create and guide brands that target youth and other trendsetter verticals. 2006 provided a major turning point for Brandon as he saw the opportunities that abounded in the nascent social media discipline. His early strategic work with brands in MySpace earned him consistent praise by his clients, which allowed him to expand their thinking into the creation of 2-way dialogues between his clients and their target consumers.
Brandon formed Octane Interactive with longtime friend and previous business partner Harry Hallman in 2007. At Octane, Brandon consistently pushed for the integration of social marketing programs into his clients’ Marketing plans. His understanding of social media and the development of online communities allow him to bring strategic guidance to his clients that are rooted in years of experience and research. The commitment to understanding the opportunities social media provides and how brands can relate to consumers in a new way is the driving force behind Brandon’s career. He writes on the subject on his personal blog, on Twitter, and on several online social media communities on a regular basis.
When he’s not immersed in social media strategic planning, he enjoys travel, music, roller coasters, and loft design. He is an active volunteer Board member of Atlanta’s Table, a project of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, and consistently gives his time to community initiatives in and around Atlanta.
Welcome to the new and improved BrandonSutton.com. I’m a passionate advocate of social marketing, and I’ve decided to take a totally different approach to life and career with this site – a sort of social experiment if you will. BrandonSutton.com and the content inside represent a fresh outlook for me as I embark on a new chapter in my life.
My take on life is pretty simple – do what you love, be honest, open, and respectful, and follow your heart. Over the course of my career, I’ve come to respect and admire the passions that people have for the work they do, and this is the driving force behind the work I undertake. My goal is to collaborate with incredible, passionate individuals and organizations that are also interested in making a positive difference in the world. I believe we can all play our part, and my intention is to keep this top of mind in my work life in addition to my personal life.
In the 15 years I’ve spent in Marketing, technology has changed, and the citizens of the world have grown closer together through the proliferation of the Internet and rapid spread of information across cultures. The thing that remains consistent is that the understanding of people is fundamental to success, regardless of what specific field you’re in. I’m fascinated by the ability we have to connect and share information with each other in real time, and establish trust with people we may barely know. As a marketer, it is exciting to see how brands can fit into the conversation with the right message at the right time. This really gets my creative juices flowing – strategically pairing brands with the right audience in a relevant way so the conversation is beneficial for all involved.
If this sounds interesting to you, I’d love to talk. If you want to learn more about the specific passions that are driving me, please visit the Passions page on my site and let me know if any of this resonates with you. Whoever you are, and however you found my site, I want to thank you for stopping by. Your presence here is an honor, and I appreciate the time you are taking to get to know me. If you made it this far, I encourage you to let me know what you think of my approach by leaving a comment below.
