9:41
Poddit
Turn scattered curiosity into clarity. Drop in a link, a question or a half-formed thought, and Poddit researches around it, finds what connects, and makes you an original audio episode, with sources.
Independent studio · New York
Custom AI tools, shipped.
Heathen designs and builds AI tooling for agencies, brands and entertainment companies, end to end, from first concept to working product. You see the thinking at every stage, and you end up with software your team actually uses.
Our own products
We ship our own, too. Try them here.
9:41
Mine Cart Mayhem
A retro three-lane minecart runner. You took the idol; now ride the ore carts out before the mine comes down. Switch tracks, jump, duck, and chase the top ten on a live leaderboard.
What we build
Four kinds of work.
For agencies · e.g. Narrativ at Ralph
Creative operating systems
Connected tools for daily cultural intelligence, on-brand compliant copy and concept testing, on one shared memory.
Owned channels · e.g. Ralph TV
Broadcast + Streaming
24/7 channels on infrastructure you own, with the audience data to program what people actually watch.
For one team · e.g. resourcing, forecasting
Team tools
A team with one specific bottleneck, and a tool built to remove it. A person makes the final call in every one.
Playable · e.g. Netflix House
Experiences
Interactive things people touch: venue maps, music tools and narrative games.
How we work
Three ways in.
Some teams know exactly what they need built. Others just know something is slowing them down. Either way the first conversation is the same: what’s in the way, and whether software is the right fix.
Sprint
Map it.
We map the problem, scope the build, and tell you honestly whether software is even the answer.
- You get
- The problem mapped, the build scoped, a clear go or no-go.
- Takes
- Days, not months.
Build
Ship it.
End-to-end design and development, with a review at every milestone and your team in the loop the whole way.
- You get
- Working software your team uses.
- Takes
- Scoped in the sprint.
Embed
Keep building.
A fractional seat inside your team: an innovation lead who builds, on a running cadence, as your needs move.
- You get
- New initiatives, built as they come up.
- Currently
- Fractional innovation lead at Ralph.
About
Led by Brook Downton.
Twenty years across agency production and innovation, in London and New York. Producer at Ralph, B-Reel and Imagination in London. Nearly twelve years at Media.Monks, opening its New York office and rising to VP, Platform + Products. Integrated Executive Producer at PXP. Now fractional Head of Innovation at Ralph, where he built Narrativ and Ralph TV.
Talent, then teams, now tools. The job hasn’t changed: give good people what they need to do the work properly. It just moves faster now.
Brands Brook has made work for
- Netflix
- Starbucks
- Meta
- Amazon Music
- PayPal
- FedEx
- General Electric
- Bose
- Intuit
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- Ford
Optional, for larger projects
A team at scale, when you want one.
Heathen leads and builds every project directly. When a build is bigger, we can bring in trusted specialists, such as designers, developers and producers, so a larger scope doesn’t mean a longer timeline.
This only happens with your explicit agreement, decided case by case before any work starts. Nothing is handed on without your say, and Heathen stays accountable for the whole result.
Contact
What’s in the way? That’s our first conversation.
hello@heathen.digitalTell us what’s slowing your team down. If a bespoke tool is the fix, we’ll say how we’d build it. If it isn’t, we’ll say that too. Or find us on LinkedIn.