Jeremy Weisz 12:45
I want to talk a little bit about just the services of each and I don’t know if you mentioned the rugby sevens, Canada Sevens Vancouver and the Rugby Sevens event. If you were to talk about what you do with them under TTG Canada, and then what you do with them under TORQUE Strategies, just get an idea of the difference of services there.
Andrea Shaw 13:12
Great question. So HSBC. Rugby Sevens is a tournament, it was it’s a global tournament under the auspices of World Rugby, and there are 10 countries that are chosen and Rugby Canada came to us Well back in early 2000, that are 2012, approximately, and asked us to put a bid for Canada to have Canada host one of these 10 events. And we put the bid in under TTG. That was slashed by TORQUE because both companies were involved, but we put the bid in and we won the bid. And we were brought on by Rugby Canada on the TTG side to raise all the corporate sponsorship for that event.
Once we had won the right to host TORQUE Strategies for that event did all the marketing, Strategic Marketing Communications for that event. So that’s a great example of how the sister companies really really complement each other. And clients are now realizing that because we have such deep expertise on both sides of the fence that many of our clients are now working both with TTG Canada as well as TORQUE Strategies.
Jeremy Weisz 14:42
You know one of the things is fascinating as you go from a nurse high school teacher now you’re selling $3 million minimum packages. Okay? And up, talk about what goes into this sale of 3 million like you’re approaching how many? I want $3 million of your money here or more right and sometimes much more. Talk about the sales process when it comes to selling that type of high ticket item.
Andrea Shaw 15:16
Yeah, well, I’ll just cite that the Olympic Games are those sponsorships were from 3 million to 200 million. So really massive, I’m going to bring us back to the company now. And we’re selling million dollar sponsorships, whether that’s an airport or rugby or world junior years. The sales process is one where I believe authenticity and the belief that you have to create a mutually rewarding relationship. It cannot be seen as I’ve got to go and sell this sponsorship so that I can meet my revenue targets. It’s not about that, it’s about, again, back to my statement on alignment of vision and values, where we get the partners that we know are aligned with the vision and values of who we are, or that property is, is the key to success.
I’ll give you an example. We won the right in 2019 to bring the ESPNW brand to Canada. And that was a coup for us. We had been very, very passionate as a company about women in sport. And we saw that women really Olympics we were doing some research. And we thought there’s an opportunity for women in sport in Canada. So we went to corporate Canada in 2016 1718, post Rio. And as you may know, there were more medals won by women in those Olympics than men. And now that’s pretty on par. And so we knew the opportunity was ripe. But corporate Canada wasn’t listening.
They weren’t ready for that yet. And then so we went to ESPNW. We saw what they were doing in the states to promote women in sport, which is an amazing conference in California every year and one in New York now. Oh, and we said Listen, why don’t we bring your brand to Canada. And we are passionate about elevating women in sport and business as well. So we won the right and our first event was supposed to be March of 2020. Obviously, we invested a lot of time and a lot of money to make that an amazing event and COVID hit. So that was obviously off the table. We came out of COVID and thought okay, our passion is as deep as it ever was.
Our pockets weren’t as deep because we invested so much money the first time but we were passionate. We went back to ESPNW and we said listen, we want to give it another go. They said Go ahead. So we hosted the first ESPNW conference last year in Toronto, which was a tremendous success. We had thought leaders in the room we sold out the first time we ever did it. We’ll be doing a second one on May 28. This year. So these events and our passion is what drives us to, you know, really pursue the passions that our company has and bring in partners back up to the alignment when we launched it.
Canadian Tire is an amazing company committed to elevating women’s sport. So back to my point about alignment, when we approached them and said, Listen, we’re bringing this to Canada, they jumped on board very quickly. So from my perspective, the sales process is one of being authentic, knowing vision and values are aligned and ensuring that it’s a mutually rewarding relationship. I say this to our team all the time. If our corporate partners aren’t successful and the property we’ve brought them on, we’re not going to be successful. And I’ve said it since day one. And I say it too often for the years of our team perhaps but it’s true. It’s got to be a mutually rewarding relationship.
Jeremy Weisz 19:37
You know, I know Andrea you, you know, advise companies on — yeah, I listened to a keynote that you gave which you were talking about. More people or companies are expecting they’re not only just expecting, I forgot how you phrase it like buttons just like their placement everywhere but more on specific goals that they want to have achieved and linking that sponsor to specific goals. So I’m wondering, how do you advise companies to get the most out of their sponsorship? I don’t know. What will be the best example? I’m curious. Maybe there’s an airport example like how, what are some things these companies should be doing to get the most out of their sponsorship?
Andrea Shaw 20:18
Great question. The days of spots and dots are gone. That’s what I was looking for. Yes, banners. And on a rink board. Those days are gone. And sure, eyeballs are important. But what is really important is that when we approach a company, before we even propose a partnership, we understand what their biggest business challenges are. So that may be sales, it may be brand exposure, it may be a rebrand, it may be employee motivation, it can be a number of things. So we get a very thorough understanding of what their business challenges are, what they want to achieve. And then we create sculpt bespoke programs, partnerships, in order to achieve those specific business objectives. If we didn’t care what they were trying to achieve, the relationship wouldn’t work and they’d be gone the next year. So critical to the success of our company is really digging deep and understanding what that brand is trying to achieve, and then creating the platform to enable them to achieve it.
Jeremy Weisz 21:36
I don’t know what would be the best example of you know, this was the biggest challenge or what they were trying to achieve. And then how that sponsorship helped. I don’t know if Canadian Tire is a good example, or just so people can understand. Okay, here’s what they came in with a challenge. And here’s how like a sponsorship and how it kind of played out to help them?
Andrea Shaw 22:00
Yeah, yeah. You know, I’m gonna give you an example of a company that was never involved in sponsorship, because Canadian Tire, they’re amazing. They do an amazing job, their commitment to have equal sponsorship, both male and female is amazing. They’re doing incredible things. But I’m gonna give you an example. Because I think it’s, it’s very telling about the diverse opportunities that our industry offers. And that’s a company tech coming co you probably know it. Mining Company, never done sponsorship ever. And we approached them to be a partner in the games, a Vancouver based company made sense. We knew that they were doing a lot of sustainable initiatives.
But nobody knew they were doing it. That was their number one problem. This is through discovery. The second problem they had was the mining industry was seen as dirty. And so they had two problems, one, getting the message out about sustainability. And two, their biggest challenge was employee motivation. We created a program for them around the Olympic Games, that was the Olympic and Paralympic Games, that was a huge strategy around employee motivation. I can go into detail if you want, but it was a brilliant program.
And then one about how do we sing from the rooftops about their sustainable initiatives that they were doing, they finished the games and the CEO, John Lindsay, at the time stood up to his board and said, that was the best investment we ever made. And that is one of the fine examples. And from there on in, they actually brought our company in TTG Canada, to do a review of where they should be investing their money in sponsorship channels. And that’s one of the best examples. There there’s many bump RJ with the torch relay. I can share that one with —
Jeremy Weisz 24:13
Yossi wanna stick on the mining company for a second because you mentioned staff motivation. And I do want to talk about your company and building a team because I know you are always thinking about the right people in the right seats, but start with the mining company and how the staff motivation played out.
Andrea Shaw 24:32
Yeah, so Teck has, as you know, centers where their employees work where their minds are, and they need to have their employees, their employees live in these communities, obviously, and they need those employees to spread the good word about what Teck’s doing. So what we did was we held what we called an Olympic Sports day to fight for the communities. And the employees ran them and could compete in these sports days. They were fun, they were fun community driven, and motivated their employees. It was a very in depth program, whereby we measured their employee satisfaction pre-games, we measured employee satisfaction post games. And it raised significantly, which is one of the things as Don Lindsay said to his board, it changed their company culture. And when you change a company culture, that tend to go outward and into their communities, and the people that not only did they do business with, but the people in their communities,
Jeremy Weisz 25:52
What are some of the things you’ve learned? Andrea over the years, for as far as that’s worked for your company, culture.
Andrea Shaw 26:06
You know, I have goosebumps as I talk, the right people in the right seats are key for us. We are higher on values based hiring . I can teach a skill set. But I can’t teach things like good attitude, a team player, passion, all those attributes. And again, we have values for our company. And we hire on values based on its values based hiring. So when we’re interviewing employees, if their values true to themselves are not aligned with ours, then we know they’re not a candidate. I care more about our people, we have an amazing team.
And that is my passion that actually at the end of the day journey is my passion is I want to see all our people, when they walk in our doors, walk out a strong, not a better person, a stronger person, professionally, personally, I owner, the founder of the company, truly, truly care that our employees are our number one. They are of course I care about our clients, and that they we succeed and our clients succeed through us. But my number one passion is bringing a team together. That is a true team. And I learned that in the organizing committee.
Jeremy Weisz 27:45
What are some of the things you do in the interviewing process? Because everyone’s I mean, not everyone, but most people are trying to put their best foot forward. And you kind of have to suss out, okay, does this person they’re saying all the right things? What are some of the things you do in the interview process to get to the values of the person?
Andrea Shaw 28:11
I’ll tell you, it’s probe, probe and probe. And by that, I mean, you go down, they can, they can have a great looking resume, and they can have done a great cover letter. But unless you probe and dig under what they’ve got, you’re not going to really know. So I’ll give you an example. I’ll say, tell me the top three qualities you as an individual think you can bring to our company. And on the flip side, I’ll ask, okay, if we wanted an area of your being to be developed?
What would that be? I don’t say weaknesses, but then being honest about being self aware, what they’re good at, what they’re not good at, and it’s okay, we’re all not good at things. We’re all good at things. But it’s that ability to probe into if that person is going to come work for us, where how can I help them be better? And really understanding that in their personal development, because we care? There’s all kinds of probing questions that get to the heart of an individual. And I can give an example and say in this circumstance, what would you do?
And their answer will be very telling. And it’s behavioral questions. It’s an attitudinal question. It’s a passionate, dedicated team player. Huge. So that’s the That, to me, is the most important thing because I reiterate, we can teach a skill set, but you can’t teach things like a positive attitude. And it’s got to be real. It’s got to be real.
Jeremy Weisz 30:13
On that front and are there any of your favorite resources that you found it could be in hiring could be just in business. I know you mentioned ELS we’re talking about Gino Wickman. Any other resources you’ve looked at the they’ve been influential and important to you could be with leadership culture hiring.
Andrea Shaw 30:34
Yeah, there’s lots out there. If you walked into my office in Vancouver, there’s books, books, books, books, it’s basically a library where people can take a book out, read it and bring it back. And there’s a few that stick out. EOS has probably been, you know, in traction, you mentioned it is a great book. One of the things one of the books that I share with a lot of people is called the brand called you. Why? Because I want our individual team players, all the people that work for our company to understand who they are. First, I encourage people to explore having a personal brand statement.
Developing a personal brand statement is a very, very powerful tool if you get it right. And when I say if you get it, right, it just doesn’t come. It really has to be worked on. And when you know who you are as a person, you can get the best out of you. So that’s one of my favorites that I give to our team. There’s lots I’m a studier of emotional intelligence as well. I think that anybody who, you know, self awareness is a big thing. And I’m really keen on the study of emotional intelligence, because I think that to me, is a big piece of a person’s being and understanding that so there’s, there’s masses of books. I’m trying to think of my favorite author, I met him, it’ll come but yeah, those are the resources that I saw. I think where I’m going is, it’s about the individual first, and then the company.
Because if I’ve got if I’m helping individuals being the best they can be that adds up to our company being the best that can be if I did it in reverse. I will, I wouldn’t, and I wouldn’t suggest it. So it’s individuals first, and then the company comes second. And I’m a believer in that. And I guess, probably my nursing background teaching background is in that toolkit that I use now.
Jeremy Weisz 33:09
Yeah, thanks for that. That’s really valuable to check that one out. The other question I had, Andrea, was about your role, and your decision to change roles as the CEO?
Andrea Shaw 33:29
Yeah, great question. It’s very recent. I’ve got a team of amazing people headed up by Bart Given who is our CEO. And I will say a brilliant CEO. He’s running the company better than I did. And, and my, there’s a great quote, and I didn’t bring it but one of the last lines was, it’s all about leadership. And Good leaders know when it’s time to go, now I haven’t gone because this is my baby for 14 years. It’s like a baby. So I don’t care one iota less. But I’m stepping back from being in the company, flying at 3040 50,000 feet, looking at the trends of our industry, are we on track? How are we doing?
Being there to be shoulder to shoulder with each and every one of our team, not just Bart each and every one of our team? They know my door’s always open, if they want to have a chat. They need to pick me up, whatever it is. That’s the role that I’m now playing, which I love and I think it’s one of my biggest assets being able to help people lift themselves up. And so I’m, I’m not away from the company. I’m still passionate and I will go on To hopefully do some motivational speaking, directed at women in business and women in need, the women in need will be philanthropic, the women and business side will be to pay my bills.
Jeremy Weisz 35:16
What was the decision? Because I’m sure there’s a lot of CEOs out there thinking of when is the time that I should replace myself as CEO? What were those factors for you?
Andrea Shaw 35:29
Yeah, that it’s a tough one. And people warned me and said, Andrea, like to step away is not going to be easy. And I’m not a way away. So it’s a bit different. But it has been an interesting, interesting period in my life, I guess, because you reflect and you say, Well, should I shouldn’t I, but what it was, for me, Jerry was, I knew I had a great team. I’ve spent, as you said, over 35 years in the industry, and these young people are smart, brighter than I and, and, and I have a role to play. But the best role I can play to support the team now is stepping back and supporting them from the sidelines. Well,
Jeremy Weisz 36:23
I’m curious. Let’s say someone’s going to be going through this soon, or in the future, what were some of the lessons that you learned in transitioning someone into this role successfully?
Andrea Shaw 36:37
Yeah. So far I would say, for the last year and a half, two years, but really has been running the company with me there. But, you know, I said, step into the driver’s seat. And then when sort of the day came, which was basically, officially this January, or maybe last July. Mark did me a really big favor. So he helped me with the transition. And he said, I don’t need you in the company, and I don’t want you in the company. And that was a huge favor for me. And you realize that, you know, sure, I dedicated my life, and I still will to this business and make it successful. As I said, it’s like another baby. So the transition, what I would say is communication, communication, communication, and Bart and I have a great relationship or communication trust, is that at the core, and when you’ve got that transition comes pretty easily.
Jeremy Weisz 37:53
So it seems like I mean, it became official, but even before it became official, there was a kind of a slow transition period where he kind of slowly just took things over. And then maybe it wasn’t official, but like he was actually running things. And then it just kind of made it official with the announcement.
Andrea Shaw 38:14
Yeah, yeah, you’re grooming all the way. You know, Bart’s been with the company practically since day one. So you’re grooming all the way all the way all the way. And, and so yeah, that transition is, is a gradual, I don’t, I would never suggest that it’s a one day this one day that it’s a gradual thing to make sure that he feels supported. And that you are ready to go because you don’t want to get in his way. But a lot of people, I’m told, have such a hard time getting away that they’re like a board whose nose is in and they’re just a pain in the ass to the person running it. So, so I, I think we’re in a really good spot. And my advice to anybody would be just be really clear with what you want in your path forward and what you want your, your next CEO to be and, and, and make sure you’re communicating that, you know, daily, it comes out in all forms obviously.
Jeremy Weisz 39:26
Well, Andrea, I just want to be the first one to thank you. Thanks for sharing your journey and your lessons ever. We can check out TTGCanada.com and TORQUEStrategies.com. To learn more, and we’ll see everyone next time Andrea, thanks so much.
Andrea Shaw 39:39
Thank you very much.
