ted matthews
brand coach, founding partner

We want Ted!

Why have so many of today's CEOs spoken these words? And why are they so thankful? Because Ted Matthews has successfully challenged them to get to know their own Brand — what it means; what it stands for; what it promises to deliver — and to transmit that understanding first throughout their company and then to the rest of the world.

Canada's original and foremost Brand coach, Ted brings a unique style, evangelical passion and unprecedented knowledge and insight to each of his engagements. Ted pushes his clients to understand that a Brand is not the logo, the website or the advertising (perhaps a remnant of his almost-graduation from the Ontario College of Art in 1970) — but that in fact, A Brand is what people think of you.™ His over three decades of experience and an unbiased, no nonsense approach helps time-starved leaders internalize the skills that enable them to become their organization's true CBO — Chief Brand Officer.

Ted's dogged pursuit of the Instinct Mission — to challenge and support business leaders to maximize the potential within their Brands — has spurred some of the most successful Brand evolutions in North America. He has been an integral force behind the Brand-building efforts of companies like adidas, Honda, Steelcase, Toshiba, Strata Health, Oxford Properties, Pickseed, Investment Planning Counsel, Benjamin Moore, Steam Whistle Breweries and ornge.

Ted won't sugar-coat, speak in ambiguities or beat around the bush. He will force you to stare your Brand in the face and decide what it's all about. He'll help you pinpoint its essential distinction, enabling you to attract — and retain — talented people who strategically and consistently communicate your Brand's value to customers.

Using lessons from today's Brand successes (and stumbles) and drawing on his own past experience as Founder and CEO of marketing firm Promanad Communications, Ted teaches his clients to embed, throughout the organizational culture, instinctive behaviors that help their Brands earn a spot in the minds and hearts of increasingly discerning stakeholders.

For his pearls of wisdom and famously entertaining style, Ted is a sought-after speaker for business schools, corporations and professional associations. Helping lay the groundwork for future Branding excellence, he lends his time to coaching young entrepreneurs, and together with sitting on the board of Street Kids International, serves as Brand Coach for that non-profit organization.

Ted will soon live between an island cottage in Muskoka and a desert home near Phoenix, Arizona. In his spare time, he enjoys making sawdust.