============================================================
TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
============================================================
[00:00] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Calgary's podcast with Mario Tonoguzzi on Canada's podcast network.
[00:12] SPEAKER_00: Joining me today is Dan Bergeron, who is the president of Everbrave Branding Group in Calgary.
[00:18] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us today, Dan.
[00:21] SPEAKER_00: My pleasure.
[00:23] SPEAKER_00: Tell me a little bit about the company and what you guys do.
[00:27] SPEAKER_01: Sure, yeah. Everbrave is a strategic growth agency located here in Calgary.
[00:33] SPEAKER_01: We focus on helping our clients scale up and grow their practices, really based on four primary principles of growth, brand, marketing, sales and customer experience.
[00:45] SPEAKER_01: And we think that unlocking those four pillars with our clients and helping them optimize across that spectrum really helps them scale up their business.
[00:51] SPEAKER_00: And tell me a little bit about the history of it.
[00:54] SPEAKER_00: When did you start it? I'm presuming you started the company.
[00:58] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the company was actually founded not by me, but the company was founded in 1999.
[01:03] SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
[01:03] SPEAKER_01: A couple of years ago in Reddure, Alberta, Blue and or Not.
[01:07] SPEAKER_01: And I purchased the company in 2001 from the original founders.
[01:13] SPEAKER_01: And we carried on for many years until we met another like-minded agency called Squeeze Creative.
[01:19] SPEAKER_01: And merged our two companies together to form Everbrave in 2015.
[01:24] SPEAKER_00: Okay. Tell me the significance of the name Everbrave. Why was that chosen?
[01:30] SPEAKER_01: That's a good question. I mean, Everbrave was really chosen to encourage, I think, both our team internally and our clients to be courageous, to not be afraid to take a chance and be somewhat disruptive in their thinking and what they do.
[01:45] SPEAKER_01: And to remember that it's okay to fail. It's okay to take a chance. It's okay to make a mistake.
[01:49] SPEAKER_01: And you can only do that if you're courageous. So Everbrave, I think speaks to our core values very closely.
[01:56] SPEAKER_00: Okay. When it comes to branding, you know, it's a word that a lot, you know, tossed around a lot these days, you know, what's your brand, et cetera.
[02:05] SPEAKER_00: Like, how would you define that define what a brand is and what it means to have a brand?
[02:14] SPEAKER_01: That's a great question. I think Jeff Bezos kind of said it best when he said a brand is what other people say about you and you're not in the room.
[02:23] SPEAKER_01: You know, brand is about the way that we as organizations behave and we put our core values out in the universe.
[02:30] SPEAKER_01: It's the attributes and the touch points and everything combined together to form an impression, ultimately in the end user, the customer is, you know, minds eye.
[02:40] SPEAKER_01: That is the brand and the symbols of the brand, the logo and messaging and advertising and all that really are just emblems of what the brand stands for.
[02:51] SPEAKER_01: The brands are really, you know, a shared set of values that an organization puts out into the universe, folks around their product or service.
[03:00] SPEAKER_00: Yeah. So what kind of things do you do to facilitate that, I guess.
[03:05] SPEAKER_01: So we work with clients right at the very beginning, whether they're a startup or an established organization to help them understand their own DNA better.
[03:16] SPEAKER_01: We take a fairly unique, unbiased approach to that where we can be kind of the fly in the wall, help them really articulate in a simple way who they are and what they mean in the world and document all that.
[03:29] SPEAKER_01: And ultimately we take all that work and we translate that into some of those core brand assets that they might need to create meaningful authentic touch points out there in the world.
[03:40] SPEAKER_00: Do you think that it's even, I guess, more important or critically more important these days to be in control of your brand, you know, especially.
[03:52] SPEAKER_00: You know, we have everything from like Google reviews to social media to to you name it right there were 15, 20 years ago, whatever, you know, you don't have to worry about what other people were saying about you, right.
[04:09] SPEAKER_00: So true. Yeah.
[04:10] SPEAKER_01: The, the, the expansiveness of where our brand gets out there, the reach that it has the control that the world has over us in a way.
[04:20] SPEAKER_01: It's changing so quickly and it's, you know, and you're right in the last 15 or 20 years, it's become very, very much in the hands of the public and the public is to decide what you are in your brand is.
[04:30] SPEAKER_01: So, you know, what we can do is we can influence that through behavior, not just through messaging, 25, 30 years ago, you know, whatever you put out there in the world was what people would believe nowadays, everybody's empowered to be part of the conversation, especially your customers.
[04:48] SPEAKER_01: Social media is a huge influencer there.
[04:51] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's critical to not so much trying to control the brand. I think it's critical to try and control the kinds of interactions and the behavior and the voice that you have out there and that it's very, you know, well, our defined and articulated.
[05:07] SPEAKER_01: And that's really the best measure of control you can have is to be your best self and encourage organization to be their best self out there in the public.
[05:14] SPEAKER_00: Now, Dan, not necessarily your own clients, but I'm just thinking out there, you know, are there any really good examples that you can think of companies that do it well when it comes to sending their brand and telling the world about it.
[05:34] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, there's so many great examples of leading brands around the world. I think that, you know, a couple of my favorites. I mean, they're probably favorites of a lot of people are Starbucks and Apple, you know, Starbucks, I think it really wins in the sense that they really managed to dial in a very strong customer experience.
[05:54] SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not just about product. We don't always go to Starbucks because we just want the product.
[05:59] SPEAKER_01: I mean, today we do, but only because of a pandemic, but I think that we go there because we know we're going to be serving a unique way and it's very personal and exceptional. They've done a really nice job.
[06:09] SPEAKER_01: I think Apple has done an incredible job from a brand perspective on maintaining quality in every product in the sense that they don't really compromise their product quality at all and deliver consistent customer experience as well.
[06:23] SPEAKER_01: So those are two standout brands in my mind and probably two leaders and brand value worldwide as well.
[06:29] SPEAKER_00: So a lot of it comes down as you mentioned the customer experience, right? And not necessarily, although, yeah, having the right product is obviously a key, but, but if you don't have that customer experience, combine with that really, it's, you can't fulfill your potential, I guess.
[06:49] SPEAKER_00: It's almost like a cult following in many ways, right? Where you have, you know, the apples of Starbucks, certain brands of Harley Davidson's of the world, they developed that following that, that, right?
[07:06] SPEAKER_00: That's that people are more than, I guess, more than just a customer, right?
[07:13] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the key for them to do.
[07:19] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, absolutely. I think that, yeah, for great brands, it's about helping people buy into a movement, you know, buy into an emotional connection with their brand, what it means to them.
[07:27] SPEAKER_01: It isn't about selling products and trends, you know, just simple transactions.
[07:31] SPEAKER_01: You know, you mentioned Harley Davidson and what a great example. I mean, they stand for freedom. That's really what their core value and the core brand is all about, right?
[07:39] SPEAKER_01: Not about just motorcycles and motorcycle partners. So, you know, people become evangelistic and ambassadors over the brands that they love and they spread the word and they talk about it.
[07:49] SPEAKER_01: So, experiences everything today.
[07:52] SPEAKER_00: Tell me a little bit about your thoughts on the future. You know, any plans for the company or what you'd like to do?
[08:01] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I mean, everybody is scaling up and we are really looking to expand our business operations and to other parts of Canada, move into the United States as well.
[08:12] SPEAKER_01: We think that what we have to offer is very scalable and very meaningful to organizations, you know, everywhere.
[08:21] SPEAKER_01: We're pretty committed to continuing to evolve our four corpulars and get stronger and better at the things that we do now.
[08:32] SPEAKER_01: We know for sure that technology is a huge part of marketing and big data is a huge part of marketing.
[08:38] SPEAKER_01: We've been in that game now for seven or eight years and really trying to refine and build up our skills at that area as well.
[08:44] SPEAKER_01: So, continuing to do what we're doing, continuing to be adaptable to changes that are happening, whether they're economic changes that are happening because of world events or just the way business is changing.
[08:58] SPEAKER_01: You know, we're adaptable and we're agile and we're changing with it as it goes.
[09:05] SPEAKER_00: What about being an entrepreneur, Dan? What do you like about it?
[09:11] SPEAKER_01: Well, it's not to like about it, it's a thrill ride every day.
[09:18] SPEAKER_01: I mean, you've got all the power to build a vision and really assemble an amazing team of people that help bring that vision to life and build something meaningful in the world.
[09:31] SPEAKER_01: And I think you can only really do that as an entrepreneur. You can have your say over the way you can influence others, you can have your say over the way your business is structured run.
[09:44] SPEAKER_01: And at the same time, you kind of live in diva, the sword and take a lot of chances, which is kind of fun, kind of scary, kind of thrilling.
[09:52] SPEAKER_01: It's kind of it's very fulfilling and I wouldn't have it any other way.
[09:58] SPEAKER_00: What is there anything you don't like about being an entrepreneur?
[10:02] SPEAKER_00: Don't like about it.
[10:04] SPEAKER_01: Not really, I mean, honestly, it's, you know, I think it's an entrepreneur and I've been doing this for a very long time.
[10:12] SPEAKER_01: You always have these moments of reflection when you go, am I really doing the right thing with my life?
[10:17] SPEAKER_01: Boy, it would sure be easier to just work for somebody else.
[10:21] SPEAKER_01: And those moments last, you know, a moment and you realize that no, that would just be that would just be the opposite of everything I stand for and that I want to do.
[10:31] SPEAKER_01: You know, so it's stressful. There's a lot of, you know, kind of anxiety and stress that can come along at certain times.
[10:39] SPEAKER_01: But, you know, with enough experience, you realize you can really power through those moments and get up the other side and keep growing and keep changing.
[10:49] SPEAKER_00: So when you, over your career and being an entrepreneur, is there anyone in particular that you've followed, you know, in terms of inspiration or any books that have been helpful for you on that journey?
[11:09] SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely. You know, some of my inspirations are a bit more, a bit more local. One of my, one of my more local, I guess mentors, peer mentors is a gentleman, my name is Todd Miller, who's now the president and CEO of Tech Canada.
[11:25] SPEAKER_01: And it was my coach for many years and it's just a wonderful guy, former CEO of a number of, you know, international companies.
[11:35] SPEAKER_01: As far as books, I mean, some of the books that have influenced me over the years, you know, our company is built up on attraction ecosystem.
[11:42] SPEAKER_01: So traction, but you know, Whitman, it's been an amazing transformative book to help us really dial in our business operations.
[11:49] SPEAKER_01: One of my favorite all-time books on the topic of creativity and ideas is a book called Made to Stick by Chip Heat and his brother Dan Heat.
[11:58] SPEAKER_01: And it's just, it's just an awesome book. If you really want to kind of understand what makes people tech when it comes to, you know, making ideas sticky.
[12:05] SPEAKER_01: So I love that book and you know, book I read years ago that it's always stuck with me is good to great by Jim Collins.
[12:12] SPEAKER_01: I definitely recommend that book for, you know, anybody who's in business or thinking of starting a business.
[12:19] SPEAKER_00: That book's been mentioned a couple of times in interviews that I've had with people.
[12:24] SPEAKER_00: I must read it, I guess.
[12:26] SPEAKER_00: Good one.
[12:27] SPEAKER_00: It's a sign for me that I should read it.
[12:31] SPEAKER_00: How do you, you know, in this topsy, turbid world that we live in, everybody's busy and going crazy.
[12:40] SPEAKER_00: How do you figure out the work life balance in your own life?
[12:50] SPEAKER_00: One day at a time.
[12:53] SPEAKER_01: You know, I think that, you know, speaking of the current situation, new information comes out of every day.
[13:02] SPEAKER_01: And if you have a, if you have a spirit of adaptability already built in and you know, you're not set on a certain way of being a way of doing things.
[13:11] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, makes it a lot easier to take in change and to say, OK, well, I know my kids aren't going to school now for the next three weeks.
[13:17] SPEAKER_01: And my office is closed now for the next three weeks.
[13:21] SPEAKER_01: This last 18 months has taught us so much, or maybe 15 months, this taught us so much about being adaptable.
[13:27] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[13:27] SPEAKER_01: That you can kind of take it, take it with ease now and to say, well, the next challenge comes, we know we can find our way through it without being really fearful of the changes in front of you.
[13:39] SPEAKER_00: I explore that a little bit more. What do you think you've learned as a business owner and entrepreneur through these last year and a bit?
[13:52] SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, one of the one of the more significant changes for many, many businesses, ours included was a full shift to work from home.
[14:00] SPEAKER_01: And you know, on March 15th to 2020, you know, I think, Roman, I think we, we made decisions that everybody can work from home.
[14:08] SPEAKER_01: We were fortunate that we had a good infrastructure in place that allowed us to do that quickly.
[14:13] SPEAKER_01: You know, prior to that, I think I was pretty convinced and that I needed to really see my team to know my team was productive to know that they could get support with a needed it.
[14:24] SPEAKER_01: But we've proven that we don't, you know, and we'd like to see our team. Sure, and they'd like to see each other too.
[14:30] SPEAKER_01: But we, we, we, we've made it work. We've been able to be highly productive and effective working, you know, all different parts of the city and around Alberta, actually.
[14:39] SPEAKER_01: So that's been a, you know, an encouraging signal to us that we can actually scale up far beyond the four walls of our office that we don't need to, you know, have a seat for every human necessary that we can really scale well beyond our own borders.
[14:54] SPEAKER_01: And that, you know, that took some time to learn and it was a very valuable to us as well.
[15:01] SPEAKER_01: We've also had to learn how to manage a corporate culture online.
[15:05] Speaker UNKNOWN:
[15:06] SPEAKER_01: You know, and that's been a, that's been a unique challenge as well as how do we keep our team connected to each other?
[15:10] SPEAKER_01: We have fun, so together as a team.
[15:14] SPEAKER_01: And we've been, you know, pretty adaptable in that area and our, our team has been amazing at, you know, contributing and pitching in and inspiring us with different ideas and how to keep our culture tightly together.
[15:27] SPEAKER_01: And I would say even today, we probably have a stronger culture than we had going into this whole thing, which is kind of interesting.
[15:34] SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's cool. Yeah. Well, thanks very much, Dan, for joining us today.
[15:39] SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Mario. It's been great.
[15:41] SPEAKER_00: Okay, super. That was Dan Vergeron, who is the president of Everbray Branding Group in Calgary. This has been Calgary's podcast with Mario Tonoguzzi on Canada's podcast network. Thanks for joining us today.
