May 2026 President's Note
How do Marketers drive more impact in a human led, AI enabled future?
While each speaker brought a different perspective, that question stayed with me throughout our third annual CMA Marketing Week. It was a common thread across many of the conversations we had and was a reminder of how important the role of marketing has become. The recent study by Signal49 Research (formerly the Conference Board of Canada) on “Uncovering the Value of Marketing in Canada” confirms marketers contribute 4.6% of Canada’s GDP, and that award-winning marketing drives disproportionate profit and sales. At a time of change, our ability to lead, adapt and create impact matters more than ever.
CMA Marketing Week brought together more than 2,200 marketers from across the country through four sold-out in-person events in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, along with five virtual sessions. We’re grateful to the many sponsors who helped make the week possible for our members. I was especially happy to meet, connect and chat with so many of you. Your energy and curiosity were amazing. Thanks for your continued support of the CMA!
To kick off the week, we recorded a live episode of CMA Connect Live featuring a discussion of the recent Confessions of a CMO report. You can watch the episode here or listen to the episode on Spotify.
Every time I attend events like CMA Marketing Week, I personally come away energized, inspired and eager to keep learning. With so many strong sessions coming up over the next few weeks, this is a great time to sign up for one of the CMA’s many learning offerings or pick up one of our latest playbook and guides:
- Unleashing Your Creativity with Proven Brainstorming Techniques - Training on May 26th
- From Execution to Enterprise Leadership: THE DIRECTOR SHIFT - Training on May 27th
- Building Your AI Playbook: From Experimentation to Repeatable Marketing Workflows - Training on June 2nd
- CMA Guide on Transparent Data Practices for Websites and Apps
- AI Quick-Start for Marketers AI Playbook
We’d also love to see out at our next event, Case for Canada, on June 18th in Toronto. Keep your Canadian marketing toolkit sharp. And finally, there is still time to complete our EDI survey which closes June 30, 2026.
There is never a more exciting time to be a marketer! Feel free to reach out if you have any feedback or thoughts on how we can continue to strengthen our CMA marketing community.
Best,
Esther
