$WOLV 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 you can be as
success can be as great as your vision and passion. 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 were to be a game changer, 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.
Earnst & Young audited its operation and then managed its sales to other
industry clients.
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 its effective power through his mastery of personal
& corporate branding. David Chalk is the secret weapon that business &
entrepreneurs dream of for success, and he is ready and willing to share
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 you can be as
success can be as great as your vision and passion. 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 were to be a game changer, 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.
Earnst & Young audited its operation and then managed its sales to other
industry clients.
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 its effective power through his mastery of personal
& corporate branding. David Chalk is the secret weapon that business &
entrepreneurs dream of for success, and he is ready and willing to share
Consider all my posts my opinion and not advice to buy or sell anything. I post on stocks I own or am considering owning. Do your own DD!
