Brave Bison has taken a strategic equity stake in creative effectiveness platform System1 through a share-for-share swap with System1 founder and largest shareholder John Kearon, while both companies remain independent. The deal aligns Brave Bison’s marketing and consultancy capabilities with System1’s behavioural-science tools (notably its Test Your Ad product and large emotional-response database), aiming to combine predictive creative measurement with execution to drive more commercially effective advertising.
About Us Our Mission Our model OUR TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY AudienceGPT AdStudio Our leadership Our Work What We Do Organic Performance Paid Performance Technology & Experience Social & Influencer Fan Engagement Digital Media Network Skills & Capabilities Insights & Consultancy Culture Careers Insights Contact Home About Us Our Mission Our model OUR TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY AudienceGPT AdStudio Our leadership Our Work What We Do Organic Performance Paid Performance Technology & Experience Social & Influencer Fan Engagement Digital Media Network Skills & Capabilities Insights & Consultancy Culture Careers Insights Contact Brave Bison announces new strategic investment in System1 March 2026 We’re thrilled to announce that Brave Bison has made a strategic investment in world-leading creative effectiveness platform System1 by way of a share-for-share exchange with John Kearon, System1’s largest shareholder and founder. While Brave Bison and System1 remain separate companies, this exciting new move means we’re now more closely aligned, invested in each other’s success, and able to innovate new solutions together in future. Founded in 2000 by entrepreneur, researcher and industry leader John Kearon, System1 is one of the most respected creative effectiveness platforms in the world with a client roster of major global brands including Sky, Google, Waitrose and Subway. Its flagship product, Test Your Ad, measures audience’s emotional responses to advertising second-by-second, and scores creative against a database of more than 120,000 ads and 18 million emotional responses. In simple terms: it predicts how well advertising will perform in the real world. We believe that System1’s mission to make marketing more effective aligns closely with our own mission to help businesses capitalise on the complexity of the modern marketing landscape. In an increasingly fragmented, AI-accelerated and data-saturated environment, modern marketers face great difficulty in identifying the levers that truly drive growth. With Brave Bison’s expert teams focused on orchestrating bespoke solutions across marketing consultancy, training and execution to capitalise on that complexity, System1 provides the behavioural science expertise and predictive effectiveness frameworks that can ensure those decisions translate into measurable commercial impact. We’re excited about what we can build together, and even more excited about what it means for our clients. From strategy to creative development to in-market execution, we can now help ensure their decisions are truly grounded in evidence and guaranteed to drive measurable, effective growth. John Kearon, Founder of System1, commented: “I’m delighted to be rolling my equity interest in System1 into Brave Bison. I firmly believe that with Brave Bison's shared ambition, vision, and support, System1 will be best able to fulfil its growth potential and create a braver, brighter future.” Oli Green, Executive Chairman, Brave Bison added: “We’re incredibly excited to be formalising our partnership with System1 — a business we have long admired for its leadership in creative effectiveness and disciplined, evidence-based approach to growth. We see significant strategic alignment between our organisations and meaningful opportunity to innovate together in ways that benefit both our clients and shareholders alike.” Organic Performance • Views How we grew search visibility through profile authority for a leading marketing training platform Organic Performance 3 min read Organic Performance • Podcast Deliveroo on AI search and the new rules of discovery Organic Performance 2 min read Organic Performance • Views Why digital PR needs braver ideas in the age of AI search Organic Performance 5 min read Fan Engagement • Views Why F1's fanbase is easy to win and hard to keep Fan Engagement 1 min read Paid Performance • Views If an LLM recommends a product, who owns the sale? Paid Performance 1 min read Paid Performance • News Brave Bison shortlisted at Performance Marketing World Awards 2026 with Aviva and Trafalgar Travel Paid Performance 3 min read PREVIOUS NEXT All news & insights Get action from our universe delivered straight to your inbox. Businesses SOCIALCHAIN ENGAGE MINI MBA MTM Socials LinkedIn Instagram TikTok X Details Privacy policy Cookie Policy Terms of use Careers Contact Investors Modern Slavery Statement Hubs London Manchester New York Singapore Egypt Dubai India Australia Bravebison © 2026 Brave Bison A DIFFERENT BEAST
Curated by Taleb Kabbara · Source: bravebison.com
Brave Bison, System1, Sky, Google, Waitrose, Subway, AudienceGPT, AdStudio, Aviva, Trafalgar Travel
Brave Bison: Brave Bison is a marketing and digital media company that has made a strategic investment in System1 via a share-for-share exchange and is formalising a partnership to collaborate on solutions for clients.
System1: System1 is a creative effectiveness platform founded by John Kearon that measures audiences’ emotional responses to advertising and predicts advertising performance.
Sky: Sky is a major global brand listed as a client of System1.
Google: Google is a major global brand listed as a client of System1.
Waitrose: Waitrose is a major global brand listed as a client of System1.
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