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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_00: Hello, I'm Mario Tanagusi with Calgary's podcast on Canada's podcast network. Joining me today is Robin Braille
[00:13] SPEAKER_00: who is president and co-founder of Unimark Creative here in Calgary. Thanks Robin for joining us today.
[00:20] SPEAKER_01: Well, it's great to be on the podcast, Mario.
[00:22] SPEAKER_00: Well, let me talk first of all with you about what Unimark Creative is and what you guys do. What do you do?
[00:30] SPEAKER_01: Unimark Creative does website design, video production, media services, both public relations as well as advertising and of course graphic design.
[00:41] SPEAKER_01: Now, I've been transitioning away from Unimark a little bit doing quite a bit of speaking and writing and those kinds of things, which of course I've gathered from experience and working with Unimark clients.
[00:55] SPEAKER_00: Tell me a little bit of the history of Unimark how it started and when.
[01:00] SPEAKER_01: We bootstrapped the company, my wife and I in 1994 and we scratched our way into existence and we grew as we grew our client base.
[01:15] SPEAKER_01: Of course, we needed to add more services and so we did that both through providing them ourselves learning about various aspects of what our clients needed.
[01:27] SPEAKER_01: And of course, working with a lot of contractors and at different times we had employees as well.
[01:32] SPEAKER_00: And what kind of clients do you have? What's the range of business that they're involved in?
[01:38] SPEAKER_01: Most of our clients are in commercial construction. So those are companies that build big buildings, do the roofing on them, the glass glazing systems that fabricate the metal needed throughout the building and on the roofs.
[01:54] SPEAKER_01: We also have worked with a lot of manufacturing companies and companies in the service side of the oil and gas industry.
[02:04] SPEAKER_01: And because of my involvement in the community, we've also worked with a number of not-for-profit organizations and you don't prospect not-for-profits.
[02:14] SPEAKER_01: That business comes from somebody going through a media challenge and NIMBY challenge and need some media services or need a website and that happens through being at a social function and bumping into someone and says, hey, by the way, do you buy any chance to do?
[02:31] SPEAKER_01: And that's how it happens.
[02:32] SPEAKER_00: So why don't you get involved in all this in terms of the like communications, public relations, media services industry?
[02:43] SPEAKER_01: I like to say I have a checkered past, but at the end of explaining that and answering your question, I'll also tell you how it all links together.
[02:52] SPEAKER_01: I started my career as a drama teacher in high school, also taught in some secondary colleges.
[03:00] SPEAKER_01: And then I was involved in music at the same time. I produced records. I was a concert artist that was traveling.
[03:08] SPEAKER_01: I got into radio advertising and was there for a while. Then I became the sponsorship manager for Access Network, which brought together my radio experience as well as my educational experience.
[03:22] SPEAKER_01: And that of course touched on to public relations and working with major companies, usually the vice president of public relations, public affairs, communications, those kinds of people and putting it all together in teaching drama or producing a record album.
[03:43] SPEAKER_01: It all comes down to taking the small parts and putting them together to make the whole.
[03:51] SPEAKER_01: So designing a website, producing a video, even doing media strategies, it all comes down to identifying the small parts and putting them together into the whole.
[04:01] SPEAKER_00: Is that something that most companies tend not to do well?
[04:09] SPEAKER_01: Unless they have a marketing person, a brand specialist on staff, they don't do that well.
[04:16] SPEAKER_01: And particularly in the industries that I have named. And when they call in people like our companies like Unimar Creative, they have a specific purpose.
[04:29] SPEAKER_01: They have grown to a point where they need some help in a particular area in developing their brand, developing their communications strategies.
[04:39] SPEAKER_01: There is a specific reason why they bring us into their story. And once we are into the story, then it's all about relationships.
[04:49] SPEAKER_01: And as we stay around, one of the things I didn't mention is we've also done probably 25 or 26 major qualitative research projects.
[04:59] SPEAKER_01: And so a company has a problem, a company, one company was thinking about buying a $1.5 million laser cutter.
[05:08] SPEAKER_01: So they wanted to be sure that the business was there for that. So we did a research project on that.
[05:15] SPEAKER_01: We did a research on a project for an RV resort company that it was very interesting.
[05:23] SPEAKER_01: We interviewed all of the property owners within their complex and came up with things like they felt more at home and knew more people at the RV park than they did at home.
[05:40] SPEAKER_01: Family came, they had great family experience. So we came up with a slogan out of that friends family community.
[05:47] SPEAKER_01: And of course we did a lot of television and radio and newspaper and online marketing around that.
[05:54] SPEAKER_01: And we did various other research projects as well. But that we I never once sold a research research project.
[06:02] SPEAKER_01: And so it all those all came through relationships.
[06:06] SPEAKER_00: Now you mentioned the word story and it's obviously in my line of work and what my background, you know, it was always about the story.
[06:14] SPEAKER_00: Tell me the importance of story and story telling when it comes to businesses and out there.
[06:22] SPEAKER_01: Well, story has become very important. It starts with the brand.
[06:26] SPEAKER_01: So what's the definition of a brand? A brand is what others think it is.
[06:31] SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what you think a brand is what your customers think or you can always lean on Jeff Bezos for a further explanation.
[06:40] SPEAKER_01: He says that a brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room.
[06:45] SPEAKER_01: So working from that, what's your brand story? I like to say that a brand reflects the soul of an organization.
[06:53] SPEAKER_01: In other words, it works from the inside out.
[06:57] SPEAKER_01: And so what is the story of with all of that happening? Then a brand touches the inner being of your customer.
[07:05] SPEAKER_01: So they need something they want a new car or they need to buy a drilling rig or whatever it is that they have a need for your brand relates to that and touches that we used to talk about branding.
[07:19] SPEAKER_01: The branding was really designing logos, corporate colors, corporate slogans.
[07:26] SPEAKER_01: That's what we said branding was. I like to describe that as putting a face on the organization, putting a face on the brand.
[07:35] SPEAKER_01: But your brand start from the inside out and that's where all of the stories flow out of.
[07:41] SPEAKER_00: You know, and it's interesting you mentioned that because one of the things topics I've always talked about with people is putting a face on it is, you know, obviously it also it's a person.
[07:54] SPEAKER_00: Who's in charge of this company? Like, you know, perfect example is the real estate profession, right?
[08:02] SPEAKER_00: You're a realtor, you know, obviously you're your background and your knowledge.
[08:10] SPEAKER_00: Excuse me in your expertise and all that are big.
[08:15] SPEAKER_00: And but a lot of people, you know, look at who the person is, right?
[08:21] SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, I don't know like like your opinion on this, but I from my perspective, I see so many companies that.
[08:30] SPEAKER_00: You don't know who their CEO is, you don't know who their president is and and, you know, quite frankly, these are the guys that are directing this company in a certain way, right?
[08:43] SPEAKER_01: Well, developing a brand takes authenticity.
[08:49] SPEAKER_01: Are you the real deal?
[08:52] SPEAKER_01: Transparency, are you the person or the company that you say you are?
[08:57] SPEAKER_01: And those, those two elements come into play when you are doing your branding and brand delivery.
[09:06] SPEAKER_01: So to, to your point, understanding who the company is, understanding what they do, understanding who does it for them.
[09:16] SPEAKER_01: That's where you start to develop trust. Now the social media marketing funnel is you get to know someone and as you get to know them, you like them.
[09:27] SPEAKER_01: You trust them. And after you trust them, there comes a point where you engage with them and engaging means buying something or following or friending them on social media.
[09:40] SPEAKER_01: Or making some kind of a decision may it might be as simple as agreeing to have a conversation a couple of months from now when the person the company knows that they have a project that they want to talk to you about.
[09:53] SPEAKER_00: The other aspect of branding that I find I find kind of interesting is the.
[10:01] SPEAKER_00: I guess you've got in as a business, you've got to come out with your brand before somebody help defines you, right?
[10:11] SPEAKER_00: So in many ways, you really have to be proactive before something happens out there and you lose control of what people think of you, right?
[10:24] SPEAKER_01: Well, if you don't define yourself, as you've just said, somebody else will do it for you. And that's why you need to be proactive. Now, Mario, you and I have known a number of companies down through the years.
[10:40] SPEAKER_01: That had a sucky logo. I mean, it was really horrible, but you walked into their office and they were a highly successful company.
[10:50] SPEAKER_01: They maybe had operations in different cities and how they got to that point was.
[10:56] SPEAKER_01: In fact, there's a company that I'm thinking of right now they started their business in a backyard garage. They were in the drilling tools, business, supplying drilling contractors all over Northern British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
[11:14] SPEAKER_01: What they would do how they built their brand is when a phone call would come in at three o'clock in the morning from a drilling rig and they were absolutely desperate to get a particular tool that had broken.
[11:28] SPEAKER_01: They would get out of bed, go and get the tool, rush up to the airport and send it to them the fastest way possible.
[11:35] SPEAKER_01: Well, the their clients knew that they they could expect that there was predictability and there was consistency. And of course, there was always quality product.
[11:45] SPEAKER_01: Then they grew to the point that it was going to cost too much to put new logos and branding on their buildings and their vehicles and all the other kinds of things that they had.
[11:56] SPEAKER_01: If you're sitting in a coffee shop right now listening to this or watching this. Look out in the parking lot and see how many trucks you see out there with a really sucky logo right down their website and check them out and see what kind of a company there isn't always what they see, but that does add to the story.
[12:17] SPEAKER_00: And I guess there's also all these little things out there like I was just thinking here I was just the other day I was at a company office in Cal in the belt line and fourth floor,
[12:31] SPEAKER_00: fourth floor of their office get out of the elevator. What am I greeted with a Porsche sitting sitting right in the middle of the lobby.
[12:42] SPEAKER_00: Nothing else, you know, there's a little reception desk, but there was like a little desk area, but the Porsche with a couple of big paintings in the background and thinking like, wow, right.
[12:55] SPEAKER_00: And you know, obviously it's done for a reason, right. And so I think for companies and businesses, they have to they have to think about the image of what it portrays to you, me and everybody else that sees that image, right.
[13:12] SPEAKER_01: Well, Mario, it comes down to cheese. I'm sure you're like me. You've woken up at three o'clock in the morning, startled sitting up straight and asking yourself the question, why do I buy that cheese.
[13:28] SPEAKER_01: Well, it could be that the cheat you buy it because of the product placement in the store that you go to it could be the packaging like the Porsche is packaged a little bit different than a Toyota Corolla.
[13:45] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it could be the pricing. It and of course the quality, the customer experience, do you enjoy eating the cheese when all of those things come together that meet your needs, you keep buying the cheese.
[14:00] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: So let's talk a little bit of being an entrepreneur Robin, you've been at it for a number of years.
[14:08] SPEAKER_00: What do you like about being an entrepreneur?
[14:11] SPEAKER_01: Well, certainly the personal challenge and the the fulfillment that comes from doing a good job and then being asked to do it again, but there's also things like, you know, freedom as far as it's it's not that you work, it's when you work and the freedom of being able to, you know, adjust your schedule, work with your schedule and
[14:38] SPEAKER_01: but just the the connection with other people, the whole process, it really helps if you're a people person. I know some businesses where there weren't people people involved, but it really helps if you're a relationship driven person.
[14:56] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let me just ask, you know, when when you look at all the different entrepreneurs that you've dealt with over your your career and through your business, has there been something there underlying a common thread between them all that's that you've kind of pointed towards success.
[15:19] SPEAKER_00: Like was there something there that you've noticed?
[15:23] SPEAKER_01: I think it differs a little bit from case to case. I've certainly known entrepreneurs and worked with clients that started with a particular organization. Maybe they were an apprentice got their journeyman papers and a particular area of the building industry and then the time came when they started their own business.
[15:45] SPEAKER_01: I also know people who just had a passion for something. I knew a wonderful entrepreneuries passed away now, but he was in university working on a science degree.
[15:57] SPEAKER_01: Didn't like it.
[15:58] SPEAKER_01: He dropped out and he started a pest control company out of the trunk of his car. Now one of his one of his philosophies was to find something that nobody else wants to do and do it.
[16:12] SPEAKER_01: And so that pest control company grew into being the dominant pest control company in Alberta with offices in menace and half left bridge, Calgary, Red Deer Edmonton.
[16:24] SPEAKER_01: And from that, then he would notice as his people went into a warehouse that stored dog food, you have to have a pest control contract to go in and check and make sure everything's okay.
[16:36] SPEAKER_01: Well, then he noticed that they needed landscaping. So he started the landscaping company hiring university students in April.
[16:47] SPEAKER_01: And they worked of course until into the end of August. And he would grow businesses like that.
[16:53] SPEAKER_01: But he had an entrepreneurial mindset. Some of his funniest stories were of starting companies or doing making investments that absolutely did not pan out.
[17:07] SPEAKER_00: That's interesting. So if you had a piece of advice for somebody who came to you and said, hey, Robin, I know you've been involved. You've been an entrepreneur for years.
[17:17] SPEAKER_00: You've been involved and had relationships with many of them. What would be your key advice to a would be entrepreneur?
[17:26] SPEAKER_01: My key advice would be to reach out and ask for advice. You will need it. There are areas that you do not have expertise in.
[17:36] SPEAKER_01: But there's also areas that as you grow, you don't have time to do those kinds of things like accounting, like lawyer legal advice, various other kinds of support services.
[17:50] SPEAKER_01: But talk to people, ask people, one of my greatest regrets when I started my business, I knew some people that were very successful in business.
[18:02] SPEAKER_01: One gentleman manufactured oil rigs that were flown up to the far north. All of those people would have loved to sit down with me.
[18:13] SPEAKER_01: Atomic donals, they wouldn't need a Starbucks. They'd feel like a place some of them at a Starbucks. But they would have loved to have sat down and answered questions.
[18:22] SPEAKER_01: But I didn't ask them because I was a little bit too proud to do that. So put that aside. Get involved as well. Find areas like in the community, for example, volunteer at the food bank, volunteer at the homeless shelter, get involved in politics or in community sports because you meet people.
[18:43] SPEAKER_01: You meet people all the time and you never know who you might bump into. But that improves your personal brand because people think, I think that's a good thing that that person is involved in the community the way they are.
[18:58] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, interesting. Speaking of interests, I know that that you've got a big lot of interest in and being a Rotarian.
[19:10] SPEAKER_00: Maybe explain that to our viewers here. What does that mean? What is what is a Rotarian?
[19:18] SPEAKER_01: Rotarian or a rotary club is a service organization. It's all about service. And every club is a little bit different. Every club.
[19:29] SPEAKER_01: And every club focuses on interest that they have in their community or around the world. My particular club has experts that have gone on international projects, doing establishing micro credit or micro economics is what they call it now projects in Nepal and Guatemala and Peru.
[19:54] SPEAKER_01: And other other people have gone in the built wood stoves for mums and in extreme poverty areas where the family lives in it in basically a hut.
[20:07] SPEAKER_01: And there's an opening in the ceiling and open fire. The mom carries the little guy on her back strapped on around her. And so every time she leans down to 10 dinner on the fire, she inhaled smoke as well as the children. Well, our club and other rotary clubs have done that.
[20:26] SPEAKER_01: And of course being involved in local projects like youth at risk, addictions, domestic violence, helping organizations out to do that.
[20:36] SPEAKER_01: You learn how the community works and how phenomenal it is the way that the community is woven together to support each other and the different kinds of things that are done.
[20:51] SPEAKER_01: And the other part of rotary is every week you have a speaker. And after you've been a Rotarian for about two years, you will have heard experts from business, manufacturing, from universities, from science, interesting hobbies that are wild that you never thought you'd be interested in.
[21:11] SPEAKER_01: But now you are like bird watching. I heard a person give a speech about bird watching about 20 years ago and I've never looked at birds the same. And so you learn a lot about that as well.
[21:24] SPEAKER_01: Cool. And how long have you been active there?
[21:28] SPEAKER_01: I've been a Rotarian for 23 years.
[21:31] SPEAKER_00: Oh, cool, cool. And what led you into it?
[21:36] SPEAKER_01: Well, the client that I told you about that started the pest control company.
[21:42] SPEAKER_01: He kind of walked alongside me and you know, asked some questions about whether I might be interested in joining rotary.
[21:52] SPEAKER_01: And of course, rotary is very complex. You can't explain it in one conversation. And that was how that I joined.
[21:59] SPEAKER_01: Usually you have to be invited to join rotary. But we've had lots of people that have contacted us through our website and wanted to get involved in community service and started a conversation and then it went from there.
[22:14] SPEAKER_00: All right, super. Well, thanks very much, Robin, for taking the time to join us today.
[22:19] SPEAKER_01: Well, Mario, it's been great to be on the podcast. Thank you very much for inviting me.
[22:24] SPEAKER_00: All right, super. That was Robin Braille who is president and co founder of Unimark Creative in Calgary.
[22:32] SPEAKER_00: I'm Mario Toneguzi on Calgary's podcast on Canada's podcast network. Thanks for joining us today.
