Founder & Editor
Kyle Duford is the founder of The Brand Company, which owns BRNDWIRE along with brndsrch, a repository of the world's foremost brands, brndwchr, where you can watch brand emails as they're sent, and a growing family of brand tools including brndtchr, brndclrs and brndarch.
His agency experience includes serving as an Associate Partner at Optimism (formerly Barrett Hofherr) in San Francisco, where he worked on brand strategy, positioning and creative direction.
He is the author of The Brand Book, a primer on building brands, and Branding Without Permission, on how Gen Z is transforming marketing as we know it (Sept 2, 2027). He lives in Greenville, South Carolina.
Books: The Brand Book · Branding Without Permission (Sept 2, 2027)
439 stories
The streetwear label and the three stripes released a red-and-black Megaride S2 on October 10, their ninth sneaker together in under a year, proving this partnership has more staying power than most hype collabs ever get.
He coached a Super Bowl champion, sold an erectile dysfunction drug on national television, and lost zero credibility doing either.
She's not just launching a subscriber page. She's buying a seat at the table of the platform betting that owning the audience beats renting it.
Every block the 76ers make this season doubles as a donation and a dare: say the word incontinence out loud in a sports bar.
Avaline spent six years selling better-for-you wine as a lifestyle choice. Now it's selling the sales figures.
Most outdoor brands sell you on skill. SITKA just built its biggest campaign ever around admitting you have a problem.
7th Avenue doesn't sell couches so much as it stages them, and its newest showroom is betting Winter Park wants the experience as much as the sectional.
OpenAI's sponsored listings are live inside chat answers, but the brands spending real money this Black Friday aren't ready to bet on a channel nobody's proven works yet.
Hiromi Asai spent a decade translating traditional Japanese fabric into modern menswear. Los Angeles just got the loudest version of it.
The company is chasing Olipop and Poppi into the better-for-you soda aisle, and it's starting with the sodas you already know, not a new brand nobody's heard of.
A tiny, pharmacy-only CVS just opened in a Boston neighborhood Walgreens abandoned twice, and the company plans to open nearly 20 more just like it this year.
The canned-water brand that built its identity mocking tech bros is using AI to flatten its own org chart, and its marketing chief says that's the whole point.
The denim brand's latest chapter with the storied Paris hotel swaps a campaign shoot for a day-in-the-life diary, chain and jean included.
The retailer is moving back onto Market Street, into the space Old Navy left behind, and the city is treating it like proof downtown might actually be coming back.
Wholesale strength and an $80 million tariff refund papered over a surprise miss at Levi's own stores, where shoppers still aren't sure about those loose-fit jeans.
A month into the job, Heidi O'Neill is already rebuilding Lululemon's leadership team, starting with handing product to an executive who got mixed reviews at Athleta.
Ferrero's biggest-ever marketing push puts Nutella in the Super Bowl for the first time, right after a jar on a NASA spacecraft did more for the brand than most ad budgets ever do.
The tequila brand's new "Fare Share" program refunds half of a surge-priced ride home, betting that a $25 credit buys more loyalty than another TV spot.
The Financial Times says Starbucks has quietly explored buying Chipotle, which would make Brian Niccol's old job also his very expensive side project.
The Timberwolves star is PrizePicks' newest brand ambassador, and his first ad is already picking a fight with a Kevin Durant and Drake spot.
The outdoor brand's new Venice Beach location skips the usual retail playbook for a climbing wall, a film series, and a lounge stocked with alpinist lore.
A hacking group calling itself Xuanye sent fake push alerts through ASOS's app claiming a full data breach. The retailer says names and contact details may be exposed, but little else is confirmed.
After decades of plastic figurines and plush toys, Sanrio's biggest star is getting the brick treatment. LEGO and Sanrio just signed a multi-year deal to put Hello Kitty and friends into actual sets.
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk both shared new data suggesting GLP-1 drugs slow biological aging, not just weight. Outside experts say it is promising, not proof.
After decades of bouncing between ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, the Primetime Emmys found a permanent address: Prime Video. The ceremony stays free to watch, but the keys now belong to Amazon.
A new brand campaign built around burnout data and an Adam Scott voiceover is betting that the best marketing move right now is telling people to log off.
Milo, Nescau, and Nesquik are becoming official NBA partners in the food giant's largest global brand collaboration to date, spanning 21 markets.
A limited capsule of co-branded goods lands in-store at the Kensington Market streetwear staple on October 9, and for once, agency swag is something people will actually want.
94 free Madison Square Garden tickets, a QR code, and a five-borough scavenger hunt: Pepsi's new can war is fought in the chip aisle.
A squeezable jelly with 6 grams of prebiotic fiber and under 30 calories hits TikTok Shop first, Walmart next, betting dessert beats another powder.