2007 INDUCTEE

INSTITUTE OF COMMUNICATION & ADVERTISING

Rupert Brendon began his 40+ year advertising career in account management at Boase Massimi Pollitt/DDB and McCann Erickson in London before he came to Canada in 1967. He eventually became Chairman and CEO at DMB&B Canada – a position he held for sixteen years. The agency had been very small, but he took it to being a contender for the top ten by making “communications effectiveness” a single-minded goal. He was the author and editor of DMB&B’s best-practice summaries (The Pocketpieces), which eventually ran to seventy-nine subjects. As a sign of their value, they were snapped up by his competitors and used for internal training.

In 1983, Rupert founded NABS Canada, a charitable organization that offers assistance, financial and otherwise, to advertising and media professionals who are ill, injured or unemployed. To date, NABS has distributed over $7 million and helped thousands with retraining services.

In 1993, he was the catalyst that created the Cassies, an Annual awards show that recognizes Canadian advertising, that drove results, proven via rigorously written, judged and published cases.

In 1996, Rupert left DMB&B to assume the role of president and CEO of the ICA, Canada’s national association representing advertising agencies in a wide variety of issues and activities.

More recently, he has spearheaded the Marketing Communications Education Trust (MCET) in an effort to raise the $2.5 million necessary to establish Canada’s first University Degree in Brand Communication at Wilfrid Laurier’s School of Business & Economics. He commisisioned and contributed to two books: “Excellence in Brand Communication”, edited by David Rutherford and “Vulcans, Earthlings, and Marketing ROI” by David Rutherford and Jonathan Knowles, to be published in 2007.

Rupert received the Paul Mulvihill Heart Award in 1988, an award presented annually in recognition of individuals in the Canadian advertising industry who have given of themselves to better the lives of others through their work with local or national charities or community services. In 1990, he was awarded the ACA Gold Medal Award for outstanding contribution to the advancement of marketing communications in Canada.”

Rupert is now one of the principal consultants at Ad ROI Inc.