I get out of bed in the morning to help brands Keep up in the ever evolving marketing landscape

Collin Douma is a visionary consultant with over 25 years of experience at the forefront of emerging marketing technologies, brand strategy, and creative storytelling.

His expertise spans brand building from the early days of the web to pioneering AI for branding and marketing. Recently, he completed executive training at MIT on Applied Generative AI for Digital Transformation. He has been combining these new skills with decades of brand strategy and creative direction into transformative brand narratives and enhancing brand equity across diverse industries and markets.

 

Offering specialized consulting in the following areas ...

B2B & B2C

Brand Strategy
Digital Transformation
Communication Planning

Collin Douma Consults offers strategic and practical applications of digital transformation for brands. Collin is an expert in emerging technologies including generative AI, social media, and gamification for business, plus the usual dose of advanced brand strategy and storytelling platforms.

A brand builder with creative, strategic, and digital CHOPS? 

I know what you’re thinking. Who Does this guy think he is? a unicorn?

 

It's good that Hasbro loves Unicorns… and robots that Transform into Cars. But what they needed from me was help to transform their marketing to digital. 

I was tasked with building the Hasbro Global Media Team from scratch across 36 markets while conducting a digital transformation of how entertainment and branded play go to market. Oh, and I also had to save millions on media spend without risking the business.

The results after four years? More than meets the eye. 

  • A first for Hasbro, saving several millions in fees and production.
    Direct to Youtube with Hana Zuki and Transformers Combiner Wars on Twitch in partnership with Machinima

  • Complete digital media transformation from 80% investment in traditional channels, to 80% investment in digital channels

  • Substantially more. Although the exact number is confidential, the addition to TV media during the final 12 weeks of the year was finally kicked.

  • With a stock price that initially increased from ~$50 to over $120 at the end of the transformation phase.

DIGITAL INNOVATION & TRANSFORMATION

In 2007, I was invited to meet Bill Gates to discuss the future of Social Media. Flattered, I asked... "Why me?" The response was, "Nobody else seems to know what they are talking about."

Researching and talking about getting ahead of the curve is one thing. I’m a doer

  • It wasn't remarkable by today's standards, but it did the trick. People even clicked on it! It was for Chapters Bookstore in Canada.

  • Canada Trust was way ahead of the curve back then. They beat all the Canadian and most American banks to online account interaction. I helped design the interface. It was very pixelated. And we used all 256 browse colors!

  • It was sears.ca, believe it or not. Canada was already used to using the Sears catalog to order everything from socks to houses. The idea that a catalog could be put online wasn't a huge leap.

  • I was a Group Creative Director at McCann in Canada at the time. There were no branded automotive podcasts on iTunes yet, so we made one. "Aesthetic Intent" for the launch of the Buick Enclave. Each episode was an interview with a subject matter expert related to the features of the car we were promoting. For example, Quiet Tuning: An interview with Cellist Ofra Harnoy about the silence between the notes. An interview with Jack Diamond about how large space can be elegant. The funny thing was that we had to sell it as an "audio banner ad" for the client to understand.

    There are so many podcasts now; my car probably has its own.

  • In an era when agencies were selling Social Media like snake oil, I was consulting directly with C-suite executives at Ford Motor Company to develop social media engagement guidelines for marketing, trade, and dealership teams worldwide.

  • We turned the streets of Toronto into a game board with physical clues throughout the city. Then, when you went online, using the recently launched Google Street View if you could "Find Red," you could drive away in a Smart Car with your body weight in M&Ms.

  • It was the biggest launch ever for Gillette, and the first launch with P&G. We had to get it right. Using only digital and social tactics, we earned 50% awareness before the first paid media ad posted, and converted skeptics to believers with the fastest to billion dollar brand in P&G history.

  • From 80% traditional media spend, to 80% digital media spend in 4 years, with 16 consecutive quarters of growth. Easy peasy? No, it was the toughest gig of my career, but we did it, and saved over a hundred million in the process.

  • When all the NYC ad agencies didn't have a clue what a blockchain was, I had already helped two startup brands launch.

  • RBC (Bank) bought an AI ML research group called Borealis AI. They needed help firming and maintaining thier brand mission and purpose as AI was about to go huge.

  • The world is changing. Fast. And Generative AI is not something anyone can hide from. Even the most "conservative" category; Insurance.

  • In the summer of 2024, I took the MIT course “Generative AI for Digital Transformation.” Learning the construct, limitations, and opportunities for marketing with AI.