CBIA BizCast: Shaping Connecticut’s Future

Since the day it launched as Rebel Interactive in 2013, Rebellion Group has strived to do things differently. 

“I saw an opportunity to build an agency that was focused around disruption,” Rebellion Group CEO and owner Bryn Tindall told the CBIA BizCast. 

Tindall and senior vice president of client services Sam Barrett joined the BizCast to highlight the company’s evolution and the growth of its Shaping CT’s Future event series. 

The agency works with businesses for services including marketing, advertising, brand awareness, video production, customer engagement, and website development. 

“If you’re going to do great things in life, then you have to believe you have it in you to do it,” Tindall said. 

“And we were associating the word rebel with that inner essence, that inner belief that you could do amazing things.”

Rebel Spirit

The rebel spirit extends not only to the name of the company and the workforce—team members are known as rebels—but also to the physical space.

The company themed every room in their Cheshire office after a well known rebel from history or pop culture. 

“We tried to be different, right?” Tindall said. “We wanted people to feel like this was different, special, and a place that they would want to be.”

“It’s an environment that is fun to work in. You feel good when you’re in a good place,” said Barrett, who joined the company in 2023 just before they rebranded as Rebellion Group. 

“It’s an environment that is fun to work in. You feel good when you’re in a good place.”

Rebellion Group’s Sam Barrett

Tindall said that rebrand was the next evolution of the company.

“There’s a maturation that occurred,” he said. “So the version of today is a much more grown up version of what started 13 years ago.”

“I feel like our aesthetic, the way we talk about ourselves, there’s that sense of depth and nuance,” Barrett added. 

“I think that lends itself to us being in conversations that potentially we weren’t in years ago.”

Shaping the Future

Some of those conversations are happening in the form of Rebellion’s Shaping CT’s Future. 

The event series brings together stakeholders and thought leaders to dive into different important topics in the state.

“We were in a perfect position to start to do something different and meaningful, to affect people’s lives, to benefit them,” Tindall said. 

“We want people to network. We want them to have a drink. We want to have intelligent conversation.”

Barrett

“We have these organizations pitching in, coming in, willing to lend their thoughts, their time, their expertise, and I think it starts to become a coalition,” Barrett added.

In its first year, the series grew from about 90 people to bring in hundreds of people to Rebellion’s event space. 

“I don’t think that we produce conferences,” Barrett said. “I like to say that we produce experiences. There’s no reason that you can’t have fun at these things.” 

“And so we want people to network. We want them to have a drink. We want to have intelligent conversation.”

Lessons Learned

Barrett and Tindall said they learned a lot from those events, including some things they wanted to do differently. 

After hosting an event focused on energy, they realized that success isn’t just about getting people together. 

“We’re congratulating ourselves on producing a 500-plus person discussion with amazing content and lots of media partners and all kinds of accolades,” Tindall said.

“There has to be next. We have to be able to have a path forward from here.”

Rebellion Group’s Bryn Tindall

“And you come out the backside the next day and you’re like, ‘Okay, so what did we just do? What  changed?’

“And the answer is nothing, and that doesn’t work.

“There has to be next. We have to be able to have a path forward from here.”

Building Momentum

Tindall and Barrett said they are focusing on building on the momentum from their events to develop broader solutions.

The second year of Shaping CT’s Future begins with a deep dive into the future of AI and cybersecurity.

“We’re going to start generating themes, conduct in-depth analysis, and ultimately, recommendations, and that is a tangible product from the event,” Barret said. 

“Ultimately, if Connecticut’s more successful then so are we.”

Barrett

Rebellion is partnering with GreatBlue Research to capture data from the event. 

They also partnered with Fox 61 to live stream the event and so a broader audience can take part. 

“If we can get people in the room that can help inform what’s going on with important topics that are influencing business decisions, then our clients can be more successful,” Barrett added.

“Ultimately, if Connecticut’s more successful then so are we.”

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