Maddog adventures
In this episode, we speak to Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences.
We discuss the power of branding, content marketing, merchandise, and why it’s important to show personality in your company!
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00:00:00 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Hi, I'm Chris, founder, senior brand designer and growth marketing strategist at Haus of Hiatus
00:00:06 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Brand Growth Studio, we wanted to document innovative and disruptive ideas from successful small to medium sized enterprises to help startups to get strong market position as quickly as possible. In this episode I interview Mark, a British military veteran and co-founder of Mad Dog.
00:00:21 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Ventures, an innovative UK based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life affirming experiences.
00:00:42 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Mark, great.
00:00:43 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
View on the inaugural Horseheads podcast.
00:00:46 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah. Thanks for the invite.
00:00:47 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Did a fantastic job building Mad Dog adventures, so you naturally you were. You were one of the first people that I wanted to kind of get on and and understand more about kind of how you've built it, the branding, the marketing, the the things you've done to help scale it so big because obviously it's got a, a huge social media following and it's it's becoming.
00:01:06 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
An example for other kind of veteran owned companies and and adventure startups to to kind of follow in your in your footsteps. So I guess can you tell us a bit more about about Mad Dog adventures to to kick off?
00:01:18 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah. Well, it's a smaller, I would say it's a family business. So it's being veteran owned, it's me and two of my best friends and and one of those I actually went to school with.
00:01:30 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And he's he's basically part of the family and and our partners and children all seem to get involved and and. And I like that. I like that about it, that it's it's small sort of little family thing and and it come about just because we wanted an excuse to carry on having adventures and we didn't want.
00:01:47 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
To grow up, basically.
00:01:48 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And.
00:01:49 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And if you if you can call your adventure work, you can justify it to the masses and and and just crack on with your little travel adventures and and whatnot. So that was sort of like the idea behind it. We've we've come up with the idea and a little tent just short, whether it's space temp. And it was like.
00:01:53
Yeah.
00:01:57 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Definitely.
00:02:06 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
We're going to go back to the real world and grow up because I think we were, we were just turned 30.
00:02:10
Yeah.
00:02:12 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
I don't wanna stop all of this. It's like ohh, how. How can we carry on doing it? And we planned that trip and run it ourselves. So we're like.
00:02:20 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Well, we've done it for ourselves. Maybe we could do this sort of thing for other people. So and then it was like a bit of a slow Rd from there looking into. OK, well, what do you actually need besides, you know, it's like being a good outdoorsman, but what qualifications do you need? What insurances do you need? You know, how do you actually put that into into practise?
00:02:22
Yeah.
00:02:34 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yes.
00:02:40 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
So.
00:02:40 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah. Wow, I think incredible, right and what?
00:02:43 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
This so so teen Taylor about kind of where the what, what kind of services you do. So it's is it is it guiding cause I've seen you do lots of jungle stuff, you do mountains, it's multi environment kind of experts and.
00:02:54 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:02:56 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
So we do, we started off with like the UK mountain, just like mountain leader you know.
00:03:03 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Graded mountain days until we got a woodland and now we have like a a woodland base in the Midlands.
00:03:03
Yeah.
00:03:10 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Where where we deliver like a full syllabus of survival and expedition skills training. What some people would call bushcraft. But when I think of the word bushcraft, I think of whittling spoons and bones and and that's amazing. And I know some people who could point people in that direction, but it's not. It's not me. It's not us.
00:03:14
Yeah, yeah.
00:03:20 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:03:27 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:03:30 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
So yeah, like, so we do like expert first aid and we we teach expedition skills and the survival side for when things go wrong all in this big wig and and and then the UK mountain stuff. But yeah the international.
00:03:39
Yeah.
00:03:45 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Bits. The guided sort of expeditions, predominantly the jungle. That's where we wanted to specialise.
00:03:50
Yeah, yeah.
00:03:52 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
We sort of saw that there was a little gap there. I mean, like I said, the the.
00:03:57 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
The quirk there is the the idea came about.
00:04:02 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
In Nepal, doing every space camp. But when it came to, OK well, we'd love to do a big international trip.
00:04:09 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
If we did an Everest base camp trip, we'd be the smallest fish in the biggest problems. You'd need a massive marketing budget to make any sort of dent because there's tonnes of people doing it and doing it probably loads better than we would because they're set up for that and then we see you sort of look at.
00:04:12 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:04:27 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
OK. Well, what can we do that other people aren't? And there's not many people doing a.
00:04:32 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Hard and and and more ********. Or a dirty trick to the jungle. They're all sort of clean and sterile and and walk waves and come and see the orangutans and and that. And then we were like, OK, the jungle. Yeah, we can make a dent there. That could be our.
00:04:35
Yeah, no.
00:04:47 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I think, yeah, I mean that's it, it's quite a, it's a good USB to have, I guess. Isn't it because mountaineering has got, it's got quite defined path, you know, physically and and career wise you know you you get your mum to meet as qualifications, you get the insurance you obviously you partner with obviously the bigger companies whereas the jungle is much more ad hoc it it takes a lot more.
00:04:54 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:05:07 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And.
00:05:09 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Actually being there, you know, almost, almost kind of immersive skills to understand the difference between, you know, the the Brunei jungle, the West African jungle, the Belize jungle, and you cause all they're all different. Obviously, variations of gender, the different kind of evacuation requirements and what different logistics, availability and challenges, so I guess.
00:05:20 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah, very.
00:05:29 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I guess it's probably more of.
00:05:30 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
A.
00:05:31 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
More of a complicated problem to untangle, I guess. For your for your clients is.
00:05:35 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Is that right?
00:05:37 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah, definitely. You know, even down to the like the plant and the wildlife all wants to go, yeah, different ways. And then it looks different in different jungles and what looks benign in one might be deadly in the other. Yeah. And then you've got the, the various countries that these jungles sit in that, as you say, that require different, you know.
00:05:48
Yeah.
00:05:56 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Sort of. Evacuation tactics and logistics and.
00:05:57
Yeah.
00:06:00 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And yeah, rather than say, when I did my ML that very clear defined get this quail, then this quail and and work your way up. The jungle is really down to sort of dirt time and getting out there, getting those, you gotta have some local contacts. You've gotta have like, some local fixes in country.
00:06:16
Yeah.
00:06:19 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah, it it's it's a different kettle of fish, but it's one that we really enjoy and and that it also it.
00:06:25 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
With the the survival trainer, which is obviously based in a woodland. So if you're if you're teaching people in a woodland and they sort of, they get into it and they're really excited.
00:06:27
Yeah, yeah.
00:06:37 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
We fame, we're not stupid. You know, we theme the survival training when we're talking about ohh. And if you was on a big expedition. And of course when we're talking about a big expense, we're not talking about mountaineering or the desert. We handily discussed the jungle and and that's it's sort of planting that seed in people as they come on the basic course and work their way up so that it and then naturally them thinking.
00:06:56 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
I'm ready now. Well, the obvious one is to go to the jungle and. And of course, that's when we're like, well, hold my bear.
00:06:59
Yeah.
00:07:02 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
OK. Yeah, I I.
00:07:03 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Guess it's it kind of makes more sense and obviously if you're if you're going for something like Everest, you know you can do the penny fan, but there's this huge gap between the two things, isn't it, you know, obvious.
00:07:03 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:07:10 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:07:11 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, one ones on snow and ice and ones you know, just in a bit, kind of windy, rainy Wales. Whereas obviously, yeah. Exactly. Yeah, just a lump. Whereas obviously you've got jungle which you you can kind of replicate in, in out sort of jungle environments, especially if you put people remote or you kind of, you know, kind of restrict.
00:07:18 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yes, hello.
00:07:31 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Restrict their their availability, logistics, and and movement so that that does build those those baseline jungle skills which they can then test out on a on a guided exped to A to a real.
00:07:43 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah, and and and ultimately, why always say to people, oh, you know what sort of special skills do I need to to come on the jungle expert and then? And it's like it is basically it's your woodland hammock camping. Just stop steroids and just be a be a lot more and being wet all the time.
00:08:02 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And being very, very careful with your hands, your feet and and everything else, yeah.
00:08:04
Yes.
00:08:05 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yes, exactly. Yeah. No, I mean let's.
00:08:10 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Get them to come.
00:08:10 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
On the next question is is I guess.
00:08:13 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Where does the brand name come from? Cause obviously I guess the the easy option would have just been to call it jungle X beds limited or something like that I guess was it. Was there a name where kind of Mad Dog expeditions kind of originated from?
00:08:20 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yes.
00:08:25 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah. So there's two things. Well, one at the time I my, my wife owned a Alaskan malamute, which is like, a a big Husky sort of dog. She she's a she was into dog sledding and and and that definitely was a Mad Dog.
00:08:37
Yeah.
00:08:45 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And took us on a lot of adventures. But then also my business partner, Chris, who was the other guy, sat with me in the tent in that snowstorm having this discussion, his nickname for years, thanks to my mum as the Mad Dog because he was a little bit of a social hand grenade. So sort of, you know.
00:09:05 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
So.
00:09:06 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
The the dog loving aspect and this great big dog that was just a a character and and Chris and and it and it just sort of we liked the sound of it. We liked it sounding a little bit quirky or something a little bit different and and then a good friend of Chris's like another school friend knocked up the the logo.
00:09:14 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Just 50.
00:09:16
Yeah.
00:09:24
Yeah, yeah.
00:09:26 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
We sort of pencilled in some ideas and he knocked.
00:09:28 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Out and and and that was it that you know, we're well, Chuck with how that.
00:09:33 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Came out with the wolf ball and stuff so.
00:09:33
Yeah. No, I.
00:09:34 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Like it it's it's almost like a it's it's a unique kind of brand personality, isn't it? Because it's not, you know, you didn't go for the obvious option, which then kind of boxes you in, you know if you call it jungle expeditions limited for example, it means you can't really go and do stuff on mountains where if you look at what was the the mountain in one of the seven summits over.
00:09:44 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:09:53 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Popping feeling. What's that from the seven summits? It's the permit period. Cut. It's cut. Cut. Cut. Pyramid that I should know. This. It's it's got the the kind of lead in before you actually get to the mountain. Is is quite a long way through dense jungle, isn't it? As far as I understand to you actually start the mountaineering. So I guess.
00:09:54 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Ohh.
00:09:56 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
You got Kenny? No, not Kenny.
00:10:00 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Something pyramids.
00:10:03 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:10:11 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:10:12 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
There is, you know, it does kind of open up different services for you. I guess you you can combine it with the mountaineering and say right, we'll do the the cartoons pyramid and we'll take you, you know, through the jungle, you test out the jungle skills we've taught you and then you'll climb the mountain in the future. So.
00:10:28 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah, yeah, you've got that. You've got killer. Baloo. Obviously. I'm I'm Borneo. Which which is something that we're looking at even on our trip to Lancair we we found like a mountain infesting on the on the last day. It's not a big one, you know. It's I think it's it's only.
00:10:45 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
It's a touch shorter than Penny. I think it's about 730 metres. Yeah, it's, it's. It's barely a mountain, but so well after a few days in the jungle and and coming pushing through the canopy it was, I think that was quite hard after some of the clients. But we were like ohh well well, we gotta take a mountain in there somewhere. But yeah, we didn't want to be pigeonholed. And I think it fit.
00:10:56
Yeah.
00:11:04 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Our personalities. There's three of us or there's there's four now, but.
00:11:05
Yeah.
00:11:11 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
That, you know, we like to have a laugh. And I've been on courses before where there's real them and us between the clients and the staff. And it can be a bit stuffy. And we've always said we want people to feel like they're come in on a an ex bed or a course and just learning from their more knowledgeable new friends and and have a bit of a laugh.
00:11:16 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:11:28 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Perfect.
00:11:30 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
With it, because people are paying out their money, their time, which is even more.
00:11:35
Yes.
00:11:36 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:36 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Just, you know, they're not be talked down to or not be able to have a laugh. So yeah, I think the names sort of also fit our sort of our character.
00:11:43 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
This this style. Yeah. No, I like it like you hit you hit on a very good point because there is no kind of across having done some guide, guiding myself a few years ago there, there were some organisations out there that have bad reputation with clients because they there was this this kind of like wall of ice between the, you know, those who are running it and those who are actually.
00:12:03 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
On that.
00:12:04 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Which, you know, maybe harks back to, I don't know, recruit training from their military careers or something in the past where they they.
00:12:11 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Couldn't.
00:12:12 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Kind of bridge that gap and and actually you know, build good rapport with the the people who were there paying, like you say paying and and using their time their precious holiday time from work to go and do these incredible experiences.
00:12:17 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:12:24 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
But I can't. I can't imagine that would have.
00:12:26 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Good.
00:12:27 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, long term growth strategy for for the company because people want to come away from this, this stuff having had a hard but enjoyable experience, not just a hard experience.
00:12:37 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. They want Type 2 fun.
00:12:40
Yeah.
00:12:40 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Not type 3. Yes, yeah.
00:12:45 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Good.
00:12:45 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And and you touched on there, you know, maybe some of them have, you know, done the old like recruit training and stuff and they've just clung onto that DS mindset. And I think that's one of the things that some.
00:12:56 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Some small veteran companies are guilty of you've gotta pick all the good bits out of your military service and carry that with you, but it's time to let go of some of the habits that aren't just aren't gonna fit into the civilian world or you know.
00:13:00 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I agree, yeah.
00:13:09 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Completely agree. I mean one thing we see, we get kind of get asked about often actually is kind of use of social media which I which is one of the questions I wanted to kind of ask you in the in the future but we can we can tackle it now actually is.
00:13:21 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Very named companies that some do social media really well. Like you know, I love what you guys have been doing with the the videos, the, the you know, the Instagram content. I'm not. I'm not seeing you on. I'm not too active on TikTok yet but I'm I'm sure but I think kind of like your your kind of company translates very well.
00:13:34 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
No, no, you're.
00:13:36 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Right.
00:13:40 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
To to YouTube and kind of the Insta stuff because it's.
00:13:43 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
So it's so visual, isn't it? Now like being in a?
00:13:46 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Jungle it is.
00:13:47 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Just you know it, it just beggars belief sometimes when you're like, Oh yeah, I can. I can see where the root is. It's just like just look at this.
00:13:53 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Stack of leaves and branches and.
00:13:54 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Stuff so.
00:13:56 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah. And the noise, I don't think people would believe the noise if you haven't been there before.
00:13:58 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, how I got howler monkeys my my time in where? Where we Cameroon with four or five and just the howler monkeys, you know. Sounds like they're being murdered in the middle of the night.
00:14:09 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, and it was like.
00:14:12 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Supposed to sleep with this guy.
00:14:17 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
It's the noise the birds make in the in the night, and it's just so loud or or or the insects you know. And and and that always tickles me when the clients go. What is that mate? Expect it to be the big creature and go. Yeah. It's a little bird. It's that that thing you know or or that or that's the.
00:14:26
Speaking.
00:14:31 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Insects mate. Don't worry about it.
00:14:33 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Oh my God. Well big.
00:14:36 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
No, no, they're not. Yes, loud.
00:14:39 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
The park's worsen there by or I guess what? So what? What was the? What was the drivers then to get onto social media then? Because I, you know, I think it it's clearly working as an incredible strategy for helping grow awareness of the business and also people.
00:14:41 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:14:53 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, people become aware of you and you get that, that strong perception. They see their friends on social media and I'm sure that probably attracts more people to the to the company. So what I guess how how did that that end up being, you know being a a a strategy?
00:15:08 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Well, I'll admit, like when we started in 2016, none of us had a clue about social media. Probably Chris, the most out of all of us.
00:15:12
Yes.
00:15:18 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And and there were some steep learning curves in the beginning, you know, spent a lot of money needlessly boosting posts in Facebook and and all these tactics that you know now you just know not to do and. And and it was it was, yeah. It was hard hard graft in the beginning and but we just sort of.
00:15:24
Yes.
00:15:37 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
To put yourself out there went to two Facebook events in London actually organised by veteran owned UK in with like their they have like a department there that was supporting veterans and you could just rock up and go I am caveman.
00:15:40
Very cool.
00:15:47
Yeah, yeah.
00:15:54 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And and so initially that was, we just went to everything that was offered by Facebook, Instagram, et cetera, and learned as much as we can. I mean, I filled notebooks with, with notes just to get a better handle on what we were doing and and how to do it, and and then to be fair, our social media sort of.
00:15:56
Which?
00:16:03
Yeah.
00:16:05
Yeah.
00:16:15 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
We really picked up and.
00:16:18 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
The.
00:16:19 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Following increased and our engagement in that with with COVID COVID, it was it was doing fairly well until COVID you know, well definitely well enough. And then COVID was this decision point where so many outdoor businesses were going.
00:16:35
Yeah.
00:16:36 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And that they were just stopping and the right, I noticed, was well, I'm not outdoors, so I won't post anything on social media with seem to be the tactic of all these companies. And you're like.
00:16:44 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:16:46 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
No, no. Now is the time to really go for it. So when that people come out of lockdowns and that, you know, I want to be in their forefront of their mind, Mad Dog adventures, that's where I'm going. So we just, we went for it. That was the first time that we, I think we posted 6-7 days a week started.
00:16:53
Yeah.
00:16:55
Yeah, yeah.
00:17:05 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Sort of threw away the.
00:17:08 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Cringe factor if you like of talking to the camera, you know we're we're.
00:17:08
Yeah.
00:17:11 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
All a bit like camera.
00:17:12 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Same with.
00:17:15 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah. So you know, you know, gotta get on it. So because, you know, you've gotta make your own content sort of thing. So your hour a day that you were going out exercising. Luckily, I live backing onto a.
00:17:25
Yeah, yeah.
00:17:25 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Forest.
00:17:26 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
So getting out into the woods.
00:17:27 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And talking to camera.
00:17:29 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And.
00:17:30 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And and yeah, and again because we couldn't go outdoors, it wasn't just a case of posting rock, we just knuckled down on on learning more about.
00:17:39 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Social media. You know the the the sort of advantages of doing blogs for other people's websites as well as their own or the yeah. And just really sort of go well if we can't push the businesses and we can't get out there and run events and do anything, let's push our own skill set, you know sort.
00:17:45 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, yeah, like guest posting you.
00:17:59
Yes.
00:18:00 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
So I guess in.
00:18:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
In a way, it was. It was. I almost hate to say it is COVID might be a good thing because it kind of pushed you to be kind of innovative and and really disrupt a markets, you know, of adventure companies who probably weren't on social media all that much, you know, been relying on kind of that organic word of mouth traffic. Whereas for you the.
00:18:20 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Pandemic really just push you to innovate and adapt to the kind of the the new, the new situation.
00:18:28 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah, definitely. I mean, we come out of COVID in the first survival course we run even with all the little restrictions and the, as silly as it was, the local council making us put laminated signs on trees about anti back and stuff like that. But but the first couple actually we we sold out.
00:18:41
Yeah.
00:18:47 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And we had, you know, we had, like, waiting lists for for coming on those courses.
00:18:49
Alright.
00:18:53 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And yeah, I think people were just so fed up with being indoors and and it our strategy, if you like, had worked it definitely it pushed us. We we had the time I think as well we had the time to create different content. We were forced into creating different content because we couldn't just rely on, I've got another pretty picture of.
00:18:55 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, yeah.
00:19:12 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
00:19:15 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah. So it it forced us to think outside the box a little bit. And and yeah, I think the big driving factor was that well, if everybody else is slowing down, we'll ramp up we'll.
00:19:25
Yeah.
00:19:26 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
We'll really go for it.
00:19:27 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Like it's because your business is so visual that you've got that visual content. I guess you you can you can pivot quite easily into kind of more like education, educational stuff like I I think they referred to it as like edutainment where you're kind of talking about, you know, different ways to pack a bag or a backpack or or, you know, keep keeping fire ants.
00:19:38 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:19:47 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Out of your hammock or some? Yeah, something like that. I guess you've got a whole wealth of stuff that you can just go and recreate in your in your, in your backyard, in the, in the forest, and then it gives you something new to talk about every single day where everyone else is, I guess, probably just.
00:19:55
Yeah.
00:20:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, reposting their their dance videos or whatever, and you're able to make something which is on brand. It's interesting, it's educational and actually it kind of it resonates with your I guess your target market.
00:20:16 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
No, definitely. Even if it was just, I was going out for a tab, you know, for for exercise in the forest and just sort of getting online, doing the little live videos and encouraging people to to get out. And I think the the motto of the business, the adventurism mindset.
00:20:34 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Which?
00:20:37 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Adele, my my wife sort of came up with that years ago.
00:20:42 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And it just fit. You know, we like we've we've been pushing the idea that that well if you're say a three-year old an adventure is the like department you know and if we changed our minds at slightly as grown-ups we start to think of adventure has to involve flights thousands of pounds far away destinations and so.
00:20:51 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, yeah.
00:20:58 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, expensive, yeah.
00:21:02 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
So the motto that we've already sort of started that you know well, now you can have an adventure in this country. You can have an adventure for changing your mindset, fit with the lockdown because we were like, OK, yeah, you just gotta change your mindset about what is an adventure for you right now. You know, have you got out today, you know, get out down, find your local Country Park, get out in the woods and walk along.
00:21:20
Yes.
00:21:22 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Extreme like, say, practise, you know, get your hammock out and and.
00:21:26 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Sit in that for an hour.
00:21:27
Darius.
00:21:29 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
So.
00:21:30 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
It sort of it. Yeah. For us, the the lockdowns and and the pandemic sort of all come together along with the motto and the the nature of our business and really helped us out and then the the new sort of social media skills we picked up with all that extra spare time obviously as as come in handy.
00:21:39
Here.
00:21:49 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Going forwards.
00:21:49 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, yeah, I guess because because there is a like you say it's, it doesn't have to involve thousands of pounds of flights and stuff. That's kind of the upper end of the spectrum is that I guess at the lower end of the spectrum, it's all.
00:22:00 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
About kind of mental health, you know, getting away from that screen, disconnecting from, you know, the mobile phone and actually just getting out in nature and just having that free headspace to go and think, you know, plan, plan things for the future and decide on goals and ambitions that you want to undertake and and.
00:22:20 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I I for for me it it's, you know, a massive part as I make sure I I get out and at least you know once a day to get away from the screen and and go and you know go and get in nature somewhere which is you know is is is really easy here in in the Nordics but yeah now I can see exactly how.
00:22:39 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
During the pandemic, your your messaging was vital, but exactly on on point. So yeah, fantastic stuff.
00:22:49 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah. So it all just sort of luckily, just came together for us.
00:22:54 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
No, I mean, I guess I'm saying if you don't mind me asking, kind of like how how, where does, where does Mad Dog go from the future there?
00:23:02
You.
00:23:03 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, in the future, do you, do you look, are you are you looking to do kind of more expeditions in in jungles around the world, in new places or is it kind of adding a new angle of kind of mountaineering to it or or I don't know subaqua or something like what's I guess what's the future if.
00:23:10 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Theme.
00:23:17 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
They might be asking.
00:23:19 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
So the the mountaineering side will probably remain in the UK cause I know, I know you're a Mountaineer yourself and obviously.
00:23:25
Yeah.
00:23:28 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
OK.
00:23:29 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Just guiding and and mountaineering is is very expensive, costly business and and the qualifications through the roof and it's one of those things that when it comes to like the big stuff for the company, if we can't do it really well or we can't, you know like the jungle we saw like a niche that we could get in there and offer something different. Just don't wanna just go and do something that everybody else is.
00:23:32
Yeah.
00:23:48 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Doing, albeit with you know.
00:23:51 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
A much smaller budget on our on our side because we're a small business. So yeah, we're looking at, we wanna stay on that sort of jungle theme and just add the like you touched on right at the beginning, you know you've got West Africa, you've got. I mean there's some people would say the Bush in Australia would count as jungle you've got.
00:23:52
Yeah.
00:23:54
Yes.
00:24:11 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
All of Asia, South America, parts of Central America. Although I don't have.
00:24:17
Yeah, I was going to say.
00:24:20 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
So you've got quite a bit of scope within that jungle setting. And then we touched on, you've got thought about the old, I can't remember, it's the.
00:24:29 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Things pyramid, but certainly Kinabalu is one that we've looked at as a an achievable big mountain. But with that jungle setting to sort of kick it off and then, you know, moving away from the jungle, one thing we are going to do is we've got an Arctic survival course in Norway.
00:24:41
Yeah.
00:24:49 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Very cool.
00:24:50 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Next year, a a good friend of ours lives in Norway. He runs like a an expeditions.
00:24:58 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Company more based on sort of medical staff, wilderness medicine. He's been a big supporter of us, like from the beginning and really helped us out. So yeah, might might be doing something in Norway next year. Well, I say we might. We are. So yeah, that would be quite different, you know, go from being hot and sweaty to.
00:24:59
Yeah.
00:25:10
Yeah.
00:25:17 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Colleague.
00:25:18 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Like just, I guess I guess kind of like you, you you.
00:25:22 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You get the the expertise in one kind of aspect of the the environment and they guess then it becomes something which you can you can expand on into other places because obviously your your journey means that all can come and do the jungle training in the UK they come to like a jungle expedition, you know which involves some travel say to to central South America or.
00:25:42 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I guess kind of East Asia.
00:25:44 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:25:45 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And then they, you know, have a a great time. Like you say that the staffer a greater on side a friendly and then they want to come back.
00:25:52 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And say well.
00:25:52 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
What's what's the kind of the Arctic region like and what's the, you know, what's the polar polar stuff like or what? How would I fare in mountaineering? And I guess it it kind of it starts off that that journey of of relationship between you and the.
00:26:04 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You and the the customer whereby they they probably want to come back and see what else they're capable of as well because I know I know for me in and you know probably many other other veterans was that you you don't just.
00:26:16 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, go into doing hard things without any prep. You kind of start off small, you know, start off like a 5K run and then you become you start to think about what's a half marathon like and then what's a full marathon like. And before you know, it gets out of control of it and you know, Iron Man's.
00:26:27 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:26:31 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Exactly that you've gotta. You've gotta have that next step up. So, I mean, some people would have come to our trip last year lancourt and and that might have been more than enough jungle for them and go. Oh, that's great. Loved it. But, you know, next time I want to go to the desert, the Arctic or or or whatever. And I don't really want to be hot and sweaty and and.
00:26:42
Yeah.
00:26:51 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And being and being attacked by monkeys.
00:26:52 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Again. But then other people definitely come back from that and said to us, OK, that that was great. That was like the beginners jungle. Now I wanna go hard, you know, ********. I'm like, well, step into our office. So you've gotta.
00:27:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:27:04 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Have that sort.
00:27:05 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Of that next step up, because the first one is like 4 days in the jungle and four days on an uninhabited island.
00:27:12 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Wow. Wow. Wow.
00:27:12 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Living off the beach. So there's A and two days R&R in between. So it's like the we always say it's the Diet Coke jungle trip. It's like it's ideal for beginners. It's not going to kill you. But then stepping up from that, we do have like a 10 days under the canopy trip in Brunei. And so you've got to have that.
00:27:19
Yeah.
00:27:31
Next.
00:27:32 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Step and and other things that I mean. There's another small veteran company that runs canoeing expeditions that we're gonna partner with. So they sort of.
00:27:39 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Very cool.
00:27:41 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
They've gotta be in their bonnet, that they wanna canoe in a tropical environment, so we'll team up with them and they'll handle all the transport and the canoes and that side of life and we'll run the the jungle base camp sort of side and look after.
00:27:56 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Them and you know, moving forwards, if we we do any sort of big mountain trips, the same thing I I like the idea of collaborating. You know, if you can't do it, go and make friends with another small business that can and and put yourselves together. So right. Well, we've got that client base that want to go and do this but they want to do it in the jungle and that's our thing.
00:28:04
Yeah, yeah.
00:28:18 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Let's this team up. Let's see what we can do with this. And you know the rising tide raises all.
00:28:24 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Ships and that sort of thing.
00:28:24 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah. No, I like it. I mean, that's definitely been one of the the good things about ours and the the kind of veteran business community because.
00:28:30 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
It's you. You do kind of start to understand, like you say, other people who are working in, you know, separate marketplaces, but that there can be crossover. You know this, this paddling company for example, you know, I guess if you if you both are creating content on one of these trips then it means you share it to your separate audiences. You know, people who go to the, you know, the paddling company for, for, for the water.
00:28:51 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
What was then? Start considering well, what? What would it be like to do this kind of remote jungle thing exped, you know and and vice versa, the jungle. One such thing about the the public. That's certainly what happened with me, you know, sat off in in.
00:28:55
Yeah.
00:29:04 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, just like indoor climbing, I think. And then they kind of like progress into mountaineering and, you know, a whole lot of other kind of adventure sports. But yeah, I I can definitely see how that's that strategy of of collaborating with other veteran owned businesses is is is making useful.
00:29:22 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Very.
00:29:22 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Cool.
00:29:23 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah, even in the same space, you know, we've got a really good friend called Tom Blakey. And if you looked at his his prepared Pathfinder on YouTube.
00:29:32 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And then it's got a company called first in events and if you look at first in events, they do what we do and people say, oh, well, it isn't these sort of the competition, you know? No, because there's more than enough people out there. Clients for both of us. He's got a a slightly different style to us, you know, see tracks, slightly different sort of customer.
00:29:50
Yes.
00:29:53 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Vice versa. And then there's that crossover and and you know if there was something that I can't do or or don't want to do, but he does, you know for example, the the fan we touched on Penny fan come up earlier and he does it like a race. You know the full weight weighted with the DS and you know really test yourself against the clock.
00:30:03
Mm-hmm.
00:30:12
MMM.
00:30:13 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
I am. I'm done with running around like a lunatic, so if I do the fan dance now I'm doing it like a nice leisurely walk the same route, but a walk and a chat and the sunrise and a nice breakfast at me. And when people do that and then they said, Ohh yeah, but you know, I wanna. I wanna test myself. And what is the time and all that? And I'm like.
00:30:21
Yeah.
00:30:25 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:30:33
So.
00:30:36 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Tom-tom, will, Tom, we'll, we'll smash that with the. Yeah, that that's his thing.
00:30:40
Yeah, yeah.
00:30:42 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And and vice versa, you know and and there's we've sort of got links now to a few small veterans.
00:30:49 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Outdoor expedition sitting around that sort of world companies and it's nice.
00:30:54 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah. No, it's very cool. I like, like you say that you almost got different sections of the market, haven't you? You've got the, the section. Where you you you want to kind of lead people and actually have an enjoyable experience. Cause not. Not every expedition has to be a slog. That's definitely something I've found over the last few years. And but at the same time as you have, you know, young guys who may have aspirations to join the military.
00:31:08 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
No.
00:31:15 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
They want to go and put themselves in.
00:31:16 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That in that arena and and test themselves against the clock, who can then go and you know who who. Then you can refer over to Tom and say, look, you know, here's here's some of the that probably wants to come and join in and and then you that that client then becomes aware of Tom's business thanks to your kind of referral does it so it's.
00:31:34
Yeah.
00:31:36 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
That's the thing. And. And I always think that client will always come back because if they have a good experience with Tom and I wouldn't recommend another brand and there's I trusted them with my own brand.
00:31:50 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
When when they sort of decide they need some more survival skills or you know, they've gotta be in their bonnet about the jungle of it, they'll always remember who referred them to that company that gave them a good day out in the back of their minds, you know, and and it's it's like anything, you know, the garage that fixes my car, he was honest.
00:32:00 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, yeah.
00:32:09 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Have to tell me I can't do that mark on that car. Go see this garage and straight away that level of trust goes up, you know? So I know nothing about cars. Cause you think right. She's not taking my money and trying to buy.
00:32:15
Yeah.
00:32:20 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
It's going to give it to somebody else and I think it's the same in our boat rather than me blagging it and going, I can do everything. No, no, go. That's not for me, you know, like the spoon can't ring and whatnot, but but go and see. Go and see this. Yeah. You know, and it. Yeah, it's worked out really well. I mean, like this.
00:32:26 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:32:31
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:32:41 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
There's another little company, Ben, from TRC outdoors. They make outdoor products caps and.
00:32:48 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Bashes and tarps and all sorts and he came on one of our courses. So he was a customer and now you know when we've got these weird and wonderful ideas about little bits of jungle equipment and next year you'll see like a a line of dedicated jungle equipment we're producing. It's him. We don't have a clue how to make it. You know, we've just got the idea in our head and then we're like.
00:33:10 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Do you wanna go? Do you wanna go sort of half season making this random little hammock or you know?
00:33:13
Awesome.
00:33:16 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah. So it it, it's really nice, nice little group of people. And when you can collaborate with others.
00:33:23 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, especially veteran named ones as well here. Perfect.
00:33:26 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah, other and not just better than anyone, that's, you know, small businesses with a bit of passion about what they're doing.
00:33:44 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
When did the the branded merchandise kind of start becoming an idea? And and I guess how did you, how do you move into that as well because it's it's it's a.
00:33:51 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Good.
00:33:51 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Reminder of kind of like you know, the brand to people you know, because obviously you can give it out I guess as as gifts to your to your clients, you can put it on stickers, it's something which actually becomes a you know logo is actually quite an important thing when it comes to.
00:34:05 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Increasing brand awareness because it's something which can instantly trigger the recognition and then the, you know, the thought of potentially a sale.
00:34:12 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
In the future.
00:34:12 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
I can't remember what came first, whether it was a patch or the very first run of caps.
00:34:20 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
I've got a feeling it might have been a patch and and I mean, we've always liked the logo, but if it was, if it was the caps then the first time it really took off was definitely the patch collaboration we did with Nat at Pat Config. I don't know if you know heard of his.
00:34:39 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
But it's not like an outdoor kit blog and does patches and and.
00:34:43 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah. And and people, I mean, his artwork in the patches and stuff is beautiful, and people have really sort of taken to and they collect them. So he's got quite a die. Hard little group of people that collect them. And we did he come on one of our courses and we did a a collaboration patch with him.
00:34:50
Yeah.
00:34:57
Yeah.
00:35:04 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And that was the first time I think we really realised that there's there's the logo sort of seemed to speak to people. A lot of people that maybe hadn't heard of us, they were desperate to get hold of this patch. You know, the patch sold out.
00:35:11
Yeah, yeah.
00:35:16 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And and got a little bit silly. It was a 6 LB patch and I was watching them get sold for.
00:35:20 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Like $50 on.
00:35:21 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
This patch through on Facebook and.
00:35:25 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
And you're like, ohh should have kept a few back on the slide. But yeah, it's I've seen it. You know, the first time I saw a post saying, you know, I've got $50.
00:35:29 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I'm gonna sit.
00:35:33 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
If you've got one of these Mad Dog adventures.
00:35:34 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Patches. You're like it's.
00:35:35 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
A 6 LB patch. Yeah. Yeah. Mad so black realisation that the logo.
00:35:42 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Sort of spoke to a few people and that I mean one of our.
00:35:46 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Customers. He runs a dog train.
00:35:48 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Being company like Security Dog Company in America and he just loves the logo because it's got the wolf paw on it and he buys everything, you know, out to the states. So I got a funny feeling this dog training school in the states might be running around with my logo on it, but the amount of stuff you bought but but no, you know and and the things like the.
00:35:52
Here.
00:35:56 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah.
00:36:08 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Apps, to be honest, we've always made it quite clear. We've always joked about it. The the decision for merchandise at first was not about profit or brand awareness and all of the things that actually can come with with merch, it was like.
00:36:22 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
We really want the.
00:36:23
Yeah. Yes.
00:36:23 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Caps. But you know, don't really wanna pay for them. But if we make some and sell some that we can have our free and that was the deciding factor in the first couple of runs, it's like, well, I'd like a Multicam Tropic cap. I'd like a a rugby shirt with our logo on. Well, if we sell 10, we can have three or four for nothing, you know.
00:36:39
Yeah.
00:36:42 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
So that was like the deciding factor. And then afterwards it sort of became a bit more of a an organised thing and we've had some, like the patches we've done with that, we've, we've ended up having different themes. So we did like one of the Ranger. I like the little.
00:36:56 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Little rubber things that glows in the dark. We did a jungle specific one for our first jungle exped and and gave them. We gave them to our clients the patches and then we also gave them all a copy of the book. The jungle is neutral. I don't know if you've read it's like a World War. Two book written by this guy.
00:37:00
Yeah. Yes.
00:37:12
Yeah, yeah.
00:37:16 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
That sort of served out in Malaysia and Burma.
00:37:20 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:37:20 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Must admit it might not have been the greatest marketing technique that they all loved getting the book, but when they start reading it and they were sort coming back to me going, this sounds like death on a stick. Like this guy got malaria and he got this and he got that malike.
00:37:33 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:37:35 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah, that's it.
00:37:37 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
But but.
00:37:38 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
But what it does is it it, it puts this idea in their mind that actually it's like, well, you definitely that's why you definitely need us to kind of guide you through it because there's a lot of things you can you can very easily you know go wrong in the jungle it's a.
00:37:42 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah.
00:37:48 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That's where you know, can it can chew you up and spit you out without before you even realise.
00:37:53 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah. Ohh yeah 100%. It's not somewhere you can, you know, he'll walk in long before we get any amount nearing the space that you can just look at a few posts on Instagram and go, oh, I'll stick an app on my phone. I'm not. I'm not suggesting that's a good idea. You know, I'd like I think you should get some Maxfield, but most people do, don't they stick it up on their phone, they go for a walk in the park district and boom.
00:37:53 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That I'm sorry.
00:38:07
Yeah.
00:38:13 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
You could just get get that foot holding to the outdoors, but if you try doing that in the jungle, then things might go a little bit.
00:38:14
Yeah.
00:38:17 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:38:21 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
So you you told me about, I guess last question. You you told me about kind of future expeditions and how you want to kind of adapt them I guess do you do you see yourself launching a sub brand or anything to kind of go with my dog adventure? I mean it it sounds to me like you know a Mad Dog adventures YouTube channel is is a very obvious thing.
00:38:41 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, if you took a videographer or photographer on you with you on these expeditions, I mean, you could, you can almost create your own mini TV series. So I guess is, I guess is, is that any intentions to kind of move in?
00:38:51 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
To, you know, content or or stuff like that in the in the kind of the district.
00:38:53
Alright.
00:38:55 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
I'd love to. YouTube is something that is sort of I I'm as guilty as you. You watch all these videos I do watch loads of them about making good YouTube content. And the message is always just get out there and start it, you know. Don't don't wait to be a perfectionist. And I am definitely guilty of that. We've had a.
00:39:12
Yeah.
00:39:13 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Tube Channel set up with nothing on it. You know there's there's a few short videos on there for years because we're like, ohh, we'll do it when we got the time to do XY and Z and and I I think you've hit the nail on the head there. The most obvious thing would just be to to bite the bullet and take someone out with us to the jungle because you could get so much content.
00:39:18
Yeah.
00:39:25
Here.
00:39:34 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Because we're teaching and guiding an environment.
00:39:36 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:39:39 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
You know, and we've had a a, a really a great guy come out and do a video for us. You know, just like a short promo video couple years ago, just after COVID, another little veteran owned brand, Evos media ex rifles lad and it's.
00:39:59 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Night and day. The difference in in actually getting somebody that's got that eye and is stand alone from actually guiding this this concept of I'll do it myself or whatever when you're too busy you're you're looking at for the environment you're looking out for yourself the clients and everything else.
00:40:12
It's not just that.
00:40:19 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
You can't also be worrying about content, and I just, I don't have the what I watch, what a a real videographer or photographer does. And you just think, God, I'd never have thought of that.
00:40:23
Yeah.
00:40:30 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
You know, there's such an Archer. I find it fascinating, but yeah, the the YouTube idea is definitely on our on our list. I watch a lot of similar sort of YouTube content to what you sort of described. Like if we had like a almost like a series took a lot of inspiration from. There's a YouTube channel called Expedition Overlay.
00:40:52 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Hello. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And. And. And they're really sort of high production quality now and they're sort of sponsored by Toyota. But I've been watching them since they were sort of running around with Gopros and their their own personal daily driver Land Cruiser and sort of, I think it's great when you watch stuff like that cause you think, OK, if they can go from that to where they are now.
00:40:54 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:41:11 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Why can't I and and it's that not, you know it. It's so easy in the days of social media in particular, where everybody's promoting this perfect image, I think for people to be put off, think.
00:41:14
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
00:41:22 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Been ohh they just woke up one day and were there forgetting that no, no, four or five years ago they were right down there and you just gotta get amongst it and and you know. So now YouTube is definitely. It's definitely on the list. And what you said like that little sub brand that might that might happen.
00:41:28
Yeah.
00:41:32
Yes.
00:41:40
Yeah.
00:41:43 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
With some some the jungle themed products we touched on that we're sort of looking at launching.
00:41:47
Yeah.
00:41:50 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Very cool. Nice. Well, mate, thank you very much for this this insight. It's been incredible. I think there's there'll be lots of kind of startups and and kind of smaller businesses who you know will will learn loads from this and spark ideas on how they can actually reach their customers a little bit better or or get their brand in peoples's.
00:42:10 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Awareness. You know, a bit a bit faster because it's like, like you said earlier is.
00:42:15 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
It's almost a constant process of of trying something, experimenting, seeing what works, seeing what doesn't, moving on to the next thing, iterating it, finding out. You know that that is getting some engagement and then and then doing more in that stuff. So yeah, there, I know there be loads of loads of veteran owned you know, smaller brands who who are really.
00:42:34 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Who really learned?
00:42:34 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Yeah. Well, I hope so. Yeah, they maybe they can. Maybe they can cut down the time on that journey of that we had at the beginning, messing around, spending far too much money on Facebook and that they're good for them.
00:42:35 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
In this.
00:42:41 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:42:46 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
Thanks a lot Chris for the opportunity it's been.
00:42:47
That's.
00:42:48 Marc Cherry, a British military veteran and co-founder at Maddog adventures, an innovative UK-based expedition company that takes people to the jungle for incredible life-affirming experiences
A good chat.
00:42:50 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
It was really.
00:42:51 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Great to hear from Mark about power, branding, content marketing, merchandise and what is important to show personality in your.
00:42:57 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Company.
00:42:58 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
If you're interested to get more insight from small to medium sized enterprises on how they handle their branding and marketing, subscribe to our page or check our website at the share it below and I'll.
00:43:07 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
See you next time.
