In Founder Focus we introduce entrepreneurs and change-makers working on innovative startups, social enterprises and SME’s around Aotearoa New Zealand.
At a glance
Founder: David Vaassen
Business: Brandkit
Founded: 2015
HQ: Auckland
Can you tell us a bit about your business?
Brandkit – a beautiful home for your brand.
Brandkit provides tailored self-serve Brand Toolkits in the cloud for mid to large-sized place brands, destination marketing organisations, economic development agencies, central and local government, tourism operators, exporters, and franchises.
Our platform enables these organisations to efficiently manage, store, and distribute their brand assets, images, videos, ads, documents, press releases, stories and more —all within one centralised hub.
What sets Brandkit apart is its ability to fully customise the user interface design and navigation, with a built-in CMS and design tools, to align with each customer’s branding and unique content needs.
We serve marketing teams that handle large content libraries and multiple stakeholders, making asset workflows seamless and scalable. Through a user-friendly interface, branded self-serve portal, and robust organisational tools, enhanced with AI, we empower customers to maintain brand consistency, boost collaboration, and improve productivity.
At Brandkit, we believe that brands are essential guides in today’s over saturated digital landscape. We help customers curate purposeful content that builds trust and authenticity. Our mission is to become the go-to solution for brands seeking to elevate their brand communications with integrity, storytelling, and purposeful communication.
Our goal is to be seen as the preferred Self Serve Brand Toolkit solution globally.
What’s the backstory for your business idea?
Brandkit is a pivot from a previous business e.see.com.
e-see.com was a start up founded by a graphic designer Rod Gibson in Wellington in 1994 with investment from two Wellington IT firms and Jenny Morel who put the deal together. It was one of the first web based systems globally to deliver brand identity artwork and brand guidelines from a self-serve web portal.
I joined e-see in 1998 as General Manager and bought out the shareholders in 2002 and Rod Gibson in 2009 with funds from family and previous business sale.
The rise of social media in the 2010’s drove changes in Marketing resulting in the need for better tools to manage large collections of content assets – predominantly images and video for use in digital channels. Work began on Brandkit in 2015 and the company pivoted to Brandkit in 2016.
Brandkit launched with foundation customer Tourism New Zealand in 2016.
What programmes, learning or mentoring, or resources have been of assistance so far?
WORKING ON SOMETHING NEW, INTERESTING OR IMPORTANT? JOIN OUR COMMUNITY OF FOUNDERS AND TELL US ABOUT YOUR VENTURE HERE.
