Toronto, February 16, 2021 – Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends (CMHOL), one of Canada’s most respected and renowned industry awards, today announced its 2021 selection committee and the establishment of new representation and inclusion standards.
“Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends is making changes to better represent and include Canada’s diverse marketing community,” says Miglena Nikolova, president of AMA Toronto, the association that runs CMHOL. “This year’s selection committee — the most diverse group of brand and marketing leaders ever assembled by CMHOL — is updating the Legend selection process to reflect and celebrate our industry’s diversity.”
The selection committee, chaired by 2014 Legend inductee David Kincaid, Founder and Managing Partner, Level5 Strategy, will judge this year’s entries and announce Canada’s newest Marketing Legends and Marketer on the Rise.
This year’s CMHOL selection committee includes:
● Simon Cazelais, Director, Global Marketing Strategy & Innovation, BRP
● Jonathan Daly, Global Group Planning Director, Ogilvy
● Sean Humphrey, VP Marketing, The Globe and Mail
● Sarah Jordan, CEO, Mastermind Toys
● Jill King, Managing Director, Advertising Review Board
● Nancy Marcus, 2020 Legend Inductee
● Paula Roberts, Founder & CEO, Halo Brand Leadership
● Bobby Sahni, Partner & Co-founder, Ethnicity Matters
● Andrea Southcott, Partner, Redshift Collective
● John Wiltshire, President & CEO, Canadian Marketing Association (CMA)
● Winnie Wong, Chief Marketing Officer, OCAD University
● Wahn Yoon, President, Bleublancrouge (BBR), Toronto
“This year’s CMHOL jury is an accomplished group of brand and marketing leaders,” says Kincaid. “I’m proud to say the selection committee is very Canadian — it exemplifies and values the diversity of the industry we work in — and will provide the CMHOL with strong, credible decision-making prowess.”
Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends honours the industry’s most outstanding visionaries, enablers, builders and mentors who’ve had tremendous impact on the field of marketing throughout their careers. The Marketer on the Rise award, being reintroduced this year, celebrates Canada’s top up-and-comers — the next generation of influential marketers.
Nominations can be made until February 18 on the CMHOL website.
This year’s award winners will be announced in March, then formally recognized and honoured by AMA Toronto on April 22 at a CMHOL virtual event.
“Canada’s marketing industry has evolved, it’s not what it was 17 years ago when the CMHOL first started honouring the industry’s Legends,” says Jacob Kessler, VP, Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends. “The Legend program today is growing, shifting perspective and acting to better represent and include Canada’s diverse marketing community.”
To address and enhance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the CMHOL significantly expanded its national outreach to attract a broader range of nominations. The makeup of the CMHOL jury has also been reformed and new standards for eligibility established — the criteria for Legend nominations and selection. One key shift is that 40 to 50 per cent of the selected Legend inductees for 2021 must reflect diversity in the industry.
These changes will enable CMHOL to more accurately represent the marketing community in terms of geography, line-of-business, gender identity and expression, race, ethnicity, disability, and sexual orientation.
In addition to their induction into Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends, award winners will participate in AMA Toronto’s popular Legendary Leadership Series. Each event in the ongoing virtual series explores the stories, achievements, influence and learnings of a different Marketing Legend and engages the marketing community in thoughtful conversation about the industry, social trends, and innovations.
Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends is sponsored by Architech, a Toronto-based software company with over 15 years of experience in creating technology solutions for clients across North America.
About Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends (CMHOL)
Founded in 2004, Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends honours Canadians 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 successes, recognizes a noteworthy body of work and a lifetime of achievements. Nominations for induction are held annually. An independent selection committee of top marketing professionals evaluates each year’s list of nominees.
About AMA Toronto
The Toronto Chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) is a not-for-profit community of volunteer marketers who have been creating opportunities for personal and business growth for more than 60 years in Canada. The AMA, with more than 20,000 members and 70 chapters across North America, is the largest marketing association in the world serving organizations and individuals who practice, teach and study marketing.
Quick Facts
- Since 2004, CMHOL has inducted 88 Canadian luminaries. Marketer on the Rise has inducted five winners to date.
- The criteria for CMHOL selection include the overall impact that marketing professionals have demonstrated in the Canadian or global marketplace through their ideas and contributions to marketing and brand building, as well as what they have done to give back and better the marketing community.
- The CMHOL brings together Canadian marketers, media, agencies and academic communities to select candidates whom they feel meet and exceed these criteria.
- The reintroduction of the Marketer on the Rise award, and the initiation of reforms to jury makeup and the Legend nomination and selection process, illustrates the association’s commitment to advancing DEI and to evolving CMHOL to better serve and reflect Canada’s marketing community.
Additional Quotes
“For 13 years, nomination and induction into Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends has been a widely recognized mark of distinction and one of the most coveted awards celebrating the careers of our industry’s most successful leaders.”
— Miglena Nikolova, president of AMA Toronto
“To be inducted into Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends, a candidate must be shown to have dedicated their career to the pursuit of excellence in the field of marketing and to have influenced the Canadian or global marketplace through their ideas and contributions. The Legend Award honours a body of work and a lifetime of achievements in marketing, including contributions that have made our community a better place.”
— Jacob Kessler, VP, Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends
“We’re acting on an acknowledged need to continue to evolve our awards to reflect the fast-changing and diverse marketing industry in Canada. The CMHOL recognizes the challenge and necessity to work harder and set stronger examples of DEI in its programs and content.”
- David Kincaid, Jury Committee Chair and 2014 Legend inductee
Associated Links
Marketing Hall of Legends
AMA Toronto
For further information please contact:
Robert MacLean
VP, Public Relations, AMA Toronto
(416) 817-4259
