Get off on a good footing with 'brand activist' Danny Bulmer
You may have noticed that we seem to have knack of getting genuine down to earth guests on our podcast and that couldn't be truer of self proclaimed 'brand activist' Danny Bulmer. Daniel Owen Bulmer (first time we have ever discussed a guests middle name so had to get that in there), or Date of Birth, as he is known in certain circles, started his career working for a creative brand agency although not on the creative side of things as you might expect, but on the account management side so was the one to go out and meet with clients, win business, take a brief and then pass that brief clearly and concisely to the designer or other creative within the business to execute. He says himself he was every graphic designers worst nightmare because he had the ability to throw his own thoughts in there because he can do that too. Danny has always been the creative type even right back in his school days and he believes that everyone has some form of creativity in them. And he may be right because even our Michelle has been trying her hand at a small arty project recently inspired by previous guest Juliet who actually runs creativity groups and workshops. Make sure you are following our social media channels as she has promised to post a picture of her creation. Anyway, we digress, back to our guest. So, after working for a boutique town centre agency Danny decided to go it alone and set up his own agency, Date of Birth - you get the link now? He did this successfully for a number of years before he decided to give something different a try and decided to set up a rural co-working space (yes this sounds familiar because that is exactly what our Jayne has just done, in fact at this point in the podcast she is thinking 'OMG what have I done? What went wrong?') but Danny assures her that he will share all his learning from his time which was 5-6 years ago - see a genuine guy who just wants to help people! We just love that! After seeing out his three year lease Danny came out of the co-working space feeling somewhat battered and bruised, it had been a difficult time and he had lost a fair amount of money. It seems he hasn't really looked on those times with affection but talking to us reminded him of those proud moments that did come out of that time. He started his foodie brand The Cure Charcuterie which is all about Great British snacking - think the snack equivalent of craft beer, in fact eat the snacks whilst drinking craft beer! He also held loads of great events that brought local brands together and Co-Up was also the birth place of a few more successful brands, so it wasn't all bad, he just needed the reminder. Honestly, being a podcast guest can be like therapy (we are not suggesting that it is an alternative to good quality therapy mind, that would be ridiculous and totally irresponsible!) So anyway, talking of therapy and different ways of dealing with things Danny has struggled with anxiety and depression in the last few years which led him to his latest bright idea (yes, he is full of them) which is Good Footing. On top of the current day job as a brand strategist and creative direction consultant he helps creators think, do and make good things. He basically runs workshops that take place in the great outdoors whilst walking with the aim to inspire people to think creatively in order to help solve big problems. With the added bonus of instilling positive mental and physical wellbeing. What's not to love about that concept? In fact, during the last few months it has been pretty difficult but he is currently putting things in place to launch In Good Company - a netwalking event in September! That's next month! How blummin' exciting! For more info see https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannyobulmer/