Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends expands, integrates rival award show
Deal reached to create “one esteemed Hall” for Canada’s marketing and branding heroes
TORONTO, May 7, 2025 — AMA Toronto is expanding the reach and influence of Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends, one of the country’s most respected and renowned industry award programs. The association has reached an agreement to take title of Canada’s Marketing, Advertising, PR and Communications Hall of Fame, a Vancouver-based award show run by Jelly Academy.
In the agreement, the “Hall of Fame,” a three-year-old award program with a similar theme and mission, will cease to operate as a separate event or show and be incorporated into Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends.
Established in 2004, Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends honours the industry’s most inspiring visionaries, enablers, builders and mentors who’ve had tremendous impact on the field of marketing and branding throughout their careers.
“In the competitive environment of award shows, the continual evolution of Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends strengthens its 21-year legacy as our industry’s premier leadership recognition award platform,” says Olga Pigeon, president of AMA Toronto. “This new agreement, which reduces marketplace confusion while broadening our footprint across the country, marks a new chapter for the program.”
“My hope is that the Canadian marketing landscape can see this agreement as an inspiration to keep finding ways to work together as separate clubs, associations and awards,” says Darian Kovacs, founder of Jelly Academy. “It’s a relief for applicants, sponsors and winners to know that there is simply one esteemed Hall in Canada, versus two separate ones.”
As part of the integration, AMA Toronto will honour the 41 Hall of Fame inductees on its website, utilize its Indigenous-designed graphic to inspire and expand the vision and influence of Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends.
Organizational collaboration between AMA Toronto and Jelly Academy will also see Kovacs, an Indigenous marketer and prominent industry advocate for DEI, serve as a member of the selection committee for Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends this year and assist AMA Toronto in reaching further under-represented marketers.
The 2025 award recipients of Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends will be honoured and formally inducted by AMA Toronto on May 9th at an exclusive gala event at Arcadian Court in Toronto.
“Through Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends, the career stories of these marketing and branding heroes are celebrated to inspire us, share wisdom, and ultimately help empower new leadership and business growth throughout our community,” adds Pigeon.
After over two decades and over 100 inductees, Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends has evolved into a unique and distinguished year-long Legends program involving the award recipients, one that’s focused on mentorship, knowledge-sharing and inclusion. In addition to their induction into Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends, award winners participate in programming that runs throughout the year, including the popular Legendary Leadership Series of events, blogs, as well as the video podcast series “Legends Journey: Lessons in Leadership.”
About Jelly Academy
Jelly Academy is a world leader in current and future-focused training, rapid reskilling, micro-training, digital skills training, and offering corporate team training certificate courses, workshops, association mentorship training, and events both online and at their learning studio.
About the Canada’s Marketing, Advertising, PR and Communications Hall of Fame
Established in 2021, Canada’s Marketing, Advertising, PR and Communications Hall of Fame was a national awards program that emphasized recognizing under-represented audiences. Created and promoted by Jelly Academy through its Marketing News Canada publication, the Hall of Fame has 41 alumni from coast to coast representing a diverse kaleidoscope of our industry.
About Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends
Founded in 2004, Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends honours inspiring Canadian leaders who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of excellence in the field of marketing. The award, created to spotlight the stories, people and brands behind Canada’s greatest marketing and branding successes, recognizes a noteworthy body of work and a life-time of achievements and leadership, including contributions that have made our community a better place. Nominations for induction are held annually.
About AMA Toronto
AMA Toronto is a community of volunteer marketers who have been empowering leadership and business growth for more than 70 years in Canada. The AMA, with more than 30,000 members and 70 chapters across North America, is the largest not-for-profit marketing association in the world serving organizations and individuals who practice, teach and study marketing.
Quick Facts
- Since 2004, Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends has inducted 116 Canadian luminaries.
- Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends is now a unique year-long program involving award recipients — making it the only one of its kind in the industry. The Legends program includes the Legendary Leadership Series of events, blogs, and the video podcast series “Legends Journey: Lessons in Leadership.”
- Progressive changes in 2020 transformed Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends to better serve and reflect the diverse character of the marketing community. The selection committee and the nomination and selection processes were revamped, and a more inclusive DEI focus on all sectors of the industry was initiated.
- Canada’s 2025 Marketing Legends are: Michael Adams, co-founder and president, Environics Research Group (Enabler), Joanna Griffiths, founder and president, Knix (Visionary), Mark Harrison, founder, MH3 Collective (Mentor), Serge Rancourt, co-founder, The Grid (Enabler), and Ted (Theo) Rosnick, former creative director, Vapor Music (Enabler).
- The 2025 Marketer on the Rise award, a part of Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends, was awarded to Michael Forsyth, Marketing Director, Potato Brands at PepsiCo Foods Canada. This award celebrates Canada’s top up-and-comers — the next generation of influential marketing leaders.
Associated News Releases Links
https://ama-toronto.com/blog/canadas-marketing-hall-of-legends-announces-2025-marketer-on-the-rise/
For further information or interviews please contact:
Robert MacLean
VP, Public Relations, AMA Toronto
(416) 817-4259
Fatemah Asgari
Manager, Public Relations, AMA Toronto