Martin Myers entered the Canadian advertising industry later than most, but had no problem making up for lost time.

Martin’s son, Brad Myers, recalls how his father traveled by train from Winnipeg to Toronto and sent 20 resumes around to ad agencies once he arrived, securing work on the 20th attempt. The effort was an early sign of the relentless determination that he’d apply to his writing. Starting as a novice copywriter at Goodis, Goldberg, Soren, Myers says that within a year, his father was working as a creative director and soon winning awards.

A renowned luminary in Canadian advertising, Martin Myers died on March 28 at 96 years old. His son Brad and wife Colleen spoke with strategy about his ad career and the contributions he made to the industry.

Colleen Myers notes that Martin loved advertising, enjoying how it continuously presented new stories to work on each day. His ads never just described the product, but instead were always a soft sell about people, Colleen says. Brad adds that flipping through his father’s portfolio of work, one appreciates that he had a way of writing that engaged and delighted people.

After his time at Goodis, Goldberg, Soren, Myers worked in senior roles at such agencies as MacLaren and Baker Lovick. In the 1980s, Myers and Dennis Bruce launched the boutique creative agency The Gloucester Group within MacLaren. Gloucester was given some of the agency’s most challenging creative projects, and Myers led the group as creative director. When it was folded into MacLaren in 1983, the two worked with account man Eric Miller to launch the agency that would eventually be known as Miller Myers Bruce DallaCosta Harrod Mirlin, which dubbed itself the “biggest name in Canadian advertising.” The agency produced creative for PepsiCo, Wendy’s, CBC Radio, P&G, Telecom Canada, Neilson, Mediacom, Imax, Delta Hotels, Catelli, Canada Packers and more.

“Harry and Doris” was an eight-week Transit Shelter campaign devised by Myers, that drew tens of thousands of phone calls about the work.

After selling the agency, Myers and Bruce joined their sons, Brad and Duncan, who had started their own agency called Bruce & Myers. When their fathers came aboard, it became Bruce & Myers & Bruce & Myers. Brad says he was fortunate to have the chance to spend five years working with his father. He saw Martin’s eye for identifying and developing talent firsthand, and said Martin would speak with anyone about the industry and their goals within it.

“Throughout my career, it was weekly that I would bump into somebody who’d say ‘Oh, your dad was so helpful when I got into the business.’” Brad Myers says. “He would see people’s portfolios, spend time with them, talk with them about the business and it was always really appreciated.” 

Brad remembers that his father would often advise him not to simply sit down to have an idea while working, but instead to sit down to have 100, let the gems rise to the top and develop those. He also remembers that his father had an amazing way with clients, feeling comfortable in the room with “little scripts playing in his head.”

“I remember at a pitch for Sunoco that we ended up winning, he finished the meeting by saying ‘You know, you’re going to see lots of people today and we’re all going to show you work. We’ve showed you our work and our case studies and our thinking on your brand, and they’re all going to do the same. Ultimately, you need to think about who it is that you’d like to work with and who you feel like you have a connection with. And I’d just like to say, we think that if we can’t do everything that we say we should do today, you should fire us. But you have to hire us first,'” Brad Myers says, laughing, adding that they received a call 24 hours later confirming they’d won the account.

Brad Myers, Martin Myers, Dennis Bruce and Duncan Bruce

Martin Waxman, an adjunct professor at the Schulich School of Business and associate director at the Future of Marketing Institute, was hired by Myers decades ago to join The Gloucester Group.

Describing Myers as a supremely creative person, Waxman was always impressed by that creativity, by Myers’ relentlessness as a writer and his dedication to improving upon his work through constant rewrites, as well as by Myers’ versatility as an ad writer, novelist and stand-up comic. Waxman recalls sitting in on a brainstorming sessions with Myers where he would freeze up because of how many ideas Myers could come up with so quickly.

“One day I said to him ‘I can’t come up with ideas, how do you do that?’” Waxman recalls. “He said ‘Ideas are a renewable resource. The more you have, the more you get.’”

Of Myers’ work, Waxman can remember standouts like the creative for Beaumark Sewing Machines more than 40 years ago, where Myers pitched the slogan “Sew Much Better.” But Waxman also notes that along with his creativity, Myers will be remembered as a great person with a joy for life and love for the arts.

“The industry needs more people like Marty who have such an eclectic view of the world, bigger than just doing marketing,” Waxman says. “Who have a view of the arts and literature, and who love and experience life. He is a model that all of us could aspire to.”

Andrew Bruce remembers Martin Myers as being the reason he began working in advertising in the first place.

Bruce’s father, Dennis, was Myers’ creative partner for years. When the two Myers and two Bruces launched their agency in the 1990s, the creatives who started the company needed help running the business. Despite Andrew Bruce working in construction at the time, Myers saw in Andrew that he could be a great fit managing the outside partners that the agency would need. More than 30 years later, Bruce has continued his career in the industry, now serving as CEO of Publicis Groupe in Canada.

“Marty was such an endlessly generous human being with his time, his input, his experience and his care” Andrew Bruce tells strategy, adding that outside of his own family members, Myers was the most influential person on his career. “He was a special human being.”

Bruce reflects that Myers was endlessly observant, putting together thoughtful and refreshing creative work, while also underlining how kind and generous Myers was, and how he was always willing to listen to younger talent and valued their ideas.

Between incredibly successful campaigns like “Freedom 55” for the London Life Insurance Company and “Fred and the Boys” for Molson Export, both memorable works by Myers and Dennis Bruce, Andrew Bruce says Myers always accomplished the most effective use of creativity in advertising to drive business.

“[Myers] put forward platforms and campaigns that fundamentally changed the trajectory of a business based on the insights that drive it, the creativity and the art direction that shape it,” Bruce says.

“We can never forget his humour, the generosity and kindness with which he applied his writing skill and creativity, and the wit that underpinned it.”

Another creative calling was always in the back of Myers’ mind. Early in his marketing career, Myers and his family moved to Baltimore for two years where he studied in a masters program at Johns Hopkins University and finished his thesis that would become his debut novel, before returning to advertising. Later, upon leaving the industry, Myers authored many more novels including The Secret Viking, The Assignment, the non-fiction book The Urban Loft and more. One more novel from Myers, Return of the Secret Viking, is scheduled to be published soon.

Reflecting on his legacy though, Brad and Colleen say that Martin Myers will be remembered in advertising for being an early player in believing creativity can lead the way on accounts in Canada. Myers left advertising 25 years ago, but his family notes that even after all this time, condolences from his peers and mentees in the industry remembering his contributions have poured in, reflecting the legacy he’s left on the industry.

“I think people will always remember him as someone who was available, entertaining and always interested in what they were doing, and wanted to talk about the business because he did love the business. He felt really comfortable and happy all the years he was in advertising,” Colleen says. “He loved his time in that world and he wouldn’t give it up for anything.”