S: Social Exchange Project
C: Cameron Brohman - Co-Founder Brandaid Project
S: Lets start with the model of Brandaid. How would that be a relevant part of the education process at Centennial College?
C: I think that because, for two main reasons, or rather how is that it can live in Centennial College on campus, it can live within the curriculum as a practicum, as an action-‐study combination-‐real world and sustainable business model and learning process. So I believe it is an attractive vehicle for education because it is interesting to do this. I can tell you, it’s an interesting job, bringing products from different countries-‐with challenges, and the deep cultures and great narratives and especially, you know, in the Canadian context. I think this is because the business relates to multicultural sources of trade, that its particularly Canadian and therefore really belongs as part of the education process in Canada.
S: How do you get your target market to go ahead and purchase your items?
C: You have to add value to the supply chain and the way to add value is to first buy designing products that are more beautiful, more useful, more attractive to a particular market and a particular consumer’s taste. When you add value that way, I think that you add value and you increase the value by actually-‐ the money, the money value, the retail price, its worth more. The other way to overcome this, I think to add value is to bring to the consumer a particular story and narrative about where that product comes from, and to attract the customer in a way to participate in a process that is not just ‘buying a product.’ This is more than just buying a product, this is creating a kind of relationship, maybe with another culture, maybe retail diplomacy. You add value by inviting the consumer to participate in something really meaningful. So I think you create new products first of all. You design to create new products and you use marketing, you take advantage of the kind of marketing genius that comes out of our society here to which a lot of people don’t have access. You combine all this, you collaborate to create something very new, very exciting.
S: What would you like to see happen between Centennial College and Brandaid?
C: Our intention, brandaid’s intention and our wish and it may not come true, but our wish would be to see the research recommend a business model that was a partnership with Brandaid and centennial college and the artisans of the world. That there was a place for all of those players in that supply chain to activate a real business that was ongoing that grew its market share year by year because it was getting better at what it was doing-‐that’s the vision.
S: If we did partner with you, if you became our industry partner what can we see in terms of efforts and guidance?
S: The way I see this type of sequencing is this is going to take some type of development and that development we explain. We are going to propose to CIDA (the Canadian government) that they develop this with us. We think that a year to 18 months to two years, really focused, well developed and financed program across the community college national network and beyond. That Centennial College and Brandaid can partner to create something of that magnitude, of that application internationally would be our first priority, our first goal and so, yeah, I think that within the context of that there is a great deal of students at Centennial College that would be collaborating. It would be financed and it would have a placement in curriculum development.
S: Why do you believe a college is a good place for the model to be set up? Compared to, if we did it at a university level?
C: I think that a community college is the perfect setting for this. This is a program that is trying to engage multiple cultures and multiple countries around the world. To walk into a community college, like I did in centennial, and see ambassadors from all of those countries walking those halls at centennial college, being a part of this project was overwhelming. This is a place for this project and also, there is a difference between the university and the community college in terms of practicum and practical experience and on the job and lets get down to business here. And that’s the difference, the difference is all important because this is not purely a research-‐this is not theoretical research project, its not even a scholarly project, we could do scholarship on this. What we’re attempting to do, is build a business that can both contribute and deliver as a business. The reason we want to build it as a business is so that it keeps going so it’ s ongoing and doesn’t have to beg money to be a part of students’ lives year in and year out.
S: Why should a social enterprise be a right medium to develop a business model?
C: I think its just a business of support, the social enterprise tag is very fashionable because-‐its fashionable. So, it does this business, it has all this criteria that social enterprise has to be but I am not designing it out of a sense of altruism, I am designing it this way because I believe the consumers are underserved in terms of brands and products they can buy that are activist, that participate in some kind of change. I think consumers want more from us, and that’s why I have designed this Brandaid the way I designed it-‐ to fill a consumer demand. Because my premise is to build a brand and build products that a lot of people want to buy, that’s why I am in this. So I am following what I believe is consumer demand, for you know-‐a different world, to take part in. I think there is a great aptitude for that, invigorating younger people into the market place.
S: There are a lot of companies that say ‘fair trade.' How does Brandaid set itself apart?
C: Well we set up first with language-‐different language. We say we are a fair profit company, which is automatically fair-‐trade. But what were doing is supplying everybody in the supply chain with fair profit. Its not a winner-‐take all capitalist model it’s a fair profit model. Secondly that, I mean, its fair-‐trade, lets face it, philosophically its fair trade. We’ve created a kind of new hybrid by bringing the global advertising industry into play with global – and micro producers. This is something kind-‐of new I think it’s interesting for the consumers that we’ve interviewed. We say you know-‐because they ask question, ‘what’s different about this?’ Well we say, well, we’re interested in finding brands from all over the world and it’s just an endless, fascinating journey finding brands from villages in India and suddenly you see this fantastic brand! And we want to bring those stories and those ideas to consumers. We think that consumers will like this, and they did! The brands that we showcased in this collection for The Bay, you know, they come from a carnival tradition in Jacmal, Haiti and another one is this town of blacksmiths that make beautiful products out of recycled oil drums, consumers love these brands so Brandaid is different from all these other very do-‐goody brands in that were bringing madison Ave. to bear on this stud and we are going to make it really interesting. And it is very interesting, it is beautiful the way it’s presented. So we think that’s kind of different. We have other things that we are thinking of playing with, to differentiate Brandaid even more.
S: When consumers purchase these products, do they get a story with it? Do they get that information presented to them?
C: In several ways, First of all, there is a tag, that tells you, there is point of purchase information that sets you right into place. And then everything is QR coded, so they, people, can scan and see videos of this product getting produced in Haiti. So we process the films. We have a website, if you go to our website you are going to find out more than you ever wanted to know about this product you’re buying, including the artisan who made it, the community that it comes from, how it gets made. There is a lot of information.
S: And you know that consumers are getting that information, and they are reading it?
C: In varying degrees
S: What is the process of packaging and design? How long does that process take?
C: Well that process can take a while, if you’re starting to redesign products, and you’re coming to a group of artisans who maybe, they may be master artisans, and they can make a lot of products. But you're introducing a new design and you say ‘make this’ they make it, you get it, you look at it, you give them feedback, they make another one, that’s usually, you know, the back and forth, you know. So it’s about how quickly we can execute. I think we are in a great position here because of the student connectivity and the source, its you know, it would take Brandaid, obviously to manipulate the distance and activate artisans through the distance or I would just go to Haiti myself, all this. So this, I think the value of developing this, the phase of developing before we can answer these questions you're asking about how long this process takes. Before you're going to design something, that we know everything about the supply chain and then well have definite answers to such questions.
S: So once you create this first test, and then you can take this same model and put it into every country or community?
C: We’ll make a kit. We’ll film everything we’ll do, well create a manual of it, we’ll create, you know, a thesis paper, we’ll create all kinds of material
S: And every school that wants to give it a shot will have this kit as a resource and they can try it themselves?
C: Part of the budget will include an audio/visual component, which we’ll you know, make a film obviously.
S: What advice can you give to students in terms of improving our product narrative? How can we make it more sellable to consumers?
C: What we want, is a model that you just plug into, a template, it’s not even, its simpler than having meetings, its something that you can access. First of all on screen, a beginning manual, a book, do the following six things, then we will do this, then phase three is this, etc.
S: Like a template that you just have to plug your information into and it automatically falls together?
C: Yes, and you start the process and then the process continues into other phases and it continues. These are the things we want to design.
S: In terms of our student products, what potential is there to see these products on store shelves?
C: Brandaid is capable of making deals with big retailers, The Bay, Macys, Holt Renfrew there is a process by which that producer in Columbia, they have to come up to a level, everybody likes it, artisans really appreciate it. They learn so much and now they are playing in the major leagues.
S: Has that profit earned from the selling of these products changed lives?
C: Absolutely, totally, I just-‐the last trip to Haiti, before or after I met with you people, was with a CIDA official and we went down to measure, because it’s a CIDA contract. So you have to measure outcomes, we interviewed a series of artisans and asked them exactly those questions. Did you make money, what did you do with that money, what difference did it make?
S: And what was the response?
C: They rebuilt houses, they bought used cars, paid for schooling for their children -‐ schooling is private in Haiti. Took care of that kind of business, improved their lives, and they were very excited about having something ongoing. That is the next level for them. Its great to get a big order, make some cash and buy things, but to make a real life. The sustainability from this is right in front of them, which is another reason why locking something into a community college, a curriculum, an education is so important. It has a permanency to it, it’s a partnership, and it gives a change to be sustainable.
S: Well, it has been a pleasure chatting with today Cameron. Thank you!
C: It was my pleasure.
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