Industry News: Leger acquires advertising research firm

Plus, MediaTonik adds two SJC Media brands to its portfolio. 
By Andrea Hernandez
November 19, 2025

Quebec-based market research and analytics firm Leger has acquired Element54, a Canadian firm specializing in advertising research.

The acquisition will enable Element54 to extend its presence across North America while drawing on Leger’s operational and technological infrastructure.

Founded in 2008 and led by Bernie Malinoff, formerly of Ipsos and Angus Reid, Element54’s clients span retail, financial services, transportation and lotteries. The company will continue operating under the new Leger-Element54 division, with Malinoff assuming the role of executive VP and head of Leger’s centre of excellence in advertising research.

Leger said in a news release this is the company’s 15th acquisition and that Element54 will broaden its service capabilities and strengthen its capacity to support clients across sectors with reliable data and insights.

The acquisition follows Leger’s creation of a Shopper Insights division, led by newly appointed SVP Stéphane Drouin. According to the company, the Shopper Insights division is intended to enhance the company’s capacity to support retailers and brands in refining brand strategy, product assortments and in-store experiences. It will operate alongside Leger’s existing offerings, including the WOW customer experience study and its Reputation study, by drawing on behavioural data, advanced analytics and strategic consulting.

MediaTonik to rep two SJC Media brands

MediaTonik is adding SJC Media brands HELLO! Canada and the French edition of Chatelaine to its portfolio. 

Chatelaine, a French-Canadian women’s brand serving the Quebec market, covers topics ranging from food, style, health and home decor to politics and relationships. The brand attracts nearly 300,000 unique website visitors and has over 360,000 regular readers per print edition. Meanwhile, HELLO! Canada, which covers entertainment, celebrities and royal news, reaches more than 1.3 million unique website visitors monthly and nearly 900,000 readers per print issue.

MediaTonik announces the addition after recently securing the rights to manage programmatic ad sales for Nordy Media’s Quebec newspapers  Journal Accès and  Le Nord. This followed the company’s appointment as programmatic advertising sales representative for Médialo, a media and marketing agency with a network of local newspapers.

Meanwhile, SJC Media – also publisher of Toronto Life,  Maclean’s, Fashion, Today’s Parent and Canadian Business –  has launched SJC Audience+, an advertising platform built in partnership with Optable’s identity‑management and data‑collaboration solution. The product blends media brands, first‑party data and privacy‑first technology to enable more targeted campaigns within SJC properties.