The orange branding has nothing to do with Holland.

Posted: October 15th, 2010

When Ben and I moved Think! to Vancouver, we had never entertained the idea of adding another partner. Having known each other since a young age, we have a very unique relationship that has proven to be a huge asset in our business lives.

Think! is a company formed around a passion for innovation and our love of the tourism industry. We believe that the rapid advances in online communication have revealed an unprecedented opportunity for collaboration in our industry. We also understand that budgets are under pressure and we strive to find new ways to partner with our clients.

There are few people that grasp the intersection of tourism and digital innovation as well as William Bakker. On November 12th  William Bakker will officially join our team. It is very rare that you find someone who shares identical philosophies and in William’s own words, “we’re all cut from the same wood”. We’re very proud of the hard work our team has dedicated to-date and Ben and I couldn’t be more excited to have William join us as a partner. Even our branding coincidentally matches William’s national soccer team’s shirts.

Since our beginnings, we’ve been focused on how social media can benefit tourism marketing. It is now time to look at opportunities beyond such a narrow focus. William will be primarily responsible for expanding our digital services. His experience at Tourism British Columbia and intimate understanding of the industry will be an incredible addition to our team and we are certain that he can lift our business to the next level.

Welcome aboard Wilhelmus from all of the Think! team!

Posted in Around the office, By William Bakker | 1 Comment »

Embrace your influencers.

Posted: October 11th, 2010

The quickest way to start bad-word of mouth conversation is by not offering customers what they expect.

Business travellers need internet. If you’re a hotel catering to business travellers, give them free wifi and they will keep coming back. Don’t charge them for a service that should be ubiquitous.

It never ceases to baffle me why hotels in USA add-on the cost of in-room internet. Its not the price that gets me. Its the inconvenience of having to go through account sign-up, accept terms and conditions and enter your credit card number.

Internet doesn’t cost the hotel any extra. Surely it can be incorporated it into the room costs and provided as a ‘free’ service to the business travellers we cater to.  Interestingly, customers who are looking for wifi are likely to be active in social media and have a good sized reach and influence over their audience.

Posted in Digital Innovations and Marketing | No Comments »

Thank You

Posted: October 1st, 2010

On the 1st of October last year, Ben and I spent our first day working side-by-side at a desk (kitchen table) in our office (his kitchen).   By November 1st we had already realised that we needed an office before we imploded and we moved into our new home on Homer Street.

The tourism industry is at an exciting cross-roads as we bridge the transition from print to digital.  We believe that the challenges presented by social media can actually bring huge benefit to our industry and we intend to do everything we can to help our clients breeze through this transition.  Thank you to everyone who has put your faith in us.

Since we moved our business to Vancouver, our new home has been more than we could ever have hoped.  We’ve already outgrown our office and yesterday made an offer on a new space in Yaletown.  In such short time we’ve made a ton of amazing new friends and we’ve seen more of this Province than I ever could have imagined.

Thank you to our loved-ones, friends and family who have put up with us almost entirely disappearing off the map.  We’ve let the most important people in our lives slide while we chase our dreams and we haven’t forgotten you.

This is everything that Ben and I have ever wanted.  To be in business with our best mates, surrounded by a team of people passionate about making a difference in such a fantastic industry.  We get to inspire people to travel to the best places on earth.  We get to build a team of people who (we hope) love coming to work every day and we try to manage them exactly the way we’d like to be managed ourselves.  Thank you to Staci, Helen, Paul, Robyn, Phil, Agnes, Ana and everyone else who puts up with our vision and quest to be nimble.  Hopefully, we have some fun along the way.

The next year promises to be even greater as we strive to make a difference in this industry one passionate community at a time.

Thank you for supporting us this year.

Rodney and Ben.

Posted in Around the office | 4 Comments »