Dave Nichol - Career

Career

His first job after Harvard was with McKinsey & Company's Toronto management consulting office. In 1972, Galen Weston asked Nichol to help him with his family's supermarket chain, Loblaws. He joined the company that year as Executive Vice-President.

In 1976, Nichol was promoted to President. He worked with Galen Weston, Richard Currie, Brian Davidson and Don Watt to establish four retailer-branded product lines: “no name” for generic products; “President's Choice” for superior quality products; “Too Good to be True” (TGTBT as labeled) for nutritious healthy products; and “Green” for environmentally friendly products.

Nichol was the company spokesman. He appeared in dozens of television commercials and radio spots promoting Loblaws products, most notably the President's Choice line. He starred in thirty minute infomercials several times a year upon release of Loblaws Insider’s Report, of which he oversaw the development. This free publication was an enhanced store flyer produced three times a year that marketed new products at discounted introductory prices. Lines of new products were built around product names, for example the "Memories of" products. He also introduced The Dave Nichol Cookbook, which sold out 100,000 copies.

In 1985, Loblaws was reorganized and Nichol was made President of Loblaw International Merchants, the product development arm of Loblaw Companies Limited. He held that position for eight years.

In 1994, Nichol became the CEO of Destination Products International, a subsidiary of Cott Corporation. For them he developed a line of unique premium food products that were offered to food retailers around the world under each retailer’s own brand name. Nichol attempted to repeat his success as spokesman by naming a beer after himself, made by Cott, and marketing it in television commercials very similar in style to his old Loblaws President's Choice spots. However, his marketing and product success was not repeated at Cott, as the company struggled to expand under Nichol, whose taste "seemed to diverge too much from the mainstream" Moreover, without direct access to shelf space, which came at Loblaws, he "had a far more difficult time gaining entry, as a result spending an excessive amount of money to secure shelf space." Just before Nichol joined Cott, the stock had reached a high water mark in 1993 at $35.00 a share, when Nichol left it was falling dramatically for a variety of reasons, hitting bottom at $3.00 in 1998.

In 1994, Anne Kingston released his authorized biography, The Edible Man: Dave Nichol, President's Choice & the Making of Popular Taste.

In 1997, Nichol left Cott to form a consulting firm, Dave Nichol & Associates. He continues to serve there as CEO. They have created specialty products that are sold under brand names they have created or names controlled by clients; however, his public profile has diminished significantly and his once stellar marketing reputation with the consumer has faded.

In 2005, Nichol was inducted as a Visionary into the Marketing Hall of Legends by the American Marketing Association.