March 2026 President's Note

I’m writing from Sydney where I’m celebrating my sister-in-law’s milestone birthday with our Australian family.  Escaping our cold Canadian winter is a wonderful treat. I hope your month is off to a great start too.

On a more serious note, the marketing profession doesn’t always get enough credit for the crucial role we play in business growth, driving Canada’s economy, and innovation. That’s why the CMA partnered with The Conference Board of Canada to complete the first ever Marketing Impact Study for Canada. The quantifiable results highlight marketing’s mission critical role and our profession's inspiring impact. We will be releasing the report later this month and highlighting the findings at upcoming CMA events. 

Speaking of events, our third annual CMA Marketing Week is fast approaching and it’s bigger and more national than ever. After growing attendance by over 40% last year, we’re excited to welcome even more marketers from across Canada the week of May 4th. Here are a few highlights and we’ll share more details on CMA Marketing Week next week.

• We are hosting four in-person events in three cities, including Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. Members enjoy significant savings of 50% on all our events
• The week starts with a hybrid CMA Connect podcast event
• Our signature event, CMAfutureproof will take place on May 6th. We have a compelling keynote and a number of Canada’s leading CMOs presenting
• Members will benefit from free access to some our highest demand CMA training sessions (including several AI training sessions) on our Training Day on May 8th
• I’m really looking forward to unveiling the CMA’s new visual brand during CMA Marketing Week.  We are a profession that rewards out of the box thinking. So, we’re getting the CMA brand out of its box and celebrating our Canadianism. 

The CMA is dedicated to helping futureproof and support marketers and advocating to ensure government regulation supports both businesses and consumers. Next week, the CMA team and several senior members are meeting with Canada’s Privacy Commissioner to continue our discussions on marketing and privacy. 

Since January, we have also produced two new member-only guides, and our two latest AI Playbooks. These include: Transparent Data Practices for Websites and Apps Guide; Use of Currency in Marketing Guide; AI-Enhanced Operations Implementation; and AI-Powered Market Entry Strategies.  

Providing a wide array of professional development and training opportunities to suit your needs and schedule is another way the CMA is helping futureproof your career. Our Chartered Marketer program, Canada’s only professional marketing designation, is an outstanding career differentiator. This month, you can also participate in trainings that cover everything from the Emotionally Intelligent Marketer and content marketing to our digital marketing courses where you’ll earn joint CMA and Digital Marketing Institute certifications. Plus, we offer customized in-house training programs for teams. 

As we continue to champion marketing's impact on business in Canada, we've partnered with Deloitte and Financial Executives International Canada to study how marketing leaders are aligning with CFOs on value creation, measurement, and investment to drive enterprise growth. We are inviting marketing leaders, director and above, to take a short survey to share how the marketing-finance relationship works today - and how to continue to strengthen it.

The study results will be published later this year.  The survey can be found here.

Sunday is International Women’s Day. This year’s theme ‘Give to Gain’ emphasizes the power of reciprocity and support and reminds us that when women thrive, we all rise. The CMA is proud to be a leader: 56% of our Board Directors and 80% of our senior leadership team are women. We kicked things off early, with our sold out Women in Business: Win Win Networking event last week.

If you’re vacationing or taking time off for March Break later this month, I wish you a memory-rich time with family and friends. 

Warmly,
Alison Simpson

President & CEO
P.S. Our CMA Connect podcast is another way we help futureproof the marketing profession. Our latest episode is a great conversation about CMA’s 2026 plans and futureproofing marketing with Alan Depencier, our CMA Board Chair.