Terry began his career as Copy Chief for FM 108 radio in Burlington, Ontario, then went on to become an award-winning copywriter for Toronto advertising agencies Campbell-Ewald, Doyle Dane Bernbach and Chiat/Day. He created campaigns for many of the top brands in the country, including Labatt, Molson, Bell, Goodyear Tires, Pepsi USA, Tim Hortons, Volkswagen, Nissan and the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1990, Terry co-founded Pirate Radio & Television. A creative audio production company producing scripts, sound and music for radio and television commercials, Pirate grew to a staff of 50, with 8 recording studios in Toronto and New York City.
Terry has won a few hundred national and international awards for writing, and has directed such notable actors as Alec Baldwin, Ellen DeGeneres, Kiefer Sutherland, Bob Newhart, Martin Short and Drew Carey.
In demand as a keynote speaker, Terry talks about key marketing issues to companies and organizations in all sectors.
He has been a judge at the Cannes Advertising Festival in France, was named Radio Chairman for both the International Clio Awards in Miami and the London International Advertising Awards. When he’s not creating advertising, he’s talking about it as the host of the award-winning CBC Radio One/Sirius Satellite/WBEZ Chicago radio show, “Under The Influence,” which was the follow-up to the hit series, “The Age of Persuasion.”
The New York Radio Festivals awarded his show the Grand Prize as Best Radio Program in 2011 and 2012, and iTunes chose it as “Best New Podcast of 2011.”
Terry was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the advertising industry, and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from McMaster University.
He has co-written a best-selling book called “The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture,” published in Canada by Knopf, and in the U.S. by Counterpoint Press in Berkeley.
He has a wonderful wife and three lovely daughters. Who like some of his work.
This presentation explains why creating and protecting a brand is so vitally important, whether your company is big or small.
One of the most critical aspects of marketing is to differentiate your product – even when the category is filled with smart competitors. This talk helps your audience understand what a brand is, the enormous benefits branding can deliver, and how to carefully create a unique identity. This talk includes:
This talk includes powerful examples of smart branding in a media-rich presentation that demonstrates each point with some of the best branding from around the world.
Budget should never get in the way of great marketing.
In a world where most advertisers don’t have huge budgets to trounce the competition, where small advertisers are up against deeper pockets, and where not–for–profit communicators struggle to make an impact, there is a way to gain remarkable returns.
This presentation explains how to outsmart the competition, not outspend them. All it takes is a different mindset and a different kind of creativity. This talk includes:
This presentation is media-rich and demonstrates amazing ideas from around the world from organizations that chose to spend creativity, not dollars.
This presentation explains why your customers have to feel your message, not just understand it.
If you want to truly connect with your customers – and potential customers – you must employ Emotion in your marketing. Most communication is just flat information – aimed solely at the head. Yet we make 80% of our decisions with our heart.
This talk helps your audience understand the difference between typical information-based marketing versus the powerful impact of emotionally-charged messages. This presentation includes:
The talk also shows remarkable examples from around the world where advertisers and not-for-profit organizations have used Emotion to achieve outstanding results.
The company with the best story wins.
This presentation is about the power of Storytelling. The smartest, most effective marketers in the world use storytelling to persuade. We are all hard-wired to love stories, and every product and service has a compelling story to tell. This talk helps your audience understand how to build stories and gives them the tools to start using storytelling in their own businesses. This presentation includes:
This presentation also includes powerful examples of Canadian and international marketing campaigns that used storytelling in surprising and enormously effective ways.
Changing a negative perception is one of the most challenging tasks you can assign to marketing.
Maybe the public thinks your product is old and outdated. Maybe your brand has such a troubled history that you can’t attract new business. Maybe your service is perceived to deliver an undesirable benefit, when in reality, it delivers a highly appealing one. Maybe the tourism to your province or city is dropping because of a negative perception, or maybe rumours or myths are turning potential customers off.
The advertising industry has been changing perceptions and behaviour successfully for decades. Your audience will learn how to re-frame their thinking with insights and tools they can apply directly to their business by learning:
This presentation contains powerful examples from a variety of companies and organizations that have tackled what seemed like insurmountable problems, and turned them around just by changing the conversation.