"STORIES BY CBNWS"

Storytelling is a way of transmitting a message in an entertaining and memorable manner. Stories allow us to capture our listeners’ attention, but they also make it more likely that they will remember what we are telling them.

Design Thinking occurs at the intersection of art, craft, science and business – Diego Ruzzarin

In Brazil, Diego Ruzzarin, is positioning the country as a global food provider, food innovator, and lifestyle provider under the moniker ‘New Made in Brazil’.

We’re crossing the Thames in a black cab, speeding over Tower Bridge. We’re on our way to meet Pavel Titov the managing director of Abrau-Durso, a Russian winery. We’d never heard of Russian wine before until last week, when the sommelier of a fancy restaurant here in London made us taste an interesting sparkling Russian wine.

Creative director Carole van Bekkum lately joined an Amsterdam based design agency, that was about to undergo a major transformation. Together with the agency’s owner they decided to rebrand the company fundamentally. First of all, they created its new name, DreamCatch. Carole’s philosophy of dreams can be easily resumed as follows: dreams happen. Simultaneously, she visualised and realised DreamCatch to be her ideal working space. For Carole as well as for DreamCatch, this is a dream come true.

Dutch artist Jacqueline Schäfer graduated from Amsterdam’s prestigious Rietveld Academy in 1989. Since then she’s developed a highly recognisable style in her paintings which exude bright colours and draws on elements of cubism, pop art and graffiti. In 2007, she expanded her artistic talent to sculpting, producing a series of birds, cows and cacti in the same distinctive style.

‘Design Thinker’ Diego Ruzzarin, director of the Brazil office of Enivrance, divides his time between São Paulo, Singapore, Dubai and Mexico. Co-author of Brazil Food Vision 2020, in which he showcases his innovative vision on food design, Diego graduated with a Food Design Master’s Degree in Italy and lectures on his revolutionary ideas at the world’s leading design universities.

10 posts!

Since arriving in Amsterdam in 2010, Clay has prioritised building a business at W+K Amsterdam where creativity equals effectiveness. And in 2013, won the prestigious ‘Creative Effectiveness Lion’ award at Cannes for Heineken. Clay, it seems, is not only building brands but also growing business. I’m about to meet Clay Mills, managing director for Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, which is an independent advertising agency.

Meeting Vera Lopes– CEO Luxury Marketing Council Brazil The best place to meet Vera Lopes is the elegant Rua Oscar Freire, the famous high end shopping street in the Jardins neighborhood, the Beverly Hills of São Paulo. Amidst finely dressed Brazilians, I walk along concept stores that are designed like precious jewelry boxes. Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs present their designs alongside Brazilian brands such as Alexandre Herchcovitch and H.Stern. Ah, there is a perfect spot under the green, leafy roof at the terrace of Café Santo Grão. Food and drinks are served the Brazilian way, with attention and friendliness.

I’m in the South of Lagos, in Nigeria, a growing metropolis and the commercial heart of Nigeria. With an estimate population of 21 million people, Lagos is the second fastest-growing city in Africa. And not only Lagos, Nigeria as a whole is growing fast. The country is now the largest economy in Africa – a place I should definitely keep an eye on. Today, I will be meeting Kola Oyeyemi, president of ADVAN – the Advertiser’s Association of Nigeria. He has a broad experience in the field of marketing as I read from his Linkedin, currently being the General Manager Consumer Marketing for MTN, the largest telecom provider in Africa. But I am sure this is not the only reason he got re-elected as ADVAN President. The fact that he is an alumnus of Columbia Business School in New York must help as well to develop a global view on marketing and business in general.

We are on our way to talk to Edouard Malbois about his new project, Seleçao Brasileira de Alimentos. We’ve known Edouard for some time and have always liked his company’s innovative vision on food. As the founder and today CEO of Enivrance, Edouard has been working with his business partner Jacques Faure to build a solid team and over the past 11 years they have inspired the world with an array of concept food. Over the years they have expanded their business and vision from Paris to other continents. Today they have a presence in Singapore and in São Paulo, where they are working on a range of projects, though always related to their core competence and passion, Food Design and Innovation.

Hong Kong-born Richard Lee is the driving force behind PepsiCo China’s campaigns. He joined the company in 1997 as China Beverages Cola Director, becoming VP of Marketing in 2001. The creative innovator with a knack for meaningful branding – backed up with an MBA from Harvard Business School and BSc from the University of California – didn’t go unnoticed. In 2005, he was named by Ad Age as one of its Top 10 Global Players. [Read more on the original post.]

As a young enthusiastic student I wanted to get a taste of working abroad. I got very enthusiastic about São Paulo. The companies and projects that I found there were ambitious and had a creative look and feel: that’s where I wanted to go. After some networking I got in touch with Maarten Schäfer from CoolBrands (CBNWS). He just came back from a visit to Brazil to collect stories for the project “Seleção Brasileira de Alimentos”. He said I could help them with the Online Communications and Multimedia (Digital Storytelling). The adventure starts when our pilot tells us we are ready to land on Guarulhos, the international airport of São Paulo. When I look outside the window I see buildings and skyscrapers as far as I can see. São Paulo is world’s seventh largest city by population. In the metropolitan area live almost 21 million people… a lot more than all inhabitants of the Netherlands together. I arrive in Vila Madalena, an artistic neighbourhood in São Paulo. Here I almost forget that I am in such a big city. I can feel the vibrant cultural scene. Here hip local designers run boutiques and there are a lot of unique restaurants and bars. In my first meetings at work I figured how Brazilians do business– it is very personal. People first want to know the people they do business with. Unlike in Amsterdam, in São Paulo you cannot just discuss business details quickly. It makes it quite inefficient and time consuming but I must admit: the Brazilian way is fun. People in the city of São Paulo – Paulistanos – are ambitious in what they do. For example the company Enivrance created a team of 13 big and small companies: the Seleção Brasileira de Alimentos. As a team they are capable of communicating a daring new business model to the world. I am proud to work in this team. I want to add value to this project by creating an innovative way in communicating the stories that CBNWS created for the project. A communication goal is to position Brazil as a global food innovator and lifestyle provider in the world market. For that purpose we created the first book with Augmented Reality: when you scan a page, a picture starts to live and tells you a story. I added some Harry Potter magic. The Seleção Brasileira de Alimentos makes a world tour which starts in São Paulo. Here we present 13 new innovative products and the new business model. The audience consists of journalists, business people and high ranking officials from all over the world. We hear a great response from the audience: the whole world is waiting for Brazil to come up with new products that reflect their incredibly vibrant lifestyle. The hard working ambitious Paulistanos also know very well how to spend their free time and the country offers them plenty of opportunities to do so. I can admit that I fell in love with this country. Wherever I go, I will definitely bring some of the Brazilian lifestyle with me.

The whole world is expecting new products from Brazil that inject this specific ‘Brazil’ feeling –the mix of colours and architecture- into for example ice cream.

I was thinking of what I could tell her… I was no expert in finding jobs or internships! I knew she had studied abroad and how enthusiastic she was about it. So I told her my story. Starting with my best motivator: having a goal that I feel passionate about.

Daan welcomes us in the office, and shows us around. “Let’s go one floor down, towards the bar,” he suggests.