DAVID CHALK
David Chalk is considered one of the leading technology experts and brand developers in Canada, a maverick in the bold and unconventional positioning of new media. His client list is enviable, and his accomplishments are exceptional.
“I have known David for years and have seen him grow several great businesses. He has the ability to look at a need or problem and, as if out of thin air, come up with the right solution. He, and the team he has around him, can create an innovative and competitive edge for any business. David is a marketing genius!” -Brian Scudamore, Founder, CEO 1-800-GOT-JUNK
David is a genuine entrepreneur with a unique and feel good manner of creating success. His knowledge comes from living and experiencing all facets of entrepreneurial challenges; he is not merely a sideline reporter, his knowledge comes from legitimate field experience, not books.
With more than 25 years of self direction, David has proven that your success can be as great as your vision and passion will allow. In 1983 David was the first to publish a retail computer magazine in Canada, which caught the eye of Mclean Hunter Magazine Corp. and was purchased after the inaugural issue.
Realizing early on that computers would revolutionize everything, in 1984, the year of the Mac, David created what would become the chain of Computer Superstores, Doppler (with sales in excess of $120 million.) In order to manage and control what was reported as one of Canada’s fastest growing companies in the late 80’s, David designed and developed a retail sales management system, built in house to facilitate all operations by barcode and multi location communications. The project was such a success that Ernst & Young certified its functionality and assisted in selling it to other industries.
Further, a study by IBM showed that his 35,000 sq ft stores had created the highest profit per square foot of retail in Canada, even surpassing that of Walmart. David’s remarkable branding capabilities were even more apparent when Doppler became one of Canada’s most recognized retail computer brands, and as such was able to maintain margins above industry average; the “real” value of “Brand Development”.
In 1991 David was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records, for his early technological achievement of video on the Internet. This lead David to design and implement Yahoo’s first Video Streaming project on the web. Starting in the 90’s and to this day, David speaks publicly on brand, technology and the organic growth of companies. David continues to speak to North America’s largest companies and organizations on the topics of Corporate Culture, Brand Development, the Future of Technology and Social Media, and a number of topics on Education and Learning. He is one of the highest rated speakers in the country and presented to more than 100,000 people. His audiences include, Stanford, Aerospace, Homeland Security, the Government of China, Comdex, Sunlife, Sprint, Ford, numerous national associations and educational institutions.
In the mid 90’s David had the opportunity to work with Bill Gates on retail strategies for Microsoft, including packaging and strategical store planning. This led David, in 1997, to takeover a $150 million US retail chain in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and re-brand it. It was reported in the Wall Street Journal as one of the fastest Chapter 11 turn-arounds in US history. During that period David worked on a project he created with Martha Stewart ~ OnmiMedia, to position her brand beyond domestic content to include home technology. As this project was evolving, Martha became embroiled in the ImClone Stock trading scandal. David went on to create his own shows that gained North American distribution, winning him three Telly Awards. In all David has produced Radio, Television and Digital Video for more than 17 years.
Prior to the stock meltdown of 2001, David had presented a video technology strategy to Michael Moritz, the number one venture capitalist in Silicon Valley (funding the likes of Apple, Google, Yahoo!, and Paypal.) The project was green lighted for an IPO potential of $480 million. Market conditions that followed put the project on hold, but David gained important connections and gained exceptional experience.
Also in 2000 David was working on the re-branding of MegaDepot, to Onvia.com. January of 2001 Onvia became the largest technology IPO in Canadian history, breaking the $10 billion market cap, on opening day, one of the last pre-bubble IPO’s to launch.
In 2002 David and his team were awarded a multi-million dollar project to build the TELUS website. The site served as the nerve center for TELUS’s education & training. Many other significant sites and applications followed in education and were designed and built for companies such as The Royal Bank, HSBC, Futureshop, Terasen Gas, IntraWest, SAP Business Objects, and Wendy's.
For his design and implementation work in the field of eLearning, David was the recipient of the Bandon-Hall Excellence Award, the highest level education award in the USA. David was also the recipient, in the Hague, of the Freddie award for best international educational documentary. An insight into life with Dyslexia & learning disabilities.
Microsoft, Intel, Coca-Cola, Air Canada, Macon County Police, Samsung, Fairmont Hotels, VANOC, UnderArmour are just some of the companies and organizations David has consulted with. David has created everything from award winning broadcast TV commercials, Digital DVD sales marketing to interactive web based product launches, such as the North American launch for Sony interactive TV in 2005.
In 2006 David developed a North American marketing strategy for RIM that saw BlackBerry sales at Verizon grow by 36% in the following quarter. This became the most successful brand positioning project for Verizon ever undertaken. David and his team also developed a mobile video marketing application. This app, “PushCast” was sold off as www.chalk.com to RIM for $23 million in 2008. It is now integrated directly into the BlackBerry operating system, and available on all BlackBerry devices worldwide.
While David has won many awards for branding and business management, including the title “One of the Top 50 employers to work for”, "Most Outstanding Marketer in Canada" by the Retail Council of Canada, the AMA ( American Marketing Association) award for web design, and a finalist for the Governor General’s award of Canada, he has always operated in a personal, one to one grassroots manner. To that end, in 2010, David chose to further contribute to his real passion, the education and success of small and medium size businesses. He did this by creating the unique Digital Brand Agency known as The WoW Factory.
Combining his talents of unique branding, advanced technology deployment, and mentoring, David and his team of industry experts use The WoW Factory to implement "Brand Space Building"; and “Brand 3.0” strategies, a set of unique processes that create a large footprint (presence), enabling companies to accelerate their growth and play in a bigger space.
David Chalk is truly one of a kind. He has been interviewed in more than 200 articles, and although they are majorly based on his success as an entrepreneur, they have reminded readers that David himself has faced huge obstacles and challenges in order to gain the knowledge he shares with others. A severe lack of cognitive function in David’s left brain and acute learning disabilities, crippled David in his early years and complicated much on David’s path to success. However, through the coping skills he had to learn for survival, he mastered a unique process of thinking. He in essence, rewired the plasticity of his right brain, which took him to a new realm of thinking, that is completely innovative.
Recently, David received his greatest honour; a Doctorate Degree in Technology and Learning, for the work he has done and continues to do in the reform of our education system.
David shares his bold and unconventional methods of marketing in all he does and has proven effective through his mastery of personal & corporate branding. David Chalk is the secret weapon that businesses & entrepreneurs have been dreaming of, and he is ready and willing to share.