Our team of experienced
BIG Idea Adventure Coaches offer a full range of talents and expertise. We pride
ourselves on our high-quality service, our efficiency, and our commitment
to life-long learning and exploration.
Bill Bishop,
CEO
Bill Bishop is one of the world’s leading experts in branding
and packaging
for entrepreneurial companies, and the creator of a revolutionary
marketing approach called The BIG Idea Adventure. Over a 20-year
period, he has helped more than 4,000 companies from
around the world give birth to exciting new BIG Ideas that have
transformed their businesses and
their industries.
His four best-selling books have been published in more than 40 countries,
in dozens of languages. His newest book, How To Sell A Lobster, is
currently being published in North America and Japan. His lively and
entertaining speeches and workshops have motivated business people to
make important breakthroughs in their branding and packaging strategies.
He is also the regular on-air business coach on Style By Jury, the number
one hit television series.
Bill’s experience in branding and packaging began at a young age by
working for his parent’s public relations company. After attending
journalism school in university, Bill launched The Uptown Magazine, the
first successful entertainment monthly in Toronto. In 1987, Bill started
Bishop Information Group Inc., a full service branding and packaging
company in Toronto, specializing in coaching entrepreneurial companies
across North America. Since that time, more than 4,000 companies have
worked through Bill’s proprietary process called The BIG
Idea Adventure.
In 1996, HarperCollin’s published Bill’s landmark book, Strategic Marketing
For The Digital Age. As the first book published about Internet marketing,
the publication was hugely successful, and was reprinted in more than 40
countries in dozens of languages. Subsequently, he wrote Global Marketing
For The Digital Age, and The Strategic Enterprise. His latest book, How To
Sell A Lobster: The Money-Making Secrets of A Street-Wise Entrepreneur, is
now published in 25 countries in 12 languages.
Bill lives in Toronto with his wife Ginny, and his two children Douglas and
Robin. He is a competitive tennis player, and enjoys yoga, skiing, reading,
and film. He also retreats regularly to think about BIG Ideas at his restored
historic log home buried in the wilds of the Canadian north.
Curtis is a motivational marketing coach who has helped hundreds
of advisors, business owners, and entrepreneurs make breakthroughs
in their success.
He helps entrepreneurs and business owners take a new look at their
capabilities and resources to discover untapped opportunities and
assets. His greatest ability is packaging unrecognized and under
valued intellectual property into money making processes, programs,
and products.
He also plays the role of a marketing architect in helping his
clients develop unique marketing strategies and plans.
He is a speaker, accomplished seminar host, and writer.
Since graduating with a BA in Journalism, Curtis has owned and
operated a number of businesses including a weekly newspaper, a
direct sales company, and a marketing production company. Prior
to founding BIG Inc. with his partner Bill Bishop, Curtis developed
and delivered product launches and national sales meetings for
packaged goods firms such as Levi Strauss, Colgate Palmolive, Cadbury
Beverages, Lever, deHavilland Canada, Royal Lepage, and many others.
Curtis is an avid reader and is constantly developing his skills
and capabilities. He has been a long-time member of The
Strategic Coach Program™, is active in The
Toronto Board of Trade,
and a generous supporter of minor hockey.
Curtis lives in the west-end of Toronto, Canada with his wife Civia
and hockey obsessed son, Charlie.
Diana Bishop,
Strategic Partner and Session Facilitator
Diana Bishop is a professional writer/storyteller and the creator
of The Success Story Program™ that helps business
owners reach their full potential by creating and communicating
the story of their success.
As a strategic partner ofBishop Information Group Inc.,
Ms. Bishop lends her expertise to BIG Inc. and operates as a Session
Facilitator.
With 20 years experience
as a national and foreign correspondent for the top Canadian and
US television networks, Ms. Bishop has had a journalism career that
has taken her around the world to cover major national and international
news events, while interviewing the top newsmakers of the day including
presidents and prime ministers.
Ms. Bishop began her career in 1984 with the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation (CBC) in Montreal and then Quebec City. In 1989,
Ms. Bishop became a National Political Correspondent for CTV
News in Ottawa. In 1992, she was posted to China as Beijing
Bureau Chief first for CTV and then NBC News where
she ran Asia coverage for Nightly News for Tom Brokaw,
The Today Show and Meet the Press.
In 1997, Ms. Bishop returned to Ottawa as Senior Parliamentary
Correspondent for CTV and Global News where she
traveled with Prime Minister Jean Chretien to international summits
and G8 meetings as well as covering national political conventions
and election campaigns.
In 2003, Ms. Bishop wrote, narrated and co-produced a one hour
documentary For Global Television entitled A Hero To Me
exploring the legacy of her famous Grandfather, First World War
flying ace Billy Bishop.
The word of Jerry’s success spread and after 10 years he moved to Arizona to head a national marketing organization. Jerry’s passion to help individuals and organizations succeed by identifying products and services for them to offer to their customers led Jerry to venture out on his own as the CEO and Founder of Top Banana Promotions, a branding and promotional products company with an emphasis on finding creative solutions for getting companies recognized.
For over 15 years Jerry worked with entrepreneurs and business owners to fortune 500 companies helping them develop strategic promotional, incentive, safety, award and direct mail campaigns.
Jerry has learned many things about being successful throughout his career and the bottom line to success is the time an individual or organization is willing to take to set their foundation, formulate the plan and create a winning recipe for success. So often companies are anxious to get their name out there that they forget to set their foundation by creating their Big Idea and then working the plan.
Jerry was introduced to the Big Idea Adventure through two very close and successful friends. He saw how this extraordinary process provided a fun and exciting format for individuals and organizations to identify a new, bigger and better way to package and promote themselves and decided it was, undoubtedly, the best program around. Today, Jerry offers the Big Idea Adventure to U.S. based customers and looks forward to helping you create your Big Idea.
Jerry lives in Scottsdale , AZ with his wife of 25 years and two teenage children. He enjoys mountain biking, building things and learning to fly airplanes.
Steve is a born entrepreneur. While still in University, he built one of the Maritimes’ largest mobile entertainment firms from scratch. The business grew to over $1 million in sales and employed close to 30 students. In 1988, he sold it to his two partners and moved to Toronto. Steve started out at Canada Life as a Mortgage and Real Estate Analyst. Following his true passion for setting his own course, Steve moved on to the Investment industry.
He built a substantial investment management practice as a Portfolio Manager and Director with TD Waterhouse. He was one of the few people in the industry to hold both his Portfolio Managers Designation as well as the Level 2 Insurance License. While at TD Waterhouse he built a substantial fee based business and insurance practice.
In 2003 Steve left the investment industry and started Thinc Ideal. He is a certified consultant for both The One Page Business Plan and Kolbe. His burning desire is to help people strike a balance between work, play and family so that they can have richer, more fulfilling lives.
Steve has been a long-term client of BIG and became a coach in 2007.
He lives in Etobicoke with his wife Carrie and two daughters. His interests include snowboarding, sailing, scuba diving and golf.
Imran is marketing coach who helps entrepreneurs take their businesses to the
next level. Trained by Bill Bishop and Curtis Verstraete, Imran utilizes their
proven methods to help small business owners discover the true potential of
their companies. He strives to provide exceptional customer service to his
clients and aims to transform their businesses into “gourmet” organizations.
His ability to brand and package the underlying value of companies helps his
clients expand their organizations.
A recent Marketing graduate from Ryerson University, Imran was most recently
working as Conference Producer for business events hosted in the U.S.
Imran lives in downtown Toronto and enjoys drawing and playing his guitar;
above all, he enjoys riding his snowboard.
