About

An Experienced Brand Strategist:

BrandTraits is a brand consultancy formed in 2002 by Paul Wilson, a 20-year veteran account planner, brand strategist, messaging expert, and experienced consumer insight professional. Paul has been responsible for defining and shaping brand vision and message strategies for some of the nation’s best known brands. He is an expert at identifying and translating consumer insights into new products, and shaping compelling and differentiated brand messaging.  Paul is results-oriented, and finds that success generally follows insightful strategy and a well-integrated marketing plan.

Over his career, Paul has mined consumer insights through interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic sorties. He has conducted countless idea, name, and new product generation sessions in a broad range of categories. He has extensive experience designing quantitative research to measure consumer attitudes, reactions to advertising, new product development, etc. But Paul’s strategic skills are matched by his ability to communicate branded ideas.  As a strategic copywriter, he has penned the promise lines for numerous brands and crafted countless ads, brochures, outdoor, and digital advertising messages for a variety of brands.

MINI-BIO:

Paul Wilson’s career began in Chicago after earning his Master’s degree from Northwestern University. After a brief stint positioning brands at Jovan/Yardley of London, he found his way to CPG advertising. He cut his teeth in planning and research at J. Walter Thompson on “viscous” salad dressings, cat litter, “super premium” beer, and other brand exotica. There he also formed a life-long passion to listen for, discover and leverage a consumer insight.

While Group Planning Director at Euro-RSCG Tatham, he learned to respect the rigorous discipline that P&G applies to brand management to ensure they clobber their competition like gentlemen.  Here, strategy was serious business.

As VP/Director of Research and Planning at Ayer Worldwide in Chicago, Paul learned the joy of ensemble thinking, and a belief that the best idea should win regardless of its source. It was also here that he developed a lifelong fascination with the sublime psychology of candy consumption.

As Senior VP/Strategic Planning at Biggs|Gilmore in Kalamazoo Michigan, Paul helped transform the agency into a consumer-centric, brand-savvy powerhouse.  Along the way, he also learned the joy of open-throttle boating with SeaRay and Baja Boats, and the value of man-in-the-cow-pie research on behalf of Pfizer’s Animal Health products.

As Chief Strategy Officer for a Grand Rapids ad agency, Paul deepened his portfolio of brand experience with numerous healthcare clients, and practiced his consumer-driven approach toward service line marketing and brand positioning that distinguished some Chicago hospitals from their competition in a crowded market.

To learn more, read “Brand Experience,” and you will find thinly-veiled references to some of the nation’s largest brands that Paul has had the good fortune to influence, and some insights into his approach.”Services” will give you the laundry list of capabilities, but people who work with Paul know that he values creativity, intuition, insight, and persistence as the most valuable planning tools.