On this episode of Build Better Brands, Danielle Clarke is joined by ultra-marathon runner, coach and Oxygen Advantage Master Breathwork Instructor, Matt Bagwell about how branding has changed over the last three decades as well as his move into breathwork and coaching.
KEY TAKEAWAYS

• I was right there at the beginning of things like e-commerce and the first dot com boom, and everything changed: Customers’ interactions with brands changed, channel strategies changed, and I was right at the very heart of that. Inter-customer experience design, which in 2008-9 customer experience – of UX as people might know it now – began to evolve and develop and subsequently you saw the emergence of social media. With that everything was disrupted, the role of brands, the roles of individuals, so my work was about the transformation of companies to interact in those spaces across channels in the most appropriate way, which I did for lots of international brands, leading significant, successful and very talented teams.
• My job was to inspire people to do their best, encourage them to do their best, support them so they could do their best, make sure that the conditions that surrounded those people encouraged, engendered and nurtured them in such a way that they could do their best. But, I needed great people around me to execute the work. There’s reciprocity in that, great thinking, great ideas, challenge, growth all comes from your interactions with other people.
• I’m the kid who used to take apart calculators. I took that curiosity into my adult life and went into companies and even breath work. I understand the spiritual modality and truly respect it. I love what Wim Hof does – never a dull day with Wim Hof – but I wanted to understand the science and the very practical application of ‘functional breathing’. In the pandemic I could tell that anxiety was through the roof, initially there was shock and then we started to become used to it. We all thought this was going to last for 4-8 weeks, which is why I drank so much rose wine! Not to misunderstand that it was a deeply stressful time with people displaced from their work and from their families. There was an unusual cocktail of high and low emotion and I looked at the issues that began to emerge very rapidly with social isolation and people began to carry anxiety. The way for me to help was to help people breathe through the anxiety to move into a calmer state, so I went live on Instagram and it took off.
• The internet has created a global village and I can interact with people, doing breathwork, with people in Texas, California, New Zealand, Australia and all over Europe. That’s really powerful, because there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of breath work instructors all over the world. It’s great that people internationally have been able to connect in these virtual communities that have been created and are so accessible with platforms like Zoom and Instagram Live. But even as brand marketeers, sometimes we overlook that stuff that’s literally within 5 square miles of where we actually live.

BEST MOMENTS
‘There’s an intention to ensure that everything that I’m doing is helping other people optimise their lives and live as extraordinary a life as possible.’
‘A problem shared is a problem halved, or even an opportunity doubled.’
‘They used to call me “Jazz Hands” in most of the companies I worked in!’
‘The beach is a nice environment for breath work, there’s the sound of the sea, a metronomic wave breaking and if you’re on a pebble beach, like Brighton, you can hear both the inhale and exhale. There’s something quite calming about that.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Once a designer, strategist, business leader and founder, Matt Bagwell is now a coach and Oxygen Advantage Master Breathwork Instructor.
He is on his own quest to fulfil his potential. From an intentional daily practice to purpose and values, Matt is curious to find, to expand, to be extraordinary.
Website: https://mattcoaching.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewbagwell
Instagram: @mattbagwell
ABOUT THE HOST
Danielle Clarke is a Brand and Marketing Consultant, University Lecturer and Business Owner.
Since 2006 Danielle has provided brand design and marketing support for clients including Škoda, Gtech, UK Biocentre, UK Mail and GIRLvsCANCER Danielle is committed to helping brands that want to have a positive impact on people’s lives. She spends her time consulting and working with business owners to help them attract and retain their best customers.
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