2025 Winner

UM Canada's recent success is about more than numbers. "There's a vibe, there's an energy," agency CEO Ben Seaton says. "People believe in what we're doing here." It is an agency culture that Seaton has cultivated in his two years in the role, after starting out at the agency in 2015 as EVP client business partner.

"A great idea can flow from anyone and anytime, to anyone at anytime," he says. "I want everyone to have a chance to feel like they own this agency. That's where we're going to deliver the best value for our clients. That's where we're going to deliver the best experience for our people. They can go and create something meaningful for themselves and their partners."

And they have.

In the past year alone, Seaton has led UM through eight business wins, representing more than $150 million in billings. These wins propelled the agency to become the third largest in Canada and include Yum! Brands (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut), 7-Eleven, Nespresso, HelloFresh, Muskoka Breweries, King Living, Kent Building Supplies and the North American media remit for Lyft. The agency also deepened relationships with cornerstone clients like BMO across the U.S. West Coast, India and China, and fought to retain Levi's and Sobeys.

At a wholesale level, Seaton says, UM Canada is a growth driver for clients, and it starts with understanding the entire business. "From a commercial perspective, how are they winning? Where are the biggest opportunities?

"Being able to have that conversation with clients, wherein we're talking their language across the table from them, has been incredibly important," Seaton adds. "It leads down to specifically addressing a media brief, which is our bread and butter, but I think it's our focus on the upstream kind of commercial understanding and brand understanding leading to audience and insights that has been really door-opening for us."

Over Seaton's two-year tenure, UM Canada has twice secured the #1 spot in RECMA qualitative rankings and creatively is the most awarded media agency in the country. In the last 12 months, UM Canada has won 95 awards globally.

That includes numerous honours under Seaton's leadership. In 2024, UM Canada was the most awarded media agency at the Media Innovation Awards (MIAs), with 21 medals, including 10 Golds across six campaigns. That year, UM was also the most awarded agency for the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) Awards, with 15 wins across seven campaigns. Additionally, UM was the top Canadian agency at the Festival of Media North America, earning six wins including five Golds – the highest number of Golds won by any agency North America-wide.

But Seaton's impact goes beyond client wins and awards. His commitment to community advocacy and investment in people and mentorship – paired with a business-partner mindset – is changing the game in media leadership.

For instance, Seaton is the architect of Full Colour Media, an internal philosophy that bears the rallying cry "Stand Against Bland." The key is to champion curiosity, cultural fluency and human intelligence as critical drivers of meaningful business growth, he explains.

"It's wrapped under the belief that we can't just subscribe to a technology-influenced or AI-based model or best practices, and that there has to be an appreciation and a space for human intelligence, so it's really about the balance," Seaton says.

"The tension is, if we subscribe to best practices, if we subscribe to what a technology platform might deliver for us, we're going to see a whole bunch of brands in the top right quadrant, and brands will be fighting for attention, brands will be fighting for preference and brands will be fighting to differentiate. That makes it really tough if everyone's adopting and applying the same principles. So it's the notion of the nuance in the power of human intelligence plus technology. It's not longer black-and-white thinking; it's a full-colour approach that really extends to media."

Seaton adds: "We need to fight bland. We need to fight ordinary."

Programs launched under Seaton's tenure include UMentor, which pairs senior and junior talent, and NextGen UM, which gives young employees the opportunities to expand their growth and shape their careers. Impact Day team-building efforts encourage UMers to donate blood and support local drives.

Seaton has been a driving champion of OneUM, an employee-fuelled entity that includes Diwali celebrations, Women4Women events, Pride speakers and Moon Festival treats and crafts. His industry and community leadership work also includes co-launching the Newcomer Speed Mentoring Program (ACCESS Employment) and being a mentor in the TRIEC Mentoring Partnership for immigrant professionals.

"I know that we've got some incredibly brilliant people that have joined the organization the last couple years out of school, and I wanted to give them a voice, and I wanted to give them an opportunity to be heard so that they can influence this agency," Seaton says.

"As you think about hiring, you think about people who are naturally curious, you think about people who have put themselves in positions to learn but also put themselves in positions that are challenging," Seaton adds. "I want people who are genuinely interested in brands, I want people who are genuinely interested in this industry. Having that passion is so unbelievably important as we think about how we want UM to stand up in the marketplace."

Ultimately, it's how UM Canada is going to adapt to the industry.

"Change is changing," Seaton says. "The pace of change is incredible; it's breakneck speed. What's interesting about that is the real-time application of those learnings, and then having the understanding that you might need to do it all over again the next day, because the way we approach measurement might change or the way we might evaluate a partner might change. It means embracing a constant state of learning."