We help organizations build clarity, consistency, and confidence in how they deliver their Brand every day.
Led by brand and communications strategist Megan Matthews, following 18 years in agencies across Toronto, New York and London, Instinct builds on the philosophy of thought founder Ted Matthews:
“Your Brand Is What People Think Of It.”
We’re not an agency, but a consultancy that creates a team from a trusted network of collaborators across the UK, US and Canada – all united by a shared vision to tell brand stories with ruthless clarity and consistency.
“Your Brand Is What People Think Of It.”
We’re not an agency, but a consultancy that creates a team from a trusted network of collaborators across the UK, US and Canada – all united by a shared vision to tell brand stories with ruthless clarity and consistency.
We’re not an agency, but a consultancy that creates a team from a trusted network of collaborators across the UK, US and Canada – all united by a shared vision to tell brand stories with ruthless clarity and consistency.
The inherent ability to suss out the heart of a Brand’s story.
Megan Matthews
Co-Founder, Brand & PR Strategist
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 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 Instinct’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, Gap and Hilton Luxury Hotels to beauty and fashion heavyweights Charlotte Tilbury and Diane von Furstenberg, to B2B clients in tech, executive recruitment, mental health, and wealth management and international non-profit Sentebale.
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 the Toronto area with her husband and when not strategizing for Instinct clients, or dreaming and planning travel adventures, is enjoying the simple pleasures that come with having two school-age children.
Ted Matthews
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 is known for pushing 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, and ornge.
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 coached and mentored many 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 in Port Credit, Ontario.
