Leslie Ehm is a passionate creative and strategic communicator. For over 20 years, she has focused on connecting with audiences – as a Creative Director as well as on stage, and onscreen.
Leslie’s stage career began as a singer at 18 and she spent the next decade performing in Canada and the UK. This led her to a career in television where she developed, pitched and hosted numerous UK-based TV shows including “The Fashion Police”, “The Warehouse”, and her own talk show “Ehm People”. When she wasn’t on screen, she was editing and doctoring stories and scripts for film companies like Miramax and Working Title.
Returning to Canada after 15 years, Leslie turned her talents to advertising and quickly rose through the ranks to become Group Creative Director at Canada’s largest agency MacLaren McCann, where her clients included Nestlé, GM Canada, Rogers, Microsoft, McNeil, Bacardi, and Toronto Blue Jays, among others. It was there she was able to combine her creative and performance skills to become consummate in the art of pitching – selling one client a seven-figure project with a single concept.
Also owner of idea lust, a dynamic ideation factory, Leslie is recognized as a creative industry expert on strategy and a ‘tour de force’ in the pitch and presentation realm. Through her experiences, Leslie has realized that organizations often lack the time and resources to help nurture the necessary Creative and Account skill sets that can ultimately provide the kind of competitive edge and agency consistency required to win in today’s environment.
To meet that need, she and partner Joan McArthur have combined their wealth of experience to form 27 Marbles Training, creating and facilitating courses designed to address specific challenges facing creative industry professionals everywhere.
“All too often the feedback after a training session is muted and minimal, but in this case it was energized and uniformly positive! More importantly, our staff members have begun using those techniques, and with great success…I can confidently say that our agency could not have put our training dollars to better use and that we will be working with 27 Marbles again in the near future.” – Jeff Plotnikoff, Director, Human Resources, Armstrong Partnership
“We thought we were pretty good at both the creative process and presenting our ideas. That was until we invited 27 Marbles into our agency. Their training and approach is being embraced throughout the agency, resulting in even better work. I highly recommend them.” – Tony Chapman, CEO, Capital C
“We highly recommend 27 Marbles for any agency or client who needs to finesse their game.” – Dawna Henderson, President & CEO, henderson bas
“Working with 27 Marbles is one of the wisest business decisions we’ve made as an agency.” – Garry Lee, President, Cundari
“Shock and awe is all I can say. The response was sensational.” – Warren Eddy, VP Marketing, Transcontinental PLM
“27 Marbles’ past experience, rich industry history and engaging style are why they’re able to really deliver the unique insights that are actively helping us to refine our future path. They are absolutely amazing!” – Aldo Cundari, Chairman & CEO, Cundari
“27 Marbles don’t just ‘get it’ – they’ve actually done it. And they bring all of their experience, passion and smart teaching to every workshop. My team didn’t want the sessions to end!” – Ron Tite, Creative Director, Sharpe Blackmore
“Overall, 27 Marbles helped Trigger become more inspirational in the way that we conduct ourselves on a daily basis…We strongly believe that the 27 Marbles investment has helped contribute to the Trigger brand experience.” – Larry Bannerman, President, Trigger Communications & Design
“27 Marbles put their head and heart into really understanding what will make the biggest difference with participants and then put everything they’ve got into crafting a learning experience that delivers beyond expectations. They are top professionals from start to finish.” – Suzanne Filiatrault, Director of Professional Development, Institute of Communication and Advertising
“27 Marbles delivered – their extensive industry experience, relevant examples and entertaining anecdotes solidified the learning and kept participants engaged.” – Christina Flavell, National Training Director, Cossette
“There’s a lot of training out there, but not much that focuses specifically on creative challenges. Leslie Ehm gets it - speaking from years of experience and offering valuable relevant feedback. She’s helped reignite the team’s creative spark and I look forward to re-engaging 27 Marbles in the future.” – Joel Trojanowski, Creative Director, Armstrong Partnership
“Joan delivered strong learning to a uniquely tough senior creative crowd that inspired them to motivate their teams to get best results. They appreciated the real learning scenarios and hearing other senior perspectives on proven problem solving techniques.” – Suzanne Filiatrault, Director of Professional Development, Institute of Communication and Advertising
“The training provided 27 Marbles to all levels of experience was innovative and engaging. But most importantly, it was creative and gave our staff the ability to approach their work in a reinvigorated manner. Feedback was enthusiastically positive.” – Barry Patterson, Senior Manager, Communication, CBC Television
“Joan McArthur’s biggest attribute (beyond the years of experience as a CD that she brings to the table) is her passion – how much she cares about how successful her students will become, how far she’s prepared to go to on their behalf, how she won’t let go until they’ve reached their optimum potential. Her students know how fanatically dedicated she is to their success.” – Steve Quinlan, Assistant Dean, Faculty of Design, Ontario College of Art and Design
“Joan is a powerful package of professional experience, practical teaching insight and energy all rolled into one. I can highly recommend her as one of the best. If you get the chance to study with her, take it.” – Peter Oliver, Chair, Advertising, Ontario College of Art and Design
info@27marbles.com
T. 416.915.9727