TD and CIBC are ending the year without permanent chief marketers leading their brands, after both banks quietly parted ways with their CMOs in recent months and put in temporary replacements.
As two of Canada’s biggest banks, TD and CIBC are also two of Canada’s most powerful advertisers, managing massive media budgets and multiple agency relationships.
Betsey Chung and TD parted ways in the summer, a little more than two years after Chung was promoted to CMO. TD confirmed that Maja Neable, most recently CMO, banking and chief data and analytics officer, marketing at BMO, will join TD as head of marketing for Canada Jan. 4.
(BMO declined to comment on Neable’s departure, and Catherine Roche remains its top marketer, as CMO for BMO Financial Group.)
"Maja will elevate marketing's personalization strategies and segments-based approach across the bank,” said a TD spokesperson. Neable will report to Tyrrell Schmidt, who was named interim chief marketing officer in July. Schmidt has been with TD for more than eight years, holding global brand roles early in her time there, and has been CMO for the US since 2020.
Declining to comment on the "interim" tag for Schmidt or Neable's title, the TD spokesperson said titles and responsibilities will be clarified in the new year. Schmidt, they said, was “a strong and obvious choice to lead global marketing mandate for the bank” in the short term.
Chung was promoted to CMO in early 2021, while the bank was in the midst of a creative agency review initiated by her predecessor, Theresa McLaughlin. (Chung did not respond to requests for comment.)
In September 2021, TD announced Ogilvy as its new lead creative agency as part of a North American consolidation that saw David named lead agency in the U.S. While little in the way of brand or new platform work has been produced since then, Ogilvy has delivered a handful of product and tactical campaigns notable for their humour and an edgier tone not typical for bank advertising in Canada.
CIBC's former chief marketer Tammy Sadinsky confirmed this week her departure from the financial services company, saying it was time for a "needed pause" after spending almost three decades with top-tier brands including Walmart Canada, Tim Hortons, and General Mills.
Like Chung, Sadinsky only took her post as CMO in early 2021, and her tenure also included a major agency review that saw its creative business move from longtime agency partner Juniper Park\TBWA—which had completed a new brand identity and creative platform just months earlier—to a dual agency model with Courage as its creative strategy agency, and Oliver as its implementation agency.
A CIBC spokesperson told The Message that there no immediate plans to appoint a new CMO, although it has shuffled some roles within the organization in the wake of Sadinsky's departure.
Andrew Greenlaw, previously vice-president, community and client relationships, was recently given an expanded mandate as vice-president, sponsorship, community and brand. And Angela Sarino retains her title as vice-president of business partner marketing, although the role now includes responsibility for CIBC's online banking brand Simplii, which unveiled a new brand identity and platform called "Bank on the Now" with Broken Heart Love Affair earlier this year.
Sadinsky jokingly referred to her temporary break as the "seventh-inning stretch," and said she was "eager to take the time to thoughtfully reflect and explore... what the next best chapter could be for me as I go into the eighth, maybe ninth, inning of my career."
While Sadinsky said she's unclear what her next role will be, she said she will prioritize "doing work with purpose that makes me proud, and yet ‘agenda-sets’ in the Canadian marketing space."
As two of Canada’s biggest banks, TD and CIBC are also two of Canada’s most powerful advertisers, managing massive media budgets and multiple agency relationships.
Betsey Chung and TD parted ways in the summer, a little more than two years after Chung was promoted to CMO. TD confirmed that Maja Neable, most recently CMO, banking and chief data and analytics officer, marketing at BMO, will join TD as head of marketing for Canada Jan. 4.
(BMO declined to comment on Neable’s departure, and Catherine Roche remains its top marketer, as CMO for BMO Financial Group.)
"Maja will elevate marketing's personalization strategies and segments-based approach across the bank,” said a TD spokesperson. Neable will report to Tyrrell Schmidt, who was named interim chief marketing officer in July. Schmidt has been with TD for more than eight years, holding global brand roles early in her time there, and has been CMO for the US since 2020.
Declining to comment on the "interim" tag for Schmidt or Neable's title, the TD spokesperson said titles and responsibilities will be clarified in the new year. Schmidt, they said, was “a strong and obvious choice to lead global marketing mandate for the bank” in the short term.
Chung was promoted to CMO in early 2021, while the bank was in the midst of a creative agency review initiated by her predecessor, Theresa McLaughlin. (Chung did not respond to requests for comment.)
In September 2021, TD announced Ogilvy as its new lead creative agency as part of a North American consolidation that saw David named lead agency in the U.S. While little in the way of brand or new platform work has been produced since then, Ogilvy has delivered a handful of product and tactical campaigns notable for their humour and an edgier tone not typical for bank advertising in Canada.
CIBC's former chief marketer Tammy Sadinsky confirmed this week her departure from the financial services company, saying it was time for a "needed pause" after spending almost three decades with top-tier brands including Walmart Canada, Tim Hortons, and General Mills.
Like Chung, Sadinsky only took her post as CMO in early 2021, and her tenure also included a major agency review that saw its creative business move from longtime agency partner Juniper Park\TBWA—which had completed a new brand identity and creative platform just months earlier—to a dual agency model with Courage as its creative strategy agency, and Oliver as its implementation agency.
A CIBC spokesperson told The Message that there no immediate plans to appoint a new CMO, although it has shuffled some roles within the organization in the wake of Sadinsky's departure.
Andrew Greenlaw, previously vice-president, community and client relationships, was recently given an expanded mandate as vice-president, sponsorship, community and brand. And Angela Sarino retains her title as vice-president of business partner marketing, although the role now includes responsibility for CIBC's online banking brand Simplii, which unveiled a new brand identity and platform called "Bank on the Now" with Broken Heart Love Affair earlier this year.
Sadinsky jokingly referred to her temporary break as the "seventh-inning stretch," and said she was "eager to take the time to thoughtfully reflect and explore... what the next best chapter could be for me as I go into the eighth, maybe ninth, inning of my career."
While Sadinsky said she's unclear what her next role will be, she said she will prioritize "doing work with purpose that makes me proud, and yet ‘agenda-sets’ in the Canadian marketing space."
—With files from Chris Powell
