Facilitator spotlight: Marieke Griffioen

This month, we've got 21 questions for Brand The Change certified trainer Marieke Griffioen from the Netherlands. Marieke’s career spans over two decades, first as a designer, then design director for famed studio Edenspiekermann, and since 2018, as an independent brand consultant.

Photo credit: Maurice Jager

1. What's the story of your name? (or, if it is not interesting, what is the story

My last name is a mythical animal, with the body of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle. So it is a mix of the most powerful animals on land and in the sky. Ever since it featured in Harry Potter, it is easy for people to remember it. 

2. Name one thing that you love about the place where you live

I live in Wageningen, a small city that is world-famous for its agricultural university. This attracts bright minds from all over the world, so we are the city with the most nationalities in the Netherlands, even more than Amsterdam (that is, until the student from Tonga graduates, as we jokingly say). I love this international young vibe, even though I have nothing to do with agricultural education.

The Blind Wall Gallery

3. What problem in the world keeps you up at night?

It worries me that so many people get stuck in their own social information bubbles. The mistrust and even downright hostility towards journalists, traditional media and science scares me.

4. What inspires you to get out of bed in the morning?

When the sun is shining, which is not a thing we ever take for granted in the Netherlands.

5. What is the big change you want to see in the world?

A better distribution of wealth and opportunities in the world. Everyone should have the possibility to fully develop the talents that they are born with. Both intellectual and practical skills should provide enough income to lead a happy and financially carefree life.

6. How are you working towards that change in your own way?

I love it when people still master a craft, and I would like to contribute my knowledge and experience to help collectives of artisans all over the world to reach a larger audience. It is my conviction that branding can help to market handmade products beyond fair trade shops and the souvenir business. A strong brand can add value and is a foundation for a better product portfolio. This provides opportunities for local designers as well.

Marieke in action during one of her brand-building workshops
Photo credit: Rob de Bree

After a few pilots in the Netherlands, I was just starting to explore the global market for this service when the COVID crisis hit. Although I do have online workshops with other clients, I think for this purpose it wouldn’t work. So I delayed my plans until we can travel again. Meanwhile, I use the BTC tools for my Dutch clients.

7. If you were a car brand, which brand would you be and why?

I am not a car buff, but I would be a Toyota. Not the fanciest car, but they never fail you. You see them all over the world and they last forever, even in harsh circumstances. And they have excellent client service.

8. What is the biggest branding mistake you ever made?

Probably that I paid no attention at all to my personal brand for most of my career. When you work in an agency, every project is a team effort. I never bothered to point out to the outside world what my role was. The next project was always more exciting. So when I quit my job and started working independently I had to start building my personal brand from scratch. 

9. What is your biggest branding success?

I have done quite a few really big projects that I am proud of and that resulted in brand identities that still work well and are very visible in the Netherlands. But one of the smallest projects I ever did is very dear to me. That was for the ‘Fair Fabrics’ brand when I had just started to use the Brand the Change canvasses. I then saw how well it works when people define their own brand and make choices based on this inner brand core. It was very satisfying to follow the progress of this brand after the workshops had ended.

10. What do you want people to think and feel about your brand?

I would like people to think that no matter what branding or communication issue they have, they can ask me to help them solve it. I am focussing on bespoke co-creation workshops at the moment. I bring other experts to the table if needed.

11. What would you love to figure out about brand building that you still can't quite master?

‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ has been on my desk for a few years now. It’s about time that I actually start reading it and get a more theoretical frame for storytelling.

12. What is your first memory of a brand?

The ‘Milky Way’ candy bars that my grandmother bought for us when we visited for school holiday sleepovers. At my parents’ house, we didn’t get many sweets so this was a rare treat.

13. Which brand is totally overrated?

Definitely Apple. I too am trapped in their ecosystem, because it is just so easy to stay in. So I have a love-hate relationship with this brand.

14. What brand should finally get the attention it deserves?

Made 51. An initiative of UNHCR to sell products that are handmade by refugees. They sell really beautiful products but have very limited exposure.

Photo credit: Weave Fair Trade

15. Who is your biggest changemaker hero?

People that have an idea and the stamina to make it happen. Like Boyan Slat. As a student, he had an idea to remove plastic from the oceans. Now he is heading the big Ocean Cleanup organisation. Or Dennis Elbers who turned the bland provincial city of Breda into an open-air art gallery with his Blind Walls Gallery project.

16. Business is/can be a force for good. Agree or disagree?

Totally agree. 

17. If you could have one person be your brand ambassador for a day, who would it be?

I would ask the global Brand the Change community to help me look for collectives of artisans and craftspeople that are already well organised and are ready for the next branding step. Or even better: to get me an introduction.

18. If you could give someone or something one million dollars in services from the best brand builders in the world, who would you give it to and what would you want them to do with it?

I would give it to Made 51, see question 14. To spend on strengthening their brand.

19. We always say it takes a village to build a brand. Who is in your village - who is supporting you?

My network of great designers, motion designers, image makers and copywriters. I only work with people that I like and respect, which is a great luxury.

20. Any words of advice for young people who want to make it in the brand consultancy space today?

You don’t have to do it all by yourself. Try to build your own supportive network or join an agency. Admitting that you need help is not a weakness but a strength. You can never know all there is to know and it just takes time to build up experience.

21. Where do we go to find out more about you and your work?

You can find and contact me through my website or the Brand Building Workshop. I am looking for collectives of artisans and craftspeople that are already well organised and are ready for the next branding step.

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