Former Cossette Leader Daniel Shearer Joins Maple as CMO

Daniel Shearer, the former president of Cossette English Canada, is heading client side. He has joined Maple, a Canadian virtual care provider, as chief marketing officer. 

A 20-year veteran of Canadian advertising, Daniel left his role at Cossette midway through 2023. He was drawn back into the working world by his passion for the intersection of technology and humanity - something he feels he’ll get to flex in his first ever marketing role. Daniel reveals to LBB that he was exploring a number of things across different categories and sectors. This opportunity stood out “head and shoulders” above everything else.

“Maple isn’t just an exceptional platform; it’s a solution addressing one of Canada’s most critical challenges - access to healthcare,” he says. What’s more intriguing to Daniel is that, in his words, Maple is a “quiet leader” in virtual care – it is a category leader, much loved by those who use the platform. “But there’s an incredible potential to become top of mind for even more Canadians,” says Daniel. “The opportunity to elevate a brand with such a clear and inspiring purpose, and to share its story with the world, was impossible for me to resist.” 

As chief marketing officer, Daniel will focus on driving Maple’s next phase of adoption across all customers, including consumers, businesses and governments. He will lead a team committed to strengthening Maple’s reputation as an industry leader in virtual care, ensuring that more Canadians have access to timely, innovative and high-quality healthcare solutions. 

“Canada's healthcare system is at a tipping point, creating an unprecedented need to redefine how care is accessed and delivered," says Brett Belchetz, CEO of Maple. "Daniel’s vision and ability to deliver impact at scale make him uniquely positioned to accelerate our continued leadership in virtual care. His expertise in transforming brands and driving growth will ensure Maple continues to lead the way in delivering meaningful improvements for the health of Canadians.”

While Daniel admits that day-to-day life at Maple may feel a little different from his previous roles at agencies, he doesn’t think of it in terms of ‘client-side’ versus ‘agency-side’. For him, it’s always been about leading organisations with big goals and aligning teams around a shared vision that leads to healthy outcomes. “I’ve never been tied to a certain category of business – a fact that's clear by all of my work, including the board roles I take on,” he says. “What drives me most is working with brands with a clear sense of purpose and a commitment to creating an impact in the world. That's exactly what I saw at Maple: a tremendously driven and creative team eager to explore that intersection of humanity and technology, to address a critical need for Canadians.”

Daniel feels that his agency experience always required him to stay at the forefront of modern media and find the best ways for brands to bring their story to life. He has played a key role in helping companies, big and small, new and legacy, such as McDonald’s, Walmart, SickKids, Google and TD Bank, discover their voice and share their point of view with the world. 

“One of the hallmarks of agency life is learning to thrive within constraints–whether it’s limited time, resources, or people. Yet, we always find a way to make an impact.” Daniel is excited to bring that same sense of urgency, creativity, discipline, and resourcefulness to Maple–a company that he believes has incredible momentum and a bold, disruptor mindset. “The agency world is all about innovation and building something new, and that spirit of possibility is exactly what drives us here at Maple.”

More broadly, Daniel admits his concerns about the state of marketing in 2025. He is often struck by the “misnomers, falsehoods, and so-called ‘best practices’” that he feels have become ingrained in the industry. “As an industry there’s an opportunity to challenge these assumptions and the work that we're going to be doing at Maple is going to do just that–break new ground, challenge the status quo, and get back to the fundamentals of powerful brand building.”

To help make that work happen, Maple has engaged a “small roster of independent, founder-led agencies with similar values” to support the brand through its next phase of work. One of those agencies is one23west. Maple also has a “strong, integrated team of creatives internally who lead impactful work every day” in collaboration with its agency partners. Daniel is also looking forward to continuing to leverage AI, which he foresees playing an increasingly meaningful role in Maple’s marketing operations as the technology matures. 

“It's too early to share a specific channel or method, but what I can confidently say is that we are going to take full advantage of all that modern marketing offers,” he says. “The beautiful part of what's possible in modern marketing is that the best ideas lead. Maple’s story will be told in the most powerful way possible, and I’m extremely excited to bring that to life.”