NP Digital Named Ad Age Performance Marketing Agency of the Year

Neil Patel recording the Marketing News Canada podcast at SocialWest 2025

NP Digital has been named Performance Marketing Agency of the Year on the Ad Age A-List, one of the most recognized honours in the marketing industry. The global agency, co-founded by Neil Patel, was recognized for its ability to connect emotionally resonant creative with measurable, full-funnel performance across the new discovery landscape.

It's a big win for a fast-growing agency. NP Digital now operates across more than 30 countries with over 1,000 employees, and counts Unilever, Colgate, Nissan, and Club Med among its global clients. But for Canadian marketers, there's a local thread worth noting.

Ronnie Malewski, Managing Director of NP Digital Canada, was clear about what the recognition means north of the border. "This recognition from Ad Age is a proud moment not just for our global organization, but for our Canadian team as well," he said. "Over the past five years, we've built a strong team focused on helping Canadian businesses grow in a rapidly evolving digital economy."

The Ad Age recognition specifically called out NP Digital's approach to unifying creative and performance, something the agency has been doubling down on with a wave of new technology. Its existing tools Ubersuggest and AnswerThePublic both launched AI search and intent features in fall 2025, and earlier this year the agency welcomed Matt Hassell as SVP of Creative and Creative Technologies to lead a new push into proprietary creative tools, including a system of AI-powered brand intelligence agents designed to enhance ideation and guide content at scale.

CEO Mike Gullaksen framed the win as validation of a longer thesis. "With brand and performance now fully integrated across AI, search and social, the future of marketing will belong to organizations that combine creativity, intelligence and technology in one connected system."

If you want to go deeper on how Neil Patel thinks about the intersection of content, SEO, and performance in 2025 and beyond, we had him on the MNC podcast live from the SocialWest Vault, worth a listen.

Congrats to the full NP Digital team, including the Canadian crew, on a well-earned win.