WHO ARE CANADA'S NEXT MARKETING LEGENDS?
Call for nominations asks marketers to celebrate Canada’s “mosaic of talent”
Toronto, December 16, 2021 – Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends (CMHOL), one of Canada’s most respected and renowned industry awards, is now accepting nominations for 2022. Run by the American Marketing Association’s Toronto chapter (AMA Toronto), CMHOL is renewing its focus on better reflecting the mosaic of talent in Canadian marketing and expanding its Legends brand programming.
“Canada’s Marketing Legends not only celebrates our country’s top marketers,” says Tina Portillo, president of AMA Toronto. “It promotes business excellence, shares knowledge and empowers leadership potential within our industry.”
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, a part of the Legends program, celebrates Canada’s top up-and-comers — the next generation of influential marketers.
“We’re excited to see who will become Canada’s next Marketing Legends,” adds Portillo. “As we strive to reflect the diversity of talent in the industry, we invite nominations from across the marketing and business community to spotlight the outstanding achievers who deserve to be recognized as a Marketing Legend.”
Nominations can be made until January 14, 2022 on the CMHOL website. This year’s award winners will be announced in March, then formally recognized and honoured by AMA Toronto on May 12, 2022 at a CMHOL event.
The 2022 CMHOL Selection Committee, comprised of current Canadian marketing leaders, media, and past winners of the award, is being chaired by 2020 inductee Nancy Marcus, former chief marketing officer at Kruger Products and one of Canada’s most recognized marketing professionals in the consumer packaged goods industry.
“Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends is continuing to reflect its invigorated commitment to equity and inclusiveness while recognizing true Canadian legends,” says Marcus. “We have assembled a distinguished and accomplished jury that reflects a mosaic of talent in our industry.”
This year’s CMHOL selection committee includes:
- Sarena Ally, global partner marketing lead, agencies, Shopify
- Vanessa Gaik, head of industry, Tik Tok Canada
- Lisa Kimmel, chair and CEO Canada and LatAm, Edelman
- Anne Marie Leclair, partner and vice president, strategy and Innovation, lg2
- Chris Powell, editor and co-founder, The Message
- Bobby Sahni, partner and co-founder, Ethnicity Matters
- Lex Perry, president elect, BC AMA
- Garth Thomas, managing director, business and financial products, The Globe and Mail
- Jani Yates, president and CEO, Ad Standards
- Wahn Yoon, president, BBR (Bleublancrouge) Toronto
Last year, to better address and enhance diversity, equity and inclusiveness (DEI), the CMHOL significantly expanded its national outreach to attract a broader range of nominations. The makeup of the CHMOL jury was also reformed and new criteria for Legend nominations and selection established. These changes enable CHMOL 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 induction into Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends, award winners 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.
Notably, in 2022, CMHOL is expanding its programming by launching “Legend’s Journey,” a new video series hosted by 2008 Marketing Legend Tony Chapman. Turning the Marketing Hall of Legends into “a hall of learning,” each episode will bring lessons in leadership to life from inductees such as Angus Reid, Arlene Dickinson, Joe Mimran and others.
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 Toronto) is a not-for-profit 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 marketing association in the world serving organizations and individuals who practice, teach and study marketing.
Quick Facts
- Since 2004, CMHOL has inducted nearly 100 Canadian luminaries
- 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 Selection Committee brings together Canadian marketers, media, agency leaders and marketing journalists to select candidates that meet and exceed the Legends’ criteria.
- The reintroduction of the Marketer-on-the-Rise award in 2021 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.
- CMHOL programming includes the Legends’ gala award show and the Legendary Leadership Series of events. Legends Journey, a new video series, will launch in 2022.
Additional Quotes
“Nomination and induction into Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends is a widely recognized mark of distinction, and one of the most coveted awards celebrating the careers of our industry’s most successful leaders.”
— Tina Portillo, 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
“In nominating a Legend — whether a mentor, boss, or colleague — we are looking for candidates who impact and influence. Those that have achieved sustainable business growth, repeated success in bringing an innovation to market, driven the creation of a new category, or other marketing achievements.”
— Jacob Kessler, VP, Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends
Associated Links
Marketing Hall of Legends
https://ama-toronto.com/awards/
AMA Toronto
For further information please contact:
Robert MacLean, VP, Public Relations, AMA Toronto
(416) 817-4259