Want a video on your backpack? OR business has you covered

July 12, 2023 by Ben Pounds

Amid the fireworks, band, DJ and other Independence Day festivities in Oak Ridge, a local entrepreneur showed off his latest literally glowing products in a tent.

Short videos graced backpacks. Messages lit up on ballcaps. Roses glowed electric green and blue. A spooky mask’s fangs gleamed with lines of light.

Nearby, solar powered lights on trees, provided by the same company, glowed red, white and blue.

Bad Dog Brands, online at shopbaddog.com manufactures a variety of light-up products in Oak Ridge.

It traces its origins to 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnathan Dziurzynski, the owner and CEO, was born in Oak Ridge and graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 2008.

“COVID happened, and everybody was isolated and six feet apart, and masks were required, so I wanted to make it kind of fun and interactive,” Dziurzynski said. His answer was to make masks that included fiber optics. Then he came up with the idea of putting a screen on a mask. That way, people could customize an image or short video clip, called a GIF, using a phone app to play or show on the mask.

While Dziurzynski said the company was successful, vaccines led to the end of mask mandates, decreasing demand.

“We had a choice as a company,” he said. “Did we want to fold up and just close our doors, or did we want to expand out and do something really cool? And so we decided to expand.”

“Anything we can think of, honestly,” he said regarding his products. “We just kind of flourished out from there.” His company also makes LED light devices including fidget spinners and yo-yos.

A recent product, SoLiT lights, are solar powered flood lights that can shine in a variety of colors. It was on display July 4, not just on the park’s trees but even in the amphitheater as the band performed.

“You can just go on an app on your phone if you want a tree to be blue or red or pink or purple; you can just go on your phone and change it,” he said, adding that someone could sync changing colors to music as well. “It’s awesome flood lighting,” he said. “And it’s all solar, so you don’t need to hard-wire anything.

“Those are brand, brand new, and I’ll say those are going to take off like crazy,” he said.

“People love our backpacks,” he said. “Once you buy the backpack, you can put anything you want to on it. You can get any animation.”