The Institute of Canadian Agencies has hired Loyalist Public Affairs as its lobbying firm to help build the marketing industry’s profile among government as part of its stated objective to make Canadian agencies more competitive internationally.
Loyalist, which has offices in Toronto and Ottawa, was among five firms shortlisted by the ICA based on recommendations from people within the industry and from president and CEO Scott Knox’s contacts within Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s office and the Ministry of Labour.
Loyalist’s founding partners, Chris Froggatt and Dan Mader, have extensive experience in both the private and public sectors, having previously held senior roles within at PR firm National Public Relations, as well senior political posts including chief of staff roles within various government ministries including Environment and Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.
“They get the industry and the industry challenges, they understand government, and narrative,” said Knox. “They understand not only how to approach government, but how to structure the narrative around why [the marketing industry] should be relevant to government.”
Loyalist’s principals will work closely with new ICA chair Bev Hammond and Mass Minority founder Brett Channer, who is advising the organization about potential new government tax incentives, most notably SR&ED, a program his agency has benefited from in the past.
The ICA unveiled its manifesto to grow the industry earlier this month. It’s built around four key objectives: increase year-over-year opportunities for Canadian agencies to pitch global business; increase year-over-year net revenue to Canadian agency from global new business; be one of the top-three most awarded nations at the Cannes Lions; and see Toronto supplant New York as the top-ranked city in the North American Effie Index.
Knox said the ICA plans to move quickly to enlist win more government support for the industry, by demonstrating that marketing and advertising is a key contributor to economic growth.
“We’ve said to [Loyalist] that we need this has to happen fast,” he said. “This is not a next five years thing. Our industry needs support now.”
In addition to government lobbying, the ICA’s next steps will be surveying agencies about how many international assignments they’ve pitched, and the revenue. This will enable the ICA to set new industry benchmarks, said Knox.
He has also booked an April trip to U.K. to meet with the country’s top pitch consultants, AAR Group, Oystercatchers, and Observatory International. “I’ll simply be asking the question ‘What do you think of Canadian agencies?’ and ‘Why would or wouldn’t you currently put them on a selection list for international or even British business?’”
Similar meetings in the U.S. will also help provide a sense of Canada’s standing internationally, said Knox. “Good or bad, that will inform what the world thinks of us, so we can start to frame our approach and really trying to get a narrative about why they think they should include us.”
“Even if the news is bad, we have to face it,” he added. “There’s There’s no point glossing it over if we can’t actually deal with what’s at hand.”
