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Brand Spankin New makes national mark
By Ryan Parker
parkerya@mscd.edu

A company that began as part of a senior-level marketing class at Metro is growing rapidly and providing opportunities for both marketing and industrial design students.

Brand Spankin New is the only student-run furniture company in the nation, and it is drawing the attention of outside investors, including Metro alumni who may be interested in helping the company thrive.

“We have partners in actual companies who come and see what they like and might be interested in,” said Jacquilyn Esparza, a member of the internal marketing team of Brand Spankin New. “We are sending a team to meet with an alumnus of Metro, an entrepreneur living in Kansas City, for additional funding.”

Mod Livin, a Denver furniture company, held an event on April 6 to celebrate its new design studio in which pieces of furniture from Brand Spankin New will be featured.

The furniture designs will be featured in the studio will give a larger audience an idea of what Brand Spankin New has to offer. The company is the brainchild of two different classes currently offered at Metro, Seminar in Marketing Management and Reputation and Brand Management.

“We run the business and we decide what to sell,” Esparza said. “Our goal is to be the largest student retailer in the world.”

Brand Spankin New offers such designs as the “Joey,” a coffee table with a hanging fabric pocket, and the “Lupe,” a wall-mounted magazine rack. The company has a website, http://www.brandspankinnew.org, where one can see designs currently offered and learn about the company’s history. All the company’s products are individually made and numbered by their designers, and no two pieces are exactly alike.

“We get no money from this. It’s all for a grade. One day we would love to go global,” Esparza said.