Annual report on Government of Canada advertising activities 2022 to 2023

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This report has been compiled to inform Canadians about the advertising activities undertaken by the Government of Canada during fiscal year 2022 to 2023. Advertising activities in this report pertain to institutions subject to the Policy on Communications and Federal Identity and its supporting instruments. These apply to departments and other portions of the federal public administration as set out in Schedules I, I.1 and II of the Financial Administration Act, unless excluded by specific acts, regulations or orders in council. All amounts exclude taxes.

For clarity and to ensure common understanding, please refer to the glossary at the end of this report.

On this page

• At a glance
• Overview of Government of Canada advertising expenditures
• Government of Canada media expenditures with the Agency of Record
• Appendices

At a glance

The following infographic provides a summary of the advertising expenditures found in this report for fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

Overview of Government of Canada advertising expenditures

This section provides information on advertising expenditures reported by 48 Government of Canada (GC) institutions. Amounts represent total advertising expenditures, which encompass media planning and media placement made directly by departments or through the AOR, as well as creative production.

Heads of communications can decide to purchase media space directly from media outlets for campaigns that have a total media buy of $25,000 or less, in accordance with the Directive on the Management of Communications. All GC advertising campaigns with a budget over $250,000 undergo a mandatory external review, the Advertising Oversight Mechanism (non-partisan review process), to ensure that all advertising creatives meet the criteria for non-partisan communications. Results are available online.

For more information on advertising expenditures reported in each fiscal year, consult the corresponding annual reports.

Note: Values are rounded to the nearest whole number. The sum of values may not add up exactly to the totals indicated due to rounding.

Advertising expenditures for the last 5 years

This vertical bar graphic presents total Government of Canada advertising expenditures in millions of dollars for the last 5 years from fiscal year 2018 to 2019 to fiscal year 2022 to 2023. The graphic is provided for illustration purposes.

Table 1: Advertising expenditures by institution

Table 1: Advertising expenditures by institution

Institution	With the AOR	Without the AOR	Total

Government of Canada media expenditures with the Agency of Record

This section provides information on media expenditures for all media placement made through the AOR, on behalf of Government of Canada (GC) institutions. Amounts represent net media costs paid to media suppliers for the purchase of advertising space and time. Fees paid to the AOR to perform the media placement, as well as media planning and creative production expenditures are excluded.

Note: Values are rounded to the nearest whole number. The sum of values may not add up exactly to the totals indicated due to rounding.

In this section

• Total media expenditures
• Official languages

Total media expenditures

Figures 2 to 5 provide total media expenditures and the distribution by media type. Figures 6 to 13 provide details on digital and traditional media expenditures.

• Figure 2: Media expenditures over 5 years
• Figure 3: Distribution of media expenditures over 5 years
• Figure 4: Media expenditures breakdown by media type over 5 years
• Figure 5: Distribution of media expenditures by media type over 5 years
• Figure 6: Digital media expenditures breakdown over 5 years
• Figure 7: Distribution of digital media expenditures over 5 years
• Figure 8: Social media expenditures breakdown over 5 years
• Figure 9: Distribution of social media expenditures over 5 years
• Figure 10: Search engine marketing media expenditures breakdown over 5 years
• Figure 11: Distribution of search engine marketing media expenditures over 5 years
• Figure 12: Traditional media expenditures breakdown over 5 years
• Figure 13: Distribution of traditional media expenditures over 5 years

Official languages

Reaching Canadians in the official language of their choice, regardless of where they reside, is a mandatory requirement for the Government of Canada (GC) advertising. All media plans are developed, reviewed, and approved in accordance with this requirement. Amounts in the tables include media expenditures for all media placement in English and French. Table 2 provides an overview and tables 3 and 4 provide details on digital and traditional media expenditures.

Media expenditures by official language is based on ad language. Media expenditures for bilingual ads are divided equally between English and French.

• Table 2: Overview of media expenditures in English and French
• Table 3: Digital media expenditures breakdown in English and French
• Table 4: Traditional media expenditures breakdown in English and French

Appendices

• Appendix I: Glossary
• Appendix II: Process
• Appendix III: Laws and policies

Appendix I: Glossary

This section provides definitions of terms used in this report related to Government of Canada (GC) advertising, for clarity and to ensure common understanding. The terms may have a broader meaning beyond this report and therefore, these definitions should only be applied in the context of this report.

Advertising

In the context of all GC advertising activities, “advertising” is defined as (Policy on Communications and Federal Identity, Appendix: Definitions):

Any message conveyed in Canada or abroad and paid for by the government for placement in media, including but not limited to newspapers, television, radio, cinema, billboards and other out-of-home media, mobile devices, the Internet, and any other digital medium.

Advertising expenditures

Total of all expenditures, including media planning, media placement, creative production and fees paid to the AOR to perform the media placement.

Agency of Record (AOR)

Private sector supplier selected by the GC through a competitive process that plans, negotiates, consolidates, purchases and verifies advertising media space and time for government advertising.

Digital

All advertising on the Internet, including display programmatic and non-programmatic, social media and search engine marketing.

Display

Advertising on the Internet through banners, including various formats made up of text, images, animation/gifs, video and audio.

Display non-programmatic

Display advertising purchased through direct buys where media suppliers receive insertion orders or contracts, and billing takes place between the suppliers and the AOR.

Display programmatic

Display advertising purchased and served in real time through demand-side platforms, supply-side platforms and an ad server, managed by the AOR using programmed algorithms and where billing is managed through the ad server.

Media expenditures

Net media costs paid to suppliers for advertising space and time. Fees paid to the AOR to perform the media placement, as well as media planning and creative production costs are excluded.

Media placement

The purchase of advertising space and time from media suppliers, such as websites, social media platforms, television networks or stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, etc.

Non-partisan communications

In the context of all GC communications products and activities, “non-partisan” means (Policy on Communications and Federal Identity, Appendix: Definitions):

• objective, factual and explanatory
• free from political party slogans, images, identifiers, bias, designation or affiliation
• the primary colour associated with the governing party is not used in a dominant way, unless an item is commonly depicted in that colour
• advertising is devoid of any name, voice or image of a minister, member of Parliament or senator

Out-of-home

Advertising media to which audiences are exposed outside the home such as mall posters, billboards, bus and transit-shelter advertisements, digital screens and kiosks, etc.

Search engine marketing

Advertising used to promote websites and attract visitors by increasing their visibility in search engine results, on search engine platforms.

Social media

All advertising on social media platforms on the Internet, including Facebook/Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest and Reddit.

Appendix II: Process

The Government of Canada (GC) has an obligation to inform Canadians about policies, programs, services, rights and responsibilities, as well as to alert them of dangers to health, safety or the environment. Advertising is one means of communications used to achieve this.

Rigorous annual planning and reporting mechanisms are in place to ensure that advertising activities align to government priorities, comply with applicable laws, policies and related instruments, and meet the information needs of Canadians.

GC advertising is conducted in accordance with the Policy on Communications and Federal Identity and its supporting instruments. Many organizations are involved, including institutions, the Privy Council Office, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Public Services and Procurement Canada. Their relationships and primary responsibilities are described below:

Institutions

Departments and other portions of the federal public administration operating under Schedules I, I.1 and II of the Financial Administration Act develop advertising plans based on the priorities of the institutions and the Government.

Once approval is obtained, institutions work with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) for the procurement of advertising services as needed. Creative services are provided by creative agencies, and media planning and buying services are provided by the AOR. Heads of communications can decide to purchase media space directly from media outlets for campaigns that have a total media buy of $25,000 or less, in accordance with the Directive on the Management of Communications.

Institutions are responsible for managing all aspects of their advertising activities and for ensuring that campaigns reach their target audiences using the appropriate media with the appropriate message at the correct time. Along with this, they are responsible for ensuring that all communications adhere to the Official Languages Act, and for evaluating the effectiveness of their advertising activities.

Institutions are also required to record all their advertising activities in theGC Advertising Management System (AdMIS), which is maintained by PSPC and used to produce the Annual Report on Government of Canada Advertising Activities.

Privy Council Office

The Privy Council Office (PCO) sets broad government communications themes that reflect government priorities, as determined by the Prime Minister, Cabinet, Cabinet committees and the Clerk of the Privy Council.

Institutions are required to submit their advertising plans to PCO, which then works with the Prime Minister’s Office to develop the GC annual advertising plan. Once the plan is approved, PCO prepares relevant documentation so that institutions receive funding from the central advertising fund; institutions can also fund their advertising activities from their own budgets.

PCO also provides government-wide oversight of GC advertising activities and coordinates GC advertising to ensure that the overall approved budget levels are respected and that evaluation results are used to help inform the development of future advertising activities.

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) issues administrative policies, including the Policy on Communications and Federal Identity, which governs communications activities, including advertising. The Policy alignsGC communications practices with today’s digital environment and includes a requirement that all communications products and activities, including advertising, be non-partisan.

Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) oversees the non-partisan advertising review process for campaigns over $250,000. It also monitors the effectiveness of the process and publishes the review results and decisions on Canada.ca.

TBS also manages the Treasury Board submission process to secure advertising funding for institutions.

Public Services and Procurement Canada

3 directorates at PSPC are involved. These include the:

Advertising Services Directorate (ASD):

• provides technical advice and advisory and coordination services to GC institutions on the government advertising process, best practices, and relevant laws, policies and related instruments
• manages the AOR contract
• works with the Communications and Advertising Procurement Directorate (CAPD) to develop advertising services procurement tools for use by GC institutions, which align with current industry best practices and today’s environment
• provides training to the government advertising community to ensure that their knowledge and abilities remain up to date
• maintains AdMIS and issues project registration numbers for advertising activities and advertising numbers (ADV) for media placement to GC institutions to record all their advertising activities and expenditures
• produces the Annual Report on Government of Canada Advertising Activities

Communications and Advertising Procurement Directorate (CAPD):

• sole authority responsible for the procurement of advertising and public opinion research services, including pre- and post-campaign testing and evaluation for advertising activities
• manages the procurement process to select advertising services suppliers forGC institutions
• works with ASD to develop advertising services procurement tools for use by GC institutions

Public Opinion Research Directorate (PORD):

• advises institutions about the public opinion research process, research methodologies, and compliance with relevant laws, policies and related instruments
• reviews research projects related to advertising pretesting and evaluation, a mandatory process for campaigns with media buys over $1 million

Appendix III: Laws and policies

Laws

Financial Administration Act

The purpose of this Act is to provide for the financial administration of the GC, the establishment and maintenance of the accounts of Canada and the control of Crown corporations.

Official Languages Act

The purpose of this Act is to:

• ensure respect for English and French as the official languages of Canada and ensure equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all federal institutions, in particular with respect to their use in parliamentary proceedings, in legislative and other instruments, in the administration of justice, in communicating with or providing services to the public and in carrying out the work of federal institutions
• support the development of English and French linguistic minority communities and generally advance the equality of status and use of the English and French languages within Canadian society
• set out the powers, duties and functions of federal institutions with respect to the official languages of Canada

Policies

Policy on Communications and Federal Identity

This policy gives context and rules for how the GC enables communication with the public about policies, programs, services and initiatives, including the administration of the GC official symbols.

Directive on the Management of Communications

This directive provides rules for managing and coordinating communications, including procedures for advertising, public opinion research, social media and web communications.

• Appendix B: Mandatory Procedures for Advertising

  These procedures are an appendix to the Directive on the Management of Communications. They provide procedural rules for planning and coordination, contracting, production and media planning, as well as pretesting and evaluation ofGC advertising activities.

• Advertising Oversight Mechanism

  The Directive on the Management of Communications requires thatGC advertising comply with the oversight mechanism for non-partisan advertising. The mechanism is an external review process that supports the Government’s commitment to ensure that all communications, including advertising, are non-partisan.

Copyright information

Information contained in this publication may be reproduced, in part or in whole, and by any means, for personal or public non-commercial purposes, without charge or further permission. Commercial reproduction and distribution are prohibited except with written permission from Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). For more information, consult the terms and conditions on PSPC's website concerning copyright ownership and restrictions.

For additional information, contact:

Advertising Services Directorate
Public Services and Procurement Canada
Ottawa Ontario (ON) K1A 0S5
Email: tpsgc.dgsidcpprapportpub-isbacpdadvreport.pwgsc@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Public Works and Government Services, 2024.

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