How is the CMA doing?

The pandemic has had an enormous and negative impact on most areas of Canada's economy. Our members come from all sectors. Many have been hurt. So it's understandable that some have been asking how we are doing.

I'm happy to tell you that we are doing quite well.

Our strong and capable Board of Directors is providing effective oversight in these uncertain times. I truly appreciate their dedication and guidance. In particular, our Audit and Finance Committee, under the leadership of Jan Kestle and now Kerri Dawson, has been instrumental.

Our staff has been and is truly heroic. Thanks to their creativity and agility, and their unbridled commitment to the marketing community, we have been thriving during this period. For example:

• Since March, we have welcomed 15 new members, including the City of Toronto, Ivey Business School, Skip the Dishes, McGill University, The Co-operators Group and Conestoga College. And we are engaged in promising discussions with many more. 
• Our sponsors have been loyal and flexible. When we pivoted from live events to virtual in March, almost every sponsor committed to the new format. Opportunities that we created in the spring led to new sponsorship commitments from Accenture, Quantcast, Microsoft, Appnovation, Adobe, and Sockrates, among others. 
• There is growing interest in my new live webinar series – Marketing Connected LIVE. The first seven episodes attracted more than 1,400 viewers with minimal marketing effort. We have some exciting new plans for the series, which I look forward to sharing with you in the weeks ahead.  
• The number of people viewing our events online is more than double the number of attendees at pre-COVID live events.
• In just over a year, CMA NXT – our career development platform – has attracted 2,000 users without any paid advertising, significantly ahead of our expectations.
• Our Chartered Marketer program continues to grow. Our first graduates will earn their designation in the next few months and there are currently close to 100 marketers working towards their designation.
• And finally, as I noted last week, entries for CMA Awards have exceeded expectations and we have a record number of judges.

Despite the pandemic cloud that continues to hang over society, and my worries for our members who are struggling, I am proud of what we continue to accomplish.

Stay safe,

John