Our Business

Virtual IQ is an agile business and brand strategy consultancy that works on clients internationally out of offices in Ottawa, Canada, and London, England. Our in-house team consists of strategy and project management, and we work closely with a stable of specialists who are brought into projects on the basis of their category and subject matter expertise. No two clients are alike, and our model provides a flexible and cost-efficient team structure to serve their unique needs. 

Our Founder's Bio

Robert founded Virtual IQ in both the UK and Canada in June 2020.

Robert is a business and brand strategist with a specialisation in consumer behaviour and innovation.

He’s worked as a VP, Strategy with Ogilvy & Mather between their Toronto, Chicago, and New York offices, as a Snr. VP/Managing Director for global consultancy Young & Rubicam, and as a board member and Chief Development Officer with preeminent retail and brand design company, Fitch Worldwide, leading projects across their 17 offices. He’s contributed to organisations from pre-revenue and early-stage start-ups through to companies such as Unilever, Kraft, Japan Tobacco Int’l, Diageo, Bacardi, Motorola, Nokia, Dell, IBM, Philips, Waitrose, Metro, Walmart and Fairmont Hotels across North America, LATAM, Africa, Western and Eastern Europe, and Asia.

In 2020, he left the UK to return to Canada where he runs a boutique consultancy that specialises in forward planning using design thinking methodologies, and business strategy using a proprietary lean brand development model for high-growth companies.

In addition to his ‘day job’, he’s worked in higher education as a Teaching Fellow at Oxford University’s Said Business School, as a guest lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, Leeds University, Delft University of Technology, University College London, the London School of Economics, and is currently Entrepreneur in Residence at Carleton University in the Canadian capital.

Robert Hocking
- Founder, Chief Strategist