How I Built This with Guy Raz
How I Built This with Guy Raz

Sun Bum: Tom Rinks. The Secrets of a Master Brand Builder (2023)

July 13, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In 1997, Tom Rinks and his business partner Joe Shields were ghosted by Taco Bell. They had spent 18 months developing a chihuahua mascot, writing commercials, designing uniforms, and storyboarding ads. Then the calls stopped. Three months later, a national ad campaign aired featuring a chihuahua saying "Yo quiero Taco Bell." Rinks and Shields sued. The case took five years. At the trial, Taco Bell finally offered a settlement. Rinks looked at his partner, got a nod, and said no. The jury awarded them $30.1 million plus interest. It was a win, but Rinks says the real lesson was not the money—it was the confirmation that a well-built character could carry a brand.

The Furniture Store Education

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:00) **Advertisements** - Three sponsor messages for Square, Bridge Bio, and American Beverage.
  • 2 (03:24) **Episode Introduction** - Guy Raz introduces a re-air of his conversation with Tom Rinks, founder of Sun Bum.
  • 3 (03:53) **Early Career & Sales Education** - Tom describes his first job selling furniture at Art Van in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the sales psychology he learned there.
  • 4 (11:04) **First Side Hustle: Surf Michigan T-Shirts** - Tom sketches a cartoon of a surfer on Lake Michigan, prints a single t-shirt, and cold-calls a major retailer.
  • 5 (15:12) **College Licensing & The Fab Five** - Tom gets a license from the University of Michigan and designs a "Slam Dance" shirt that sells 10,000 units during March Madness.
  • 6 (19:33) **The Taco Bell Chihuahua Origin** - Tom meets cartoonist Joe Shields; they create the "Psycho Chihuahua" t-shirt line after seeing Madonna with her dog.
  • 7 (26:05) **The Taco Bell Ghosting & Lawsuit** - After 18 months of collaboration, Taco Bell stops communicating, then launches a national ad campaign with the Chihuahua.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Tom Rinks got his start in the commission-only "shark tank" of midwestern furniture sales. That’s where he learned what makes customers buy. Decades later, those instincts helped him grow a joke of a side hustle into a $400 million success.

In 2009, he created the iconic branding for an obscure sun tan lotion, drawing on a mish-mash of surf culture, Scandinavian furniture, and Japanese streetwear. Sun Bum became a huge success, but even before that, Tom helped boost a wildly diverse range of brands: a line of tequila, a series of Christian videos, and the ubiquitous “Yo quiero Taco Bell” campaign. All were successful, though it took a prolonged legal battle for Tom to get paid for the Taco Bell chihuahua. 

In this episode, Tom reveals how he learned to manipulate consumer psychology, survive the brutal warfare of a stolen idea, and engineer a brand explosion on his own terms. 


WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

  • Chihuahuas and Apes: How the Right Mascot can Transform a Brand 
  • What it takes to survive a five-year legal battle against a corporate titan.
  • The "Elvis Principle:”  How combining unexpected design elements can create an unforgettable package 
  • The "Trojan Horse" Strategy: Why forcing retailers to buy a massive display creates the illusion of a brand overnight.


TIMESTAMPS

  • 08:15 - What selling furniture taught Tom about customer psychology 
  • 10:00 - How the Slogan “Surf Michigan” got him into the T-shirt Business 
  • 25:07 - Psycho Chihuahua, Taco Bell, and the Branding Deal that Wasn’t  
  • 33:49 - Inside the grueling battle over a chihuahua mascot. “I was the guy suing Taco Bell.” 
  • 39:35 - A dramatic legal verdict, and Tom’s branding business takes off with fancy Tequila 
  • 49:47 - The sun screen opportunity: “I saw a gigantic hole that you could drive through.” 
  • 55:03 - How Tom and his partner came up with their “badass ape” logo 
  • 1:07:36 - Opening (fake) Sun Bum headquarters in Cocoa Beach, Fla 
  • 1:10:31- Early store displays and making the brand seem bigger than it was 
  • 1:14:56 - A $400M sale to SC Johnson, and Tom starts a new company


This episode was researched by Katherine Sypher and Susannah Broun and produced by Casey Herman, with music by Ramtin Arablouei, and edited by Neva Grant.  


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