Advertising and Marketing

A key to the success of any business is effectively engaging its customers and advertising and marketing its brands, products and services.

Our Advertising and Marketing Group recognizes the important role that creativity and innovation play in today’s customer-centric, data-driven and fast-paced world. We have experience advising on Canadian advertising and marketing laws and practices, how they apply in the Canadian marketplace and how they are interpreted and enforced by Canadian regulators and courts. Our lawyers are recognized by peers as leaders in advertising and marketing law in several directories, including Chambers Canada, Lexpert, and Best Lawyers in Canada.
We are prominent and active in the advertising and marketing industry generally and participate in initiatives of the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA), Ad Standards, the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board (PAAB) and the International Trademark Association (ITA), to name a few. Members of our Group regularly speak and write on topical issues in advertising and marketing to keep our clients up to date on industry best practices and legal developments.

Sectors, Experience and Services 

We advise clients in a wide range of sectors, including the agricultural, alcoholic beverages, automotive, aviation, banking, cosmetics, consumer goods, education, energy, entertainment, fashion, food & beverage, film, gaming, health care (including pharmaceuticals, natural health products and medical devices), real estate brokers, retail, sports, textiles, telecommunications and transportation sectors.

Our experience and services include advising on:

• sending commercial electronic messages and installing software compliant with Canada’s anti-spam laws (CASL) and defending clients in investigations by CASL’s regulators such as the CRTC, the Competition Bureau and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC)
• online behavioural advertising (OBA), especially in the context of big data, customer analytics and programmatic advertising
• data governance and privacy, including privacy policies, audits, protection of personal and other information and responding to data breaches
• pre-clearing and resolving disputes before self-regulatory bodies like Ad Standards, the PAAB and the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC)
• investigations, inquiries and proceedings before the Competition Bureau, Competition Tribunal and the courts
• contests and promotions, including those with user-generated content and on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest
• sponsorships
• advertising agency agreements
• gift cards and coupons
• loyalty programs
• direct mail marketing
• telemarketing
• comparative advertising claims
• substantiating performance claims
• disclaimers in advertising
• consumer preference and other surveys
• endorsements and testimonials
• native advertising
• marketing communications agreements
• programmatic ad trading
• environmental claims
• pricing and distribution practices, including ordinary price claims, all-in pricing and drip pricing
• minimum advertised price (MAP) policies
• cross promotions and co-branding
• protecting brands and trade-marks via registrations and proceedings with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)
• advertising to children
• provincial consumer protection laws, including disclosures for advertisements of consumer lease and finance offers
• packaging and labelling
• developing and implementing effective corporate compliance programs
• public policy and lobbying respecting changes to Canadian advertising and marketing laws