Some 300 marketers came out last week to honour Jeanne Beker, Joe Mimran, Luke Sklar and the late Marshall McLuhan as the newest inductees into Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends at the American Marketing Association’s (AMA) 11th Annual Marketing Hall of Legends.
The award was created to spotlight the stories, people and brands behind Canada’s greatest marketing successes, recognizing a body of work and a lifetime of achievements in four categories: builder, visionary, enabler and mentor.
TV personality Ben Mulroney was the master of ceremonies at the Jan. 21 event, held at the Liberty Grand.
READ: DESPITE WEAK DOLLAR, CANADIANS STILL PLANNING TRIPS TO ISRAEL
All the inductees spoke about their business model and how their parents shaped their futures.
“Builder” Beker is best known as host of Fashion Television. She’s written five books and curated her own fashion lines. Today, Beker is style editor at the Shopping Channel and a Globe and Mail columnist. In 2014, she became a member of the Order of Canada for her support of Canadian fashion and design.
“The sweetest thing of all is to receive an honour of this magnitude in your own hometown,” Beker said.
“My parents were Holocaust survivors. My dad’s big motto was, ‘Don’t be afraid and never give up. As long as you are fierce and tenacious, you will get through anything.’
“I felt I owed it to my parents to try to make something wonderful of my life, and I just went for it in a big way. Putting myself out there in myriad ways has really contributed to making me a kind of brand, because I wanted to experience it all.”
“Enabler” Sklar and his team at Sklar Wilton & Associates has created longstanding partnerships over almost 30 years with many of Canada’s most iconic brands, including Molson Coors, Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons and Shoppers Drug Mart.
“My dad was an entrepreneur, a creative guy, and an Olympian,” Sklar said. “He and his brother started Sklar furniture. I watched him walk through the factory. He would pull the production guys together with the design guys, and they would just solve the problem. More smart people thrown at the problem was always a better solution for him. My work ethic and desire to help people comes from years of watching my father and his disciplined routine. We just try and live that and reward that and improve that everyday.”
Mcluhan was inducted in the “mentor” category. Known as the father of modern media studies, the communications theorist was a progressive and controversial figure who famously coined the term “global village” in his 1962 book The Gutenberg Galaxy. His groundbreaking 1964 book Understanding Media introduced one of McLuhan’s most paradigm-shifting concepts: “the medium is the message.”
Accepting his award was son Michael.
“Marshall McLuhan was the most amazing inclusive encyclopedic mind I have ever met or known, and I had the honour of being his son. A lot of people today don’t know that somebody came up with the concept of the global village, which, of course, led to the term ‘globalization.’”
“Visionary” Joe Mimran is best known for creating a succession of brands and retail concepts, including Club Monaco, Caban and most recently Joe Fresh. He currently stars on the popular CBC show Dragons’ Den and chairs Gibraltar Growth Corp., a private investment company in Toronto. He also chairs the Fashion Design Council of Canada.
“I think every brand has a journey and a story to tell. That is what we are as brand builders: we are storytellers,” he said.
“It was my mom who got me interested in fashion. She used to make clothes for me. My mom was one of the hardest-working women. She worked during the day as a seamstress. When she came home at night, my background music was a sewing machine.”