Marketing Professor Alan Middleton of York’s Schulich School of Business has been named the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) Gold Medal Award winner for 2012 for his outstanding contribution to the advancement of marketing communications in Canada.

Director of executive programs at the Schulich Executive Education Centre, Middleton has been praised as one of Canada’s most respected and influential thought-leaders in the field of marketing communications.

"I was totally surprised and delighted with the news of this award – especially as it means joining such luminaries as John Cassaday, Sunni Boot, Claude Lessard and Frank Palmer," said Middleton. "Hopefully, this signals not only my personal efforts, but the efforts of all those engaged in progressing the discipline of marketing."

Alan Middleton

Middleton's career spans the client side, including international oil and gas sector, agencies, such as J. Walter Thompson in England, Canada and Japan, and academia. He is co-author of Advertising Works II and Ikonica – A Fieldguide to Canada’s Brandscape, and he has authored better-practices reports for the ACA on payment-by-results, client-agency relationships and marketing dashboards.

"Alan Middleton personifies the exceptional qualities that constitute the ACA Gold Medal Award. At every level of endeavor, he has served the marketing communications industry with passion, commitment and distinction," said Ron Lund, president and CEO of the ACA. "As an educator, Alan has mentored a generation of successful Canadian marketers and advertising practitioners. As an author, he has been hugely influential in elevating our practice of effective advertising. And as a marketing authority, he has long been the media’s go-to source of expert commentary."

Middleton sits on the board of ABC Life Literacy Canada, is an Honorary Trustee of the Royal Ontario Museum, co-founder of the annual CASSIES Awards and an inductee into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends.

First presented in 1941, the ACA Gold Medal Award will be presented at this year's Marketing Awards gala June 8 at The Carlu in Toronto.

About the ACA Gold Medal Award

• It is open to all individuals in activities that have an impact on marketing communications in Canada (client marketers, agencies, media, researchers, academics, associations, etc.)
• Awarded for a single achievement, or for accomplishments over time
• Awarded to a candidate whose contribution represents a measurable, distinctive advancement in the practice of marketing communications in Canada

Since its inception, the ACA Gold Medal Award has been presented to a distinguished vanguard of industry leaders and visionaries. A full list of past honorees is posted on the ACA's website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– York University’s daily e-bulletin.