Osborne (right) with Red Antler co-founders Simon Endres and Emily Heyward
JB Osborne, Cornell ’01, has been named to Inc.’s list of “Most Important Entrepreneurs of the Past Decade.”
Osborne is the CEO of Red Antler, a Brooklyn-based marketing firm he co-founded with Emily Heyward and Simon Endres in 2007. Osborne graduated Cornell Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in business and spent several years in the marketing industry before starting Red Antler. Today, he works with clients on branding, user experience, and business strategy.
Just below Elon Musk, the Inc. article describes Osborne’s accomplishments and company as follows:
The agency is arguably the nation's most sought-after and respected brand-builder, crafting clients' identities virtually from scratch: logos, packaging, industrial design, advertising, digital experiences, and even naming. Venture capitalists point their portfolio companies in Red Antler's direction; and many of the decade's starriest direct-to-consumer brands were born in its Brooklyn offices.
Red Antler certainly has an impressive portfolio, including mattress company Casper, lifestyle company Brandless, and the eco-friendly footwear line Allbirds. According to Inc.:
Heyward, Osborne, and Endres were behind Casper's positioning as a lifestyle brand for the well-rested, which helped drive that startup's early success. The team also gave Brandless its signature generics-reimagined labeling system. And Allbirds owes virtually its entire brand identity to Red Antler, including its name, its comfort-meets-curiosity messaging, and its now iconic shoebox-cum-mailer packages.
Red Antler is a versatile company, and among many options on their website, services include research, strategy, brand identity, creative production, and advertising. Via their website, the company communicates its own minimalist-powerhouse identity and purpose statement:
We're helping to build and reimagine businesses and to launch them into the loving (and very discerning) arms of consumers everywhere. We set off in 2007 with a mission to build brands that shift categories and add value to people's lives. It's quite magical.
As of 2018, Osborne is also on the Board of Directors for Bed Bath & Beyond.
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