Suggestions
Chuck Lapointe
CEO @ Narcity Media - Building the future of local media
Charles "Chuck" Lapointe is a prominent figure in the online media industry, known for his role as the co-founder and CEO of Narcity Media, a leading publisher focusing on local news and travel content.
Chuck is recognized for pioneering the Sponsored Content movement in Canada, starting in 2013, and he continues to drive the creation of engaging content tailored for millennials.
In his capacity as the CEO of Narcity Media, Chuck has successfully positioned the company as a premier source for lifestyle recommendations, local dining insights, and activity suggestions, reaching a vast audience of over 8 million Canadians and 3 million Americans monthly.
With a commitment to fostering community engagement and enhancing urban experiences, Chuck Lapointe is dedicated to connecting individuals to their cities through compelling content and firsthand encounters.
Educationally, Chuck Lapointe pursued Business studies at Concordia University and furthered his academic pursuits at CEGEP - John Abbott College.
Chuck's professional journey includes key roles such as being the Co-Founder and CEO of Narcity Media Group, and previously holding leadership positions as CEO/President at MTL Blog and as a Production Manager at Ressac.
Highlights
We need to talk about RFPs…
Media RFPs, especially from large Canadian agencies, once made sense — back when most ad dollars weren’t going to Google or Meta.
You could justify the time and effort to RFP multiple media companies to negotiate the best rates and efficiencies, especially with upfront ad buying.
Today, agencies are still issuing RFPs for the majority of one-off campaigns under $1M, demanding custom strategies, content ideas, marketing plans, and more — yet they pour millions monthly into Google and Meta without expecting even a fraction of that effort or support 🫠
For publishers, creating these proposals can take anywhere between 25 and 100 hours, depending on complexity, utilizing resources and time from multiple departments — often with only 24 to 72 hours' notice!
When you compound that with an average 25% win rate, you’re often left with some agencies actually costing us money...
Why do agencies accept minimal support from tech giants but require exhaustive work from publishers for smaller deals?
Local media is not a charity play.
If you don't see the economic benefit of working with us, then don't.
Don’t waste everyone’s time trying to make yourself look good in front of your client or the industry.
If you’re serious about working with a media partner, take the time to build a relationship — understand their pricing, capabilities, and media properties.
It’s not rocket science...
The best media companies are transparent and upfront and will give you tons of support if you reciprocate and be straight up with us.
It’s time to step up, build long-term partnerships with local media, and create effective, cost-efficient strategies that benefit your brands and accounts in the long run.
Welcome to Canada 🇨🇦
Where our Government time and again underestimates Big Tech's stronghold on the advertising market.
Canada just introduced the Digital Services Tax, which is a new legislation imposing a digital services tax of 3% on digital services revenue exceeding $C20 million (aka targeting: Google, Meta, Amazon, etc).
Google's immediate response:
Applying a surcharge of 2.5% on all ads served in Canada starting October 1st.
Now Canadian small businesses are going to have to foot the bill.
This is again due to our Government's complete ignorance and misunderstanding of their leverage vs. Big Tech.
WTF were they thinking?
That Google would just swallow the 3% cut to their margins without passing that off to the consumer?! 🤦♂️
