What is the story of your organisation? No, I don’t mean your corporate story or your corporate mission statement. Neither do I mean your key values. What is the story you tell others. The story my dear 80-year-old aunt, who lives in the sticks, can also comprehend and pass on to others.

A good story is the basis for any experience. And every organisation, every brand is full of fascinating stories. But storytelling is not as easy as it sounds. How do you draw the attention of your audience? How do you keep their attention? How can you make them tell your story to others? That is the essence of our work. Such things fascinate me immensely.

As a high-school student, I was fascinated by literature; so I went on to study Dutch language. At university I discovered the power of film stories, and I became a cinephile. In 1988, after graduation, I became a copywriter in the world of advertising and this allowed me to write stories.

Not all of my writings would get me nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature, but some were bound to be good. After all, in 1994 I became the Managing director / Partner for a successful advertising agency. I sold that business with my partners in 2001. Perfect timing: just three months before nine-eleven. Why? I saw that the advertising industry was at the end of its lifecycle.

In 2003, I met Marcel Goossens and I joined DST as a co-owner. Together, we made DST into what it is today: the experience agency. My role: co-working frontman within the team. Particularly in the early stages of projects: strategy, concept development. I still write, but mainly for bid books and vision documents