Brand Spankin New (BSN)

Brand Spankin New (BSN), the only student-run furnishing business in the world, is the culmination of a joint effort between the Metropolitan State College of Denver Departments of Marketing and Industrial Design.

The model for this educational venture is cutting edge. In 2005, Business Week identified that the best graduate business programs in the country are beginning to work in tandem with their respective industrial design departments. That same year through BSN, Metro State became the first undergraduate institution in the country to forge a similar partnership.

Located at www.BrandSpankinNew.org, BSN specializes in designing, manufacturing, and marketing contemporary furnishings for your home and office. Four marketing and one industrial design courses currently manage BSN. The process starts in New Product Development, where students conduct market research and collaborate with designers in Industrial Production, where prototypes are made.

At the end of each semester, design finalists are chosen by students and they present feasibility plans to BSN’s retail partners. After one design is selected to bring to market, the winning student designer begins working with manufacturers that could produce it. The next semester, students in Applied Marketing Management position, price and brand the new product, as well as marketing it with the rest of the BSN line.