2025 Canada Marketing and Creative Salaries and Hiring Trends

The demand for skilled marketing and creative professionals, especially those with digital experience, is persistent in agencies and businesses across Canada. Some employers say they will boost marketing and creative salaries for candidates with specific skill sets, but even so, many firms are working with tight budgets.

Content development needs are varied across industries, and digital design and production as well as digital marketing teams are often tasked with supporting multiple campaigns. Many firms are tapping skilled contract professionals to keep priority projects moving forward.

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Enter your city to localize national average salaries. Starting salaries can vary greatly depending on a professional’s skills and experience, the company’s size and industry, and demand for the role.

Design and Production: Management

Design and Production

Design and Production: Digital

Design and Production: UX

Content Development and Management

Advertising and Marketing: Agency

Advertising and Marketing: Corporate

Advertising and Marketing: Agency or Corporate

Advertising and Marketing: Digital

Public Relations

Position Title

25th Percentile

50th Percentile

75th Percentile

Creative Director

127750

147500

169250

Creative Services Manager

84000

95750

116250

Production Manager

81250

94000

103000

Studio Manager

66250

76500

85000

25th Percentile

The candidate is new to the role and building the needed skills, experience and autonomy.

50th Percentile

The candidate has the experience to perform core responsibilities without direct supervision and is comfortable with the role’s processes and subject matter.

75th Percentile

The candidate delivers value beyond the stated job duties, has advanced qualifications and experience, and is ready for the next career level.

Marketing and Creative Hiring Trends in Canada

Tighter budgets have some firms delaying or cancelling less critical projects to focus resources on efforts expected to deliver the best return on investment.

For initiatives managers want to support, securing the right talent may be difficult: hiring quickly enough to land the best talent is their greatest hiring challenge.

Employers with inefficient hiring processes, including lengthy interview cycles, often miss the opportunity to recruit top professionals.

Marketing
research
and analytics Marketing
automation SEO/SEM Creative
development
and art direction Leadership/
management
experience Marketing
research
and analytics Marketing
automation SEO/SEM Creative
development
and art direction Leadership/
management
experience

Marketing Digital marketing Marketing
automation Marketing Digital marketing Marketing
automation

The benefits and concerns of AI

Agencies and businesses are experimenting with AI on marketing and creative projects to enhance collaboration and efficiency and to accelerate the pace of development.

They are utilizing AI for data analytics and reporting, forecasting and predicting sales, measuring campaign performance, and audience segmentation and personalization.

Still, some employers are concerned that over-reliance on AI tools will negatively impact the creative process, and professionals worry their skills may become less valued.

Companies and their teams need to work together to find the right balance between using AI for competitive advantage and preserving the human element in creative work.

Shift in
high-demand skills More contract workers
or consultants Increased hiring Outsourcing
of projects Shift in
high-demand skills More contract workers
or consultants Increased hiring Outsourcing
of projects

Marketing and Creative Hiring at a Glance

Marketing and creative jobs

Copywriter/digital copywriter

Digital marketing specialist

Public relations/communications specialist

UI designer

UX designer

Skills

Advertising

Copywriting

Creative development and art direction

Graphic design

UI design and research

UX design and research

Industries hiring most

Finance/insurance/real estate

Health care

Professional services

Retail/wholesale trade

Technology

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How do we determine our salary figures and benchmarks? See our methodology.

The salaries listed in the salary tables represent starting compensation only, meaning pay for someone new to a company in the position listed. Our estimates do not include bonuses, benefits or perks. We report salaries in percentiles and ranges, recognizing that professionals join companies at varied experience levels.

Non-salary data referenced in this Salary Guide is based on online surveys developed by Robert Half and conducted by independent research firms. Respondents included hiring managers and employees from small (1-99 employees), midsize (100-999 employees) and large (1,000-10,000 or more employees) private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across Canada.