Happy Holidays.

It's certainly been an extraordinary year. As we can all attest, this has been a time of change. We hope that for you that it's been overwhelmingly positive. In that spirit, this an enormous 'thank you' to you, our members, partners and media community for supporting the CMDC. You've demonstrated yet again that We are Better Together.

A few highlights and reasons we can celebrate our 2022.

  • The CMDC Canadian Media Manifesto is thriving with over 600+ pledges from media and marketing leaders. We're all acting on a mission to protect and grow Canada’s local media landscape. We’re proud of the work to date. Of course, it couldn’t have happened without Cossette, our creative agency and member, plus partners like you. The campaign won accolades for its message and, most importantly, we are tracking good progress via SMI.

  • Did you know? The CMM goal is to increase the Canadian share of digital media investment to 25%. Interestingly, this represents an additional investment of approximately $350M, slightly above but nearly the same amount as the $329.2M Bill C-18 will require digital news intermediaries to pay news businesses for sharing their content. This underscores that the Canadian Media Manifesto can indeed make a tangible difference to the Canadian media ecosystem.

  • Leaders Unite: “Imagine there’s no news for 24 hours.” David Walmsley, The Globe and Mail's Editor-in-Chief, set the tone for our annual Media Leadership Summit in April with this nearly unthinkable scenario. At the same time, Susan Irving, Chief Marketing Officer, Kruger Products underlined how “it is hugely important to invest in the Canadian industry to help drive the Canadian economy, talent, and creativity.”

  • CMDC Leadership Summit: 380 attendees, 500+ more pledges to the Manifesto and became UNITED over one vital issue: the state of Canadian Media.

  • CMDC YA Future Impact Awards returned live this year, with 300 attendees at Artspace. 238 submissions across 12 categories produced winners chosen by the CMDC Youth Ambassadors. All were selected for “breaking barriers, demonstrating passion, skill and ultimately pushing the media industry forward.”

  • The CMDC board was bolstered with an exceptionally impressive calibre of appointments bringing invaluable media experience, wisdom, and diversity of voice: Axel Dumont, President, Cossette Media; Veronik L'Heureaux, Managing Director, Spark Foundry; Niki Stone, Managing Director, Zenith; Caroline Breton, Chief Client Officer, Carat; Noah Vardon, President, Havas Media; Sarah Thompson, President, Dentsu; Lesley Conway, President, MindShare.

Like us, you're probably wondering: what will 2023 hold? While many outside factors remain uncertain, we'd suggest taking the future into our own hands. The coming year is our opportunity to show how Canadian media thrives. How it performs its essential roles: to inform, to inspire, and to connect consumers and communities.

We, the CMDC, are already energized about the year ahead. We expect to see brands and the media industry collaborate more than ever – particularly at a local level. At board level, we're already establishing initiatives. Here's a taste of what’s in store, and what's more to come.

  • Leadership: The Media Leaders Study, in partnership with The Globe and Mail, is live as is the Speaker Series with our partners

  • Leadership Summit and Dinner returns on April 27th. Mark your schedules.

  • Canadian Media Manifesto: Our united ‘Canadian’ mission will permeate 2023, throughout our industry, and even beyond. This is all for the betterment of our citizens, the media ecosystem, the economy and, ultimately, our precious democracy.

  • Cross Media Measurement: The CMDC works closely with the industry to ensure that any development in measurement adheres to standards of transparency, accountability, and independence. This is a priority on all our leaders’ agendas.

  • Policy: We intend to continue to lean-in to industry issues, from the Bill C-18 to M2K.

  • Next Generation: Our YA’s are thriving and expanding our program with mentorship, YA Future Impact Awards (October 27th 2023), and a new next-generation speaker series returns with an initial session on Sustainability Within the Advertising Industry.

I'm happy to report there'll be even more to look forward to in 2023.

Have a wonderful, restful holiday season.

Sincerely,

Shannon Lewis

President, Canadian Media Directors Council

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