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About us

Dries Henau and Yuri Vandenbogaerde, partners in life and business for over 15 years, founded WASBAR in 2012. Their concept, which combined a snack bar with a laundromat, quickly caught the attention of Top Brands, that owns several well-known brands including Pizza Hut, Boulangerie Paul, and Ellis Gourmet. The duo sold the concept to Top Brands in 2015. Immediately after the pair founded Ambassy: a PR agency which they later sold to Duval Union. The agency was renamed MMBSY post-acquisition. In 2018, Henau and Vandenbogaerde created Chez Claire, another retail concept that was later acquired by the leader of the pastry market: La Lorraine. The luxury eclairs are now sold in Delhaize stores.

Today, Dries & Yuri are best known as 'The Brand Guys', dedicated to curating unparalleled brand concepts and crafting captivating experiences. With a strong focus on Food, Hospitality, and B2C companies, they excel in delivering remarkable results for new and existing brands. Their firm belief in the profound impact a brand has on your business, customers, and the world underscores their contemporary approach to branding and understanding modern society. Embracing a fresh perspective, Dries & Yuri fearlessly enable brands to break free from the ordinary and embrace the extraordinary.

"We challenge companies to be
different in a world of average"

Our Manifest

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You may have noticed. The feeling that the coffee bar you are in looks creepily similar to the one in that other city. The AirBnB you booked in Budapest is so like the one you saw in Amsterdam. Those shopping streets started to look the same, wherever you are. All around the world entire cities start to look, smell and feel the same. Restaurants, shops, hotel lobbies, and even the cars we drive in. One big bunch of sameness. Welcome to the world of average.

 

Brands also seem to have embraced this. Creativity, boldness, authenticity and adventure seem to have made way for rationalization. All following the same trends. Hitching the same influencers, competing against the same algorithms and bidding for the same eyeballs. All mimicking each other. Causing all brand concepts and experiences to blend together into a monotone uniform culture.
At The Brand Guys, we won’t accept this.

 

As trailblazers ourselves, we refuse to settle for the norm. We see being different not as a choice, but as a necessity. In a world of sameness, in a world of Top of Mind, Bottom of Price and Top of Algorithm, we believe there is even more room for successful brands that are Center of Heart <3  

 

We turned our aversion to the average into a company, and it's our way of fighting against the monotony of everyday life. We create brand concepts and experiences that capture the essence of that one true thing everyone seems to have lost: an identity worth loving. While a lot of brands are doing nothing but existing, we dare you to stand out.

At The Brand Guys, we’re on a mission to fight the average. And we would like to invite you to join us.

Awards

Topstarter 2012 - één - WASBAR

Greatest idea of the year 2013 - Night of the KMO - WASBAR

Belgium's new brand of the year 2015 - UBA - WASBAR

Best Newcomer in Belgium- Retail Detail - Chez Claire

Entrepreneur of the year 2019 - Venuez Hospitality Awards 

We are

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UnAverage

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Driven by Purpose

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In the know

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Proud

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