The timeline
In 1977, our President, Jacques L. Duval, was a young creative talent with his own small shop. Alfred Martel, a former marketing executive in the retail grocery business, founded Marketel (Martel + Marketing = Marketel). They joined forces.
Within a decade of Marketel's creation, it had taken the unprecedented and gutsy step of integrating with the Montreal office of global communications agency McCann-Erickson. The partnership allowed our Canadian clients the possibility of global reach and McCann's international clients the benefit of the entrepreneurial spirit of the Marketel partners.
Marketel later acquired Foster Advertising, bringing some of its Air Canada business into the shop. It didn't take long for Marketel to establish itself as Air Canada's lead agency. Other household name clients followed.
Along the way, strategic decisions coupled with creative vision have pushed Marketel to the esteemed level it is at today, embracing ingenuity and digital media. We've won many creative awards, from Cannes to the Cassies, and media awards, from the Prix Média to the Media Innovation Awards, as well as business recognitions like the Financial Post's 50 Best-Managed Private Canadian Companies honour.