Marketing News Canada

Recorded live at SocialWest 2026 in Calgary, Sabaa Quao , venture studio advisor and AI strategist, joins host Lindsay Smith to explore how synthetic data is about to change the way every marketer builds customer models. Sabaa spends his days advising startups at the intersection of AI and fintech, and points to Arima as one of the clearest examples of where this is headed: a synthetic model of so...

Recorded live at SocialWest 2026 in Calgary, Jessica Lortie , Head of Marketing at Toast , joins host Lindsay Smith to dig into one of the most persistent and underreported gaps in the Canadian tech and marketing industries. Toast is a tech HR firm dedicated to closing gender gaps in the sector, working with organizations to diversify their hiring pipelines and running a community platform that gi...

Recorded live at SocialWest 2026 in Calgary, Lauren Freund , Campaign Manager at Canva , joins host Lindsay Smith to explore what it actually takes to create content that cuts through in a crowded digital landscape. Canva is one of the world's most widely used design platforms, helping teams of every size create visual content across social media, presentations, video, and more. At Canva Create 20...

Recorded live at SocialWest 2026 in Calgary, Charlie Grinnell , co-CEO of Rightmetric , joins host Lindsay Smith to explore why the data brands have been collecting about themselves is only half the story. Rightmetric helps North America's leading consumer brands harness external digital data across social, search, web, app, and ad spend to uncover what Charlie calls outsights: intelligence derive...

Recorded live at SocialWest 2026 in Calgary, Jeff Aylen , Vice President of Marketing and Brand for the Vancouver Whitecaps , joins host Lindsay Smith to talk about what it really takes to build a fanbase that sticks around long after the final whistle. Jeff shares how the Whitecaps went from struggling to fill 12,000 seats in 2021 to selling out 50,000-person stadiums in 2024, and why that turnar...

Recorded live at SocialNext: Ottawa 2026, Daniel Francavilla , brand and content strategist and founder of The Good Growth Company , joins host Alex to explore what it really takes to build trust in the nonprofit and public sector space. The Good Growth Company supports nonprofits, social purpose organizations, and governments with training and facilitation across marketing, communications, leader...

Recorded live at SocialNext: Ottawa 2026, Anouk Bertner , Executive Director of Future of Good , sits down to explore what it really means to tell stories that matter and why the nonprofit and social impact sector deserves better media coverage than it gets. Future of Good is Canada's only media publication dedicated exclusively to the social impact space, covering the sector through written journ...

Recorded live at SocialPacific 2025 in North Vancouver, Tom Elson , Employer Success Manager at Riipen , joins guest host Rachel Thexton to explore how work-based learning is closing the gap between graduation and meaningful employment.  Riipen connects students, educators, and employers through real-world project work, giving students hands-on experience while giving organizations access to fresh...

Recorded live at SocialPacific 2025 in North Vancouver, Nihal Mandanna , Director of Growth at Cyber Impact , joins guest host Rachel Thexton to explore what it really means to build trust through email marketing. Cyber Impact is a Canadian email marketing platform built around data sovereignty, security, and compliance — storing all client data on Canadian soil and helping organizations stay comp...

Recorded live at SocialPacific 2025 in North Vancouver, Ben Wise and Darren Chiu, co-founders of Captivate, join guest host Rachel Thexton to explore the art and science of human behavior. Captivate translates academic psychology into practical tools for marketers, sales teams, and leaders, helping them communicate in ways that actually move people. They unpack why most marketing falls flat by bei...

At SocialPacific 2025 in North Vancouver, Warren Thompson, Co-Founder and Director at Olo Metrics, sits down with guest host Rachel Thexton to demystify marketing data. Warren explains why most teams don’t have a data problem, they have a clarity problem. Instead of obsessing over every metric in the funnel, he shares how focusing on a few “North Star” KPIs can simplify decision-making and drive r...

At SocialPacific 2025 in North Vancouver, Charlie Grinnell, Co-CEO of RightMetric, joins guest host Rachel Thexton to break down the uncomfortable truth about modern marketing. Charlie explains why most brands operate on assumptions, not evidence, and why “looking before you leap” is no longer optional. From ego and institutional bias to blind faith in performance marketing, he challenges marketer...

At SocialEast 2025 in Halifax, Brooke Hahn, General Manager of Flockler, joins guest host Odum Idika for a candid conversation about why most brands misunderstand community. Brooke draws on her experience across agency, startups, software, and private equity to explain what actually drives growth inside modern organizations and why one-way content no longer cuts it. She unpacks the difference betw...

Recorded live at SocialEast 2025 in Halifax, this episode of the Marketing News Canada podcast features guest host Odum Idika sitting down with Will Yang, Founder of Differo, to define what modern content creation really looks like. Will breaks down his approach to “pocket production” and explains why your smartphone may be the most powerful marketing tool you already own. From simple three-shot s...

Recorded live at SocialEast 2025 at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel, this episode of the Marketing News Canada   podcast features guest host Odum Idika , Host of Unconventional Mindset and Founder of Piixel Studio , in conversation with Corey Evans , Director of Brand and Advertising at ATCO   and former marketing leader at WestJet . Corey shares a behind-the-scenes look at one of Canada’s...

Recorded live at Calgary's SocialWest 2025, this episode of the Marketing News Canada podcast features guest host Laila Hobbs , Co-Founder of Social Launch Labs , in conversation with Hiba Amin , Co-Founder of Creative Little Planet . Hiba shares a candid look at navigating imposter syndrome throughout her marketing career, from being the sole marketer during a startup downturn to finding confiden...

Recorded live at SocialWest 2025 in Calgary, this episode of the Marketing News Canada podcast features guest host Laila Hobbs in conversation with Julie Ogilvie , Executive Director of the Kentville Business Community and Founder of Julie Ogilvie Consulting . Julie shares how small businesses and solo founders can build customer journeys that convert, without burning out or spending all their tim...

Recorded live at the 2025 SocialWest Conference in Calgary, guest host Meredith McKeough sits down with Josephine Mary David , Communications and Partnerships Lead at Pedesting, for this episode of the Marketing News Canada podcast. Josephine shares how inclusive marketing helps brands move from being ignored to truly embraced by their audiences. Drawing from her background in business, social dev...

Recorded live at Caglary's SocialWest in June of 2025, this episode of the Marketing News Canada podcast features a conversation with Dave Thomas , Director of Strategy at Everbrave , hosted by Laila Hobbs , Co-Founder of Social Launch Labs . Dave breaks down his Strategy of Everything framework, a practical approach to improving strategic thinking for marketers, founders, and business leaders. Th...

Recorded live in Calgary for SocialWest 2025, this episode of the Marketing News Canada podcast features guest host Meredith McKeough in conversation with Lisa Genovese , President of BottomLine , a marketing agency known for research-backed strategy and results.  Lisa breaks down why so many brands skip the fundamentals and how that leads to shaky strategy, wasted spend, and misaligned messaging....

Recorded live at SocialWest 2025, this episode of the Marketing News Canada podcast, hosted by special guest host Laila Hobbs , Co-Founder of Social Launch Labs, features a conversation with Umair Tazeem , Founder of Embold , a Canadian-based influencer marketing platform.  Umair shares what it really takes to run influencer marketing that performs, from building an in-house strategy and choosing...

Recorded live at SocialWest 2025 in Calgary, this special episode of the Marketing News Canada podcast features a conversation with Joshua Counsil , Co-Founder of Good Robot Brewing and guest host Meredith McKeough. Joshua shares candid lessons from building a multi-dimensional hospitality and beverage business spanning beer, non-alcoholic drinks, events, and co-packing for major retailers like Co...

Recorded live at SocialWest 2025 at the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre, this episode features a conversation with Neil Patel , New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of NP Digital , hosted by Meredith McKeough .  Neil unpacks how search has shifted in 2025 from traditional Google-first SEO to what he calls “search everywhere optimization,” where brands need to show up across platforms a...

Recorded live at SocialWest 2025, this episode features Andrew Turnbull , Managing Director of UX and Product at Evans Hunt , in conversation with guest host Meredith McKeough. Together, they explore the growing problem of “hostile user design” and how large platforms are enshittification experiences in the name of growth. Andrew shares insights from over 15 years in UX, using the Sonos redesign a...

In this live conversation from SocialWest 2025, Caley Dimmock , Founder and CEO of Dimik Creative Group , shares how her approach to paid media has evolved alongside the platforms themselves. She and guest host Meredith McKeough dig into what’s changed with Meta’s Advantage+ targeting, why creative is now the most powerful lever in campaign performance, and how marketers can scale their work, with...