My Story: The Unedited Version

As the daughter of a Dutch sea captain and a Canadian naval nurse, Van learned to look at the world through a different lens. She’s always had two passports, a hard-to-nail accent and she thinks living in four continents before the age of 15 is normal.

Along the way, Van developed an uncanny knack for scoping out the landscape and interpreting the invisible clues – no matter what the country, culture or language. It seemed the best way to locate, adapt and sense one’s place – and identity – in the world, and give it meaning.

No surprise that she’s always worn the hat of brand anthropologist and master interpreter of clues in her career, and she continues (relentlessly) to probe and pull back the layers. Full Disclosure: She prefers examining the underbelly of brands.

In 1995, she had a burning desire to carve out her own corner of the branding sky. As founder and Chief Creative Officer of an independent branding + design agency with offices in New York and Sydney, she steered award-winning campaigns for Fortune 500 clients. When J. Walter Thompson came knocking to buy her agency, Van said no, thanks. Her father never got over it. (Fast forward to 2005: Agency Sold.)

In 2008, Van launched Zing Your Brand & Co., a New York-based creative consultancy & laboratory and workspace where brand anthropology, design & magic meet. She now works with corporate clients and entrepreneurs alike, pumping oxygen into brands and then, putting them on the global map. On a path to teach the world how to bring a higher level of energy to their business consciousness through the power of brand, Van’s highly-idiosyncratic perspective is helping people recognize themselves so others can. Sounds easy, right?!

Her interest in neuroscience, anthropology, creativity and innovation in a world she calls Business Unusual has been featured in Entrepreneur.com, Investor’s Business Daily, The World of Interiors and Reuters.

When she’s not putting the finishing touches on soon-to-be-published Dead Brand Walking, you’ll find Van leading the quarterly NY Brand Lab and hosting her weekly show NY Brand Lab Radio. The favorite question she loves to pose? What’s that irresistible spark that attracts business like crazy? Her unorthodox views have quickly turned her into a global and innovative voice in the branding arena.

Van received her education at the University of New South Wales, Australia with a major in Drama and a Diploma in Education and later, Visual Communications at the School of Visual Art, Sydney.

Van currently lives near the Brooklyn waterfront with her sculptor-designer husband. When she’s not making brand dreams come true, you can find her boxing at Gleason’s Gym.

Want to Zing your brand? Let’s do it.

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My Story: The Pocket-Book Edition

She’s been called a “brand therapist,” a “master provocateur,” a “prodigious thinker” and “a leader and innovator in the global branding space.”

But Mary van de Wiel [alias: Van] is best known for her idiosyncratic views on the emotional clues that beckon online audiences to lean into their screens, hearts beating & eyes gleaming — or run away, screaming.

As Brand Anthropologist + CEO of Zing Your Brand, a NYC-based branding consultancy, laboratory & workspace for serious play, Van works with entrepreneurs and corporate clients alike, pumping oxygen into brands to yield heightened marketplace visibility…and spike the bottom line.

As a writer, producer & radio host, Van brings her fiercely individualistic perspective to NY Brand Lab Radio— as well as her off-air training & networking portals, The NY Brand Lab and The Brand Reinvention Summit.

In a former life, Van was the Founder, CEO and Executive Creative Director of an award-winning independent branding & design shop with offices in New York and Sydney.

She led the global brand campaigns for the launch of People Weekly magazine in Australia(the first time TIME Inc. ever launched the title off shore), the Macau International Airport in China, and the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia (the first museum dedicated to the study of the National Constitution), and has served as a business-building muse for Conde Nast Magazines, American Airlines, Sony, Sydney Opera House, Time Inc., News Corporation and The Museum of Modern Art, N.Y., Magazine Publishers of America, Zurich Australia Group and Working Mother Media.

Want Zing?! Join in the conversation on Twitter at @maryvandewiel.
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5 Random Facts

1.) Iguanas lived in the bottom of our garden in the tropics. They’d often get to the ripe mangoes on the ground before I could. (Maracaibo, Venezuela)

2.) I wrestled with a spinnaker every Saturday morning when racing with the University’s Women’s Sailing Team. (Sydney, Australia)

3.) Being a Dutch sea captain’ daughter, I can spot the horizon even in stormy seas. (den Haag, The Netherlands)

4.) Always like being on stage. (Must have something to do with that Drama Major.)

5.) My red lipstick of choice? MAC Cherry. (I’m subtle like that.)

Anything you’d like to add to this list?! Share + zing me: van@zingyourbrand.com