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Building community in all its forms

This weeks Mid-Week Mugging features maker, marketer and musician Ben Watson

After a whirlwind journey of real life and digital exploration that saw him topping the underground electronic music charts and touring the lecture circuit with Bill Gates, artist and social media entrepreneur, Ben Watson, is returning to his roots.

“What I have learned is, that the best I can do is be a member and a contributor to all of the communities I occupy,” said Watson. “Be careful about predicting your own future and missing the opportunities that come along.”

Watson grew up in Puslinch Township where he attended Aberfoyle Public School with his younger sister Maxine. His father Morley Watson was a plumbing and steam-fitting contractor with Hoffer Mechanical and his mother Marilyn Watson was a nurse at Guelph General Hospital.

Watson learned a number of trade skills working for his father and got his first exposure to entrepreneurialism while still in high school working for the family coffee business Frontier Foods.

He developed an early interest in art and music and played in a number of local bands including Cold War.

After high school he studied art at McMaster University, the Dundas Valley School of Art and the Ontario College of Art in Toronto.

Upon graduating he worked for a while as a sign painter for Freeport Hospital in Kitchener and art director for Bodyman Magazine.

“After that I built two creative agencies Image in Action and Steel Pencil which I bootstrapped working nights doing layout for NOW Magazine in Toronto,” said Watson.

He developed an interest in theatre and became the visual effects and set designer for the Caravan Stage Company in Kingston, Ontario.

“We were a traveling musical theatre company that toured with horse drawn wagon,” said Watson. “That led to me becoming the artist in residence for the Caravan Farm Theatre in Armstrong BC.”

The experience introduced him to Marietta Kozak director of the Firehall Theatre in Vancouver.

“She changed my life,” said Watson. “We were using theatre to help homeless and drug addicted youth. We took advantage of the skills of the youth to promote Vancouver theatre. We also became the leading provider of fliers for the underground rave culture.”

During that time Watson became immersed in live electronic music and developed his alter ego @Bitpakkit.

“My evolution from singer, songwriter to LivePA was influenced by Daniel Lanois,” he said. “I make acoustic and electronic music that combines a variety of traditions and styles.”

Bitpakkit has been recognized as one of the Top 10 electronic artists in Canada by Reverb Nation and was recently featured in Canadian Musician Magazine.

In 1997 Watson sold his tourism marketing business BC Websites and moved to Toronto to work for Toronto Web Services where he helped organize community campaigns to build the TransCanada Trail.

He worked for a number digital agencies before founding LookMachine an XML-based subscription and content management system that he ended up selling to Toronto Life.

In 1999 he joined Microsoft as project manager for the development of Microsoft.net and in 2000 he accompanied Bill Gates on a lecture tour promoting it.

“What I learned from Bill is that there are no excuses,” said Watson. “You are accountable for everyone that reports to you.”

In 2004 Watson was recruited by Adobe to help develop the company’s customer experience strategy and in 2012 he became the VP of marketing for Hootsuite a social media management tool.

“I helped grow company revenue in enterprise from 0 to millions of dollars,” said Watson. “It is one of Canada’s first true unicorns.”

Watson continues to invest in user experience technologies including expansion into VR and 3D printing. He works as a freelance industry analyst as well as consulting for private industry, government and non-profit clients.

He has decided to move back to Guelph from BC to care for his mother after the death of his father in Feb 2017.

“I invest in experiences and tools that further my passions,” said Watson. “After everything I have learned I want to focus on creating new forms of music, improving quality of life and nurturing the next generation of awesome creative professionals.”


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Troy Bridgeman

About the Author: Troy Bridgeman

Troy Bridgeman is a multi-media journalist that has lived and worked in the Guelph community his whole life. He has covered news and events in the city for more than two decades.
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