In episode 444 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Michael Browning, co-founder and CEO of Unleashed Brands, a portfolio of innovative brands that help kids learn, play and grow, including Urban Air, Snapology, and The Little Gym. Listen in as Browning provides an overview of Unleashed Brands (0:55), discusses why he launched the business (2:30), the brands' target age demographics (4:25), and how all the brands in the portfolio complement each other (7:05).
In addition, Browning discusses how Unleashed Brands markets its brands to current customers (9:35), the value of its recent acquisition of Sylvan Learning (12:00), messaging about the customer experiences created by its brands (13:55), and how important employees are to brand growth (16:25). Lastly, he touches on future plans for the company and how Unleashed Brands incorporates digital into their businesses (19:00).
Michael Browning is the CEO and founder of Unleashed Brands, a platform company that houses the world’s best franchise brands to help kids learn, play and grow. Browning launched Unleashed in 2021 after noticing a void in the market for parents looking for a trusted resource for kid’s activities. The growing portfolio currently includes Urban Air Adventure Park, Snapology, The Little Gym, Premier Martial Arts, XP League and Class 101. In 2011, Browning launched Urban Air Adventure Park, the world’s preeminent family indoor adventure park, which has since served more than 20 million kids annually and generated $500 million-plus of annual systemwide revenue.
A young entrepreneur, Browning was named a rising star by the Dallas Business Journal in its annual “40 Under 40” list in 2021. Urban Air has also ranked as No. 1 for the past three years in the annual Franchise 500 list put out by Entrepreneur Magazine. The company was also ranked on the Franchise Times Top 200+ list, an exclusive annual ranking of the 500 largest franchises. Having spent years as an entrepreneur, Browning leads the team with true insight into the challenges that new businesses face and he doggedly pushes the team to look for new ways to overcome obstacles and break down barriers to achieving success.
