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Proof, Patterns, Perspective: Your Effectiveness Trio
What Canada’s top Effie winner teaches us, plus the signals we’re seeing lately.
In partnership with
Hey friend,
Quick heads-up: we’re switching up the format this week. Instead of our usual Weekly News Brief + Trends & Insights, we pulled together a curated set of signals from our inbox over the last few weeks, a few Canadian patterns worth watching as we head into 2026.
Also in this edition: what can Canada’s most effective campaign of the year teach the rest of us? The Effie Awards celebrate work that delivers real, measurable impact. This year’s Grand Effie winner, National Bank of Canada’s The Investment Issue, is a standout example. Below, we’re breaking down the framework behind it, plus a few ways to dig deeper on effectiveness this week.
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Credit: The National Bank of Canada
The Effectiveness Trio
1) Effie Grand Winner Spotlight: The Investment Issue
National Bank of Canada’s The Investment Issue just took home the 2025 Grand Effie, the top prize for marketing effectiveness in Canada. Built with LG2 and Omnicom Media Group (Montréal), the campaign tackled the gender investing gap by partnering with nine major Canadian women’s magazines and making investing a mainstream part of women’s media.
The results were big and specific. The campaign reached nearly 80% of Canadian women, generated 9M+ interactions, drove a 31% lift in investment account openings, and increased the bank’s perceived commitment to gender equality by 130%. It also won Gold in Positive Change: Social Good – DEI.
The takeaway: Effectiveness scales when you change the channel, not just the message.
Instead of asking women to come to finance, National Bank brought finance to where women already are. That shift is what made the work both culturally meaningful and commercially measurable.
A simple framework marketers can borrow: “Embed, don’t interrupt”.
Start with a structural barrier, not a surface insight
Go to the trusted spaces your audience already owns
Make the medium part of the idea
Pair cultural impact with a hard business KPI
Design for legacy, not a one-and-done moment
Why this matters: The Investment Issue is a reminder that the most effective marketing doesn’t just speak louder, it repositions the conversation in the places that shape culture.
2) Go deeper: The Alchemy of Effectiveness report + webinar
If this framework resonates, the ICA’s newly released Alchemy of Effectiveness: Marketing Investment that Impacts Commercial Results 2025 pulls lessons from Effie case studies and effectiveness research to identify what consistently drives growth in Canada.
We’re hosting a companion session, Marketing with Impact: The Science of Effectiveness, featuring Paul Tedesco, Head of Effectiveness at the ICA, with a live Q&A alongside Mike Morrison from Social Next Marketing Alliance. Paul will share a sneak peek into the levers that truly move profit, from channel mix and creative testing to objectives and agency–client dynamics.
Bonus Giveaway: One lucky attendee wins a free copy of the report. All attendees get an exclusive discount code.
When: Thursday, November 27 | 10:30 AM MST / 12:30 PM EST
Where: SocialNext Marketing Alliance
Register here: Marketing with Impact: The Science of Effectiveness
3) Also worth a listen: Paul Tedesco live from SocialWest 2025
To round out the trio, there’s a timely podcast episode from the SocialWest Vault. Recorded just weeks before Effie judging began, Paul Tedesco joins guest host Meredith McKeough to unpack why marketers often confuse effectiveness with efficiency, how clear objectives drive stronger outcomes, and what separates a cool campaign from an impactful one.
Listening now feels like a preview of what the data would later confirm. The most effective marketing doesn’t just look good, it works.
Tickets to SocialWest 2026 are on sale now.
Community Spotlight: Nelia’s Call for Social Stats
Nelia’s marketing journey has taken a few turns, from non-profit to supply chain to the public sector, but she’s always been pulled back to creative, story-driven work. After officially moving into marketing in 2017 (plus a couple layoffs and a quick admin detour), she returned in 2022 with a small business and has since grown their social following 176%.
She first found SocialNext at SocialWest 2019 and loved the energy and thoughtful details, and says even the virtual years still felt personal and high-value. She’s been tuning into SNMA webinars ever since, and was thrilled to be back at SocialWest recently (new headshot perk included!).
Now she’s prepping a presentation and wants your help:
Nelia’s question:
What are your go-to sources for up-to-date social media benchmarks, especially average engagement rates for business profiles on Meta and LinkedIn?
Leave a comment with your favourites at the bottom of this newsletter or comment directly in SNMA.
SocialNext: Ottawa 2025, Photo by Mat Higgins-Savidant
SNMA Webinar
Wednesday, November 26 | 10 AM MST/12 PM EST
Momentum Shift: Turning Challenges into Opportunities
Feeling stuck or stalled? In this energizing session, leadership expert Chris Wilson shares how to build lasting momentum through clarity, consistency, and purpose-driven action.
Planning ahead? We’ve announced all SocialNext 2026 conference dates. Here’s what’s coming up, plus key presale deadlines.
SocialNext: Nonprofit & Public Sector (Ottawa), Jan 28 - 29: Presale ends today! Get your ticket before midnight to save $300.
SocialNext: Toronto, Apr 9: Presale ends December 3. Save $200.
SocialWest (Calgary), May 27-29: Advanced Early Bird ends December 3. Save $350.
SocialNext: Montreal, Jun 11: On sale soon! Get updates.
SocialPacific (Vancouver), Sep 23-24: On sale soon! Get updates.
SocialEast (Halifax), Oct 29-30: On sale soon! Get updates.
Signals & Strategies: 3 Canadian Patterns Surfacing Right Now
1) Purpose is showing up inside the offer, not beside it: A few brands are finding smart ways to tie impact directly to what people are already buying or doing, which makes the “good” part feel natural, not performative.
TELUS: Buy One, Give One returns Nov 28–30; every phone bought triggers a donated phone + plan for youth transitioning out of government care through Mobility for Good. TELUS says 69,000+ phones donated since 2021.
The Laundry Lady: launching in Canada with a women-owned, peer-to-peer laundry model: convenience for families on one side, flexible income for local contractors on the other.
2) Programmatic is moving beyond screens in your hand: Automation isn’t just for digital anymore, it’s showing up in the places we physically are.
Cineplex Media: Programmatic cinema ads now live across 154 theatres / 1,500+ screens with targeting by film, showtime, geography, and audience.
Broadsign x Place Exchange: Broadsign acquires Place Exchange, expanding programmatic DOOH reach and pushing OOH further into omnichannel DSP buying.
3) Experience-first brand building (hybrid style): The strongest plays blend live moments + creators + retail.
Nutella Canada: Holiday campaign anchored to the Toronto Santa Claus Parade with a branded float, sampling pop-up, influencer capture, and limited-edition sweater giveaway, built for UGC.
AutoTrader Storefront: Storefront turns new-car shopping into an immersive, ad-free brand journey with AR, storytelling, and live inventory in one place, reporting 90% engagement and strong lead lift.
Panago x Crew Marketing: The refresh used a fractional CMO model with Crew embedded in leadership, a clean signal of agency–brand partnerships getting deeper than the usual handoff.
We’ll be keeping an eye on these themes, and betting we’ll see a lot more of them in 2026.
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Have a great story or big news to share?
We’re always looking for fresh campaigns, smart strategies, and standout wins from Canada’s marketing community. Send us your news at [email protected] and you could be featured in an upcoming edition.
Thanks for reading and being a part of the MNC community!
We’re so happy you’re here.
Marketing News Canada
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