Chief Strategy Officer,
Partner Spark Advocacy
Bruce Anderson has been one of Canada’s leading market and opinion researchers for more than 30 years, and a leading commentator, and counsellor, on current events and political affairs in Canada.
His experience began in 1980, when he was appointed Special Assistant to the Federal Minister Responsible for Government Communications. In 1983, he joined Decima Research as a Research Consultant, later assuming more responsibility, culminating in his appointment as President of Decima in 1989, at the age of 32.
Mr. Anderson later became a founding partner of the Earnscliffe Strategy Group and helped lead that company for 15 years. Mr. Anderson rejoined Decima in 2004, as CEO. He led that company through four years of strong growth, during which it was twice named one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies. After completing a transaction with Harris Interactive in 2008, Bruce opened his own research boutique, Anderson Insight.
In 2011 Bruce helped found a public affairs advertising agency, to fill a need in the market place for a firm that applied creative tools and smart media selection. In addition to contributing to the overall direction and management of the firm, Bruce was the company’s account leader for several of the largest clients, including the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the Canadian, Energy Pipelines Association, the Canadian Bankers Association and the Canadian Mining Association.
Along with colleagues from his former firm – Perry Tsergas & Adrian Jean – Bruce helped to found spark*advocacy, Canada’s leading public affairs boutique, with the aim of providing clutter-busting creative solutions, along with precision media/digital placement strategies, public relations support, and public opinion research and message testing through spark*insights, to a diverse array of clientele. All with one thing in common: the need to deliver persuasive storytelling efforts to niche audiences.
Mr. Anderson has served as a pollster and/or strategic advisor to many major corporations and organizations including Shaw Communications, BCE, TELUS, Allstream, Royal Bank of Canada, Enbridge, Imperial Oil, CIBC, BP, Teck Resources, and dozens of association groups, NGO’s and coalitions. He served as Chairman of Abacus Data, one of Canada’s fastest growing research companies. He is one of Canada’s leading commentators on public opinion and political affairs, was a regular member of the CBC’s popular At Issue Panel, and regularly to leading Canadian publications such as the Globe and Mail, Macleans, and the National Observer. Bruce joins Peter Mansbridge & Chantal Hebert on the Good Talk podcast every Friday; one of Canada’s top political podcasts and YouTube shows.
