Frank Palmer

Frank Palmer (born September 2, 1940) is a Canadian entrepreneur, marketing and advertising executive, and philanthropist. He served as a president, chairman and CEO of DDB Canada until April 2019 after merging his advertising company Palmer Jarvis into DDB in 1998.

Palmer was born in Kitsilano, Vancouver, British Columbia on September 2, 1940. He studied at the Vancouver School of Art (currently known as Emily Carr University of Art and Design), where he graduated with a degree in design and illustration.

After graduation, Palmer started his career as an illustrator for advertising agencies and television. He also worked as a commercial artist for KVOS-TV.

Later, Palmer entered the advertising business and joined Trend Advertising on April 1, 1969, along with his partner George Jarvis. Trend Advertising later became Simon, Palmer and Leckie, and after a few years, the company's name was changed again to Palmer Jarvis. Palmer remained the president and CEO of the company until 1998, when he sold the company to Omnicom Group, which merged it into DDB Worldwide's Canadian office and renamed it Palmer Jarvis DDB. Palmer also became the chairman and CEO of the merged company, and in 2004, Palmer Jarvis DDB was renamed to DDB Canada.

Palmer served the company in a full-time capacity until December 31, 2018, after which he continued on a part-time basis. After serving for exactly 50 years in the marketing and advertising business, Palmer retired from DDB on April 1, 2019, and Brent Choi was appointed as a new CEO and CCO for the company.

Palmer founded the National Advertising Benevolent Society, a charity organization to promote the advertising and marketing industry in Canada. He has also been involved in charities including Special Olympics B.C., Ronald McDonald House Charities, the Rick Hansen Foundation, Vancouver Police Foundation, Cause We Care Foundation, and others.

In 2019, he funded the "Frank Palmer Creative Design Scholarship" for digital design students at Vancouver Film School.

The American Marketing Association inducted Palmer into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends for his work in the marketing and advertising industry. He was also given a Gold Medal Award by the Association of Canadian Advertisers.

Let's Get Frank, a biography on Palmer's life in the business industry, was written by Robin Brunet and published in 2018 by Douglas & McIntyre. Palmer has been referred to as "Vancouver's answer to Don Draper" as mentioned in Vancouver Magazine.