2023 Inductee

Frank Palmer

Agency Builder

An entrepreneur, agency builder, dealmaker and businessman, Frank Palmer is an industry legend. Palmer put Vancouver on the map with his award-winning agency while grooming the industry’s top talent who then went on to found some of today’s most lauded indies:
Rethink, 123w and Broken Heart Love Affair.

“Frank has been responsible for a creative renaissance in Canadian advertising,” says Chris Staples, a founding partner at Rethink who was hired by Palmer early in his career. “These companies are successful because of values he imprinted in us along the way.”

After graduating from the Vancouver School of Art (now the Emily Carr University of Art and Design), Palmer worked as an illustrator before joining Trend Advertising in 1969. He formed Palmer Jarvis in 1974 and went on to orchestrate a merger with the DDB network, becoming chairman and CEO of DDB Canada. He would leave the multinational in 2019 – 50 years after he began in the ad business – only to be asked to return to helm it again a year later. He and business partner Bob Stamnes took over the Vancouver office, rebranding it PS&Co Brand Studio and making it a separate
entity, where he is now partner and chairman.

Whatever the name of his agency – and there have been multiple iterations – Palmer cultivated a culture of possibilities. Staples recalls the learnings he took with him: Palmer let those who acted like leaders lead, gave creatives leeway, allowed people to make mistakes and was gracious to those who left to start their own agencies. Staples, who now sits on Rethink’s board of directors, says: “This comes up a lot with us [the board of directors] where we say, ‘What would Frank do?’”

What Palmer would do, and has done, is now the stuff of legend. By turns inventive and clever, he would craft opportunities from challenges and find fresh approaches to get to better solutions.

In one instance, Palmer found himself in the sudden and unfortunate position of owing $750,000 to radio, TV and newspapers after the loss of a major client who went bankrupt. So, he called the media outlets and asked for the opportunity to pay back the money over a three-year period.

To make good on his promise, Palmer had to lay off a number of his staff. “But I ended up paying all those bills off within a two-year period, because my word was my word; I paid you; I didn’t ask for a discount,” he says. “I ended up getting the best credit reputation in the city.”

In another instance, when a client approached Palmer to take on work in Alberta, where his agency didn’t have a presence, he sought out an Alberta-based agency similar to his to take on the work. “I was able to barter and trade that business we were doing with that client,” he says. “So, for example, if the client had $2 million revenue, I looked at an agency that had $2 million in revenue, and I was able to buy that agency using my client. I was able to buy and get a partnership in those other markets without us putting up any of my own money. That’s how I grew the business.”

Says Staples: “Frank is the absolute master of relationships and dealmaking. That’s his true calling, making people feel comfortable and putting together people, clients and agencies.”

For Palmer, every stage of a relationship is important. “Getting new business was always a highlight,” says Palmer. “It’s like dating, where you want to be accepted and prove you’re
better than other potential agencies.”

To win accounts, candid conversations have often been the tough part. Although companies typically approach Palmer to find new ways to position their brand, the quality of the product itself could be the problem – a hard but necessary truth for marketers to hear. But once potential new business was converted into actual clients – Palmer cites McDonald’s among them – a long-term relationship developed and evolved into something resembling family, a phenomenon he laments is less common now that marketers are inclined to change agencies every few years.

A notorious prankster, Staples recalls Palmer once pulling one at a McDonald’s conference, printing fake newspapers featuring a story that a rival fast-food chain was opening up
an absurd number of locations across Canada.

Outside of work, Palmer has funded a scholarship for digital design students at the Vancouver Film School; released Let’s Get Frank, his biography; and is a painter. He is also a founder of NABS, which supports the well- being of those employed in the media,
marketing and communications industry.

At 82, Palmer remains a force in the industry. “He is so connected and so revered, that to this day, people are still calling him up for help,” says Patty Jones, partner and president at PS&Co Brand Studio, who met Palmer when she was hired at Palmer Jarvis as an account director.
“When you consider the change that the industry has gone through since he started in 1969, he’s still on top of it. He’s the guy sending us articles about AI, a merger that’s happening or digital marketing fraud. All of his insight and wisdom are still ridiculously relevant in 2023.”

Currently, PS&Co Brand Studio is aiming to get its B Corp Certification. And Palmer remains as passionate about the business as he ever did:
“Today, it’s still exciting to show what you can do that others can’t.”