TIAC is pleased to announce that Bruce Philp, the visionary behind ING Direct’s incredible ascension will deliver a keynote address at the 2012 Tourism Congress.

Bruce Philp thinks capitalism is worth saving, and the best place to start is at the mall. He believes branded marketing is the last great democracy on earth, the most direct means by which our desires shape the world we live. He should know. A 30-year veteran of branded marketing, he's advised numerous Fortune 500 companies as a brand strategist, a job he characterizes as "an endless search for common ground between the corporation and the consumer." From Tylenol to Toyota, Procter & Gamble to Molson, he's seen first-hand how interdependent consumers and corporations really are.

But it was his work with one brand -- ING Direct, which he helped create in 1997 -- that drove home for him how powerful that connection can be. Along with its founding CEO, Arkadi Kuhlmann, Bruce told the story of that revelation in The Orange Code: How ING Direct Succeeded By Being A Rebel With A Cause. Published in 2009, it became a national bestseller. In 2011, he published his second book, Consumer Republic: Using Brands To Get What You Want, Make Corporations Behave, And Maybe Even Save The World, which took his message from the boardroom to Main Street and to critical acclaim. Labeled by one reviewer "an aggressive optimist," Bruce Philp is a passionate and articulate defender of our system of commerce and its indispensability to our way of life.

Add Philp’s books to your summer reading list and make your plans to join us for the Tourism Congress, November 19-21 in Gatineau. Please click here for more information or to register.