Canadian Marketing Association

Manpreet Pandha Senior Manager, Enterprise Sponsorships, Corporate Marketing, North America BMO Bank of Montreal Sponsorship Thought Leadership Originally drafted in spring 2026 ahead of the 2026 World Cup. For decades, soccer in Canada was framed as a sport of unrealized potential. Passionate supporters, strong grassroots participation, and moments of international success existed but without the sustained platform to elevate the game into the national mainstream and public consciousness.

Brand Thought Leadership For an industry built on precision, marketing has always harboured a massive blind spot. We've become exceptionally good at measuring what can easily be seen, including impressions, reach and viewability, but remain far less certain about what truly matters: did anyone actually pay attention? Lately, attention metrics have surged back into the spotlight, pushing the industry toward a familiar crossroads.

Brand Thought Leadership TL;DR: Marketing unlocks greater impact when it translates its metrics into business outcomes that CEOs can champion. Download our translation guide to start bridging the gap. How marketers can close the translation gap and turn the CEO into a multiplier of their work Every marketer knows the moment. You’re in the boardroom, walking through a plan you know will move the needle, when the conversation turns – again – to questions of proof. Why brand? Why now?

Diana Brink-Gourlay VP, Marketing Aviva Canada Inc. Customer experience Thought Leadership Over the last several years, “customer-first” has become a highly used phrase in business. Everyone claims it, few operationalize it, and even fewer sustain it consistently and long-term. It is often not a failure of intent but a structural challenge. The reality many CX leaders inherit: Some organizations have a centralized function responsible for customer strategy and interactions.

Partners Sponsorship Celebrating legacy partnerships at TIFF 50 (Image courtesy: Arlyn McAdorey / THE CANADIAN PRESS) For fifty years, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has evolved from the "festival of festivals" into a global cultural powerhouse. This journey has been fueled by a "partner-first" mindset, moving away from traditional sponsorship toward deep-rooted collaboration.

Insights In today’s rapidly evolving marketplace, setting prices that resonate with customers has never been more complex—or more important. In the age of AI, marketers and insights professionals now have unprecedented analytical power to better understand pricing sensitivity. But the challenge goes beyond precision: marketers must decide how dynamic and personalized pricing should be, while balancing the science of pricing with the art of value creation.

Sponsorship As the FIFA World Cup 2026 approaches, Canadians are going to be surrounded by soccer-focused brand activations and campaigns. Some brands will show up as official FIFA sponsors. Others will activate through Canada Soccer, host cities, broadcasters, retailers or local events. Some may access the tournament through the commercial ecosystem of an official sponsor, such as a payment network, beverage supplier, distributor or retail partner.

Creativity Strategy The CMA's Brand Council and Creativity Council represent two of the most influential communities of practice in the Canadian marketing industry. Both Councils comprise senior leaders, strategists and practitioners who are actively shaping how brands are built, expressed and sustained in one of the most complex marketing environments in history.

AI Strategy I recently read an excellent article in the Economist by Wharton professor Ethan Mollick titled “Companies should treat AI as what it is: profoundly weird”. As a fundamentally new and transformative force unlike anything we have navigated before, Mollick points out that AI is not only “profoundly odd, risky and powerful” but also capable of things that were impossible a year ago”. His caution is clear: “don’t navigate strange territory by pretending your old maps will work”.

Brand Thought Leadership This is the final blog in a content series from the CMA Brand Council, exploring community and culture in relation to brand. Check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Lessons to apply to different brands In our previous explorations, we solidified the definition of community and how communities show up across digital landscapes.