WHO WE ARE

Who we are

Co-Founder, Brand & PR Strategist

Megan has an inherent ability to suss out the heart of a Brand’s story.

It’s this Instinct-led approach, paired with twenty years of global experience as a PR and marketing communications executive, an astute understanding of the ever-changing digital marketing and social media landscape and a genuine love of Brand storytelling, that makes her expertise highly sought-after.

Whether working with an emerging company or an established Brand, Megan specialises in helping to articulate and define that Brand, ensuring Brand distinctiveness. Her years of experience as an executive team leader has helped countless company managers, directors and CEOs find their own passion in Brand-building and become advocates of Megan’s straightforward Rules & Tools, the fundamental pillars of ultimate success.

Offering more than Brand clarity and purpose, and PR capabilities, Megan has honed her extensive skill set in crisis and reactive communications, executive profile building, social media marketing, influencer management, media coaching, brand partnerships and event management on a global scale, working both in-house and in-agency in London, New York and Toronto.

Having worked with the some of the biggest names in beauty, wellness, travel, fashion and technology at an SVP and Director level (HL Group, Edelman, M&C Saatchi TALK), Megan is renowned for inspiring those around her and her passion and creativity in developing tailor-made strategies for companies of all sizes and stages. Clients have ranged from industry giants, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and Hilton Luxury Hotels to beauty and fashion heavyweights Charlotte Tilbury and Diane von Furstenberg, UK-based sustainable tech start-up Bagboard and Europe’s leading mental health clinic for women, the Recover Clinic.

In 2018, Megan took over Instinct, the Brand consultancy founded by her entrepreneurial father and Canadian industry heavyweight, Ted Matthews. As owner, Brand coach and now, entrepreneur herself, Megan’s exceptional skill set upholds and builds upon the values Instinct was founded upon, ensuring all bases are covered when it comes to your Brand.

Megan currently resides in Toronto with her husband and can be found in Australia visiting her in-laws, and when not strategising for Instinct clients, dreaming, and planning travel adventures, or enjoying the simple pleasures that come with having two young children.

Megan brings more than seventeen years of creating and disseminating Brand stories for her clients as a PR and marketing communications executive in Toronto, New York and London.

With experience in the consumer packaged goods, luxury and mass fashion, retail, beauty, food and beverage and travel sectors, she carries a keen understanding of how to deliver integrated comms programs targeted at key stakeholders.

Instinct marks her inevitable shift to entrepreneurship with her parents, her brother, her husband and her late grandparents as everlasting entrepreneurs.

Known for her creativity in developing communications plans for Brands of all sizes, her passionate approach to teamwork and inspiring those around her, along with her ability to communicate in the most empathetic of manners, Megan led teams at Edelman London and TALK.GLOBAL (a M&C Saatchi company) on the development and execution of global Brand plans, ensuring clear and consistent Brand communications across countries ranging from India to Brazil, China to the US and UK.

Clients which Megan supported on a Global level include COTY Luxury Beauty, Johnson & Johnson, adidas by Stella McCartney, Pernod Ricard, Gap, Hilton Luxury Hotels, Dove and Unilever Brand. For four years, Megan led a consumer team at a highly regarded NY-based luxury marketing communications agency and was responsible for clients including Charlotte Tilbury Cosmetics, Algenist skincare, Gap Inc.’s INTERMIX and athleisure brand Athleta, plus supported designers such as Jenny Packham, Rebecca Taylor and new industry disruptor DELPOZO through the marketing and publicity of their brands at NY Fashion Week.

In her hometown of Toronto, Megan led Canadian market strategy and execution for a host of Unilever brands including Vaseline and Q-Tips and worked with such globally recognized food brands as Nutella and Kinder Bueno.

A long time lover of ‘off-the-beaten’ path travel, Megan’s global curiosity brought her to her husband Andy, an Australian, with whom they now have a young daughter and reside in Southwest London.

Thought Founder

Ted Matthews may have persuaded adidas to bring back their Three Stripes and convinced Energizer not to kill the bunny, but as the original Brand coach, he still pushes his readers, his audiences and his clients to understand that a Brand is not just a logo, the website or advertising.

Instead, a Brand is what people think of you. As an entrepreneur, Ted built Promanad Communications in Toronto into an 80-person ﬁrm that, over a span of 30 years, served an extensive list of blue-chip clients. When it became clear to him that most professionals operate as if a Brand really is just a logo, he sold Promanad and founded Instinct Brand Coaches.

Drawing on his own experience as a CEO, Ted’s dogged execution of the Instinct mission — to challenge and support leaders to maximize the potential within their Brands — has spurred some of the most successful Brand evolutions in North America. He has been an integral force behind the Brand- building efforts of Canadian organizations such as, Oxford Properties, Morneau Shepell, AtlasCare, Quadrangle, Revera, KingSett Capital, Advocis, IAMGOLD, PICKSEED, Investment Planning Counsel, Steam Whistle Breweries, ornge and Street Kids International.

For his pearls of wisdom and famously entertaining style, Ted became a sought-after speaker for business schools, corporations and professional associations. Helping lay the groundwork for future Branding excellence and building from his 18-year involvement with the Young Presidents’ Organization, he also makes time to coach and mentor young entrepreneurs.

While Ted Brands himself a master woodworker, his wife Marsha is more likely to call it “making sawdust.” Now retired, the two live between their forested property in Muskoka and a soon-to-be modern home in Port Credit, Ontario.

Instead, a Brand is what people think of you. As an entrepreneur, Ted built Promanad Communications in Toronto into an 80-person ﬁrm that, over a span of 30 years, served an extensive list of blue chip clients. When it became clear to him that most professionals operate as if a Brand really is just a logo, he sold Promanad and founded Instinct Brand Coaches.

Drawing on his own experience as a CEO, Ted’s dogged execution of the Instinct mission — to challenge and support leaders to maximize the potential within their Brands — has spurred some of the most successful Brand evolutions in North America. He has been an integral force behind the Brand- building efforts of organizations such as, Oxford Properties, Morneau Shepell, AtlasCare, Quadrangle, Revera, KingSett Capital, Advocis, IAMGOLD, PICKSEED, Investment Planning Counsel, Steam Whistle Breweries, ornge and Street Kids International.

For his pearls of wisdom and famously entertaining style, Ted is a sought-after speaker for business schools, corporations and professional associations. Helping lay the groundwork for future Branding excellence and building from his 18-year involvement with the Young Presidents’ Organization, he also makes time to coach and mentor young entrepreneurs.

While Ted Brands himself a master woodworker, his wife Marsha is more likely to call it “making sawdust.” The two live between their 600-acre, forested property in Muskoka and a modern town house in Toronto’s West Queen West district where they have returned to their ‘artistic roots’ after a 45-year hiatus from the area.