After a five-decade career, much of it spent at the vanguard of media planning and buying, Hugh Dow will retire Dec. 31. One of the country’s pre-eminent media thinkers and practitioners, Dow has spent the past three years as chairman of Mediabrands Canada.
Before taking his current role, he served as president of M2 Universal for 20 years, transforming the Universal McCann-owned agency into an industry powerhouse with a client roster including General Motors Canada, RBC Financial Group and Labatt.
Dow is widely hailed as a pioneer in the Canadian media planning and buying industry, shaping its future both through a series of bold initiatives and his tireless advocacy on behalf of the media function.
Arguably his single biggest accomplishment is the creation of Initiative Media, which became Canada’s first agency-parented media services firm when it launched in 1989. The model was subsequently adopted industry-wide.
Dow’s most recent coup came in February, when he launched yet another agency brand, UM Canada, under the Mediabrands umbrella. UM Canada was created to service international accounts from the UM network, and gives Universal McCann three agency brands in Canada: M2, Initiative and UM.
He arrived in Toronto from his native England in 1967. His early roles in the Canadian marketing and advertising industry included media research supervisor at McKim Advertising and a series of roles at MacLaren Advertising.
In an internal memo sent to staff Friday, MWG CEO and former Mediabrands CEO Nick Brien lauded Dow’s “commitment, passion and professionalism,” and noted that Dow had enjoyed “one of the longest and most successful careers in the advertising and media business.”
Dow was also known for his tireless work on behalf of the marketing and advertising industry, devoting considerable time to associations and groups such as the Canadian Media Directors’ Council, Print Measurement Bureau and BBM Canada.
He won the Association of Canadian Advertisers’ Gold Medal Award–awarded to individuals who have made an “outstanding contribution to the advancement of marketing communications in Canada–in 1984 and was named one of Marketing’s top 10 Canadian media icons in 2008.
In the memo, Dow said it was “bittersweet” to be stepping down. “I have always been excited by the advertising and media worlds and their ever-changed landscapes,” he said. “I’ve been lucky to work with so many smart, wonderful people over the years.”
Dow said he leaves the company in a strong position.
“It is enormously satisfying to leave these companies at the top of their game with strong leadership in place. Now it’s time to enjoy the things that I have never had enough time to do.”
