April 2024 President's Note

Hello and happy April.

I hope everyone made the most of the long weekend with family and friends. Spring is off to a busy start for the CMA and I’m excited to share some great news and more exclusive benefits for our members.

Our inaugural CMA Marketing Week is five weeks away and it’s terrific to see the high level of interest, with two of our programs already sold out. The week kicks off with a live CMA Connect podcast episode featuring Eva Salem, our 2023 Marketer of the Year, Ashley Faccenda, our 2023 AIM Award Winner, and Steve Levy, a CMA Lifetime Achievement Award winner. We will be discussing the future of marketing from their three different career stages. The in-person event is sold out, but you can join virtually. 

The signature event for Marketing Week is CMAfutureproof on May 8. The hybrid event is designed to help you manage the challenge of evolving your brands and businesses for long-term success while also delivering on today’s immediate needs. It’s no easy feat and it’s crucial to your success.

As an exclusive member benefit, we are offering two free Gen AI training courses during Marketing Week. The courses are designed for both mid-level and senior marketers. Spots are filling up quickly, so register soon. 

I’m thrilled to announce our 2024 CMA Awards Co-Chairs: Mary MacIsaac, SVP Marketing & Loblaw Brands at Loblaw Companies Limited, and Scott Pinkney, SVP & Executive Creative Director at Publicis Hawkeye. Both have strong track records for delivering business results through innovation and creativity, diverse marketing and leadership expertise.

Applications open for CMA Awards judges on April 8. Helping to select the year’s top campaigns is an inspiring role and I encourage you to apply.

I’m excited to introduce a new CMA award to celebrate the outstanding international creative that originates from Canada. The award will recognize the top international campaigns developed by Canadian marketers or agencies. It’s a great way to recognize the global impact of our Canadian community.

Another way the CMA is driving global awareness for the Canadian marketing profession is through the Global Data & Marketing Alliance (GDMA). Our GDMA membership brings access to global thought leadership and resources that provide additional value to our members.

Advocating for the marketing profession continues to be an important priority for us, with our biggest focus on Canadian privacy law that, if passed, would replace PIPEDA. Voting on the proposed law is expected to start this month. Our recent advocacy efforts include:

1. Two submissions to the parliamentary committee studying the proposed privacy law.
2. CMA’s Privacy and Data Committee and Public Affairs Committee met with the two new Deputy Commissioners in the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) – this is part of a series of meetings to strengthen dialogue and understanding between the OPC and our members.
3. A submission to the OPC on their three-year Strategic Plan, noting that the plan focuses heavily on part of the OPC’s mandate (privacy protection) and needs to increase its focus on the needs of organizations to use data.

Last month I shared that the CMA was awarded a significant grant to support training of marketers across a wide range of career stages and levels. This program provides two valuable new benefits for members and our profession:

1. It’s building a new pipeline of upskilled and diverse marketers that our members can recruit from. The training is focused on core areas and levels that we’ve heard have been the most challenging to recruit for.
2. It provides fully funded scholarships for marketers in transition. If your organization is in the challenging position of needing to downsize – or you know marketers currently in transition – this program can provide access to free upskilling, coaching and support through a job search.

Spring is off to a strong start, and I hope to see you in the coming weeks. As always, don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to chat.

If you’re celebrating Passover later this month, I wish you a memory-rich time with family and friends.

Warm regards, 
Alison
President & CEO

P.S. Check out the latest episode of our CMA Connect podcast. It features  Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s Global CMO and the author of Quantum Marketing, explaining why today is the golden age of marketing.