Broken Heart Love Affair Named 1 of North America’s Best Employers

In a highly competitive global advertising market, one of Canada’s youngest independently owned agencies has been named to the list of the best places to work in North America, and is the only Canadian Creative Agency on the list of 50. 

Broken Heart Love Affair, founded in 2020 at the start of the pandemic by five highly decorated communications industry veterans, has been named one of the Ad Age Best Places to Work 2024, an annual ranking of companies based on factors ranging from pay and benefits to corporate culture and leadership. 

The results were announced on January 22 at AdAge.com. 

“The 2024 Best Places to Work winners demonstrate the value of giving employees competitive pay and benefits and designing optimal workplace practices to ensure great talent can do its best work,” said Dan Peres, president and editor-in-chief of Ad Age. “Companies will face more challenges in the new year against an uncertain economy, but winning workplaces know that taking care of employees drives business success.” 

“It is really impressive and exciting for a young agency like Broken Heart Love Affair to break into this ranking,” added Bradley Johnson, director of data analytics, Ad Age. 

“While we say we are in the advertising business, the fact is, we are in the people business. Broken Heart Love Affair was built to bring the love back for brands, and for agency talent so they can once again love what they do,” said Beverley Hammond, one of the founding partners and chief business officer at the agency. “While we are honoured to be recognised for that, we are especially grateful that we get to work day in and day out with such a special group. This is all about them.” 

According to Joline Matika, lead people & culture at Broken Heart Love Affair said, “For us bringing the love back isn’t about free booze or a ping-pong table. People love what they do when they get the opportunity to do great work, are inspired by those around them, and have a true sense of belonging. So, from our talent scouting, onboarding, growth & development, retention, committee and community initiatives and policies, we anchor everything we do in a culture of love and the leadership team is committed to building on this culture every day.” 

Ad Age Best Places to Work 2024 honours 50 companies around North America that did a standout job over the past year as the ad business met with the challenges of an unsettled economy, changing media market and a continued tight talent pool. The winners reflect the highest overall numerical scores based on an analysis of questionnaires submitted by employers and survey responses from their employees. There are four Canadian businesses on this year’s list, three adtech businesses, along with Broken Heart Love Affair.  

Ad Age produced Best Places to Work 2024 in partnership with Best Companies Group, a research firm specialising in identifying and recognising great places to work. The competition was open to agencies, ad tech firms, data and research firms, brand or corporate marketing departments or groups and in-house agencies of marketers. Ad Age’s scoring system factors in employee responses on topics including pay and benefits and seven other core focus areas (75% of the score) and a company’s policies and practices on areas including pay and benefits, work/life balance, recruitment, training and development (25% of the score).