Bear and a Banjo Join Our Night of Musical Celebration

Continuing on with Saturday night’s theme of musical celebration, Brand Storytelling is happy to announce the addition of Bear and a Banjo to the line-up of performances following the screening of MacGillivray Freeman’s “America’s Musical Journey.”

Bear and a Banjo members “Jingle” Jared Gutstadt and Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd will also bring their music and business expertise to our All-Star music panel featuring Young Guru (legendary audio engineer and DJ) and Ray Clark (Founder and CEO of The Marketing Arm). These four experts will discuss music's powerful ability to define a brand's identity and imprint emotionally on consumers.

About Jason Boyd A.K.A Poo Bear Songwriter, Producer: “Where Are Ü Now,” "What Do You Mean?," "Peaches and Cream," "Caught Up"

If you thought you’ve never heard of 4x Grammy award winning singer/songwriter Poo Bear, you actually have! He is the lethal pen behind hits like 112′s ‘Peaches & Cream’ and ‘Anywhere’, Usher’s ‘Caught Up’ and ‘Superstar’, as well as Chris Brown’s ‘She Ain’t You’ and ‘I Can Transform Ya.’ He is best known for being one of Justin Bieber's main collaborators, having co-written many of Bieber's hits (including "Where Are Ü Now," "What Do You Mean?," "PYD," "Hold Tight" and "All That Matters"). Jason Boyd aka Poo Bear has undoubtedly redefined the entertainment industry with his innovative, dynamic and empowering abilities to deliver music through the power words.

With his clever blending of various genres of music accompanied by the intricate use of words and harmonies, it is without question that after over 350 million records sold worldwide, he is a force to be reckoned with. The evolution began after the first recorded tornado in Connecticut history left his family homeless. With the gracious donations and fundraising provided by the neighborhood church, Jason’s family moved to Atlanta, Georgia just as the city was evolving into the mecca of the music industry. At the age of 14, Poo Bear co-wrote his first hit single for platinum selling r&b group 112 titled, ‘Anywhere’. This began his unprecedented catalog of songs written for the biggest artists in the world including The Rolling Stone’s, Whitney Houston, Sinead O’Connor, Pink, Kelly Price, Faith Evans, Carl Thomas, Jagged Edge, Glen Lewis, Patti LaBelle, Dr. Dre, Lupe Fiasco, DJ Khaled, Drake, Rick Ross and Justin Bieber just to name a few. Between 2005 and 2008, Boyd collaborated with acclaimed producer Scott Storch, co-producing and writing over 100 songs including top-charted ‘Make It Rain’ by Fat Joe & Lil Wayne, and hits for Kelly Rowland, Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg, Brooke Hogan, BunB, Yo Gotti, Eve, Kelis and Ruben Studdard. With songs topping the charts and every artist wanting to reap the benefits of Poo Bear’s masterful vocal production, the biggest selling album of the millennium was right around the corner. Poo Bear co-wrote multiple tracks on Usher Raymond’s Confessions album, including the single ‘Caught Up’, awarding him two Grammys and an accolade of other awards. Poo Bear earned his third Grammy for his contributions to Jill Scott’s Words and Sounds: Volume 1 album and his fourth Grammy was for Chris Brown’s FAME album. Poo Bear was also honored with his 7th ASCAP Award for ‘She Ain’t You’ by Chris Brown.

Not only has Poo Bear topped numerous music charts around the world, but he has commanded the attention of the feature film and television industries by lending his talents to Sean P Diddy Combs for his series ’Making the Band’, writing songs for Danity Kane, in addition to 8Ball&MJG for the soundtrack for the acclaimed feature film ’The Fast and the Furious’. Poo Bear’s reputation for being a consummate professional has awarded him the opportunity to work abroad with legendary musicians Jah Cure, Mavado, David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia and iconic DJ Paul Oakenfold. Poo Bear also co-wrote and produced 10 singles on Justin Bieber’s Journals album with each single spending significant time as number one on iTunes. After nearly two decades of being behind the scenes and imprinting music with his dynamic skills, Poo Bear’s journey has led him to center stage. Recently, he worked on Justin Bieber's 4x Platinum selling album "Purpose" where he co-wrote 16 out of the 19 tracks. Following that, his track with Bieber 'Where Are Ü Now" won the Grammy for best dance song - and he wrote the Pro Bull Riding theme song recorded by Steven Tyler. He also co-wrote a song on the Latin Grammy Award Winning album "Energia" by J Balvin.

About Jared Gustadt

“Jingle” Jared Gutstadt is the President, CCO and co-founder of Jingle Punks, an Audio Creative Agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto. As the lead creative at Jingle Punks, Gutstadt has composed and produced themes and scores for television, including Warner Pictures Lego Ninjago, Youtube Red’s Step Up, History Channel’s reboot of Roots the Mini-Series, The Voice, and ESPN’s Sportscenter, as well as films such as “Ratchet & Clank”, “Eagle Huntress” and the upcoming 89 Blocks produced by LeBron James. Gutstadt has also written song for artists as varied as Lil Wayne, Big K.R.I.T., Steven Tyler, Kris Kristofferson, Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, Timbaland and Lynyrd Skynyrd among others. He is also a multiple ASCAP composer of the year and one of the most decorated musicians in TV and film.

Since its 2008 launch, Jingle Punks has revolutionized the commercial music industry, launching innovative partnerships, developing patented proprietary technology, and creating memorable music marketing moments that are the envy of the industry. Jingle Punks has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Billboard, Rolling Stone, Wired, Variety, and Bloomberg Businessweek.

Recently, Jared entered into a creative partnership with world-renowned songwriter Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd to bring their collective skills into the world of TV and film scores, video game soundtracks and branded content. This partnership has already yielded a Sports Emmy nomination and countless brand anthems including the ground-breaking UFC 207 and PBR anthems that featured G-Eazy and Steven Tyler respectively.

Additionally, Gutstadt is the leader of the Hipster Orchestra, a classical chamber group that covers contemporary pop and hip-hop hits yielding a meta-marketing conceit that has drawn accolades from The New York Times and tastemaker site BrooklynVegan. They completed a record deal w Lava/ Universal to build this concept out as a live touring event and will be officially launching in 2018.

Drawing on his experiences as a leader of a successful start-up and also from his days as leader of an up-and- coming indie rock band, Jared has developed The Rock n’ Roll CEO concept, a next level business strategy that has become a series of featured columns in the Huffington Post’s Business section and led to Gutstadt delivering a talk at TEDx Hollywood 2013 in Los Angeles.

About Young Guru

The Wall Street Journal calls Young Guru “the most influential man in hip-hop you’ve never heard of.” Often referred to as “The Sound of New York,” legendary audio engineer, Gimel “Young Guru” Keaton is most known for his work behind the boards with Jay Z. Jay Z would shout out Guru’s name on the records themselves— an unheard of acknowledgement to give to an engineer at the time. Guru’s ability to communicate complex technical terms, not only to artists but students, creatives and business professionals alike, has led to his reputation as the foremost leader bridging the gap between hip-hop and the tech community. Through this love for technology and innovation, Guru cofounded Era of the Engineer - a social enterprise designed to shed light where culture and technology intersect.

Guru’s love of music has always been rooted in technology. As an audio engineer, he has collaborated with some of the biggest brands in the world. For example, Guru explored the effects of sound on athletes with Gatorade, re imagined the sound presentation of first-class aviation experience for BMW Design Group, and was recently featured in his own campaign for Infinity’s Q-60. The Era of the Engineer team and Young Guru serve as mentors to 10 burgeoning startups within Techstar’s inaugural Music Accelerator. Additionally, Guru was appointed the position of the Chief Music Strategist for the ad agency, The Marketing Arm. Furthermore, he was recently acknowledged by Fast Company as 2016’s Most Creative People in Business.

Guru puts in the work on the music side as well: he received two Grammy nominations for his work with Common and Jhené Aiko and continues to help artists such as Jay Z and Alicia Keys to craft their live shows. When he is not in the studio or onstage, Guru DJs all over the world for clubs, private events, and exclusive corporate sets for clients including Google and AT&T.

A lifelong educator at heart, Guru served as the official Artist-in-Residence at USC’s Thornton School of Music where he oversaw the creation of its first-ever Music Production Degree. In 2013, Guru partnered with Hewlett-Packard and The Recording Academy to create The Grammy’s first-ever educational tour, ‘The Era of the Engineer Tour,’ in which he traveled to 13 college campuses, including NYU, MIT, and Cornell University, to speak on “creative engineering”—his cross-disciplinary approach to problem-solving.

About Ray Clark

Ray is the Founder and CEO of The Marketing Arm (TMA). The 25-year-old Consumer Engagement agency is known as one of the most dynamic agencies in the world, with deep Agency of Record status in 14 capabilities, including Promotion, Content, Sports, Entertainment, Music, Cause, Talent, Social, Influencer and a continuum of Experiential and Hospitality services, with many of the capabilities awarded “Agency of the Year.”

The Marketing Arm has over 800 employees and 150 brand clients, including notable brands such as PepsiCo, AT&T, State Farm, Nissan, and Bacardi. In 2017, TMA created and produced 1,000 pieces of branded video content and negotiated 1,500 celebrity deals. Celebrated work includes Doritos Crash the Super Bowl, Pepsi’s Uncle Drew and work on over 50 Super Bowl commercials.

Ray has been married to his wife, Ellen, for 23 years and has two teenage boys, Will and Cal. In his spare time, Ray loves music, tennis, movies and playing sports. His eclectic sense of humor motivates him to pursue all things funny, particularly inappropriate comedy.

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