MAX VALIQUETTE
President
Max provides the strategic direction and client insight for Youthography. Max is a specialist in understanding the pop-culture landscape, consumer habits, brands and youth culture. Over the course of his career, he has worked on brands as diverse as Budweiser, Beer.com, Hershey, Taco Bell and Ford of Canada.
Max's expertise makes him one of the most sought after speakers on youth and pop culture in Canada today. He was the host of TVOntario's 'Mr. Jones,' a live, youth-culture themed television show, and had a syndicated trends column on CBC radio. Max has been featured in virtually every national media outlet in Canada, including MuchMusic, CBC Television, ROB-TV and TSN, as well as in various newspapers, periodicals and trade publications as one of Canada's most visible youth culture experts. He was also the three-time Chairperson of Strategy Magazine's "Understanding Youth" Conference in both 2000 and 2001. Max has a B.A. from the University of Ottawa, is a former Central Canadian Debating Champion, and has performed, as a sketch comedian, at Second City.
MIKE FARRELL
Partner, Director of Research and Strategy
Mike has been deeply involved with youth trends and values studies for 12 years and is one of North America’s leading lights on this broad and ever-changing topic. As a founding partner and director of research and strategy at Youthography, Mike has taken his insight and creativity to new heights in an environment that he and his partners have modeled fully for, and around, the intersection between marketing and youth – with youthful culture and young consumers sitting squarely at the epicenter.
Mike is frequently called upon for his insight on the media level. Over the past number of years his work and perspective has been cited in a wide number of nationally and internationally significant periodicals, television programs and radio shows. Topping this all off, Mike speaks regularly to various business groups and participates in industry panels throughout Canada, the U.S. and the E.U.
Mike not only brings expertise garnered from his years studying cultural trends and values in North America to any project he’s in charge of, but he also brings a vibrant style. This has been honed by regularly performing what he calls “balls to the wall rock and roll” in and around the underground scenes of North America and Europe with his band The Pariahs.
RICK TREMBLAY
Partner, Director Account Services
As a founding partner of Youthography, Rick Tremblay is responsible for high-level project coordination, client account management, business development and day-to-day operations at the firm. In addition to a very unproductive love of popular culture, Rick brings substantial experience in market research, event marketing execution and brand management to the Youthography equation.
Rick enjoys strategizing and managing company growth with his compadres Mike and Max. A seasoned management executive with more than ten years experience in the North American corporate marketing and branding arenas, previous career incarnations have led Rick through careers as disparate as teaching and law enforcement (so pay attention.) In addition to his substantial experience as a marketing entrepreneur in the private sector, Rick has had enjoyed experience in the not-for-profit sector in a directorial capacity at a regional food bank.
Rick is a firm believer that relevance and ownership motivate youth in their relationships with business, government and society. With extensive experience putting youth and young adults at the centre of business-related problem solving, having led numerous research and marketing initiatives across a number categories, Rick is fairly convinced that those charged with the responsibility of marketing to young people should probably make an effort to talk to them at some point in the process. Generally speaking, the earlier, the better. Rick has completed both undergraduate and postgraduate studies in American history and East Asian Studies and fancies himself a bit of a hackneyed Japanophile. |