Building Brands to
OUtconnect.
Outthink.
Outperform.
Whether you're building critical brand foundations, steering through change or uncovering new pathways for growth – challenging sameness is where it starts.
From Fortune 500s to fast-growth start-ups, and from global multinationals to boutique creative shops, we partner with companies to unlock new growth and build stronger brands by taking on sameness.
Brands that radically challenge conventions lead – they never follow. DM Brands helps the biggest and boldest companies find their market edge and accelerate growth by challenging sameness.
BUILD
GROW
DISRUPT
PERSUADE
Strategic SERVICES
Experience
Cross-category muscle, a proven edge in financial, retail, and CPG and the privilege of shaping some of the world’s most recognized brands. Here’s a glimpse…
AWARD-RECOGNIZED STRATEGIST
Winner of the 4A's Jay Chiat Awards – the highest honour for strategic excellence in brand strategy.
UNRIVALLED BREADTH OF EXPERIENCE
40+
Categories
Ability to leverage global brand experience and vast cross-category expertise into insights and strategies few can rival.
85+
Brands
35+
Agencies
Testimonials
Darla is a rare talent and one of my most valued partners. Over the last decade, I've had the pleasure of working with her across very diverse industries and brands at very different life stages with my roles as an agency president, SVP Marketing & Customer Experience for a leading luxury retailer and SVP Marketing & Brand for a global financial company. Darla's strategic skills, creativity, passion for brand clarity, and her depth of insights has led to inspiring brand visions that help unite organizations and build business. Darla also brings an open mind to the partnership and embraces healthy debate, which enables us to create exceptional solutions with remarkable speed...and thoroughly enjoy the journey.
Alison Simpson
President/ CEO of CMA
CMO Holt Renfrew & TMX Group (TSX)Darla takes on every project like it’s the most important work she’s ever done. I’ve worked with her on a number of different brands and projects over the past ten years, each time her energy and dedication is unparalleled. On top of that, she’s brilliant and brings a unique way to look at a brand and the challenge at hand. Darla has great instincts but she never relies on them alone, she’s one the most rigorous researchers I’ve encountered. As such, she knows the consumer better than most of the clients who hire her. Darla is one of the most brilliant brand strategists in the business, but what sets her apart is her integrity. It’s not a word I would use to describe almost anyone in the business world and Darla has it in spades.
Kristin Vekteris
Chief Brand OfficerAs I've partnered with many brand strategists over the years I have had the pleasure to connect with many great minds, but rarely have I seen someone who so effectively steps further and really differentiates their offering on the 'craft' behind strategy. Darla can not only uncover actionable and meaningful insights, she can effectively bring the team on the required strategic journey. With a relentless nature she is the ultimate guardian and steward of the power of the brand voice.
Caroline Kilgour
EVP, Managing Director at Lifelong CrushDarla is quite simply the best friend a brand can have — strategically and emotionally. When Darla engineers a brand, or refreshes it, she doesn't just set it on track for prosperity, she gives it an authentic life force that touches the consumer and the brand’s employees alike. Every time I have been blessed enough to work with Darla she has made our agency's work come alive in new and surprising ways, all of them strategic. She's scary smart. Scary nice. A truly scary combination.
Philippe Garneau,
President & Co-Founder GWP Brand Engineering, Toronto
Meet THE consultant
With 20+ years transforming brands on both sides of the border, on both sides of the table (agency + client), and across 40+ categories, Darla has built a reputation as one of Canada’s most recognized brand strategy consultants. From global icons to ambitious challengers, she’s the strategist brands call when they want to break out of sameness and unlock real growth.
Armed with an Honours Master of Science (MSc) in Business from the world-renowned VCU Brandcenter, Darla brings the rare blend of creative disruption and business discipline. Her work has been recognized with the 4A’s Jay Chiat Award—the highest honour in strategy.
Outside of boardrooms and brand battles, Darla is a reigning champ at Name That Tune, teaches miniature paper flower-making to artisans worldwide, and follows the avant-garde world of Tokyo street fashion.