Outsmarting the Ad Tax: How Montreal’s Click & Mortar is Helping Canadian Retailers Maximize Their Digital Spend

Marketing has become one of the quietest line items driving Canada’s economy—accounting for roughly 1% of national GDP. But for most businesses, especially retailers, that spending increasingly flows to just two platforms: Google and Meta. The result is a kind of digital tax—the cost of showing up online. And while most companies accept it as a fact of doing business, one Canadian firm is working to change that.

Click & Mortar, a Montreal-based performance marketing and data science consultancy, was built around a simple but powerful idea: help companies optimize their marketing investments and minimize their dependence on the platforms that dominate the online economy.

Led by CEO Olivier J. Bergeron, Click & Mortar blends the sharpness of data science with the pragmatism of performance marketing. Their work helps clients find the equilibrium point for digital advertising—ensuring that every dollar spent isn’t just visible, but valuable.

“Google and Meta have become the tollbooths of the internet,” says Bergeron. “But just because you have to spend there doesn’t mean you should overspend. We’re here to protect marketing budgets and make every investment work harder.”

Their name speaks to their sweet spot: helping brick-and-mortar businesses compete in the digital world. While ecommerce platforms can plug into analytics quickly, physical retailers often face a more complex path to measurement. Click & Mortar helps close that gap with custom models and predictive tools—bringing visibility and precision to the most analog of environments.

That’s exactly what they’re doing for Sobeys and its banners across Canada. As digital analytics consultants, Click & Mortar supports one of the country’s largest grocery groups by analyzing marketing performance at scale, measuring impact across geographies, and advising on media mix to ensure each investment is optimized, not bloated.

Their work comes at a critical time. In an age of rising acquisition costs and shifting consumer expectations, Canadian retailers are under pressure to justify every dollar spent. Click & Mortar’s approach—grounded in evidence, experimentation, and tailored algorithms—delivers clarity in a system where noise too often outweighs insight.

The company’s growth is also drawing attention. In 2024, Click & Mortar was named one of Canada’s Top Growing Companies by The Globe and Mail, underscoring both the demand for their services and the strength of their model.

For Bergeron and his team, the goal is simple: make marketing budgets smarter, leaner, and more resilient—especially for Canadian firms trying to hold their own against global incumbents.

“We’re not just optimizing ads,” he says. “We’re helping Canadian businesses stay competitive, keep more dollars in the country, and spend with intention—not obligation.”

In an economy where attention is currency and data is leverage, Click & Mortar is giving Canadian retailers the tools to thrive—not just survive—online. And they’re proving that smart spending is just as powerful as big spending—especially when it’s built at home.

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This article is part of CCI’s new “By Canadian Innovators” series, which showcases how members of the Council of Canadian Innovators work with homegrown companies to fuel their growth and make Canada more prosperous. Each story in this series highlights the unique contributions of these companies to building a more prosperous, innovation-driven economy. To learn more about the companies CCI works with to build a more prosperous Canada, visit our member directory.