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34 weeks ago I read a theory that going for 50 coffees with people you've never met is the entrepreneur's equivalent to the theory that doing anything for 10,000 hours will make you an expert on it. While I get the idea, 50 coffees is far easier than practicing something for ten years, and while I'm far from lazy I've decided to set out on a fairly simple mission: over 50 weeks I'm inviting 50 interesting Vancouverites, most of whom I have never met before, to go for coffee. I'm using this as an exercise in networking for myself and for V.I.A. while also using it as a platform to introduce you to some people who are doing really cool stuff in the city you live in. |
Meet David Allison. President of Braun/Allison and a somewhat close neighbour to V.I.A. on Pender Street. David runs his real estate marketing company out of the Sun Tower, where we met for coffee, and his Twitter bio will tell you that they "build marketing campaigns for resort/residential real estate projects, globally. I blog for @RENXca www.renx.ca I am Metis, and I collect contemporary art.". This bio is pretty much a perfect shining example of my understanding of what it is that they do: they promote transparency at every stage of development projects and utilize storytelling to engage an audience and market real estate.
One of the projects that they've done recently is in the aforementioned building that their office is in; the historical Sun Tower. Using the SunTowerBuilding.com web site as an anchor showcasing the history of this great piece of our city's history as well as sharing its current amenities and running a regularly updated blog, even if you're not the least bit interested in renting a spot there to run your office out of it's still an interesting online destination. In my eyes it's a great example of marketing done right, and if you were to write a book about new ways of marketing real estate it could be a chapter in it. Oh, wait... Braun/Allison released a book on that very subject. And it's free. HERE.
Beyond real estate marketing I learned that David is also the director of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, and that he's an avid art collector. See that boy scout uniform behind him? It's an art piece that Doug Coupland put together for him as a gift. Nice!
Follow David on twitter at @BADavid and stay tuned for more 50 Coffees!
