Yuri Vandenbogaerde

"Fight The Average"

Together with Dries Henau.

Summary

Fight The Average is a rollercoaster, a reality check, and a kick in the butt — not your typical dry “branding” lesson.

Dries and Yuri take the audience on a journey through the “World of Average”, a place where coffee bars, hotels, and brands mindlessly copy each other and believe that “just good” is good enough. Companies are willing to spend millions to please algorithms, forgetting that people aren’t pixels — they want to be moved.

But they don’t dwell on mediocrity. They show how things can be different — how a brand can truly become top-of-mind without selling its soul to the marketing devil. They wrap up with their UnAverage Framework™, a practical brand compass that helps companies put themselves on the map — not as “just another one,” but as the one.

In short: a bold, no-nonsense keynote packed with insights and without the bullshit.

Ready to Fight the Average?

Biography

Dries Henau and Yuri Vandenbogaerde – a duo that has been working, traveling, and creating together, both professionally and personally, for fifteen years. In 2012, they launched WASBAR, a combination of a laundromat and a café. The concept became an instant hit and grew into a brand they sold three years later to Top Brands, the parent company of Pizza Hut, Ellis Gourmet Burger, and Boulangerie Paul.

In 2018, they shook up Belgian retail with Chez Claire, a pastry brand offering luxurious éclairs – complete with shiny pink and gold boxes and champagne pairings. The concept was eventually acquired by La Lorraine, which now sells the éclairs at Delhaize.

Enter The Brand Guys. Today, they use their expertise to help companies worldwide – from Match Group (yes, the one behind Tinder) and eToro to hotels in Kenya, Budapest, and Aruba – elevate their brand and customer experience to the next level.

Their secret recipe? Daring to be different. No beige experiences. No algorithm-chasing content. But creating an identity that feels so right, people fall in love with the brand.