It was 2002, I was 24 years old and had recently finished playing hockey in the ECHL. As I looked to start a new career, I was told sports marketing might be something I should consider. So with that in mind, and without knowing if there was actually a job opening, I created a giant 22″x28″ poster board resume (see image on right), drove it from Markham to Reebok Canada’s head office in Aurora and dropped it off at the reception desk for the Marketing Manager, Micki Rivers.
As the story goes, Micki paraded the oversized resume around the office and eventually showed it to Dennis. While looking at it with either amazement or dismay, Dennis is reported to have said “…let’s bring him in for an interview… he’s either very creative or crazy… either way it should make for an ‘interesting’ meeting” {insert Dennis’ infectious laugh).
That interview lead to an eventual job offer (six months later), an amazing four years of hands-on sports marketing experience, a multitude of NBA games, golf outings, cross-country and international travel, a number of longstanding friendships, and countless laughs.
My relationship with Dennis continued well beyond my time at Reebok. When I started my own marketing company, Dennis unselfishly looked for opportunities where he and I could work together… for which I’m eternally grateful. As result of his involvement, I had the distinct opportunity to rebrand Brian’s Custom Sports to the B-Star and goalie-only.com website being used today. I executed a number of promotions with Coleman and Canadian Tire, and I learned more about the paper industry, that unless you’re a tree no one should ever have to know.
Today, I am the co-founder of a marketing technology company that works with a number of Fortune 1000 companies and leading marketing agencies across North America… many of my clients are either those whom I met while I was at Reebok or are benefitting from the knowledge I gleaned during that time.
From the beginning of my professional career to now, Dennis’ “fingers prints” are still all over my resume. That’s the Dennis Difference.