McMillan declared bankruptcy on July 31, marking “the end of an era for one of Ottawa’s most respected agencies,” the head of its parent company, The S3 Agency, confirmed Thursday.
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A firm that was once Ottawa’s largest advertising agency has shut its doors two years after being acquired by a U.S. company.
McMillan declared bankruptcy on July 31, marking “the end of an era for one of Ottawa’s most respected agencies,” the head of its parent company, The S3 Agency, confirmed Thursday.
In an email to OBJ, S3 co-founder and CEO Denise Blasevick said “market conditions became progressively more difficult for agencies of McMillan’s size and model,” adding “the business contracted to the point it was no longer viable.”
McMillan’s closure marks the final chapter for one of the city’s best-known ad agencies.
Founded by Gord McMillan in 1996, the company grew steadily over the next two decades. At its peak, McMillan employed nearly 60 people and had a client roster that included well-known U.S. and European enterprises such as Commvault and Schneider Electric.
But the firm’s fortunes began to decline in the past decade. In 2019 alone, McMillan lost several major accounts, prompting it to lay off more than half of its employees and file for bankruptcy protection.
The firm eventually reached a settlement with its creditors and began rehiring in 2020. It began rebuilding its client roster, signing deals with major organizations such as global data security giant Entrust, Bermuda-based insurance provider BF&M and multibillion-dollar industrial manufacturing conglomerate Vontier.
S3 acquired McMillan in June 2024, 12 months after the companies’ leaders met through a mutual acquaintance. The firms began sharing leads and business expertise before ultimately deciding to join forces, with McMillan becoming a standalone subsidiary of S3.
In an interview with OBJ in 2024, McMillan credited the partnership with S3 for helping accelerate his firm’s growth.
“We knew it was working,” he said. “Once we knew we were a good fit, it was just a matter of going through some share swaps and that sort of thing.”
However, the company was unable to sustain that momentum. McMillan had 10 employees when it ceased operations in July, down from 18 at the time of the merger.
“I am hopeful that this also marks the beginning of a new era for each of the truly talented individuals that made up McMillan,” Blasevick said Thursday. “Any organization would be fortunate to have them.”
Now retired from the industry, Gord McMillan said Thursday he knew the agency that bore his name had fallen on hard times in recent months, but added it was “still a shock” to learn of its demise.
“It just was a tough year for them,” he said. “The real reason for bringing our organizations together was to keep the Ottawa team together. I’m sad for them. They really were hoping for another outcome, but business is cruel.”
McMillan praised Blasevick and S3’s leadership team, saying they “really tried hard” to make the business succeed.
“You don’t acquire another agency with the hope that it will fail. It was really hard for them to make this decision.
“The first couple of years worked pretty well, but this last year has been a very strange year for all sorts of marketing agencies. The AI revolution is really changing the landscape very significantly.”
'A tough business'
Smaller ad firms are struggling as more businesses turn to artificial intelligence tools to create their own marketing campaigns in-house, McMillan said.
“Some people will thrive in this environment,” he added. “For me, part of the reason for exiting stage left was that I was fascinated by the technology, but I wasn’t fascinated enough to put both feet in. I think the agencies that are going to succeed, they have to go full on and look at ways that they can serve their clients in this era where the level of automation is very, very significant.”
Other members of Ottawa’s advertising industry expressed sadness and disappointment at McMillan’s closure.
“Nobody wants to see what they created fold,” said Denis Sabourin, president of Xactly Design & Advertising. “It’s too bad to see.”
Noting that longstanding Ottawa ad agency Blackiron also filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, Sabourin said he believes a leadership void, rather than the rise of AI, ultimately pushed both companies over the brink.
Just as Gord McMillan eventually left the agency he created, Blackiron founder Gerry McGillvray also stepped away from his firm, “and they never found anybody to really replace them,” Sabourin said.
“I think it would happen in any industry that’s a service industry. I don’t think it’s so much AI being the issue.”
Mediaplus Advertising president and creative director Don Masters, who founded the company in 1984, said advertising “can be a tough business.”
Agencies often devote “a lot of time and resources” to landing big clients, Masters explained, “and then they can walk away the next day. So you’ve got to make adjustments.”
Gord McMillan, who still owns the mcmillan.com domain name, is now using the website to pay tribute to the defunct company's past. He remains proud of his 28-year tenure at the agency he helped build.
“That’s like as long as the Roman Empire in advertising terms,” he said.
