Several agencies across the country celebrated milestones in 2023, as part of our Agency Anniversary series, we sat down with Bruce Neve, President of True Media Canada.
Over the last few years, True Media Canada has expanded their client roster into several sectors including CPG, Insurance and Real Estate. The agency opened a second office in Calgary headed up by Michelle Menard, VP Media Director.
Why did True Media expand into Toronto? Were you nervous about bringing a new agency into the market?
True expanded into the Toronto market because we saw a good opportunity for an independent, entrepreneurial, agile media operation that would excel in strategy and collaboration - especially given the large number of underserved clients.
I was filled with nervous excitement and some initial doubts but leaned into my industry network, shared my vision, took advice and had as many conversations as possible.
What did you learn?
It is all about people; showing respect, passion, trust and understanding - the audience, the client, the agency partners, colleagues and clients from the past and most importantly with our talent. I learned our proposition did not resonate with everyone, and that’s ok- focus and be selective in clients.
I also learned that there are many excellent independent media agencies besides True Media that were not on my radar and what puzzles me is why mid-large clients are not embracing the unique offering as they do for creative agencies and as is quite common in the U.K and Australia. The notion of size, leverage, upfront buys as game changing is past its due date.
What did you do before launching the agency?
My prior roles as CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group and President MEC before that provided me with great learning about the industry, what clients wanted, the changing media landscape and my own strengths and weaknesses.
I was equipped at launch with a solid research/tool kit given the U.S. operation and a Calgary based finance/audit team.
When did you know you had a solid business?
I was extremely lucky with my timing which was aligned with the initial foray of Questrade into major brand building and on day 1, I started working with Steve Graham, a client in a previous company, and their creative agency, NFA. The success of the campaign provided the proof of concept for True Toronto as it provided us with a strong case study that we leveraged to open more doors.
Our collaborative approach and strong strategic thinking gave us traction with more creative agencies and their clients and with clients directly - six months after launch, we secured office space in the east room and we were off and running.
What did you do before launching the agency?
My prior roles as CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group and President MEC before that provided me with great learning about the industry, what clients wanted, the changing media landscape and my own strengths and weaknesses.
I was equipped at launch with a solid research/tool kit given the U.S. operation and a Calgary based finance/audit team.
What can the industry expect you and the True Media Canada team over the next few years?
We will continue to look for partnerships- with creative agencies, media agencies, new technology companies, data partners ( eg. Arima). My goal is to win a large global client’s Canadian business and start the migration to other great media independents.
What are some of the biggest ways the media industry has changed in the last 5 years?
The shift from linear TV, although still important, to streaming services, increasingly ad supported ( apple TV next!), and FAST services has dramatically changed “TV“ planning and buying.
The decline in the importance of “leverage/buying clout” and the TV upfronts as we shift to connected tv, platform based buying, audience buying vs only buying shows, auction based buying.
Also, the start of the shift away from 80-90% of dollars with Google and Facebook/meta to a more diverse platform mix - TikTok, Pinterest, Redditt, Twitch, and the re-emergence in local media and even BING ( powered by ChatGPT).
The emergence of retail media, both online and increasingly physical in-store, and data informed insights and (re)-targeting is a quickly evolving space.
Does your agency have an upcoming 1 Year, 5, Year, 10, 15 or 20th, let us know and we might feature your agency on Profectio or our sister publication PR In Canada.
