FUTURE MARKETING EXPERT IS BORN
Paul Cookson was born in Scarborough, Ontario on September 22, 1966, to James and Muriel Cookson. Paul Cookson established very early in his life that he had both a passion and a skill for marketing. A lifetime of accomplishments began by selling the Toronto Star newspaper. Paul went door to door marketing and selling the papers, communicating with his local neighborhood with product in hand. A humble start paved the way to becoming a successful marketer, understanding that the better he knew his product and how it related to his audience, the more earning potential a project had. Paul Cookson grew up with keen aspirations to become the marketing expert he is today.
MARKETING EXPERT, THE EARLY YEARS
High school is where Paul Cookson truly established his potential as a marketing expert. A young Paul Cookson took all the marketing courses he could and read any marketing book he could get his hands on. Paul Cookson loved creating products and figuring out the proper marketing strategy. During his years at Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute, Paul Cookson was the vice-president of the SAC, he ran the dances, hired bands, gave speeches and was in charge of broadcasting the morning announcements every day over the school’s PA system. Paul Cookson established his professional potential and credibility in his high school years. During this time, The Rotary Club International chose one student from each high school in Toronto and gave them a weekend away at a resort which they called “Camp Enterprise”. Camp Enterprise featured business owners who gave talks on business. Not surprisingly, Paul Cookson was the one student chosen to represent his school.
Inspired by the stories and the people that owned their own businesses’, Paul Cookson knew then he would own his own business or be a big part of helping those who did. This early experience with the industry experts sealed his future, as both a business owner and marketing expert. Most impressively, during his last year of high school, Paul Cookson rented the Mariposa Belle, a party boat based on the Toronto waterfront to host an after the prom “Midnight Cruise” all personally financed on his own after the school management decided it was too risky of a project. Despite the school not participating, the “Midnight Cruise”, Paul Cookson’s first personally financed project, was a complete success!
MARKETING EXPERT HONING HIS CRAFT IN COLLEGE
After high school, Paul Cookson studied the Science of Advertising and Marketing at Centennial College of Applied Arts & Technology. Using his skills and training in sales, as a marketing expert and advertising practitioner, and to pay his way through college, Paul Cookson created his first company called “Lulu’s Road Club”. At the time, Lulu’s was home to the worlds’ longest bar and was quite a popular destination. Paul Cookson’s first business ran bus trips from University of Toronto, York University, Seneca and Centennial College to the popular club in Kitchener, Ontario.
To start, Paul Cookson ran ads in the paper, then set up a network of sales agents and ticket distributors. In display of his good business sense, after a few successful trips, Paul Cookson made a decision to contact the owner of Lulu’s to see if the owner would fund part of his marketing budget for “Lulu’s Road Club” because, after all, he was promoting his club. After Paul Cookson contacted the owner of Lulu’s, and set up a face to face appointment, not only did he agree to fund the advertising, he also dropped the cover for his guests and agreed to give Paul free open bar tabs to the top 3 students that sold tickets for him. With the extra backing from the clubs’ owner, Paul Cookson was able to fill 5-10 tour busses a month with students looking for a fun time. Paul enjoyed his first business because it was social, fun and he made lot’s of money while in college doing something he was good at and enjoyed. Paul Cookson first business, Lulu’s Road Club, was a complete success!
BOUTIQUE ADVERTISING AGENCY
After completing 4 years of advertising in college, Paul Cookson joined the boutique Advertising Agency, called The Small Business Advertising Company, in 1989, where he was mentored by the agency owner Reza Alavie as well as other senior management in the art and skill of implementing successful advertising and marketing expert strategies. Paul Cookson built a solid roster of clients and was groomed by management to open branch offices for the agency in Canada and the US.
In 1991, Paul Cookson’s abilities as a marketing expert attracted the attention of the privately run start up, Addiction Recovery Center. He was sought out and offered the role of General Manager as well as Partner. Paul Cookson was tasked with building the company from scratch. Using his marketing expert training and advertising knowledge, he positioned the company as The Addiction Authority in Ontario through a highly successful marketing campaign aimed at Ontario Doctors. Under Paul Cookson’s marketing direction, the company went from two employees to thirty, opened an Ottawa office and the Addiction Recovery Center’s sales went from $5,000 a month to in excess of $120,000 a month in sales.
MARKETING EXPERT TAKES MJF FROM 2 MILLION TO 42 MILLION IN SALES
Paul Cookson was hired at MJF & Associates in February of ’93. At the time, the company was a $2 million a year sales agency, after showing himself as a marketing expert by implementing countless successful changes, Paul Cookson was promoted to Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing. During Paul Cookson’s time as SVP he launched countless improvements to the company’s product mix, spearheaded a US expansion by developing a network of US sales agents, new pricing strategies and highly successful sales incentives for major retail customers. Paul Cookson’s contribution as a marketing expert was a major player in lifting the company’s sales to excess of $42 million annually!
In further highlighting Paul Cookson’s career as a marketing expert, Paul also acted as the marketing advisor for a weight loss center in Ajax, Ontario. Within months he revised their product mix as well as its advertising and marketing strategies. One program developed by Paul Cookson was a radio promotion called “The Daily Weigh-In” that pitted two morning DJs at KX96 radio station against each other to see who could lose the most weight during this promotion. Paul Cookson’s program boosted awareness, built enthusiasm, and combined with internal referral programs and an image overhaul, delivered dramatic results. Paul Cookson’s marketing expert skills created a sales increase from an average of $12,000 a month to excess of $200,000! The company also added five locations to service the whole GTA and now does 10 million a year in total sales!
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Paul Cookson is a successful marketing expert with decades of hands-on marketing and product development experience. In 2005, Paul Cookson created Advantage Sales Group Canada Inc, a company to be a sales and product development company for distributors, retailers and manufacturers that integrate trademark creation, product development, sourcing production facilities and importation of a wide range of products made overseas. Paul Cookson’s hand-reared company Advantage Sales Group Canada Inc. has developed an expansive list of trademarked products and services.
One of the most successful brands in Paul Cookson’s Advantage Sales Group Inc’s family is Muskoka Equipment Company, which makes parkas, ski jackets, duffle bags etc., that have been sold through Canadian Tire retail stores throughout Canada. Paul Cookson’s Advantage designed, sourced, and created products that can also be found within Shoppers Drug Mart, CVS Drugs, The Muskoka Store and other US and Canadian Retailers.
MARKETING EXPERT CREATES AD AGENCY ADARMYGROUP.COM
Building and expanding on his success with Advantage Sales Group Canada Inc., Paul Cookson’s company also manages other companies, Ad Army Group, a web design studio, and a successful advertising agency called Ad Army Group, offering an integrated one-stop shop for product development and marketing expert services. As a business owner and marketing expert, Paul Cookson offers his strategic expertise from product inception to the sales and shipping of the finished goods.
HIRE A MARKETING EXPERT
Paul Cookson’s career has been impressive; to say the least, gaining experience and using his years of hands-on training and successful business ideas and applying them to his own company and the companies he deals with. Paul Cookson’s professional reputation as a marketing expert and hands-on business owner is due to his unique vision, acute insights, revolutionary strategies while at the same time being super enthusiastic! Paul Cookson is a Marketing Expert who shows no sign of slowing down. If you’d like Paul’s help. Give him a call.