The 20th annual Terry O’Malley Lecture in Marketing and Advertising will take a look at the biggest marketing, media and advertising stories of 2020 to determine what they can tell us about the future of the industry.

“Looking back, to see the future” will be presented by Chris Powell and David Brown, co-founders and editors of The Message.

Powell and Brown have reported extensively on the marketing landscape and the digital transformation of the industry over the past two decades. Both worked for many years at Marketing magazine before co-founding The Message, an industry-focused web site billed as “a new voice for a new age of Canadian marketing” in 2018.

Based on their shared expertise and up-to-the-minute understanding of marketing and advertising, Powell and Brown will give a lively rundown of what shifts we’ve seen as a result of this year’s unusual circumstances and suggest what we may expect to see as the industry pushes forward.

As with most other events this year, the milestone O’Malley Lecture, a highlight in the annual schedule of the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film at Brock, must be transformed into a virtual event.

Created by St. Catharines native and advertising icon Terry O’Malley, the O’Malley Lecture honours his legacy as one of the most legendary creative talents in modern Canadian advertising for the twentieth time this year. The event also exposes Brock students to some of North America’s top marketing and communication professionals.

In conjunction with the annual lecture, the Grant Dobson Case Competition challenges students to pitch to a panel of industry judges based on a competition brief. This year’s competition will be held virtually in a private session earlier in the day and the award winners will be named during the public evening event.

The livestream of the virtual lecture can be viewed by all interested members of the public starting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 19.

People interested in exploring Terry O’Malley’s career in advertising are also invited to visit an online exhibit hosted by Brock’s Archives and Special Collections, which will go live later this week.