PO & Co.

How can you sell products and services if you're ignored in the first place?

PO&Co. helps small-to-medium-size companies spring from their sales plateaus and increase revenue through effective marketing free of buzzwords, shiny objects, and black boxes.

Marketing Consultant & Fractional CMO

Common Giant

Common Giant is a growth-minded branding agency that digs deep into marketing strategy to produce stunning creative execution.

Common Giant was founded in 2012 to My role with Common Giant is to help grow the brand strategy framework for the agency and evangelize the company's brand. 

As of 2021, I have moved out of day-to-day operations to focus on brand growth at SFW.

Founder, Board Member, and Partner

Common Giant is a brand growth agency that digs deep into marketing strategy to produce stunning creative execution for companies who want to become legendary.

Common Giant stands tall with expertise in brand strategy, creative execution, and strategic communication. Our ethos is not only about delivering collaborative, successful brands and campaigns for our clients, it is also about building committed partnerships. We’ve worked globally with clients in the software technology, medical technology, consumer packaged goods, food, and retail industries.

At Common Giant, we channel our partners’ visions into projects that are inspired, clear, and concise. We bring our team’s full range of talents to generate a signature agency experience.

Founder and Chief Creative Officer

The YEC is a selective, invite-only group of like-minded peers and entrepreneurs from nearly every industry. YEC has been honored by Nasdaq, The White House and has been recognized in media outlets worldwide.

Member

Sales Factory

Sales Factory is a retail-focused agency compelled to succeed by a data-driven integrated approach for home retail brands eager to learn, grow, and win.

My focus is to develop winning brand strategies that drive business growth for our clients.

Vice President of Brand Strategy

Piedmont Opera

The mission of Piedmont Opera is to create operatic productions of the highest artistic quality to enrich our community and to advance the art form.

Our Vision is to be the finest opera company of our size in the nation and acknowledged as the best at what we do.

Board Member

iCan House

iCan House supports and enhances the lives of those with social challenges by teaching social skills, educational opportunities and provide a source of educational resources and networks. 

In our community, there exists a large population who live their daily lives with autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, PDD-NOS, and other social disorders. As they grow and experience a world created with rules that they may not understand, it is imperative that these unique individuals are provided with positive social models that care to help them grasp the social world in which they must live in.

Together we are stronger. A support system of parents, professionals and advocates will help us succeed and provide our loved ones with the best chance to get the most out of life. Let's chat and see how I can help.

The Variable

Formerly known as PAVE Creative Group, The Variable is a digitally informed marketing think tank that is committed to turning the traditional agency-client relationship on its head. We like MadMen here. But we're more like MathMen (and women, of course). In that spirit, The Variable thinks agencies should stop being cost centers and start being revenue generators.

Specialties –
Business Strategy, Digitally Informed Advertising, Brand Development, Innovation Development

Art Director

PAVE Creative Group

Designer / Art Director

Freelance Graphic Designer / Art Director

Freelance Art Director

Crobar Creative Leverage

Marketing consultant, Fractional CMO, brand strategy, energetic speaker, foodie, soccer player, and proud Dad

I love marketing and building brands. Friends, colleagues, and clients feel that energy from the first moment of interaction. It all begins with curiosity and evolves into a blend of strategic thinking and creative magic to construct brands through effective marketing.

Over the past two decades, I've led marketing initiatives for a diverse range of companies across various industries and sizes, including technology, medtech, consumer goods, and professional services, catering to both B2C and B2B sectors.

In 2012, I founded Common Giant, specializing in crafting branding and marketing for companies that understand that brand is a competitive advantage in a world full of commodities and a marketplace competing on price.

During my career, I’ve worked client-side managing retail stores up to $52MM, served on the agency side as VP of Brand Strategy, successfully launched an agency with global clients, started a marketing consultancy, and served as fractional CMO for multiple businesses. 

Throughout my career, I’ve believed in these four pillars:

1 - Marketing is a business practice. 
Successful businesses use marketing beyond promotion, as a series of business levers to pull for higher profits.

2 - Know the customer as much as you know yourself.
We’re in business to sell products and services. But it’s hard to sell something customers don’t want or why they should buy from you. Get to know what, how, and where they’ll buy.

3 - Grow the orchard while you sell the fruit.
A small percentage of your current target audience is ready to buy. Sell when they’re ready and invest in the brand long-term to sell a lot more.

4 - Boring is expensive.
Boring is forgettable and less effective. Being ignored means being forgotten and spending more for attention. Boring is bad for business.


Now that you’ve read this excruciatingly verbose bio, I’d like to add that, in addition to my professional endeavors, I am an enthusiastic keynote speaker, delivering engaging talks on branding, marketing, creative problem-solving in business, and effective marketing strategies to audiences of all sizes.

Phillip Oakley

As people discuss the business decline of McDonald's and Wendy's, and blame it on brand promise or not making customers "feel" something, we need to keep in mind that prices outpaced inflation, and (for most), quality declined to maximize profits. 

Providing decent food for the value is the bottom rung of the consumer benefit ladder. You need a solid first rung before climbing up to the feels.

Once that bottom rung breaks, just as Domino's faced years ago, you must slide back to the ground to fix it. 

Or customers won't care to ask "Where's the Beef?"

Stand Tall.

Mixing strategy and creativity to build brands through effective marketing. Energetic speaker, foodie, soccer player, and proud Dad.

Did you know 30-year-old sonic branding for Mentos is so powerful, it can burn a Michael McDonald Yacht Rock earworm straight out of your brain?

I have a confession to make: I quite like Yacht Rock. 

My wife and I have been enjoying more than our fair share of The Doobie Brothers, Christopher Cross, and Steely Dan of late. For some reason, Michael McDonald has cameos in loads of them. 

One night last week, I couldn't get to sleep. I was being haunted by Michael McDonald. If you've heard the song "Ride Like the Wind," you know why: 

🎶 I've got such a long way to go 🎶

It had to stop. (Such a long way to go)

So I turned to ... The Freshmaker. And it works every single time. 🎶Doo doo doo doo, doo doo, doo wah! 🎶

Loads of smart people talk about brand codes and distinctive brand assets here on this platform. But I'll fly the Mentos flag any day as being one of the most powerful assets that's still an easy recall. 

Bookmark this post, so next time there's an unwanted song stuck your head you can freshen up with this commercial (one of many, might I add). How many of their TV spots do you remember? 

Nothing gets to you, staying fresh, staying cool, with Mentos, fresh and fuuuuuuull of life!

Stand Tall.

“I hate those things.” After overhearing three different customers share the same opinion in two days, the visiting district manager removed the virtual tellers from my local bank, for good reason. 

First off, good on the area manager for being in the branches to see how customers interact. 

Secondly, good on them to recognize tech was getting in the way of helping the customer, and hurting the brand. 

This was a video teller interface. You would walk into the branch, not speak to a human, visit a kiosk and push a button to summon a remote teller who would assist you via video. And when they finish your transaction, they can move on to someone else in another city.

Sounds a bit dystopian. And while the tellers were trained well, it just felt disconnected.

I’m sure decisions makers tried to level the playing field with larger banks through technology. And I’m willing to bet this idea was presented in a deck along with the words “digital transformation” in the mid-2010s.

But in the end, it actually removed what makes small local branches better: help.

Help from a real human. 

Know your brand by recognizing what customers need from the different touchpoints of your business. Especially the points where they seek real human interaction. 

If it can be outsourced to a screen, it can be outsourced to AI. 

Stand Tall.

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Most of us who grew up in the 1970s or 1980s can recall that the Fruit of the Loom logo used to feature a cornucopia, a horn-shaped basket spilling out apples and grapes. Except it never did. 

There was never a cornucopia. Not once. Not ever.

Yes, I checked. I scraped the interwebs. Snopes confirmed it.

My childhood memories are lying to me.

If you remember the cornucopia, you’re in the collective hallucination with me, in what’s known as the Mandela Effect. It’s when a large group of people confidently remembers something that never existed.

But here’s what’s fascinating from a brand perspective: Fruit of the Loom built such powerful mental associations that we invented missing details, giving fruit leaves more importance than they called for. 

The logo felt like it should have a cornucopia. The imagery of abundance and nostalgia was so strong that our brains filled in the blanks. That’s brand memory at work.

Distinctive assets so sticky they expanded themselves in the public imagination. And even with several major refreshes over 100 years, the logo stayed consistent enough to be recognized through every iteration.

Or maybe it’s just crazy pills passed out by the bucketload.

Every brand should hope to be remembered so vividly that people recall things that were never even there.

Stand Tall.

📸: Snopes

“It’s a workshop for startup incubators, of course we have to use acronyms.” - Tongue in cheek client comment. I chuckled at this smart, self-aware comment by one of our clients in a brand workshop this Thursday. 

Sometimes, it seems today’s business world makes up comments on the fly. 

What’s your CAGR from your COGS?

Is your POS communicating your TOS to land your SLA?

And if your brand doesn’t know its COGS, how can your sales team understand its BANT?

How about your OAR? ELO? KLF? REM? POD? INXS? NWA? TLC? EMF? RUN-DMC?

LMFAO!

Isn’t the inside speak exhausting? It sounds like my mixtape playlist from 1992.

Speak clearly and lose the jargon if you want to connect with your target audience. They’ll appreciate the lack of need for an FAQ, IMO. 

Because if you overuse acronyms and insider terms, they’ll look at you like ODB. 

Speak the language of your customers. 

Stand Tall.

eBrandBuilders

eBrandBuilders, a Brand Consultancy company, was born – to be a conduit for knowledge transfer. 

We want you to achieve 3 things from our partnership:
1. For you to have a complete but memorable branding framework to develop your brand from inspiration to launch
2. For you to have a detailed brand model that differentiates you from competitors 
3. For you to have specific execution steps  to set and then grow your brand into a seven to nine figure businesses

And we achieve this by:
1. Leveraging our deep expertise with our teams engagements with brands such as Amazon, Starbucks, Porsche and Unilever
2. Conducting weekly brand breakdowns of world-class brands from Lululemon to Lego
3. Designing a a 7 week intensive, coaching program, based on our proprietary methodology
4. Providing free access to most of our content through LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube

Founder

Author of CHECKOUT | The Step-by-Step, 7C Method to Build a Dominant Ecommerce Brand

RankMyAgent.com

Responsible for the client acquisition, developing partnerships, and enhancing product offering.

Chief Marketing Officer

Avera Inc.

Conceptualized, Developed, and Executing upon multiple online properties in the diverse realm of  Health & Beauty and Real Estate. Leveraging deep corporate marketing exposure to create strong brands in the online consumer space. Managing a core team of individuals including web developers, graphic designers, content writers, and suppliers to run a lean and efficient operation. Strong expertise in all online marketing initiatives, SMM, SEO, advertising, content creation, and monetization.

Skills: Digital Strategy, Brand Development, and Online Marketing.

Chubb

Progressed ACE insurance offerings in the affinity market through brokering partnerships  with Financial Institutions, Retailers, Credit Unions, and Telecoms.

Vice President, Affinity

Desjardins Financial Security

Formulated the overall strategy and thereafter led the overall business development efforts of marketing DFS's credit and direct insurance products to the Financial Institutions, Affinity Players and Credit Unions. Led the pitch of DFS' s insurance offering to potential clients. Prospected and developed partnerships to drive new product development, business results and contributed to generating profitable top line growth. Managed key existing account relationships.

Skills:
Business Development, New Product Development, Strategic Planning, Insurance Marketing, Client Management, Relationship Management, General Management.

Regional Vice President, Business Development

Canadian Tire Financial Services

Appointed to develop, execute, and implement  a comprehensive Digital Strategy for CTFS’ core SBU’s of Retail Banking, Credit Cards, and Insurance services. Developed of a comprehensive growth (core) & diversified strategy (new product development) for the Insurance, Warranty, and Memberships Services division. Constructed a suite of “Identity & Fraud Protection” products. Designed an enterprise-wide category Warranty concept for 470 Canadian Tire retail stores. 

Skills:
Strategic Planning, Brand Development, Product Development, Insurance Marketing, Online Marketing, B2C Marketing, General Management.

Insurance Strategy + Internet Strategy Roles

ICICI Bank Canada

Spearheaded the launch of ICICI Brand in Canada and devised the overall marketing strategy for ICICI Bank. Developed a range of innovative retail banking products including a high rate savings account, GIC’s, and mortgages. Being a start-up opportunity, oversaw complete marketing campaigns and managed relationships with external vendors.

Skills:
Strategic Planning, General Management, Brand Development, Retail Banking Marketing, New Product Development.

Head, Marketing & Public Affairs

Citi

Assisted in the execution of the Live Richly brand in Canada. Implemented marketing plans and programs for Citi MasterCard products. Identified, analyzed and evaluated customer credit card usage behavior and competitive forces for new business-building prospects.

Skills:
Credit Card Marketing, Brand Development, Product Development, General Management, B2C Marketing, Revenue Enhancement.

Assistant Vice President

I deconstruct world-class brands to help build your brand. ✈️ Chief Brander @ eBrandBuilders | 📘 Amazon Best Seller | 🎙️  Host @ eBrandCast

Hi! I am Neil, founder of eBrandBuilders (eBB) with a mission to help young but successful companies into beloved brands.

After completing a BComm and an Ivey MBA in eLeadership, I progressed through the corporate ranks – worked on the Live Richly brand for Citibank, launched the ICICI Brand in Canada, managed a $100M insurance portfolio for Canadian Tire Financial Services, and extended the Desjardins banking brand nationally.

In 2012, I resigned to forge my own path in eCommerce. And quickly failed. Twice. It was then I reached back into my roots, and rigorously applied my corporate branding experience to analyze the top 200 DTC brands. 

From this, I distilled the 7C’s of branding, a process that helped me launch 3 DTC businesses in the health beauty space and had a bonafide exit.  

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT OUR BRANDING PROCESS:
🔷 "It gives you the tools you will need to dig deep and create an authentic brand that will stand out and stand the test of time”
🔷 "A tour de force on building ecommerce business(es) in the 2020s"
🔷 "In a space that can sometimes feel saturated where you see the same material from one person to another this was rare and brilliant"
🔷 "As an eCommerce consultant, I gained a much better understanding of how to convey the value of more intentional branding to clients!!!"

The exit further formed the cornerstone of my next venture, eBrandBuilders - where my mission is to deconstruct world class brands to help build your brand step-by-step. 

eBrandBuilders is for you if you are a:

◾ Product hustler. Day to day, you’re absorbed in chasing the magic-bullet solutions toted by gurus online
◾ New business owner. And want to build a solid foundation from the start
◾ Brick-and-mortar brand leader. You’d like to emulate the success of newer entrants into your space
◾ Go-getter. You crave the education, direction, and support to build a highly successful DTC business

Today with eBrandBuilders, I offer help in one of these ways:

➡️ Buy my book Checkout: The Step-by-Step Method to Build a Brand @ ebrandbook.com
➡️ Subscribe to my Free 2X Weekly Newsletter @ ebrandbreakdowns.com
➡️ Watch my 7C Masterclass with one of our clients @ ebrandclass.com
➡️ Book a 1:1 Coaching Call with me @ ebrandcall.com

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The Battle

Phillip Oakley

Neil Verma

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The Battle

Phillip Oakley

Neil Verma

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Phillip Oakley's LinkedIn Performance

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