This year, Media in Canada is approaching its annual Media Leader of the Year program a little differently. We’ve decided to celebrate Canada’s leaders-in-the-running, publishing profiles on each of the four nominees for 2023. The overall winner will be announced at the Media Innovation Awards on November 29, but in the meantime, check out our third finalist, Dentsu’s Sarah Thompson. Our first and second nominees, OMD’s Cathy Collier and GroupM’s Kevin Johnson, were revealed earlier this week.

Sarah Thompson has been president of Dentsu Media in Canada since July 2022, tasked with accelerating the agency’s media offering, driving growth through innovation and fuelling collaboration with other Dentsu agencies and offices across the region.

It’s a goal she seems to be nailing, with Carat being listed as the fastest-growing media agency in Canada, and Dentsu the fastest-growing network, according to RECMA and comvergence.

When asked to describe her success to date, Thompson says there are three things she credits. “One is the seriousness we take our clients’ investment from a media perspective. Two would be the care and cultivation of talent in our industry, and making this a career you actually want. And three is appreciating the context in what our industry actually has the power to do for Canadians.”

From a talent perspective, Thompson has actively grown Dentsu’s leadership team. In the past year, she tapped Jennifer Lewis as the new CCO of Carat; Sophie Labarre as CCO of Dentsu x; Lina Alles and Paul Reilly as SVP of trading and commercial and SVP client leadership (respectively); Alex Hargolies as VP of audience and insights; Nick Henderson, VP of performance; Tracey Johnson as CCO of iProspect; Charlie Farrel as VP of integrated search; and, finally, Moira Gilderson as SVP of future investments.

“Everyone is new to their role in critical areas… The goal has always been diverse thinking, radical collaboration and experience to inspire our people and clients with new ways of working in media,” Thompson explains. 

It’s a “radically collaborative leadership team, where everybody’s opinion matters,” she adds. Also, everyone who joins Dentsu is given the company’s strategic plan for that year, so they understand where the company is going, their role in that journey, and what tools and technology they have access to in order to help make it happen. 

Thompson notes that her Media Leader of the Year nomination “only matters because of the great people that we have working at Dentsu. This speaks to me of their success, and I just harness and focus it in a direction that’s meaningful for everyone, including our clients.”

As a result, her actions and mentorship have helped improve Dentsu employee engagement by 10 points.

Outside of cultivating the team, Thompson is a strong advocate for responsible media investment, speaking widely on the subject as an industry leader and CMDC board member as part of its Media Manifesto Committee, which advocates for issues around Bill C-18. Internally, she actively increased Dentsu’s investment in local media from 16% up to 22%.

Thompson also led the charge behind the launch of Merkury Local, a more holistic planning tool that improves the effectiveness of local media and its ability to reach consumers (not to mention harnessing the changing landscape of Canada, with 1.5 million immigrants expected to arrive by 2025), as well as launching the first end-to-end carbon calculator for media and creative. 

Over the last year, in part thanks to Thompson’s leadership, the agency network has won the Telus, Shark Ninja, the Government of Ontario, Roots and Carlsberg accounts. 

Ultimately, she looks at her business — and media at large — like a game of football. “You’re not going for the touchdown,” she says. Or you shouldn’t be. The touchdown will happen, but “you’re going for yardage. You’re just trying to move the ball. In our industry, too many are trying to throw the ball as far as we possibly can for a touchdown,” often in response to clients chasing low-cost CPMs, Thompson adds.

“It’s about getting back to the celebration that a great media plan and a great strategy require a little bit more time, and less transaction, and continues to require a lot more synchronization between media, agencies, and the actual business.”