October 2024 President's Note

Happy October.

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, it’s a great time to reflect on all that I’m thankful for. You’re high on the list. Your support enables us to futureproof the marketing profession and help ensure that businesses and marketers across Canada are thriving.

Thank you for being a valued part of our profession and the CMA. The healthy debates, thought leadership, comradery, and conversations we have as a community make us all stronger. These qualities are why I love my role so much.

Last week was a great example of thought leadership and comradery, as more than 400 marketers across the country joined us for the CMA Media Evolution event.

We’re bringing our community together again on October 24 for the CMAprivacy event. The Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Philippe Dufresne, will be speaking at this important online event, which is free for members. This forum will provide a powerful opportunity for you and your team to stay well informed on Canada’s evolving privacy regulatory environment.

We’re also excited to celebrate Canada’s outstanding creativity together with you at the CMA Awards Gala on November 22. With a record number of entries this year – and ticket sales outpacing last year – it’s going to be a terrific evening with lots to celebrate. I look forward to seeing you there!

Thanks to our judges, we will be awarding 151 trophies in our full range of categories, including Best of the Best, Marketer of the Year, and our inaugural Global Creative Award, which recognizes the best campaigns from around the world that were developed by Canadian-based marketing teams and agencies.

Our advocacy efforts are one of the many ways the CMA is futureproofing the profession. Our latest government submissions on behalf of the profession include a submission to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner on the Exploratory Consultation on Age Assurance, and one to the Competition Bureau on Greenwashing Provisions in the Competition Act. We are also publishing letter to the federal Minister of Finance urging the government to revoke the Digital Sales Tax.

With the tectonic shifts happening in marketing, building new skills is crucial for marketers at every level. We appreciate that time is at a premium, which is why our Chartered Marketer (CM) program is now available on-demand.

To help futureproof your career, we also offer a Gen AI Certificate program and more Gen AI training programs to help you build crucial new skills.

Ensuring marketing is diverse, equitable and inclusive continues to be a priority for the CMA:

1. Our Digital Marketing Skills Canada (DMSC) program is creating an outstanding and highly diverse talent pipeline for employers, with 81% of the learners coming from underrepresented groups. 
   • I encourage anyone looking for top talent to make use of our searchable talent database. It covers a broad range of marketing levels and experience. Employers can benefit from a grant when they hire a DMSC graduate.
2. We continue to offer scholarships for our DMSC program through the generous support of the federal government. If someone you know would benefit from a full scholarship to complete the CM designation, they can apply here.
3. The CMA is launching an AI Readiness Survey this week, using an AI-driven survey platform that is designed to be fun and interactive. Please give us 10 minutes of your time to help us bring context and perspective to future AI initiatives.
4. To support marketing newcomers in Canada, we’ve introduced a CMA Newcomer Affiliate  program. This program helps newcomers get established by providing them with access for one year to many of our CMA benefits and opportunities to network with the Canadian marketing community.

None of this would be possible without your support through membership. The CMA is powered by highly engaged members, and I thank you for your commitment to strengthening and futureproofing our profession and community. 

As always, I welcome the opportunity to meet one-to-one. So, don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to chat.

I hope you have a memory-rich Thanksgiving weekend with your family and friends. To everyone in our community preparing for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I recognize that this is a particularly challenging time for your community as we approach October 7. Nevertheless, I wish you a Shana Tova and an easy fast.

Alison Simpson
President & CEO