Meeting Pen-Ek Ratanaruang – New Thai Cinema
Six weeks ago in New York, we met Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, a Thai film director and screenwriter considered one of Thai cinema’s leading ‘new wave’ auteurs. He was in Manhattan to present his new… Read More
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Meeting Bhanu Inkawat in Bangkok
We’re in the Bangkok Skytrain going towards Sukhumvit Road. Since the beginning of our trip Around the World in 80 Brands, we have been communicating our itinerary and date of arrival on Facebook.… Read More
Building a house in the favela in São Paulo – Um Teto Para Meu Pais
We’re on our way to the outskirts of São Paulo. Luciano is zigzagging his way through the heavy traffic. We met him a few weeks ago, when he told us about the NGO… Read More
Shanghai Tang – the Nomad of Hong Kong
We’re on Hong Kong Island. We just took the peak tram up the 428-metre-high Victoria Peak where we have a great panoramic view over the city. I throw a coin into one of… Read More
Meeting Satellite Sister Liz Dolan – FOX Int. Channels
We’re standing at the end of Santa Monica pier overlooking the Pacific. On the railing a seagull is looking at me as if he expects me to fish a sardine out of my pocket… Read More
Meeting Tom Doctoroff in Shanghai – ‘What Chinese Want’
We exit the metro at Shangcheng Road station and walk along Pudong Road in a southerly direction until we reach a branch of Häagen-Dazs. “Here it is,” I say, pointing at the ice… Read More
Meeting Mark Sherwood in SoHo – Saatchi & Saatchi
We exit the underground at Spring Street station and emerge at Sixth Avenue. “I love SoHo more each time we come back,” Maarten says. “The buzz, the brownstones, the great restaurants.” “And don’t… Read More
Meeting Melissa, the girl from Brazil in New York
We’ve been in New York for a couple of days now and our schedule has been packed with meetings: lunch with international designers, drinks with new contacts and brainstorming sessions with branding experts. But… Read More
Plastic Dreams – Melissa – New York
We head into the gallery, which doubles as an exhibition space where artists and designers who collaborate with Melissa exhibit their work. “This boutique feels very different from the boutique in São Paulo… Read More
Meeting GE in NY – Healthymagination
As Anouk gets up to go and order another coffee, I take a look around. “Your average Starbucks crowd,” I think to myself. “Apart from that lot at the next table. I wonder what… Read More
Meeting Henrique Alves Pinto in São Paulo
Brazil’s New-Generation Serial Entrepreneur - We’re strolling through Jardins Paulista, one of São Paolo’s upmarket neighbourhoods. The street scene is an eclectic mix of luxury boutiques and old-school corner shops, trendy restaurants and high-rise apartment… Read More
Henrique Alves Pinto ‘The power of the mind’
It’s a hot and sunny day in São Paulo and we’re on our way to meet Henrique Pinto, one of Brazil’s leading ‘new-generation’ businessmen. We’re in the upmarket Jardins Paulista neighbourhood, looking for… Read More
OSKLEN – Brazilian Soul
As soon as we arrive in Oskar Metsavaht’s atelier, we are caught up in a flurry of models, make-up artists and stylists who are getting ready for a fitting session of the new… Read More
Instituto e – Make sustainability cool
We have arranged to meet Oskar Metsavaht at one of the small beachfront cafés on Arpoador Beach, where we find him sitting on the terrace gazing out at the waves and the quiet… Read More
Apollo Tyres – Entering the global arena full speed
We enter the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi and head for the business desk at the reception. “We have a meeting with Mr. Onkar Kanwar and his son Neeraj Kanwar from Apollo… Read More
Etisalat Mobile Baby – A sustainable contribution to healthcare
We are standing on top of a sand dune in the Arabian desert outside Abu Dhabi. We are with Essa Alhaddad, the Chief Commercial Officer of Etisalat Group, who is using the bonnet… Read More
Meeting Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Masdar City
Global knowledge hub for renewable energy – “Welcome to Masdar City,” Sheikh Mohammed starts. “Today, the world is facing serious challenges, finding scalable sources of clean energy, providing fresh water and battling climate… Read More
Meeting Richard Branson at TED
We are on our way to an event organised by TED, a global platform for sharing ‘ideas worth spreading’. Richard Branson is tonight’s main guest and he will be talking to TED’s curator Chris Anderson.… Read More
Global cooling and space travel
We’ve just attended a TED event where Richard Branson was in conversation with TED’s curator Chris Anderson. TED is a platform for sharing ‘ideas worth spreading’ – we’ve been following it for years, regularly browsing through… Read More
Meeting Alejandro BERNABE at Kempinski Mall of the Emirates
The dancing chefs - We arrive by metro at the Mall of the Emirates, a huge shopping mall in Dubai’s Al Barsha district. It is one of the largest in the Middle East and… Read More
Meeting Saleh Al Geziry in the old spice souk – Dubai
Here I am, on a deckchair overlooking the swimming pool. I just did 10 laps and I am now enjoying a café latte and the bestseller I bought at the beginning of the… Read More
Meeting Sheikh Mohammed bin Faisal Al Qassimi at The Ajman Palace
Discovering The Ajman Palace - We rented a car at Dubai Airport and instead of driving into town, where the action is, we head up north towards Ajman, in search of a more authentic… Read More
Meeting Gustavo Aguiar – PUNK art
We arrive at Milano Malpensa Airport after our afternoon meeting in the Diesel flagship store. We check in for our flight to Dubai and we make our way to the duty free area,… Read More
Meeting Diesel in Milan
Ah… Milan. If you want to submerge yourself in culture and the latest fashion and design, there is no place like Milan. The cathedral at the Piazza del Duomo, the attractive squares, renaissance buildings… Read More
Meeting Bob Jeffrey – the man behind Worldmakers
We’re sitting on the terrace of the Mocca across the street from Le Palais. “This is the best place to meet people,” I think to myself. “The perfect pastime. Sit, drink coffee, meet… Read More
Meeting Sol de Janeiro in Cannes
We are in Cannes, on the French Riviera, walking on the famous Boulevard de la Croisette. We decided to come here for a few days for the annual Lions Awards. A good opportunity to… Read More
Rabobank – Connecting to the customer, each other, the society and the future
Tereos France - Connecting to each other - Joost Augusteijn, whom we met in the Netherlands a few weeks ago, sent us to Tereos, France’s largest agricultural producer that processes sugar beet, grains and sugar cane.… Read More
An encounter with Louis Vuitton on the Champs-Elysées
As we wander up the Champs-Elysées towards the Arc de Triomphe, we pass the Louis Vuitton flagship store, a temple of chic that attracts style-conscious travellers from around the world. Some come just to… Read More
Building a passionate brand community – Hans-Joachim Richter – Nespresso
We cross the Place Saint-Francois, heading towards the distinctive ‘N’ above the entrance of Lausanne’s Nespresso boutique. We have spent the morning exploring the steep streets of the old town and are in… Read More
Branded for Life – Meeting Boom Chicago – Saskia Maas
I open my inbox and see that I have received an email from Saskia Maas, co-founder of Boom Chicago. “Hey Anouk, I saw on Facebook that you’re starting your trip Around the World… Read More
Interview with Maarten Schäfer and Anouk Pappers – initiators CoolBrands Around the World in 80 Brands
“Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we have on our show two people who made a trip around the world in search of cool destinations, visionary people and brands with a purpose. Please welcome the founders… Read More
Meeting Roberto Stern in Rio de Janeiro – H.Stern
Beauty amidst beauty - We’re in Ipanema, the heart of Rio de Janeiro, and it’s quite simply stunning. Its art galleries, cafés and restaurants and of course its famous beach lend it an air… Read More
H.Stern – House of Design – Roberto Stern
Moving with the times - H.Stern has always been innovative. Founding father Hans was the first to open up the traditionally closed world of high-quality jewellery design to the general public. He also pioneered… Read More
A walk in the park with Aline Santos Farhat – Meeting OMO
Dirt is Good – We leave our pousada just after breakfast. We walk to the corner of the street where we hail a taxi. “To Parque da Luz next to the Pinacoteca,” I… Read More
Dirt is Good – Aline Santos Farhat from OMO
We’re in Aline Santos Farhat’s office at the Unilever headquarters, a light and airy suite with a view over São Paolo. We’re lucky to be in town at the same time as Aline: as… Read More
Meeting Lenny Niemeyer in Rio de Janeiro
From Rio with love - We meet Lenny in her spacious atelier in Botafago, one of Rio’s beachfront bairros. Surrounded by racks of clothing, print samples and piles of books, she welcomes us as though… Read More
A Brazilian soul with inspiration from all over the world
The coolest thing about being part of the preparations for Lenny’s 20-year retrospective collection at Fashion Rio is that we really get to see the creative process unfold, with all the excitement, the… Read More
Meeting Charris Yadigaroglou at Maximilian Büsser and Friends
As I enter the boutique I see a sleek sit-on toy car with a huge key sticking out of the boot, probably to wind up the mechanism. On the left is a cool-looking… Read More
Meeting Richard Lee in Shanghai – Pepsi
We are in Bar Rouge, a bar and lounge in Shanghai’s famous Bund area, where we are meeting Richard Lee. We have known Richard, Chief Marketing Officer of PepsiCo China Ltd., for a… Read More
Pepsi China – A thirst for creativity – Richard Lee
We are in the Bund, a waterfront area in central Shanghai, with views of the city’s landmark buildings across the Huangpu River from Bar Rouge’s seventh-floor terrace. We are talking to Richard Lee,… Read More
Meeting Michael Mendenhall at LIPMAN
We enter the LIPMAN building at West 14th Street, in the Meatpacking District. We take the elevator to the third floor and exit in a very stylish reception area. “Good morning, how can I help… Read More
Meeting Hong Liem in Los Angeles – Disney
“Hey, Hong is in Los Angeles as well!” I shout to Anouk, who is on a lounger on the balcony of the hotel, overlooking Santa Monica pier. “He just posted on Facebook saying… Read More
Vlisco – The Afro-European love brand – Roger Gerards and Patrick Liversain
We have just left Makola Market, a huge market in the centre of Accra, where we spent the morning getting lost in the labyrinth of narrow alleys and discovering Vlisco’s striking Dutch Wax… Read More
Sophisticated fashion with an African soul – Deola Sagoe
We are meeting Nigerian fashion designer Deola Sagoe in her atelier-store on Victoria Island in Lagos. Fauzi, who is in charge of communication, leads us into the airy open-plan atelier where mannequins are… Read More
BMW i – the mobility enabler – Uwe Dreher
We’re on the visitors’ terrace at Frankfurt Airport overlooking the airfield. At the gates at Terminal 2 we see people boarding planes that will take them to São Paulo, Tokyo or Los Angeles.… Read More
Meeting the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Tonight we have the final meeting with the operational team in Amsterdam before we start our trip around the world with a flight to London tomorrow. We meet up with our creative designer and our… Read More
Meeting Richard Lee (Pepsico) – “Activate Your Thirst”
In one of the most talked-about viral campaigns in China, PepsiCo teamed up with the China Women’s Development Foundation to help solve a critical drinking water issue in China’s mainland. The aim of… Read More
