Protecting the story | Kevin Spreekmeester on brand, place, and connection

Published June 2026

In this episode of In the Making, Michele speaks with Kevin Spreekmeester, a storyteller, photographer, writer, marketing strategist, and former Chief Marketing Officer of Canada Goose.

Kevin’s career has moved across many creative worlds: photojournalism, advertising, brand building, travel writing, and advisory work. But through all of it, one thread remains clear: story. Not story as decoration, or as marketing language, but story as a way of helping people recognize something true.

The conversation begins with Kevin’s early work as a photographer and photojournalist, then moves into his years at Canada Goose, where he helped protect and shape the brand’s authentic story as it grew from a Canadian outerwear company into a global name. Kevin reflects on what happens when a brand becomes widely successful, and why growth can create pressure to dilute the very thing that made people connect with it in the first place.

We also talk about the quieter side of his creative life: travel, writing, the Canadian North, Pond Inlet, Churchill, London, Amsterdam, and the places that continue to call him back. For Kevin, those places are not just destinations. They are points of connection — to memory, landscape, people, wildlife, and the larger world.

At its core, this is a conversation about integrity. The integrity of a brand. The integrity of a story. And the question of what we are really searching for when we make things, travel, write, photograph, or try to build something that lasts.

Conversation Highlights

Storytelling as the through-line across photography, writing, advertising, and brand work.

Building and protecting an authentic brand story at Canada Goose.

What changes when a brand becomes global.

The tension between growth, metrics, and integrity.

Why some stories remain modest, even when the platform becomes huge.

Retirement, purpose, and the strange absence of “have to”.

Returning to photojournalism after a long career in marketing.

The pull of the Canadian North, Pond Inlet, Churchill, and the flow edge.

Why place, memory, and landscape shape creative identity.

The human search for connection.

“I think we’re all looking for connections.”

About Kevin Spreekmeester

Kevin Spreekmeester is a storyteller, photographer, writer, brand strategist, and former Chief Marketing Officer of Canada Goose. His career has moved across photography, photojournalism, advertising, marketing, travel writing, and brand advisory work. As CMO of Canada Goose, Kevin played a key role in shaping and protecting the brand’s story during a period of major international growth. His approach has long centred on authenticity, emotional resonance, and the belief that strong stories must be rooted in something real.

Beyond brand work, Kevin has travelled widely and written about places that have left a lasting impression on him, including the Canadian Arctic, Churchill, Amsterdam, London, and other landscapes shaped by history, wilderness, and human connection.

His creative work continues to explore the relationship between place, story, identity, and the search for meaning.