RFID wallet company Ridge has been sponsoring Marques Brownlee‘s tech-talk YouTube videos for years.
Now it’s officially bringing him into the company–as both chief creative partner and board member.
LA-based Ridge has been making its flagship RFID wallets since its founders, father-son team Daniel and Paul Kane, ran a Kickstarter campaign for the product in 2013. It’s since expanded its line to include travel and lifestyle products like luggage and rings, and over the past decade says it’s “worked with thousands of creators and sponsored billions of views across Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.”
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The company told Fortune it’s not exactly sure what Brownlee’s day-to-day responsibilities will be, but CEO Sean Frank said that for now, “he’s teaching us to be more of a content-first brand, like how we actually get better at storytelling instead of just running static image ads on Facebook.”
“If we could make Ridge synonymous with the MKBHD brand that would be a huge success for us,” Frank added.
Brownlee, who’s also taking an undisclosed stake in Ridge as part of this whole deal, added that he “really [is] happy with how much input I’m gonna get to have on actually bringing certain products to life,” and said he’s with the company “for the long-haul.”
This is Brownlee’s first board seat and title with a company, but he’s been involved with other brands as an advisor and investor: He’s put money into laptop camera company Opal and podcast recording platform Riverside, and last month, he joined self-described “community engagement engine” Glystn as an advisor.
