Bob Reaume, fmr. VP of policy and research
Judy Davey, VP media policy and marketing capabilities
Former Molson Coors marketer and veteran media planner Judy Davey has some very big shoes to fill. The Association of Canadian Advertisers has just announced that she’ll be taking over from vice-president of policy and research Bob Reaume, who retired last month after serving 23 years with the organization.
Reaume initially joined the organization as VP of marketing in 1988. In the early 90s, he was instrumental in bringing electronic TV measurement to Canada for the first time, managing to raise $500,000 from advertiser members to help offset the cost of transitioning from diary-based viewership panels to electronic people meters. (The money was split between BBM and Nielsen, who used it to bring the technology north of the border.)
He left the ACA in 1994 but rejoined just four years later, and stayed on as head of research for the next 17 years.
Over time, he took on responsibility for representing the ACA with government and industry bodies in policy decisions, like the breakup and distribution of CityTV stations after Bell acquired CHUM in 2007. More recently, he played a significant role in the founding of the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada, which implements the global AdChoices consumer privacy program in Canada. Since its founding in 2012, the DAAC has enrolled 51 companies, and recently hired its first salaried executive director.
Davey will take over Reaume’s policy leadership role, and according to ACA president Ron Lund, there’s no one more qualified. She served on the ACA board of directors from 1999 to 2012, and during much of that time chaired the ACA’s Media Committee.
“Up until she left, much of our policy came from our Media Committee, and then up through the board of directors,” said Lund. Davey was uniquely positioned, as chair of the committee and member of the board. “So she regularly went to the CRTC with Bob and myself when presenting our views on things. She was always with us.”
Davey was part of Molson Coors’ marketing leadership from 1986 to 2012, and for the past two years has been EVP of activation at ZenithOptimedia. She told Marketing that her long-term plan has always been to join the ACA full time.
“It was a number of years ago that I said to Ron, ‘When Bob Reaume retires, I want his job,'” she said.
In addition to representing the ACA in policy negotiations, Davey will work with Susan Charles, VP of member services, to advise members on agency search, remuneration and review practices, an expansion of the role formerly held by Reaume.
Davey has considerable experience in benchmarking, contracts and agency relationships from her time as VP of marketing assets at Molson Coors. She’s also an expert in sponsorship activation and media partnerships, which will bolster the ACA’s thought leadership in that field.
“She’s extremely well rounded,” said Lund.
Lund said that the most immediate policy issue for Davey is transparency and accountability in the media supply chain, particularly when it comes to dealing with impression fraud. The ACA has a number of ongoing initiatives dealing with fraud, viewability, brand safety and other media quality issues, and has been working to educate Canadian marketers about the risks created by lack of transparency among their media and technology partners.
Davey said she’s already received email from ACA members looking to table policy issues with her, as soon as she officially starts.
