Labber Stories: Bram Coppens

The Unlikely Path: From Client to Copylabber

You’re probably wondering, how did I, a former Creative Director at an asset manager, end up working with Copylab? Well, interestingly enough, I used to be Copylab’s client!

In life and work, it’s important to build meaningful relationships. You cross paths with many, many people during your career, but there are those few individuals who leave a lasting impact. My relationship with Copylab’s Commercial Director, Stuart Grant, is one of those.

When we first embarked on our collaboration, Stuart and Ross flew over to our site for a couple of days of brainstorming and strategising. As always (if you know me), I organised a happy hour with the entire team. As the night wore on, and we all got to know each other a whole lot better over (mandatory) shots of Polish vodka, it quickly turned early morning – not ideal when you have a presentation scheduled for 9AM! But that’s a tale for another day.

Over time, my team and I collaborated with Copylab on countless marketing campaigns and collateral. The experience was nothing short of top-notch. The Copylab team was always responsive, highly skilled, and integrated seamlessly with our internal team. Their flexibility – the ability to effortlessly scale up and down – was a real asset.

Fast forward a couple of years. Life, as it tends to do, threw me a curveball. Health issues forced me to reassess my work-life setup after nearly two decades in the corporate world. Over the years, I gained a lot of experience in different areas of marketing. I’ve done pretty much everything from coding and front-end development (back when you still had to write the code in Notepad), to graphic design, advertising, motion graphics, video, and eventually, leading and managing creative teams around the globe. At this new chapter in my life, I wanted to keep things more flexible – so I set up shop and started my one-man-empire-to-rule-them-all.

When Stuart got wind of my new freelance gig… he immediately rolled out the red carpet! I’m joking of course – but we did end up chatting about what I could bring to the table at Copylab. I guess all of that time at global financial corpo’s wasn’t in vain. Before I knew it, I found myself on the other side of the fence, working with the very team I used to collaborate with as a client. And let me tell you, it’s been a great ride. The Copylab team is a fantastic bunch. We’re all remote, and it’s totally working fine. Who needs a water cooler, anyway!?

As for the work, I love the variety. Currently, I’m managing a couple of the larger projects and clients. Some involve writing, others design or content strategy. I also do quite a bit of consulting – it’s nice to be able to share the wealth of knowledge and experience I’ve hoarded over the years. All in all, it’s a really good fit, and I can’t wait to see what other magic Copylab and I will do!