Meet Robert Prioleau

I’ve known Robert Prioleau (pree-low for you Northern types) for going on five years. During that time, we’ve collaborated on projects, commiserated/dorked-out over brand mantras, taglines, manifestos and tossed back the occasional cocktail. A while back, he asked me to help write his bio for the new Blue Ion website, and of course, I jumped at the chance.

Not only did Robert provide great fodder and fun facts about himself, he asked for and expected the tomfoolery and irreverence that makes working together so fun and inspiring. Thanks, RP, it’s always a pleasure.

That being said, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Robert Prioleau, Founding Partner & Strategy Director of Blue Ion.

P.S. This is the extended, disco version. A shorter version now resides on the Blue Ion site.

Although there is no “official” confirmation, it’s widely believed that Robert Prioleau emerged from the womb with one pressing question: Why? It’s believed this early inquisitiveness led to a lifetime of list making, brow furrowing and drawing of Venn diagrams.

Though birthed in the Northeast, Robert spent his childhood reluctantly donning the occasional Christmas sweater and moving…to Texas, New Jersey and Virginia. Still itching, perhaps from the sweaters, he moved to Nashville where he earned a degree in Latin American history from Vanderbilt, then to Austin where he received an MBA in marketing (and a serious horns habit) from the University of Texas.

For the record, Robert believes brunch is what’s wrong with America. No one has ever adequately explained the mass appeal of sitting inside eating while the best part of the day ticks by. Before you ask, outside brunch is out too.

Before launching Blue Ion, which in its early days doubled as a boy band, Robert tripped the light fantastic with GSD&M Advertising in Austin; Fitzgerald & Company Advertising in Atlanta and BellSouth.net Internet Services in Atlanta.

After tunneling out of Atlanta, Robert found himself happily stuck in the pluff mud of Charleston, South Carolina where he landed a job with Rawle-Murdy Associates and met those other boys with serious haircuts.

At Blue Ion, Robert’s role, equal parts sheepherder, strategist and therapist, is integral to the work of bringing out the best in clients, brands and customers. It’s also quite entertaining.

If Robert was a collection of “I’d rather be” bumper stickers, he’d “rather be:” outside, on a bike, on a skateboard, playing with hound dogs, playing harmonica or sipping tequila. All at once is a life goal.

Though deeply troubled by lightning and ventriloquist mannequins, Robert soothes himself by serving as Chair of the Trust for Public Land’s South Carolina Advisory Council, Strategic Advisor to New Carolina’s Creative Industries Cluster, and sits on the boards of Charleston Moves, The Lowcountry Housing Trust and the Charleston Academy of Music. His magnum opus and great joy is helping raise the best daughter ever with his wife, Rachel.