February 2026 President's Note

As we embrace chilly temperatures and lots of snow in many parts of Canada, this Friday’s opening ceremonies for the 2026 Milano Cortino Olympics will give us lots to celebrate as we cheer our talented Team Canada to podium wins!

I’m excited to tune in, and proud that the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and vast majority of their 39 partners are all CMA members. You can start gearing up for the Olympics by tuning into my newest CMA Connect podcast episode. It features a great conversation about the Olympics and marketing excellence with Jacquie Ryan from the COC.

2026 is off to a strong start, and we have lots of ways you can benefit from the CMA. Here are some events in February that will bring our amazing marketing community together:

• Our events kick-off with a CMA Café this Thursday about the predictive era of customer experience. It’s free for senior members.
• We have another CMA Café on February 19th where we’ll discuss how Canada can become a global AdTech center of innovation
• We’re co-hosting the 2025 Most Influential Brands event on February 11th. The in-person event sold out quickly, but you can still register for the virtual event. It’s also free.
• On February 25th, we’re kicking off International Women’s Day a bit early with an exclusive event “Women in Business: Win Win Networking”. This free member event is one of our most popular each year, so I recommend registering soon.

Work is well underway for our 2026 CMA Marketing Week, which runs from May 4th to 8th. After growing attendance by 40% - and many of our events selling out early in 2025 - we’re excited to build on the momentum this year. The week will kick-off with two live events -- in Toronto and Montreal. Our signature CMAfutureproof event will be a full day on May 6th and we’re hosting a CMA Marketing Week event in Vancouver on May 7th. We’ll wrap the week by offering even more free training opportunities for our members on May 8th.

Every new year brings the need to learn new skills as our profession continues to evolve at warp speed. That’s why the CMA offers robust professional development programs to suit your needs and schedule. Whether you want to earn your Chartered Marketer (Canada’s only professional marketing designation and a real career differentiator), or learn through short form training options, certificate programs, or customized team training, we can help. CMA members also benefit from 50% savings across our Learning portfolio.

The CMA’s thought leadership is another way we are helping future proof the marketing profession and setting you up for a thriving career. Understanding and leveraging AI is mission critical for every marketer, so it’s not surprising that our weekly AI Mastery series has become a “must read” and our AI training is so popular.

Plus, our CMA Councils and Committees bring together leaders to discuss hot topics and create rich thought leadership across wide ranging topics central to our profession. We’re expanding this community by introducing our new CMA Social Content & Commerce Forum — you can apply on our site.

Advocating for the marketing profession, and ensuring high ethical standards, is a key focus for the CMA. To help you manage the ever evolving regulatory and marketing landscape, we produced eight new guides last year that are exclusive to our members. We are releasing our new Transparent Data Practices for Websites + Apps Guide this month.

Marketing is foundational to business success, our country’s ability to innovate, and Canada’s economy. Yet our profession doesn’t always get the credit it should for this mission critical role. So, I’m excited to share that we will release our inaugural CMA Marketing Impact Study in March to quantify this important impact. I look forward to sharing more details next month.

In my November note, I shared that the CMA is a proud partner in You.Scaled - an ambitious AI accelerator program supporting Canadian small businesses and not-for-profits (NFP). We received outstanding submissions and have now awarded the AI support, CMA AI Training and special CMA membership rates to 107 deserving small businesses and 51 NFPs. Every province and territory is represented and 80% of the winners identify with at least one DEI category.

The CMA has transformed significantly since 2022, and we want our visual brand to reflect this transformation. We are a profession that rewards out of the box thinking. So, it’s time to get the CMA brand out of its box and celebrate our Canadianism. I’m thrilled to be leading this initiative and look forward to sharing it with you at CMA Marketing Week.

I hope you enjoy cheering on Team Canada, and you have fun plans for the Family Day weekend later this month.

Warmly,
Alison Simpson