Questions are the most powerful tool we have.

They shape the future and create the world we will live in.

When we ask questions, we explore possibilities and create opportunities for companies and brands to grow.

In an era of monumental change, the ability to ask the right questions supersedes yesterday’s best practices.

The questions organizations and brands ask about themselves, their competitors, their customers, and the world around us, can be their most important competitive advantage. Questions invite participation and allow us to create new possibilities.

Imagine if no one had asked these questions?

Is the earth really flat?

Should women have the right to vote?

Would people buy books from the Internet?

Could a car drive itself?

We’d live in a different world without those enquiries. Good questions unlock possibilities that never existed before, for companies and for society.

Why I believe in questions

I’ve been a partner and strategist in some of Canada’s best regarded advertising agencies, working with some of the country’s biggest and most successful marketers. I’ve seen just about every model imaginable for strategic development.

The common denominator across all of them is the need to ask questions.

No matter what word is used to describe it, a question happens when you challenge, investigate, query, scrutinize, poke, prod, analyze or just wonder, “What if?” By any of these names, it’s what I’ve done throughout my career.

What makes me a good questioner?

I’ve spent my career in industry-leading advertising agencies, specializing in launches, challenger brands, and significant transformations.

I’ve worked with national icons such as Molson Canadian and Canadian Tire, disruptor brands such as WestJet, and one-of-a kind brands like Viagra.

All of this has relied on an ability to develop fresh questions and to hear the answers in ways that others might not.

I thrive on answering interesting questions. Here are a few of my favourites.

How do you transform a discount regional airline into a national player?

How do you grow in a contracting market?

How can you advertise a product when you can’t tell people what it does?

How do you change history’s most asked question?

How do you define a brand’s unique role in the Canadian retail landscape?

How do you launch a category no one thinks they need?

What accomplishments have come from my questioning?

Achievements I’ve led or significantly contributed to include:

• 35 winning CASSIE cases for business effectiveness, including the 2015 Grand Prix
• Agency of the Year 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008
• Agency of the Decade 2010
• Four clients named Marketers of the Year
• Multiple 10-year plus brand platforms for some of Canada’s largest corporations
• 4 Cannes Lions, including the only Canadian brand campaign to win 3 Gold Lions
• Two decades of brand launches and significant business transformations

The kinds of questions I can help you with.

How do we create belief in our cause?
How do we change the course our organization is on?
What initiatives will express our values?
How do we differentiate ourselves?
How can we change the way people perceive us?
Do we really understand our consumer or audience?
Could we be doing things differently?

If you’ve got a question like these, there’s a good chance I’ve answered it before.

Have an interesting question for me to answer?

maxine@thequestiondepartment.com
1.416.910.0555

My five favourite words? “That’s a really good question.”