The future of Canada’s marketing industry will be shaped by its youngest talent—the super-worldly, plugged-in, brilliant and creative youth who are already making a name for themselves. Marketing put out the call to the industry to find the top 30 standouts under the age of 30 who have already made their mark on the industry.
From PR to advertising to media and beyond, our 30 Under 30 showcases the smartest, bravest and most creative ones to watch in the business.
Josh Singer, 29
President, Kognitive Marketing
At 29, Josh Singer is an elder in his office.
There’s only one staffer at Kognitive Marketing over 30, which is fitting considering the firm is an outgrowth of a party promotions business Singer and his friends started as students at the University of Toronto.
Upon graduation he and two partners launched Kognitive, applying what they learned from throwing sponsored parties to experiential marketing.
With Singer as its president, Kognitive soon landed big name clients, including L’Oreal Professionnel, Fox Searchlight and Scotiabank. To quantify the firm’s success, Singer notes Kognitive has experienced a 300% sales increase since 2010 and anticipates another 50% increase for 2013.
Lele Thai-Ward is in charge of customer acquisition for one of Kognitive’s biggest clients, Canadian Tire. She says Singer has spearheaded new approaches to age-old methods of customer acquisition.
“It’s impressive to think at his age what he’s been able to do,” Thai-Ward says. “It’s not every day you meet a president of a successful company who is under 30.”
At university Singer was a frat boy, but he swears it was nothing like Animal House. In fact, Singer’s frat parties raised over $20,000 for charity. “A lot of what fraternities do is charity and giving back to the community,” Singer says.
A chairman of Unity, an arts-based alternative education organization, he still finds ways to give back.
He assists Unity in its financial planning and fundraising initiatives. Fittingly, he also helps out with the annual party, the Unity Festival, which was headlined this year by the rapper Kardinal Offishall.
For lots more of the 30 Under 30, pick up the the Sept. 10 issue of Marketing magazine.
Photo: Mike Ford
