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It's Time You Own It
Owned marketing is having its moment. Are you leaning into yours?
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Hey friend,
SocialNext: Toronto is just around the corner, and this week we're talking about something that keeps coming up in every marketing conversation worth having right now: owned marketing.
Not the buzzword version. The actual, practical, what-are-you-building-that-nobody-can-take-away-from-you version.
Coming up
The Platforms Aren't Your Audience. They're Just Holding Them.
Most marketing is rented. And the rent keeps going up.
Brands that built their growth on platform reach, organic social, and algorithm-dependent traffic spent the last couple of years finding out what happens when the rules change. The ones that fared better had something in common: they'd been quietly investing in what they actually owned. A list that opens. A brand people recognize. A community that shows up because it wants to.
Owned marketing isn't a new idea. It's just one most teams kept deferring, and the window for deferring it is getting smaller. We looked at what owned strategy actually requires in practice, why it matters more for Canadian marketers than most, and what brands like Mejuri and Knix got right that others are still figuring out.
For any readers in the Toronto area, there's a half-day workshop on April 8 built around exactly that. Three back-to-back 45-minute sessions covering the three channels most teams underlever: email, brand messaging, and community. Led by practitioners from Cyberimpact, Takt, and HeyOrca, you'll walk away with a reusable email playbook, a process for stress-testing your positioning, and a community strategy you can actually implement. No panels, no theory.
April 8, 8:30 to 11:30 AM, Storys Building, Toronto. Tickets are $99, but MNC subscribers pay just $74 with code MNC25 at checkout.
88% resolved. 22% stayed loyal. What went wrong?
That's the AI paradox hiding in your CX stack. Tickets close. Customers leave. And most teams don't see it coming because they're measuring the wrong things.
Efficiency metrics look great on paper. Handle time down. Containment rate up. But customer loyalty? That's a different story — and it's one your current dashboards probably aren't telling you.
Gladly's 2026 Customer Expectations Report surveyed thousands of real consumers to find out exactly where AI-powered service breaks trust, and what separates the platforms that drive retention from the ones that quietly erode it.
If you're architecting the CX stack, this is the data you need to build it right. Not just fast. Not just cheap. Built to last.
Across the Industry
Industry news, research, leadership perspectives, and campaign spotlights driving Canadian marketing forward.
A new Signal49 Research report puts hard numbers behind what Canadian marketers have argued for years: marketing isn't a cost centre, it's an economic engine. Brands with strong equity recovered significantly faster from market volatility than those competing on price. Read this before your next budget conversation.
Butterly surveyed 2,100 Canadian consumers and found that a perfect five-star average actually makes people trust you less. The bigger insight: as AI becomes the front door for product discovery, engineered reviews don't just mislead consumers, they mislead the systems recommending products on their behalf.
Toronto agency Courage won the Grand Prix at the 2026 AToMiC Awards for turning a Jets fan chant into a KFC brand moment: $364M in earned media value and a 22% lift in sales. Plus: TikTok goes full-funnel, Plus Company bets on agentic AI, and adidas signs the Blue Jays. See our full roundup.
Watch & Learn
Upcoming live webinars, interviews and conversations in the SocialNext Marketing Alliance. Every Wednesday at 10 AM Mountain Time / 12 PM Eastern Time.
April 1: Everything Your Organization Needs to Know About Podcasting in 30 Minutes
A podcast done right builds community, authority, and loyalty in ways most marketing channels can't touch. But where do you start, and is it even worth it? Christian Robillard answers all of it, costs, structure, strategy, fancy mic or not, in 30 minutes.
April 2: Seen & Sold: Live LinkedIn Audits for Marketers Who Mean Business
150,000 professionals. 10,000+ campaigns. Cindy Dodd has seen more LinkedIn profiles than almost anyone, and she can tell in seconds what's working and what isn't. On April 2 she's doing it live, in real time, on real profiles from the audience. Come ready to learn, or come ready to volunteer yours.
Coast-to-Coast Job Opportunities
The marketing job market in Canada is more difficult than ever. To help those on the hunt, here's a snapshot of what's open right now across the country. Follow us on LinkedIn for job openings across every province and territory in Canada every Friday.
Social Media Strategist Manager — Ethereal Music Group (Vancouver, BC)
Marketing Communications Advisor — Alberta Municipalities (Edmonton, AB)
Marketing Manager — Alpin (Saskatoon, SK)
Marketing Manager — BUILD IT (Mississauga, ON)
Social Media Coordinator — PWHL (Remote, Canada)
Email Marketing Coordinator — PWHL (Remote, Canada)
That's a wrap for this week. Whether you're thinking harder about what you own, getting your LinkedIn audit-ready, or just counting down to SocialNext: Toronto next week, we'll see you back here with more from Canada's marketing community.
Marketing News Canada
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